A morning on a trout loch

I got a wee run out this morning to Loch Achmore which is on the Stornoway Angling Association permit. It was a great morning out, I started on the dry daddy longlegs and then moved to the wet fly and eventually the intermediate tip as well, once I got the tip on then I started to get reasonable numbers of fish but by that time my time was nearly up. None the less I had a few wee fish for the day up to maybe 3/4lb and I don't think I got any video of the best one as is typical. So, get a cup of tea and put the feet up and watch some fishing on youtube :) It isn't as good as being there yourself but if you can't get out today it is the next best thing.



For anyone coming to the Hebrides to fish then the SAA permit is worth consideration - basically you can get associate membership of the club for about £100 and this allows lots of brown trout fishing plus also allows you to fish the River Creed and the lochs in that system for sea trout and salmon. The Creed is a great salmon river and there is lots of quality water so if I get the chance over the next while I will try to do a video of it as well, though knowing my luck I'll catch nothing :)
 
:drool: wished i lived your way things dreams are made of ,I used to love fluttering a fly on linlithgo loch not the biggest or wildest but nice head of rainbow
 
:drool: wished i lived your way things dreams are made of ,I used to love fluttering a fly on linlithgo loch not the biggest or wildest but nice head of rainbow

I've got to say I consider myself very lucky indeed to have the chance to do stuff like that, I know it is only having a cast for a few relatively small wild brownies but it is the best of wild sport in my view and in the end it isn't the size of fish that matter but the quality of the experience, though we do have some big fish as well. Hopefully over the next while I will post a few more, I know they aren't exactly stalking related but many people who stalk also shoot and fish so some people might enjoy them, some people might get bored, and you don't have to watch them if it isn't for you. I'll not be fishing today and have some raw video sitting on the computer so there might be another one along today :)

I have to say that although I haven't fished for rainbows in at least 20 years I found them a challenge even if different from the brown trout. In one sense the rainbows should be easy but, like salmon, I found that if they went off then it didn't matter how many were in front of you as they simply wouldn't take anything whereas with the brown trout you can usually get at least one wee fish to grab the fly no matter how bad the conditions. In the end it is about making the best of what you have, I'm having to face up to the prospect of not being able to walk to my favourite remote lochs so it won't be long before my days out are governed by my ability to walk and that's no different from the people who can't get to our wild fishing because of family, or work, or such stuff.
 
Great wee video Caorach, thanks for sharing!
There's not much beats a bit of fly fishing now and again, though mackerel-bashing with a boatload of youngsters comes close, and the wilder the better.
I'd rather catch a few wildies, including wee grayling on a chalkstream, than a wheelbarrow load of frankentrout from a stewpond
I'm becoming less able to walk to wild lochs as time passes too, but when I reach a decent lochan, well, it seems like the pains in what's left of my joints kinda wanes a bit - so it's worth the effort.
What weight of outfit do you use? I've dropped to 3 or 4 wt these days except if I think there are seatrout around, I'll use 5-7 wt in that case
ATB
Geo
 
What weight of outfit do you use? I've dropped to 3 or 4 wt these days except if I think there are seatrout around, I'll use 5-7 wt in that case
ATB
Geo

Mostly I use a 7 weight 11 foot rod. There are a number of reasons for this, a big one is the wind which can hamper attempts to use something lighter. Also I have been using the Rio Versitip lines and only have one in 7 weight, they are great and save carrying spools or reels but to be honest they don't wear very well. It also means I can use one rod for everything, I had a spring salmon in April on the same 7 weight rod as I had out for trout yesterday.

However, I have some 4 weight rods in 11 foot as well and I do sometimes use them when the wind isn't too bad and I'll not need a sinking line, I think it was the 4 weight I was using in the video I posted on Sunday. The 4 weight also makes a fantastic sea trout rod as our sea trout are usually around 2.5lb and so they give fantastic sport on a 4 weight rod, providing the wind allows you to use it.
 
