Not too difficult

Worked it out at last - here's the sea trout that decided to swallow my silver invicta recently. Hopefully now lots more pics on the blog now that I know how to download from phone.

High Pressure

As the weather warms up, yet again, River is about to fall . Still fishable for about maybe 3 days, but as level drops, any fish will be concentrated in the major pools, Claggan, Larches, George's, Snag and Junction. Loch is now coming into its own and as I drove past with Mr Wilkinson this afternoon, it looked good, with a steady breeze. Hill oochs now definitely worth a try, and will try myself one day this week. For some reason, over the past couple of years, the prevailing wind has moved from SW to SE - any meteorologists out there explain why ?

Mr Wilkinson from Clitheroe is fishing here all week, and with luck should have good sport. I expect the weather to change again Wed/Thu, so hopefully more rain, and more fresh fish.

Must try to work out how to get pics from my camera onto this.

Something different

No fishing yesterday, but got a call from a friend offering a bit of shooting. Shot one deer, but that's the boring part. It turns out that he really wanted me to help move his boat from a shed to his house. No problem until he decided to drop the tow hitch ( + trailer + boat ) on my foot - a few expletives later and I have a foot like a baloon, but no major damage. Once he had finished laughing, and I had taken my hands off his throat, we eventually got trailer + boat hitched up to the pick-up.

All goes smoothly as we head up the glen, and slowly up the mountain track. A bit slow, but we eventually get to the top where there is a sharp left. Now going downhill at a steep gradient, ever so carefully then wham - a big bang and the boat overtakes us going down the hill !!

So if anyone is travelling from Strontian to Pollock, and they see a boat, on its own with no trailer sitting at the top of the mountain, Noah's little brother hasn't been found, nor is it something to appear in the Sunday Sport, its just my friend who forgot to tie a knot properly.

Getting him a copy of Rod Stewart singing "We are sailing" !!

River update

Just a quicky - now stopped raining, and the river is now falling steadily. One sea trout caught yesterday - about 2lb. Prospects look excellent for next week. - unless Sammy Seal shows his face !

Sea Trout have arrived

After 3 days rain and sometimes fairly strong easterly winds, it didn't look hopeful. The river is in full spate, so much so that its probably unfishable ( unless you want to catch the odd tree swept down). At 1600 things were still not looking good, but having set today to spend a few hours fishing alone, I wrapped up and decided to brave the elements.

Driving past the big pool at Claggan, my suspicions were confirmed as the water was fairly thundering down. I continued up over the hill to Arienas, and was surprised to find hardly any wind at all. What there was though still came from the East, so I was not hopeful. Reaching my usual parking place about halfway up the loch, I kitted up ( Chest waders today ), and on reaching the shores, found the loch to be about 8 ft above normal which meant little if any wading.

Boy was the fishing hard work - gusty easterly which caused more than a tangle or two, deep water just off shore, and more and more rain. Endevour to persevere as someone said ( guess the film ), and that I did. About 7pm, the wind changed to a gentle westerly, the rain eased off, and I could see one or two patches of blue in the sky. More importantly, the fish came on.

For the next 2 hours or so, I had a great time. A rise came on, and I started to get the odd brownie on the bob fly - not many though and not that big, but then the big fish are probably scouring the edges looking for goodies on the now flooded shore . Then, about half past 7, wham ! - and a sea trout took my silver invicta. Not the biggest of fish, but as it was my first sea trout of the year, it was just good to be "back home". It came in, went back out, and was up out of the water at least 6 times. Got it eventually to the net, and as always with sea trout was surprised that it was only about 2 lb - what a fight !.

I gave it another hour and a half before her indoors phoned told me my dinner was about to go in the dog. ( why do they always phone at the best bits ? ) Final tally - 3 brownies up to 1lb. 4 sea trout - biggest just short of 5lb, and a roll from what I am sure was a salmon ( but then as the fly had just hit the water about 35 yds away - could have been anything.). Apart from a sea trout of about 3lb which had decided to swallow the fly, all fish went back.

Well, thats me started my season here in earnest - roll on May when things should really start to hot up, especially in the evenings.

Looking a lot better

Its now the 21st April, and thank God its raining. The last rain did not amount to much, but now its coming down in earnest. A party from Skye have had good sport on the lochs, finding Arienas a bit dour ( as it sometimes can be ) but having good sport on the hill lochs. Another party from Oban fished later in the week and I await results.

This morning, I walked the dogs at the mouth of the River Aline - high tide, and fish waiting to get up - nice salmon, all bars of silver. Hopefully river will be up by this evening, and they can safely get up into the main river. If not - Sammy Seal awaits, and there will again be much wailing and gnashing of teeth !

