Fishing with the Icross in Sutherland

 

Great Fishing with the Icross

With fifty years of fishing the Sutherland lochs we have had some very memorable days out, nights out and wet weekends to tell the tales of such great experiences. Most of our articles in this blog have been about passing on these experiences and sharing some wisdom if possible. Even to the extent that don’t try this unless you are mad, crazy or just need some extreme relief from the desk job.

Our backdrop has been campsites near Lochinver, crofts in Stoer, the Scourie Hotel and now cottages in Forsinard. So, I have been thinking of some new memorable days out to pass on these experiences. The Scourie Hotel 25-year story is still to be told but that might be a marathon so I wanted to bring up the new experience of the Icross over the last five years.

There are days walking the hill lochs, or a boat day in a magical loch such as Hope or Caladail or even a day fishing for mackerel and pollock off the rocks as trout & salmon fishing was not allowed on a Sunday. But what comes to mind is a day when we used very different styles of fishing on one loch. The provided boat, the shoreline and the Icross comes to mind and well worth a story to be told.

So firstly what is an Icross?   It is an inflatable board that is shaped so that you can sit in a deckchair of sorts on top of the board with a paddle to move you around the loch. It is a step up from a float tube as you are not in the water, no flippers and able to move around the loch at both speed and stealth like. It does take a while to get used to the on and off procedure and confidence in your balance is required.

It was at the Game fair at Ragley Hall while visiting with Peter and his family that we came across the Icross stand with its different models on display. I was fascinated by the concept of walking from one loch to another and crossing each loch fishing away but gaining the benefits of being afloat and dry.

It was early on in the holiday, day two I believe, and we were on one of the Forsinard top beats one of the selected six that you are allowed to nominate on your two weeks fishing trip. It is not a bad walk in, with about 20 minutes across the heather, no hills to climb and the car can get you close to a suitable drop off point. Flat tyres are a risk if you decide to carry on up the last of the old woodland track and yes, I’ve been there but managed to inflate with sealant

The rest of the party pulls their kit together and heads off to the loch while you pull out the enormous rucksack and start attaching the pump for some serious inflation of the board. It is done in less than five and you can attach the chair with clips, click in the paddle and put your day pack within the empty chair. I attach my net and rod tube before pulling the Icroos up off the floor and onto my back with the help of the rucksack straps.

It was heavy on this particular day as I had a few cans stowed on board in case of dehydration or a long lunch. Without the pack though it is light enough not to worry you on such a short walk.

Peter and Michel were still bailing out the boat and setting up the rods on the lochside. I joined them and we were ready in no time to start the days serious business. I guess the target was fish over 2lb and hopefully a yellow belly which are 4lb+ but any fish on the line would be a good start.

We had seen movement already with some nice rises in boat bay and Michel was soon on the boat with a muddler to bring them up to the surface. Peter head along the southern shoreline with a dry fly, probably a sedgehog of some sort but it would be tweaked through the water surface to attract a take. I opted for two wet flies with a bushy bibio on the dropper and a dabbler on the point.

It was not long before MC declared he had a fish on and it was a runner. We enjoyed watching his fight with the fish and he played him towards the net and back in the boat for a weigh in at 2 3/4lb which was a great start. It was time for me to get on board the Icross and join MC on the loch and start covering some water from different angles to the shoreline fisherman. I placed my rod at the exit to the inlet that I was launching from and slid on board with good balance technique. Once comfortable I paddled out and picked the rod up as I passed the exit. 

Open waters were in front of me and I followed MC’s boat drift which took us north across the loch. It was easy to cast from left to right and cover vast amounts of water as I drifted along. The boat drifted in a different way to the Icross and I was soon well apart but covering margin water near the eastern shore one of the many hotspots on this loch.

It wasn’t long before I called out “fish on” as I was taken quite deep on the point fly and the fish was off staying deep and pulling me gently with it. I took control eventually and unhooked the net which was very handy right next to my seat. The fish was surprisingly easy to net but had to come on board to unhook the fly and while between my legs a photo was able to be taken. It looks quite thin but was healthy and typical for this loch and would grow on through the summer months.

The next target was a yellow belly trout that reside in here, I have seen a few in the past and they are beauties when turning in the water. But we have yet to catch one, I rose one during this trip and saw a huge tail when paddling up the loch with my lunch later in the day.