Really enjoyed that caorach, it's actually like almost being there which I hope someday I will, and the sooner the better.

You're a handy man to strike a fish, I jumped back from the screen around 6.30.

I had to rewind it to see what I missed and I nearly got another fright when you struck again.
 
Good vid,ive been up there a few times. Really enjoyed the fishing even though i never got any big ones.
 
Mostly I use a 7 weight 11 foot rod. There are a number of reasons for this, a big one is the wind which can hamper attempts to use something lighter. Also I have been using the Rio Versitip lines and only have one in 7 weight, they are great and save carrying spools or reels but to be honest they don't wear very well. It also means I can use one rod for everything, I had a spring salmon in April on the same 7 weight rod as I had out for trout yesterday.

However, I have some 4 weight rods in 11 foot as well and I do sometimes use them when the wind isn't too bad and I'll not need a sinking line, I think it was the 4 weight I was using in the video I posted on Sunday. The 4 weight also makes a fantastic sea trout rod as our sea trout are usually around 2.5lb and so they give fantastic sport on a 4 weight rod, providing the wind allows you to use it.
Another great video, thanks, looks like I will have to make the journey up there one day.

I use the Rio Versitip system on my 11' 7 weight switch rod I use for Salmon fishing as a shooting head (yet to christen it!) and think it's a great system, not cheap though!

9' 6wt for all my seat trout fishing.

Cheers

Richard
 
I use the Rio Versitip system on my 11' 7 weight switch rod I use for Salmon fishing as a shooting head (yet to christen it!) and think it's a great system, not cheap though!

The price really puts me off Richard as I've not found that they wear well. Now, in their defence, I'm fishing wet fly and so am casting all the time and that has to produce more wear than the people who would cast and let the line sit on the water for a while. Even at salmon our rivers are small and often we use a fast retrieve so it is only seconds between casts. However I put a new Rio Versitip on about 4 - 5 fishing weeks ago and the current one will not go so very much further, I'll be lucky if it makes it to the end of the season. I'd guess many people would get maybe 5 years out of one but last season I fished about 13 full weeks and this season it will hopefully be something around 7 - 8 full weeks so at something like £160 a pop it is significant money.
 
The price really puts me off Richard as I've not found that they wear well. Now, in their defence, I'm fishing wet fly and so am casting all the time and that has to produce more wear than the people who would cast and let the line sit on the water for a while. Even at salmon our rivers are small and often we use a fast retrieve so it is only seconds between casts. However I put a new Rio Versitip on about 4 - 5 fishing weeks ago and the current one will not go so very much further, I'll be lucky if it makes it to the end of the season. I'd guess many people would get maybe 5 years out of one but last season I fished about 13 full weeks and this season it will hopefully be something around 7 - 8 full weeks so at something like £160 a pop it is significant money.
I use it as a shooting head system, the head is out through the rings for casting as I am only doing roll/snap-t's/snake rolls.
I have had for 2 years now and it hasn't worn.
If you need an ordinary 7wt floating line pm me as I still have a few left for sale.
Cheers
Richard
 
If you need an ordinary 7wt floating line pm me as I still have a few left for sale.

Thank you Richard, at the minute I have a good supply of normal floating 7 weights, most of them on various reels lying about.

Yesterday (Friday 13th) I had an hour in the morning for a run out after a sea trout. Being Friday 13th it seems luck wasn't with me as my GoPro steamed up (they are very prone to that as they are waterproof) plus I was facing into the sun plus all I managed to catch was a wee finnock. This was made all the more annoying as someone had a 6lb sea trout the day previous :) Sod's law. It didn't really warrant making a video but none the less I hacked together a quick 3 minutes...

 
Thank you Richard, at the minute I have a good supply of normal floating 7 weights, most of them on various reels lying about.

