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Ullapool - 09 - 15/08/2010


Nicholas S

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A week’s holiday with family in the north of Scotland near Ullapool. Unsurprisingly I managed to fit in some fishing where I could! The scenery, wildlife and fishing were fantastic, the weather unfortunately less so but it didn’t really dampen spirits.

 

On the long drive North I stopped off at Pitlochry to have a punt at fishing the Tummel, something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. The river is lovely but I was woefully unprepared with my small brook rod and no wading staff. The Tummel is extremely powerful, scarily so, and wading without a wading staff (and probably a life jacket) is plain stupid. In this instance I managed to fashion an impromptu one of a large stick I found on the bank but it wasn’t ideal. This was my first experience fly fishing such a large river for Trout and Grayling and apart from numerous Salmon Parr my few hours fishing was very unsuccessful. The water there seemed ideal for Czech Nymphing and on my next visit I will certainly be trying this with a much longer rod this time!

 

During the week I managed to fit in a couple of fishing sessions, usually when the weather was poor and people didn’t fancy venturing out (except me!). The following pics were all take on the most spectacular walk into the Mountains on a day that started out with the most miserable weather. Thankfully the weather improved as the day wore on but everytime I tried to have a cast in the one of the myriad of Lochs on offer I was virtually eaten alive by midges and had to retreat! Blissfully a wind picked up and standing right in the face of it I was finally able to have a few casts and much to my surprise caught some beautiful hard fighting little wild brownies. It was fantastic fun and I could have stayed there all day but I cleverly managed to forget all my food and drink and by the time the evening had arrived I was famished! I should mention I spotted the most stunning Black Throated Diver on the Loch I was fishing, a very rare bird which I have always wanted to see, that really made my day.

 

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My second fishing trip was spent on the River Garvie; a small spate river which connects a large Loch to the sea. It used to be famous for its Sea Trout but sadly now (thanks to Salmon Farming) is better known for its Grilse but still has a moderate run of Sea Trout. I arrived on Wednesday evening in the most atrocious weather, driving rain and gusting wind didn’t make for enjoyable fishing conditions but I was pretty certain from the fishes perspective this was pretty good weather! I stayed out until about 11pm and was very pleased to catch two lovely small Sea Trout (of about a pound) with a couple more lost. They were only the second and third Sea Trout I had ever caught (first and second on the fly) and I was over the moon that I had managed to catch at all! I also lost a couple more – they were pretty adept at shedding the hook in the rushes! Returned early the next morning and managed one more Sea Trout of a similar size quite quickly but then struggled for bites right through until the afternoon whereupon my Dad arrived and promptly lost what we think was a small Grilse on his second cast! Much to my annoyance I also think I lost a small Grilse just before I was about to pack up, what an end to the day that would have been but sadly the wait for a Salmon goes on!

 

On a separate day we all had a very enjoyable day on a boat visiting the Summer Isles with some boat fishing thrown in for good measure between islands – it was mainly Mackerel bashing but the odd Pollack also made an appearance.

 

Final day was spent on a lovely Loch boat fishing. It was fantastic to be able to practise traditional ‘Loch Style’ but despite the Loch apparently being stuffed full of small brownies, I wasn’t that successful. I think between me and my Dad we managed around 9 beautifully marked brownies. It didn’t really matter that we didn’t catch much; just being in that environment is enjoyment enough. On the drive back to the house we saw two Golden Eagles (separately)! It was a lovely end to the day. I really can’t wait to return here, it really is an amazing place and a fisherman’s paradise.

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