Peter meanwhile had found himself a hotspot on the shoreline where he could see fish rising in the still water near the promontories. He had already netted one by the time I was in ear shot and was then playing his second. I found an inlet and parked the Icross and gave him a helping hand in netting the second which he had expected to be larger than the fight had felt. The area was difficult to fish from as the shoreline was so wet and treacherous but worthwhile to get two beauties in succession.

Here is Pete with the 1 3/4lb trout I netted and as a location check he is wearing my flat cap as forgot to bring a hat that day.

The memorable day was broken up with a lunch time get together on the north side of the loch. Pete could walk to it easily and we paddled and rowed our way up for the rendezvous and a mix of ciders were enjoyed by all. Chicken wraps made by myself that morning was the healthy option these days. What was so positive was that we all had fish in the morning and the weather looked like holding for a warmer afternoon with the possibilities of a hatch on.

I won’t bash on about the success of the pm fishing but it was pleasant but tough even though we had more trout. Far less fish were seen on the surface and the warmth we had expected actually turned into the odd shower. So, Peter got a steady lift back to boat bay from MC and we all agreed to pack up early and head for the cottage and some liquid refreshment. But the day was a great success with three styles of fishing on one loch and all being successful in their own way. I guess it will be repeated here and elsewhere in the future as the benefits are so good for all three of us.

 

Further thoughts on the Icross

It has had limited time out on the waters of Sutherland. Why?

·       In the Forsinard area we tend to fish the beats that are a long way from the road and can take well over an hour to reach. The size and weight of the Icross limits its range at 60+ years of age. (float tube option sometimes better)

·       If the loch is too small you are disturbing the loch too much if sharing the beat with your party, which is most of the time with three of us.

The positives when it is used.
·       Gives your fellow anglers the opportunity to use the boat between them
·       Allows you to cover a much greater part of the loch with a more stealth like approach
·       You feel much closer to the action when drifting at water level
·       You can traverse from one loch to another so that you can cover a Scourie Hotel beat or even tackle three beats in one day!! (In my dreams)
·       Comfortable option which is totally different from a boat or fishing from the bank. (Great relief for the change of approach)

I have used it consistently on one beat that is a short drive from the road and only a twenty minute walk to the loch. The Icross is assembled by the car while we are all getting our act together for the day. It is packed away behind my seat in a giant rucksac that holds it tightly and once unfolded the pump is attached and within a few minutes it inflates to the correct pressure. The instructions tell you not to be stupid and over inflate but after a heavy night that is unlikely and soon you are attaching the chair, clipping on the 2 paddles which clip together later and securing the backpack and net. I carry the days selected rod but you can also attach a rod tube easily enough.

You attach some carrying straps to the bottom of the board, leave off the keel which would be painful and catch up with the party as they prepare and bail out their boat. Depending on the wind you could leave your pack at the base camp where the boat returns but it all depends on the lunch venue. It looks heavier than it is but the pack needs less cameras, cans of cider and spare reels etc to lighten the overall load.

Once you are set up and ready to fish it is just a simple matter of getting afloat and securing the net on the clip on straps provided. I usually leave the rod by the loch to get on board and then pick it up as I pass by. The paddle system works smoothly and is a quiet way of moving into position and letting the breeze do the work across the loch.

The shocks are when the big fish cruise past you and you see the massive spade like tails as they dive deeper into the loch. The rises and takes are also a bit of a shock as they can be very close to you and the run can get the Icross moving in whichever way the fish wants to go. My weight slows them down but to be honest you just get dragged and concentrate on the fight, less on where you are heading.

Oh yes you then deflate and use all your weight to squeeze it back in its pack.

Comments

·       Not mentioned the need to go to shore for pee stops!!

·       Cost per outing? Long term investment, left in my will to a Nephew

·       Is it allowed elsewhere e.g. Assynt? not telling anyone see you on Fionn or loch Awe!

·       Excellent for stalking mullet? but not tried yet.

Right place, right time, right equipment, right tactics = Right result

 

It doesn’t matter if you are in the lochs of Sutherland or the rivers of West Wales you need to get these fundamentals aligned for the best possible chance to catch fish. It dawned on me recently after a very tiring day and you reluctantly admit this must be the final cast.  I had a big smile on my face and felt somehow energised after the days success and this is why.

