November The remaining months of the season remained fairly dismal due to the lengthy spell of dry warm weather much beloved of non-fishing holidaymaker's! Despite this a few fish were caught but the ever expanding weed beds made this more and more difficult as time went on. The Marymas Competition was fished on 22nd August. A total of ten anglers took part although, come the end of the day, all blanked. A few fish had been seen but these all proved to be undersize and were returned. Julian Smith has started some improvement works on the St Johns Pool Wild Bird Reserve and this has impacted slightly on our harvesting for the Hatchery this year. However a great deal of work, carried out in the main, by Les Jones and the Hatchery Team negated these effects. The trapping process went smoothly and a good number of healthy eggs are now incubating in the Hatchery. The final stages of essential maintenance on the Hatchery water supply were also completed by Jim Calder and team and we hope there will be no further problems in this regard. The fish from last years spawning are doing well and we plan to over winter around 1500 for planting out early next Spring. The boats have all been moved to their Winter storage and the harbour area has been prepared for some remedial work to be carried out in the Spring. The harbour will be dredged with the spoil being used to extend the inner arm to the North and to create another two mooring pads at the South end. The road surface will also be skimmed and will have fresh scalpings spread along its length. The roadside ditch will also be cleaned at its East end and this will be filled with clean gravel to aid with drainage. All this work should be completed before the start of next season. July It was a day of firsts for 10 year old Graeme Winney. His first time fishing, first visit to St Johns and his first ever brown trout  taken on the dap on a Yellow Mayfly. Let's hope it's the first of many. With the current Mediterranean weather fishing conditions have been very difficult to say the least. The loch water temperature, measured on 3rd July was seen to be 19C! At this rate the fish will be coming to the net ready-cooked! However, the conditions did not deter Castletown pensioner Jeanette Hossack., She had her first day out of the season on Tuesday 30th June and was rewarded with a nice fish of 1lb 2oz while her companion blanked. The Mayfly hatch has now come to an end and weed growth has accelerated making conditions very difficult with the trout sulking in the depths. I don't see things improving much until there is a return to cooler conditions. Jeanette Hossack June The month started out with bright sunshine and east winds on most days with anglers reaching for the sun screen before venturing forth. The Mayfly hatch was well under way by the end of the first week and this was reflected in the reported catches with the fish 'on the top' most days. On 6th June Ronald MacKenzie and Raymond Millard had a great days sport keeping 12 fish for a total weight of 11lbs. On Monday 8th June Mervyn Johns started his annual week long holiday on the loch in the finest style taking a nice fish of 2lb 12ozs. He followed that up with several others during the remainder of the week with most of his fish being in excess of 1lb. The Association held its Annual Member's Competition on Saturday 13th June. Conditions were far from ideal with gray skies, drizzle and a cold easterly. Ronald MacKenzie took the prize for the best basket with a total of 4 fish for 3lb 7ozs while Donald Maclean too the trophy for the heaviest fish at 2lb 1oz. A total of 14 anglers took part in the competition. Of these, 5 blanked while the remaining 9 took a total of 18 fish for 17lbs. The Fly Tying Group held their Annual Competition the following day. Conditions were even worse with heavy rain for most of the day accompanied by a very cold easterly. No fish had been caught by lunchtime but conditions improved slightly and joint winners, J Maclean & N MacDonald each boated 2 fish for 2lb 1oz. A total of 6 fish were caught for 7lb 3ozs. A total of 8 anglers participated and of these 4 blanked. John Maclean and his son George were also out on the 14th although they took no part in the competition. Had they participated, George would have been a clear winner with a beautifully proportioned cock fish of 4lb 4ozs. Member's Competition (Best Basket) Winner - Ronald MacKenzie R MacKenzie & R Millard - 12 for 11lbs Member's Competition (Heaviest Fish) Winner -Donald Maclean M Johns - 2lb 12ozs George Maclean - 4lb 4ozs Fly Tying Group Competition Joint Winners - N MacDonald & J MacLean R MacKenzie & M Johns - 4 for 5lb 7ozs 4lb 4ozs - Fresh out of the water George Maclean took not only the largest fish for the month (so far) but also the smallest! He is now the holder of the record for the smallest fly caught fish on St Johns. Unfortunately the male Stickleback was too small to register on the scales but its size can be seen (at right). Both the trout and stickleback were taken on the size 12 Olive Dabbler in the picture. From the sublime to the ridiculous The loch continues to give up some of its bigger fish with this beauty taken on the 16th by visiting angler, Nick Hall. The fish was taken on a Mayfly Nymph fished on the tail and tipped the scales at a magnificent 4lb 10ozs. Nick Hall - 4lb 10ozs Another view of Nick Hall's magnificent fish

May

A few anglers have been out this month but the fishing has been blighted by the high winds which left the loch coloured for several days at a time. Ronald MacKenzie fishing with Raymond Millard on Sunday 24th had a basket of three fish for a total of 4lb 4ozs. The best of the three fell to Raymond's rod and tipped the scales at 2lb 4ozs. I expect with the rise in temperature and the imminent approach of Mayfly time, the loch will gain in popularity as the month wears on. Hatchery operations are proceeding apace. All remaining eggs have hatched and we have a good quantity of healthy free swimming fry. They are feeding well and are now on the second stage feed regime.

