I am thinking of fishing hillend loch this weekend does anyone know if it fishes well from the bank or should i hire a boat.

Oh I think a boat will get you away from the swimfeeders and buckie bottles..used to be some huge browns in there.

jim

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

Fished it years ago when it was a brownie only water and i loved it

BUT!!!

Went back last season and walked away without setting up my gear, the place is dire, it is defo for the buckie and bubble float brigade now and it is a shame to see

Don't know about week days but weekends are a defo no go imo

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[B][COLOR="Black"]"Bang Tidy"
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Fished it twice in the last fortnight.first i was on boat caught a brown and a bow.second time i was on the bank and i never even touched a fish.Fish with daddies.

im biased .. i admit it .. but i have to say ... its a very big bit of water and if you want a quiet piece of water to fish all you have to do is walk round the loch a little till you find a quiet spot to fish . there will always be the guys who take a bottle or a couple of cans with them on any method waters , but its not as bad as some of the posts on the forum are saying . as for the fishing its first class , my best day so far this year i released 30 rainbows mostly in the 2-3lb class with the best around 4 1/2lb. this was from the bank which i think is the best way to fish the loch . lures are still the order of the day and you cant beat a black fritz with a little flash in the tail . the water is still quite cold and a little coloured from recent windy weather . there are tons of buzzers hatching on the loch at the moment but i have not seen many fish rising yet . i would advise trying a day mid-week on the north shore with a floating line (its all you will need) and a few lures , the loch is very well stocked and great value at £8 a day for 4 fish . dont take the buckie stories in , give it a go ..i think you will enjoy it , if you dont or want any more info pm me.. good luck.

Hi jt fished 10 days ago on that warm sunny weekend and caught a couple of bows on a black fritzheard its good in the summer months on a dry fly.
Can you get permits anywhere else other than the lodge.

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just one more cast

you can buy your ticket on the lochside from the staff when they come round in the boat to check permits but it costs an extra £2 that way (£10) the best dry fly sport on the loch has to be when the big sedge is on (great red sedge) the size and number of these has to be seen to be believed ! this is usually late summer evenings . there is also a great hatch of green drakes normally in june and both dries and the normal mayfly nymphs can work well then . for sedge time g.&.h.sedge , sedgehogs , muddlers etc all work , but be sure to carry some fairly large imitations as the naturals can be the size of your pinkie ! i tie deerhair sedges on size 10 streamer hooks to fool them , i also find they work better static or with the odd twitch rather than retrieving them ! i have to say the sport just now is pretty good , just keep moving till you find the fish and you could have a cracking day . im off work this week if you want a guided tour it would be all the excuse i needed to go back up !

Who needs an excuse to fish iam fishing lily loch this sunday so dont think i will be able to fish hillend until following week at the earliest.

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just one more cast

not fished the lilly for a couple of years now but saw a few guys coming from there at the weekend , with mixed results . think the lilly has a higher percentage of bait anglers than hillend does , maybe 80% are power bait men . i say this because it seems to be all they use these days . i dont mind a spot of bait fishing myself now and then but still prefer to use natural baits , a couple of maggots on a size 14 or better still the grubs sold in the shops now are very good . dont think the forecast is good this weekend so you better wrap up if your heading up there ! good luck anyway ... post your results !

Will do jt,seen the forecast for weekend and its looking ok with winds going round to the south and temp on the rise.

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just one more cast