I had spent the morning on the Cothi a tributary of the Tywi in South Wales and had an absolutely cracking day and my first salmon on the Cothi and my first on the Llandeilo AA waters since 1990. I was buzzing and wondering why the day had gone so smoothly and then I realised that the Jim Coates article in the June issue of Trout & Salmon had been the foundation for today’s equipment and tactics.

I had made notes and highlighted comments with ticks on areas that I could utilise. These included the set up for May and floating lines, poly leaders, tippet length and size of fly.  The Cothi is very much a stream up at Brechfa but there are deep pools and these need to be carefully fished as Jim explained you need to watch where the fly is going and track its path through the tight runs.

I had opted for my Aleka 9ft 9# to cope with the big fish in such a small river and a light reel with a weight #8 floating line. I had a 5ft clear hover poly leader as the water had risen a bit with the fresh water over the past few days and felt confident with only a 5ft 12lb leader as it gave me great control of the fly in the water.

In 2020 I had caught all my sewin on Teife terrors in the original tying design by Moc Morgan but today I was trying out a size 12 Tywi Terror designed and tied by my brother Peter. His own version with a longer wing and some yellow tied within the black.

As Jim indicates in his article you need to focus on each of the pools as you come upon them and break down the casts to cover all the likely hot spots. I liked the cricket comparison of tempting the batsmen out of their wicket, so tempting the fish out of their rest areas was today’s tactics and this is exactly how it played out. A large fish came out of the deep and intercepted the fly as it swung passed high in the water only 6 inches below the surface. I could hardly believe it! Such a large fish attracted by such a small fly, high in the water.

Well after a twenty-minute fight in a very tight area and able to see the whole battle in such clear water a 10 ½ lb fresh run salmon was brought to the bank. Using my trout net that had no handle and could only just cope with the 75cm fish, it was brought onto the rocky shallows and unhooked in the small puddles. He was then returned after he was rested further in the shallows and strongly swam his way up to the next pool.

I had selected the place and the Cothi pools were full of water, the timings came from some rain earlier in the week and it was a date in my busy golfing calendar. The tactics were drawn from Jim’s advice and Peter’s fly both giving me the confidence to trick my first salmon into the net on the Cothi.  

Fast forward about 4 weeks and we are in Forsinard for a two week Sutherland trouting holiday. We were staying at the new holiday let Riverside Cottage at the junction of the Halladale and the track up to the South West Halladale trout lochs (Sletill, Leir etc). We had selected and booked our beats for the fortnight so the timings were set as long as the Team got out of bed each morning.

We had been visiting for over 4 years so finding the right place does take some research and a lot of long walks to check out the huge number of lochs throughout the Forsinard Flyfishers Club waters. We had fished most of the lochs but this year had a few odd ones to tick off including a couple missed out because of Tyre-gate when I had 3 punctures in one morning. (This was after petrol-gate when I had to drive to Thurso via Loch More as not enough diesel to get back to Melvich!)

A new loch was located after a longish drive and we eventually found the parking spot after some poor map reading (we had no map just my OS on phone). The midges found us easy enough as we walked to the boat but a light wind relieved us from their blood sucking biting. The boat was leaking so all three of us would be bank fishing which we were all happy to do as it was accessible on all banks.

After fishing in Sutherland for 49 years you think we would know the tactics required and have the best equipment possible but we learn new tricks each year and always keen to try new ideas. I have mentioned in previous articles that the same flies used in 1973 are still the best flies today in the 2020’s. But the sedgehog  / stimulator patterns that have been developed over the last 15 years are proving to be great patterns to cover all sorts of match the hatch situations.

Pete and MC took the south bank with their 5 & 6# weight set ups while I went alone up the north bank using my 10ft Greys 7# after a broken Greys 6 piece incident the previous week. 

The light wind was from the west so everyone was happy. After about an hour I sensed that the loch was changing, the wind was up a bit, the weather warmer and I was seeing and hearing the odd fish rising. Then within ten minutes the loch exploded with fly life I have only ever seen this in May on the shores of Sheelin with mayfly appearing all of a sudden and then dancing in clouds on the islands that are dotted across the loch. Hundreds of flies were on the surface near the bank coming to life and lifting off the surface.