Yesterday (Friday 13th) I had an hour in the morning for a run out after a sea trout. Being Friday 13th it seems luck wasn't with me as my GoPro steamed up (they are very prone to that as they are waterproof) plus I was facing into the sun plus all I managed to catch was a wee finnock. This was made all the more annoying as someone had a 6lb sea trout the day previous :) Sod's law. It didn't really warrant making a video but none the less I hacked together a quick 3 minutes...


No worries, yes that is the problem with the GoPro, to overcome it I do put on the vented cases if I know its not going to rain.
Sea Trout, they are my passion, but we fish for them at night down here in Devon, although some rivers like the Taw as its a bit dirty you can catch them during the day.
Nice fish you caught all the same.
Cheers
Richard
 
No worries, yes that is the problem with the GoPro, to overcome it I do put on the vented cases if I know its not going to rain.
Sea Trout, they are my passion, but we fish for them at night down here in Devon, although some rivers like the Taw as its a bit dirty you can catch them during the day.
Nice fish you caught all the same.
Cheers
Richard

The fish I had was only a wee finnock, maybe 3/4lb, but it is so hard to judge the size with the GoPro or even a photo.

I think we need someone like you to come up and fish at night for a while. We usually catch sea trout up to 3lb or thereabouts but the sea anglers fishing off the beaches are usually accidentally getting them around 6lb. Now, those 6lb fish are going somewhere and my guess is they are running our rivers but we simply aren't catching them. This leads me to consider that, perhaps, someone who knew what they were doing and fishing at night might pick them up. We also have lochs full of sea trout and I've no idea what the outcome of fishing lochs at night for sea trout is, I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing it. Actually I haven't fished a loch for sea trout in a long time so maybe that's what I'll do tomorrow for a wee experiment.
 
The fish I had was only a wee finnock, maybe 3/4lb, but it is so hard to judge the size with the GoPro or even a photo.

I think we need someone like you to come up and fish at night for a while. We usually catch sea trout up to 3lb or thereabouts but the sea anglers fishing off the beaches are usually accidentally getting them around 6lb. Now, those 6lb fish are going somewhere and my guess is they are running our rivers but we simply aren't catching them. This leads me to consider that, perhaps, someone who knew what they were doing and fishing at night might pick them up. We also have lochs full of sea trout and I've no idea what the outcome of fishing lochs at night for sea trout is, I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing it. Actually I haven't fished a loch for sea trout in a long time so maybe that's what I'll do tomorrow for a wee experiment.
Sounds good to me, I will put it on the list, looks like a stunning area.
We get a few larger Sea Trout in our rivers, but more often than not they are usually the first run.
Cheers
Richard
 
Sounds good to me, I will put it on the list, looks like a stunning area.
We get a few larger Sea Trout in our rivers, but more often than not they are usually the first run.
Cheers
Richard

Our sea trout seem a little "odd" compared to the rest of the UK in the sense that they often (hard to make any general statement but...) run maybe a week to a month after our grilse but on this particular river they can be very late indeed, it is said that the main salmon run is also very late. In the past this river stayed open until mid or late November to catch the late runs. Now, I've fished the Camel in the distant past and I think it is open until December perhaps as that's when their salmon run but on Lewis this is slightly odd as it is the only river in the area where this happens.

If you are interested then a bloke called Bickerdyke visited this river/moor and stayed in the lodge (now a ruin) in the late 1800s and he wrote a little book (amazingly for the date it is complete with photos.) about his experiences. He changed some of the names but you can still walk up the river and visit the places he writes about and the book makes good reading for any sportsman


If you might be interested then this is the video for a day on the river today - frustrating day as I failed to hook almost everything I moved so all I had for the day was a small sea trout around 1.5lb plus a finnock and a few brown trout. Towards the end of the video there are shots of some of the moorland pools (I start off on the tidal saltings area) to give some idea of the variety, to be honest despite my expectations these pools were really too low by about a foot to actually fish well but when I headed up I expected them to be just a fraction low:

 
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