Raymond Millard with his 2lb 4oz fish

April

A few anglers ventured out on Opening Day (April 1st) although I have had no reports of fish having been taken then. As far as I am aware the first fish worthy of mention was taken on Saturday 4th April by George Robertson of DFFA. This beauty (pictured right) weighed in at a very respectable 3lb 7oz and was in prime condition. With the season now under way, anglers are reminded that the harbour has recently been dredged so care should be taken when launching boats. Anglers are also requested to be vigilant as there have been a number of acts of minor vandalism around the harbour caused during the school holiday period. Any damage discovered should be reported to the Secretary without delay.

First of the season - 3lb 7oz

March

The majority of the eggs in the hatchery have hatched and the fry are doing well with no major problems, The mortality rate is low and well within expected parameters.
The Club boats will be launched at 10.30am on Sunday 29th March and this will be followed by an 'Open Morning' at the hatchery which will afford members and any other interested parties an opportunity to see some of the work that has been done.
Visitor Boat Hires will be available this year from the Dunnet Bay Camp Site, Tel. 01847-821319. Prices will remain at the levels set for 2008 and these are detailed on the 'Visitors' page. The season opens on Wednesday 1st April and, weather permitting, I hope to see anglers out on the loch soon after.

Boat Launching

October


During the dog days of Summer an intrepid band of volunteers toiled relentlessly to ready the Hatchery for operations due to commence towards the end of this month. The driving force behind these works was Les Jones (above left) who along with Alex Smith (centre), Richard Norburn (right), Jim Calder and Bill Robertson repaired the water supply pipeline and radically improved the delivery system within the hatchery building. Spawning operations commenced on the 24th as can be seen from these photographs.

Special Report
While strictly speaking not relevant to St Johns,this event cannot go without mention as it concerns one of our most stalwart members. On Monday 2nd June Ronald Mackenzie was fishing on Loch Heilan with boat partner, Raymond Millard, when he hooked and landed this monster trout of 11lb 10ozs. Not only is it the largest trout to come off Loch Heilan but it is also the largest known trout to have ever been caught in the whole of Caithness in living memory. Ironically, the previous record holder happened to be Ronald's boat partner. Both were fishing together in early June 2007 when Raymond landed a monster fish of 10lbs 11ozs. The successful fly pattern on both occasions was a size 10 Golden Olive Bumble Variant.

June

The month started out on a high note for Ian Cannop with a nice basket of 4 fish taken on Sunday 1st. Best fish was around 1lb 8oz with the other three hovering around the 1lb mark.
June 3rd - The Mayfly hatch is now well under way and most anglers are being rewarded for their persistence. However, Ronald MacKenzie and Raymond Millard took a day off from St Johns, on the 2nd, to fish Loch Heilan almost a year to the day when on that particular visit Raymond caught a wild brownie weighing in at 10lbs 12ozs, easily the biggest fly caught wild fish in Caithness in living memory, up until now that is! This time it was Ronald who had his mettle tested with a fish eventually tipping the scales at a whopping 11lbs 10ozs. (See pictures at right).
June 7th - George Maclean had a fine morning out on the loch and caught three beauties (pictured right) by 9a.m. All were taken on a dry Mayfly pattern fished on a # 3 outfit (what fun that must have been). The smaller of the trio measured 17'' and combined they weighed 7lb 4oz.
June 8th - Ian Cannop had another good day out on the loch landing a cracking fish just a whisker over 3lbs 2ozs. Association Chairman Alastair Foggo also had his first outing of the season at the weekend and managed a nice fish of 1lb 12ozs.
June 9th - Ronald MacKenzie, brother-in-law Mervyn Johns and Pat Nicol spent the day on the loch. Between them they boated five fish with Ronald having the heaviest at 2lb 6ozs.
The Mayfly hatch continues and I'm hopeful of reasonable baskets for our competition weekend starting on the 14th.
June 14th - Member's Competition was won by Richard Norburn who took both trophies (Heaviest Fish & Heaviest Basket) with one fish weighing in at 1lb 4oz. Total fish caught amounted to 6 for a combined weight 5lb 4oz. A total of 14 anglers participated 8 of whom blanked. See photographs at right.

May

I have received little news from the loch for the first half of the month but I am delighted to report that Les Jones finally broke his duck on the 19th with a fine trout of 1lb 12oz. Well done Les! No picture on this occasion but it's nice to know that, despite the glorious weather, the fish are on or near the top.
May 27th - Further report from Les to say that the Mayfly hatch has started and that he had boated four nice trout with the best weighing in at 2lbs taken on a Melvin Octopus.
Reports continue to come in of some good hatches of Mayfly and some anglers are hitting the loch at just the right time. Raymond Maclean has had several nice baskets since the 28th with 7 the following day while Alex Sandison managed a basket of 14 fish all in the region of 12oz to 1lb. Pat Nicol also managed a basket of 8 similarly sized fish. Anglers haven't had it all their own way though and a number of blanks have also been reported.