A large trout was gorging on these flies below the surface about 25ft out from the bank. He barely broke the surface but was moving left and right making the most of the hatch. I tried to match the hatch with 3 options within ten minutes but with no success. I then tried a sedgehog variant that Pete had made for me and after a quick spray of Leeda dry fly, I cast it out infront of the moving trout. For the first time he broke the surface and all his body appeared taking the fly supposedly before crashing back down like some Orca taking a seal off the surface. But he missed the fly completely and never took a liking to it again. Frustrated I ended up taking photos of the fly life and had my lunch to calm down.

Meanwhile MC and Peter were on the west shore drinking whisky and had seen nothing all morning. I was watching them for a while and noticed Peter was on the move but in that instant I saw a huge trout completely leave the water about 60 yards out and seemed to be heading to the north west corner. Peter had seen a big section of calm water in a bay at this NW area, he likes calm water and looks out for them everywhere and has tempted some big fish out of these calm areas with tweaked dry flies (sedgehogs) in the past.

Peter’s comment afterwards “ In fifty years of fishing in Scotland lochs I have never experienced anything like the feeding frenzie of 5 to 8 very large trout in just one area” All I heard was a cry of help or was it an appeal for some netting assistance? Any way it was just too far away but I headed over and hoped that he could cope with the monster he apparently had on the end of his line. By the time I got to the bay he had the 4lb 1oz trophy fish in the net and I obliged with some photos before he quickly returned the trout in good health to the water.

He explained what unusual phenomenon he had experienced and we could still see big trout sipping their way around the bay. Peter tried again and for sure a fish came again in a similar spot  but he missed it for some reason or other but frankly his nerves were a wreck and timings can be affected in such circumstances.

After watching the bay for a while, it calmed down and there was the odd rise but we felt the hatch had finished or we had just spooked the other fish. I had still an idea that the big fish I had seen earlier may be on a tack up to this bay and back to the deep where I had seen him previously. So, I persisted in casting as far as I could out in this southerly direction and keeping my eyes peeled for any movement. My Redington reel with my 7# Rio gold line were working well in tandem with the 10ft rod and casting like a dream.

After ten minutes I saw movement, mainly under the surface but the occasional head appeared and was sipping the failed fliers that were within the surface film. I cast out to about six foot in front of his path and within an instant he crashed upon it and I struck as he turned down wards. We think that barbless flies are better at directly hooking fish and this was proven here as “fish on” was called out. He played out magnificently taking huge amounts of line to the middle of the loch and then jumping before chasing back directly to me.  We had seen his full size a couple of time during his aerobatic display and knew we had another trophy fish on our hands. After ten minutes he was tired enough to bring him gently to the net and Peter was at hand to scoop him out of the water. Using my recently purchased McLeans weigh net he hit the scales at 4lb 8oz and photos were taken while we unhooked the fly and he went straight back to protect his wellbeing.

The tactics we had used had reaped us the rewards of two fish in under twenty minutes both over the 4lb mark. This result is exactly what we had been looking for during the holiday, good sized fish that can be hunted down giving us such memorable experiences. It is not easy one has to work hard: 1. To get to such fish. 2. To tempt them to take the fly. 3. Secure a solid hook. 4. Then playing them successfully to the net.  

 

Comments:

I loved the article I read in the Hatch blog from the USA yesterday Tom describes an evening out fishing the Hex. But his final words: “If you’re standing in the right place at the right time, you might get a shot at one of the biggest trout in the river. And if you’re 100 yards away in either direction, you might get diddly-squat.”  (Tom Davis, Hatch, Results from the night game)

Our dear friend Andrew Lawlan who fished these waters as a youngster with his Father has always stated to us that it’s all about “Right time Right place” and he should know with some cracking trout from the Scourie beats.

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Further thoughts for the future:

• ·        It was warmer this year but is 1^st week in June still too early this far North?
• ·        We had a lot of blank days between us on some notably difficult beats, why? My thoughts are that we are not varying our tactics enough to get to the “Right Tactics” for the conditions and that we need to be using more variety.
• ·        Taking cider as a substitute for water on long walks, classic “school boy error”  by Graham   
• ·        Take less rods but always take a spare on the hill between you, maybe six piece 8#? Possibly too late for this as just bought an ex-demo Guidline Stoked single handle 9ft 4 piece 8#  
• ·        Try different locations over the two weeks as the weather in Dunnet or in the Kyle of Tongue can vary from the Halladale. Also more variety will give a better experiences eg St Johns loch, Watten, Duck loch or Durness limestone lochs.

