what would the foroums choice be for europes top 3 wild trout fishing loughs

number 1 loch Leven. and anywhere else up north...

__________________
I HATE BUNGS.........

Europe is a big area.The scandinavian part has large lakes, hardly fished.The Irish are having some problems with the big lakes. . tough one. I find it impossible to give a good answer, after recieving some info on the Orkney lochs .I retract what I said about them being not quite wild. so I would fit loch Harry intto 1of the best wild trout fisheries in Europe along with
loch leven .

Jim

__________________
The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

honest answer jim thank you

Slightly bias but here's my top 3

1. Lough Melvin
2. Lough Leane (Killarney)
3. Lough Mask

Of course they all have their 'off' days too

C

__________________
www.agiveyanglers.co.uk

Has to be
1. CORRIB
2. MASK
3. CONN
If forced to pick one, Corrib by a country mile.
Tight Lines
Trout Hunter

__________________
Trout,great to hunt,greater to release.

1.Lough Sheelin
2.Lough Lein[killarney]
3.Lough Corrib


I have fished Leven six times throughout the 90's when it had the rainbows,the fishing was poor at the time due to water quality issues,but it is a beautiful loch and i would be more than glad to go back to it now as it seems to be back with a bang and fishing well which is great news for the loch.

It is a hard thing to quantify, as lochs can very much be a matter of taste. Jim (3lbGrayling) is spot on with his comment on Scandinavia. There must be lochs/lakes in Norway with huge potential, but the locals are still focused on their excellent Salmon fishing.

I have never fished in Ireland, but I have a friend who has done so regularly for many years. He told me last week that he does not think that he and the group he fishes with will go back there. It is only the opinion of four guys, but that opinion is that although the fishing can be good, it is not consistant and more hatch/condition orientated than lochs in Scotland.

And how do you judge a water. Is it by how well you have done there or by its history. As very few of us have had the priviledge to fish a multitude of the contenders, it probably has to be judgement by reputation, rather than experience.

By reputation, I do not think that any can surpass Loch Leven. Mask springs to mind as a second, then third is lost in a rush of names, but Watten and Corrib would have strong shouts.

To personalise my choice however, if I was to choose three lochs that I would love to do well on, they would be Leven, because I'm close enough to go back every day. Corrib, because it is the Irish lough that draws me the most. And a machair loch on South Uist. If I had to put a name to it, I'd probably go for West Ollay, but I don't know why.

__________________

But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Matthew 19:26

I have limited knowledge of the lakes in the mainland of Europe, apart from excursions to Lapland and Spain where I caught lovely browns from some lakes, but I have fished widely in the UK and Ireland.

I'm going to limit my choice to brown trout and, as I favour the more fertile loughs/lochs with their bigger average size of fish, I'm going to discount some of the Highland and West of Ireland waters.

For me my top three would be:

1. Sheelin - because it has the most beautiful browns that swim and fantastic invertebrate life, is often not easy to fish and no matter how much the place winds me up I've got to keep going back. I just wish they would either lose the stockies altogether or restrict stocking to planting out native fry in the feeders.

2. Watten - another great fishery, I was tempted to say Heilen but that's even harder than Sheelin most of the time.

3. Corrib - The sheer size of the place is fantastic, the season runs from March to October and although the average is a little smaller there's always the chance of a monster.

Other favourites that just failed to get a place are Mask, Leven, Arrow and Ennell and for mayfly alone Ree would now be worth a place. I've not yet fished a machair loch but I suspect that I would put them right up there.

__________________
“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

In my modest opinion:

Corrib.
















Sheelin
Leven