I'm now accepting bookings for my Salmon Fly Fishing School on the River Spey, and have confirmed accommodation arrangements with the famous Dowans Hotel in Aberlour. Spaces still available for some rods if anyone interested. Rods to fish will also be available.

Still stuck in the house putting finishing touches to new bathroom - roll on Minday and with luck I'll hit the water myself.

Looking a lot better

Its now the 21st April, and thank God its raining. The last rain did not amount to much, but now its coming down in earnest. A party from Skye have had good sport on the lochs, finding Arienas a bit dour ( as it sometimes can be ) but having good sport on the hill lochs. Another party from Oban fished later in the week and I await results.

This morning, I walked the dogs at the mouth of the River Aline - high tide, and fish waiting to get up - nice salmon, all bars of silver. Hopefully river will be up by this evening, and they can safely get up into the main river. If not - Sammy Seal awaits, and there will again be much wailing and gnashing of teeth !

I'm now accepting bookings for my Salmon Fly Fishing School on the River Spey, and have confirmed accommodation arrangements with the famous Dowans Hotel in Aberlour. Spaces still available for some rods if anyone interested. Rods to fish will also be available.

Still stuck in the house putting finishing touches to new bathroom - roll on Minday and with luck I'll hit the water myself.

Rain at last.

Anyone out there old enough to remember George raft in Beau Geste ? Well there is a scene in the film where they all go ga ga when rain arrives at last - thats just what I feel like now. A I write it is raining, and long may it continue. Lochs have been like stagnant mill ponds, and River, apart from one day was very very dry. Even saw seals at the mouth of the river today - a sure sign that fish are waiting to come up. - hopefully the rain will continue and they can.

Fairly quite at the moment and due to the lack of rain, have not even bothered going out myself. Decided to go after Roe Bucks last evening. As luck would have it, plenty of Red Deer about, but alas no Roe. A big dog fox was however unlucky enough to put its head up though -Result - Jim 1 Fox 0 - hopefully this will save one or two lambs which are just about to hatch !!

Good casting practice

I've been away for a few days on the Spey, sadly not alone, but with the boor that is Kevin ( 3 days and apart from the winges I think he fished for an hour. Weather was good and River was at a near perfect height. Result - Zilch. Apparently the whole river was extremely quiet which only made me feel a little better. Still - first time I've had the big rods out this year, and the casting practice was worthwhile !!

Back home, the river is very low and will now need about 3/4 days of heavy rain to bring it up. Some guests fished anyway, but with no result. Mr Williamson from Glasgow fished the Loch, and I have been told he and his friend caught 4 - waiting for update. Otherwise - after making many arrangements for one particular customer, he was a no show - why do people do this. I always rely on the goodwill of others and all it would have taken was a call or a mail - may have to start charging in advance now, but hope not.

Tuition tomorrow on the river - raining now and hopefully it will continue to do so overnight.

Too Much Sun

Well - its been nearly 10 days now of uninterupted sunshine. River is as low as it gets so no point fishing. Lochs are however a different story. Mr Anderson has returned with his wee caravan on a visit, and fished Mon & Tue. I walked the dogs this morning and went to see him - 1000 and only getting up - must be having too much fun. He has had a couple of trout of reasonable size, both about 3/4 to 1 lb. He lost one he estimates at 4 lb + however having broken on one of the droppers. We had a conversation about leaders, and I maintained my view that Flurocarbon is over rated, and not flexible enough, esp if you fish light. It also always seems to go at the knot as happened to Mr Anderson. My vote goes for maxima every time !!

If visiting here, I always recommend 6lb BS, and even higher. There are some very big trout in the Loch, and always the chance of a salmon.

I'm now off to the Spey for 3 or 4 days - Willie the Ghillie says its showing +12 inches at the moment, but dropping steadily - keep the fingers crossed for Thursday as I hate to spin - so boring.

Spring Sunshine

Its been a few days, and to the delight of some, there has not been a cloud in the sly for nearly 2 weeks. This has been good for the Lochs where at last the trout are coming out of their winter torpor and now coming up readily to the surface to feed. For the river its a completely different story, and as the saying goes, the river is on its bones !!.

Cameron and I had a few hours on Arienas last week - Dad blanked ( but then I was more interested in watching him ), but Cammy got a lovely brown trout of about 3/4 lb - a bit lean and dark, but it was retirned to fight another day.

Otherwise, very quiet, though I have just heard that a sea trout has been caught in the river - not big, but welcome. - this is about a month early - surely not more global warming.

I'm now getting ready for 3 days on the Spey - peace at last !