Long term thought: We need a week in Forsnard and a few days in three other locations  to make sure we are at the right place at the right time.

Lifetime thought: Keep trying new tactics through experience and wisdom from others.

PS: STOP BUYING MORE EQUIPMENT!!

The Early Years in Assynt - 1973 to 1984

 I remember the Bay City rollers had topped the charts and we were traveling north to   Scotland in 1973 the home of the Scottish tartan. We were five in total in the Mazda, older brother Peter (age 17) and his friend Spence, other brother Robin (age 15) and my Mother Myrtle (age 47). I was just 13 and in between schools so glad to leave one but nervous about heading to join my brothers at Cheltenham College in September.

It took us two days to get to Lochinver in Assynt and we set up camp in a field with a toilet in Achmelvich for the first week. It was an easy drive to the harbour to fish for mackerel and possibly hit a salmon on his way up the Culag. But we were here for the wild brown trout within the lochs of Assynt. 

There were no permits, no online maps showing which were the best lochs, no books by Callum Mcleod describing in detail all his favourite places to fish but we had inside information from Peter who had been up in 1972 on a Duke of Edinburgh projec on trout and what they eat.

I remember fishing Beannach, the dog and cat lochs near the Kirkaig and we definitely caught a fair few fish in the rain and in the sunshine. Nothing big but happy enough and the sea fishing was brilliant with pollock and mackerel. I even hooked a salmon one evening but it leapt clear of the water and took my toby with it as the line snapped.

Peter with some nice trout circa 1980

Every year after that we drove the 700 miles from Wales to fish the Assynt waters and gained knowledge of the lochs and the walks into the hills. We discovered Fionn, Cam, Assynt at night and the lochs near Clachtoll. 

But it was in 1976 that I was in my element as Peter and I took the train to Inverness and picked up the bikes that we had posted ahead of us. Rods were strapped to the cross bar of the bikes and we headed for Assynt via beer stops at every bar we came across. Luckily there are not that many, and we settled into Big John’s camp site on the road to Stoer with it’s extensive facilities of one cold tap.

I remember cycling the 2 miles into town for the toilet, the shops, the Culag bar and the cailees. I never got invited back by girls for fried egg sandwiches like my miserable brother who left me fend for myself and ended up sleeping in a ditch on a few occasions after falling asleep on my bike on the way home. We cycled one evening to the Inchnadamph hotel and after a few beers in the public bar bubbled floated the bay by Ardvreck Castle. We had great success and kept a few fish for the pot but after a few beers, tangles in the dark are impossible to sort out so my luck ran out after a few hours. We headed back at 1pm and then the heavens opened with torrential rain and we got soaked on this 10 mile slog back to the tent, we must have been mad!

I remember washing my hair with fairy liquid under the freezing cold tap, dancing in wellies under my jeans and this girl going bonkers after dancing with me for half the night. I redeemed myself explaining that I was cycling and the camp site was very muddy. I still remember that girl from Buckie who had come over to pick her father up from the fishing boats.

Photo here of Graham in the 70’s pre beret so I was 15’ish

We moved to a static caravan on Inverkircaig bay for the next two years after our cycling jaunt to Southern Ireland which was a fishing disaster but a drinking success. The caravan was cosy and at times we had five of us in there, but the fishing was up a level. We fished Fionn, Na Tri Lochan, Graham’s loch, Na Barrach and many more over the two weeks. 2lb fish were tempted out of these lochs but not much bigger. Robin had a 3lb+ fish from the north lochs around Nedd but that was rare. We ate a number of them and on the last day took the whole catch back to Wales but typically on the last day we all struggled but Myrtle was happy with whatever we brought back.

We travelled in style from Aylesbury in our Mum’s Triumph Dolimite

and were introduced to the delight that is Mcewans Export

During this period, we ventured up to Kylesku and took the ferry across as Peter had been taken to some secret lochs there many years before. Three of us headed up hill to the first lochan after about a 20 minute walk and after only about an hours fishing we were turfed off by a Gentleman from the Scourie Hotel and he explained that it was his beat for the day. We were only young and in his tweeds he was a formidable character but instead of heading further up the track we went back and spent the day at the Kylesku bar. What is funny is that we spent 30 years at the Scourie hotel and were on Hush 1 but Hush 2 and Hush 3 were probably empty. So for 30+ years we were the tweedy chaps politely asking poachers to bugger off our beat, too be fair it only happened twice in my Scourie lifetime. 

