Friends of Blairs Loch restock beauty spot with Rainbow Trout

FISHING is set to make a return to a local beauty spot thanks to the dedicated volunteers who look after it.

Community charity, Friend of Blairs Loch (FBL), have re-introduced a small stock of Rainbow Trout to the waterbody off the Grantown road at the southern edge of Forres.

FBL trustee and volunteer, Mike Sutherland, confirmed it has been 15 years since there was trout fishing at the site.

He said: “Over the past four years, we have been working hard to bring excessive weed growth in the loch under control. Whilst we still have a lot more work to do, we wanted to bring some fly fishing back to the loch. This stocking of around 200 fish will allow us to assess how the fish will cope.”

Historically, there were three boats used for fishing the loch - two in the main boathouse owned by Altyre Estate and another in the second owned by a RAF Angling Club. The stocking was managed by Moray Council and the club but around 18 years ago budget cuts meant the local authority pulled out. The RAF continued for a few more years before also stopping. The loch then became overgrown through lack of use and maintenance.

FBL have transformed the loch and its surroundings since they formed in 2017.

Treasurer Brian Higgs explained the difficulty in tackling the water itself.

He said: “Getting the weeds under control continues to be a massive challenge. Surface weed that used to cover the whole loch during summer months was brought under control by spraying with a specialist herbicide. This was done under a Controlled Activities Regulations licence issued by SEPA. Subsurface weed is more difficult and we have been using a ‘Neptune Rake’, pulled along the bottom of the loch to drag out the weed. This is very labour intensive and needs to be done every year on a continuous basis. We are currently working up a proposal to put to Marine Scotland about the possible use of a species of Carp that has been used in other lochs and lakes as a biological control of subsurface weeds.”

The intention is to operate the fishery on a catch and release basis for the first six to nine months. Anglers will help monitor the condition of the fish and feedback suggestions to FBL. A fuller fish stocking programme will then be introduced, and availability of fishing permits extended.

Mr Higgs thanked the family and friends of local angler, Andrew Rettie, for financial support they donated in his memory.

He said: “Andrew sadly passed away in 2021. His family and friends made a very generous donation - the funds were ring fenced specifically to help bring angling back to the loch.

“We had hoped that this would have happened sooner but we are delighted to have finally got to this important stage in the project.

“We send our sincerest thanks to Drew’s family and friends for their support.”

Ahead of the re-stocking, FBL put up ‘Fishing by Permit only’ signs. A few days later Mr Higgs was contacted by people who had been out for a walk around the loch who had found a fishing line tied to trees and a picnic bench. The walkers removed much of the line and the following day, FBL volunteers removed more.

Mr Higgs said: “We then checked our CCTV recordings and spotted a man in his mid-late 20’s with a fishing rod and reel walking past the boathouse to the picnic area. He was casting out fishing lures, cutting the line and tying it off on the trees/picnic table so that he could leave a number of lines out in the loch. He presumably intended to come back later to see if any fish had been caught on the lures. Given that he was doing this at 5pm in the afternoon, in full view of cameras and a week before any fish had been put into the loch, we can assume he was not a professional poacher.”

He added: “We were actually as annoyed about the lines being left for kids and dogs to get tangled in as we were about the poaching. We are using CCTV and hidden trail cams to monitor the situation.

“Our work is about creating a special place for the community and we do not want that spoiled by a few antisocial individuals.”