Robin & Graham on the Inchnadamph track, Rob fishing with his 2 piece roach pole 

The next episode in this yearly adventure was discovering Graham’s loch, we were always late getting going as we had to visit the bakers in Lochinver for our lunch and so headed up, the Kirkaig track around midday. It is a monster of a walk and I was looking at it this year from the top of the Kirkaig stream as it enters Fionn and cannot believe we did it in waders and Donkey jackets while only 18. Anyway, we were a lot fitter as all of us played rugby regularly and there was a degree or two of stamina in those bodies. 

The walk takes you up to the very front end of Suilven and you start fishing the Na Barrach lochs from west to east. There are many lochs and many bays to fish, on this first visit we caught a number of nice trout but nothing over a lb. We had our late lunch at the far end by the walking path up the mountain with its great views of Canisp and the full north side of Suilven. I describe the walk back from here in “The best loch in Sutherland” and the four of us fished and walked using the plateaux to guide us around the mountain.

After the last Na Barrach loch there is a gap and as you descend directly in front of Suilven’s mitre you come across two lochs one small with weeds and another larger loch with a small spit coming out from the south. The other guys tried the first loch while I fancied a big cast into the Un-named loch as its now often called in the guidebooks. My first thought was that I snagged a rock on the bottom despite casting 20ft out but when it happened on the second cast the rock jumped and there was a screaming reel.

 A 2 1/2lb was netted shortly afterwards and although we didn’t stay long that day we regularly visited in the following years with some great successes. Hence my 2014 article the best Loch in Sutherland which tells further tales from the banks of this interesting loch.

The early years in Assynt is also the foundation of “The Myrtle Williams G.F.R. Trophy” a trophy that came about after Sir Gareth Edwards made a fishing programme called the Fishing Race in the 70’s. It was linked to a trophy called the Golden Maggot but had two formats, point for species and a point for largest in species. Clive Gammon and Gareth were heroes of ours, so it was only natural for us to make up our own competition each holiday and Myrtle provided the perfect Trophy. It was a pewter food cover with a silver plated handle from our Dad’s shop T M’S in Llandeilo. 

I have the Trophy in front of me as I type and the first date is 1976 (TGW) when we cycled up to Lochinver and there was mainly trout fishing but in 1977(TGW) Peter and I cycled through southern Ireland and the rules were a point for 1st to catch a species, point for each species and a point for largest. Fisherman running to the pier, beach, loch-side and rivers were seen that year which was hilarious.

I won the first three years of the competition 76, 77 & 79 (1lb 11oz) but Peter came good in 1980 (GPW 1lb 6 oz) with his first solo win. After 40 years we have had 11 different winners with up to 16 competitors in any one holiday.

For the last 35 years it has been the winner of the largest brown trout caught on fly generally during a specific week in June and mainly within the Scourie area. The only hattrick of wins was 91 to 93 by AML with Andrew our dear friend catching some great trout on various green and black bushy flies in between snoozing on the bank and applying copious amounts of sunscreen. But our fishing is not really about trophies and this was just a fun way of looking forward to the holiday and each year someone would produce a programme of the runners and riders for the race which gave great amusement for those who could make it but also the others who had to stay behind their desks or go on honeymoon.

The early years in Assynt was a good training ground for us as wild brown trout fisherman, we learnt the basic needs that are required up here and it was often weather permitting to experiment with dry flies. I certainly realised that cast, retrieve, take one step and repeat was the way forward. 

We would cover so much more water and were always moving quickly to search out new water and new lochs. We did not change flies too often but stuck with the winners of that particular year. 

But I have said in previous articles that the flies we used in the 70’s are still the same as we favour now. The classic Goddards dear hare sedge I used in Forsinard in 2020 was the exact same dry fly I used in 1975 but with better results in 2020 on a calm day.

Flies I’ve used have got bigger for sure as Peter said in his recent article and bushier flies seem to stimulate a rise fished dry or wet. I have always fished with just two flies in Sutherland unless on a boat when I may add a middle dropper. I prefer a heavier fly on the point and a bushy fly on the drop. Perfect pairs are Black Pennel & soldier palmer, wormfly & blue zulu, Watson’s fancy and the teal and green. But newer flies from Ireland such as the Claret Bumble, Brown Dabbler and Yellow Octopus are a favourite these days in the waters of Sutherland.

My dry fly selections have also gone full circle as I now use bigger bushier flies on the surface and very rarely use small cdc patterns. My eyesight has deteriorated so partially a reason but I am happiest with a stimulator or two on the end of my line with one smaller than the other.

In 1982 I got myself a proper job for the first time and after my last term at Thames Poly I thought that Assynt was a journey too far as I signed on the dole only to go and get a job selling “greeting cards” within days of my first cheque. The boys went to Lewis instead in 1982 and then Mr Morrison and the Inchnadamph Hotel in 1983 for one week with the 2nd week at Scourie. 1984 to 2014 at Scourie is another long chapter in our fishing history but I used to visit Assynt and especially Suilven either prior to Scourie or even for a week afterwards in a cottage on the Stoer road.   

There is nothing better than walking down Knightsbridge after your last sales visit to Harrods leaving the crowds behind you and driving 693 miles to the Kirkaig path car park putting a light pack on your back and heading into the hills for two nights and three days fishing. 

You might see the odd couple going to the waterfall and back but once past that turning you won’t see or meet a soul in three days, total bliss. These days you might meet Tony Cave in his compact tent up on Na Barrach!! The occasional walker going up the steep north side of Suilven after seeing Edie the 2017 film with Sheila Hancock.

Back in the day I saw a few geologists in the middle of the rockscape and I am not sure who was more surprised. But they used to spend days out on the hills over a six-month period. Camping was easy and ticks were rare back then even though deer would be around. Port with brandy and whiskey got you through the evenings but generally I would only sleep from 1am to 5am as if the weather was ok it was best to be fishing.

One foolish holiday trip I walked from the Knockan Crag Geology park on the Ullapool road and in between Cul Mor and Cul Beag past Loch Sionascaig across to Veyatte. On the first day I fished Lochan Dearg a Chuil Mhoir on the south slopes of Cul Mor and must be one of the few who have ever fished it and even caught a few tiddlers. 

My camping spot is the red dot right of Shiela H!

I camped above the end of Veyatte on the side of a small loch and was awoken by the noise of a boat engine as someone had come to fish the river between Fionn Loch and Veyatte. 

After breakfast and coffee, I appeared which gave these two guys the shock of a lifetime but I left them to their river and headed off up the slopes of Suilven to fish the “Best Loch in Sutherland”. 

I spent two nights up there and fished all the lochs and ate well. I was due to head over to  Inchnadamph but twisted my ankle with my full pack on. I headed to the surgery at Lochinver got it strapped up and hitched two lifts to Scourie campsite until my room was available on the Saturday night.

The Title of this article was the Early Years at Assynt so I won’t drag on any further, but as you can tell I still have a love for the area and happy to spend days out here if allowed in my busy calendar. The fishing is as good as it has ever been, and you only have to see the Frenchman’s Flicker account https://www.flickr.com/photos/94195153@N08/ to prove that. Stewart at Assynt Angling https://assyntflyfishing.com/  has shown the fun that can be had from the streams as well as the lochs. Even the sea pollack fishing is excellent on the fly if you can find the right spots.

Assynt goals for the future:-

• Day out on Loch Beinne Reidhe

• Fish the Gillaroo loch one last time

• Night out at Graham’s loch with lots of booze and disco

• Buy or borrow a drone to film these lochs

• Take scales and check age of fish caught

Further reading:-

• Wanderings by the Lochs and Streams of Assynt by J. Hicks esq My edition is 1855 

• In Scotland with a fishing rod by R Macdonald Robertson 1935 

• Going Fishing by Negley Farson 1943

• The Adventures of a Sporting Angler by  V Carron Wellington 1952 (but born supposedly Tredwell Williams from the Valleys)  my favourite escapism.

A fish fit for the walls of the Scourie Hotel Cocktail Bar

 

The story starts back in 1990 and according to my fishing diary I was fishing Airigh Na Beinne as my Scourie Hotel beat that day. I was 30 years old fit from a full rugby season and some sevens and ready to storm up the Nan Uidh track, pass Finlaysons and Buxtons and visit a new secret loch known as Submarine which was east of my beat.

I passed the legendry Fishing aficionado Rosanne Leigh who was taking a friend up to Nan Uidh for some monster fish hunting on some mystery lochs within the beat. I overtook them on the crest of the hill and wished them good fortune and hurried on as I had still an hour to go before reaching my destination.

The day passed by with some stocking of fish into Submarine and then after a fruitless few hours I returned to my stocking area for some light entertainment with fish of around 10oz. I had four nice fish in the collapsible bucket

I managed to cross the stream below Clar Loch More and headed up to 3 lochs which were on my way home but north of the main Nan Uidh lochs. I thought that if they looked deep enough it would be opportune to drop a few in each. As I approached the lochs I luckily spotted Rosanne and kept low in the heather and skirted around to a vantage point where I could watch her fish and slip two of the trout into the mystery loch. Her technique was unusual as although using a dry fly she skidded the fly across the water at different speeds and rarely seemed to leave it stationary for long, something her Grandfather might appreciate possibly. (This fabulous fish in the cocktail bar can confirm that!)

I didn’t dwell long and moved West as the other two lochs looked very shallow and the winter cold would be too much for these trout. After 20 minutes walk I came across a loch at the end of Nan Uidh, it had weed on one side with a deep section that funnelled into a canal which led to a stream into the main loch.  The trout would be happy here I thought and made a few casts to see if there were any fish in here already. I left without a rise and according to my diary had a nightmare climbing down the waterfalls back to the road.

It was nine years later that Peter my brother and I managed to get the Mid Chain beat from the Board Master and I told him the story of Rosanne raising her eyebrow when I mentioned I had stocked this small loch. The new way to mid chain was up the Nan Uidh track cross the river at the lower reaches of the loch and head north where you would pass my new secret loch. We walked with fellow anglers from the hotel that had the Nan Uidh beat and asked if they would be fishing the north side lochs and if we could possibly  make a few casts in this small loch on the north west side. They were happy to let us adventure to the northside lochs as they were not even taking the boat out on the main loch and mainly bank fishing and then concentrating on Buxtons.

It was nearly 10am when we reached the small lochan and tackled up, it is ridiculously small and not bigger than a tennis court. We chose sides with Pete on the north shore and I on the south west area which had a lot of weeds for the first 10 yards. I was dry fly drifting with a small deer hair sedge and covering the water by twitching it in Miss Leigh style. As Peter recounts I announced after 15 minutes “there’s no fish in here” and barely as I finished the sentence a huge head rose out of the water and sunk back down with my fly. I was alert at this time of day and struck well into the fish who then exploded into life and I started to panic at the small size of loch and where he would take me in the oncoming fight. It was ten minutes of furious activity with the gillie of the day Peter sprinting around to support the capture. The fish was not keen to leave the deep water to my relief so he kept away from the weeds and I moved him further east where the bank is steeper and more difficult for netting.

Anyway, after excellent netting technique we had 4lb 14oz of beautiful brown trout on the bank and it was only 10.30am. I took many photos for the glass case man and wrapped the fish in a wet T shirt as it would be another 6 hours before it was back in the hotel tray and then in the freezer. It was a great days fishing and with my largest brown trout in the bag I had a smile on my face all day.

It happened to be Hawaiian night for our group at the hotel that evening and I was astonished to be cheered in and applauded on my entrance to the dining room. Was it my outstanding Hawaiian shirt? No nearly all the guests had become friends over the last ten years of visits and were chuffed that their week would be once again represented in the cocktail bar glass cases from the following year.

I was very honoured to have the loch named after me by Patrick on the giant map as he was keen to have one of his guest’s names on the map. Four Williams brothers had been visiting the hotel since 1985 and the number of days they have collectively fished the Scourie waters must be astronomical. Two glass cases were ordered and as my Beat that day was Mid Chain it should have that within the capture description. So naturally it creates confusion that a Loch Williams caught fish is on Mid Chain and not Nan Uidhe, something for the Boardmaster to tackle each week I guess!!

My glass case is on the wall in our dining room and is in full view from the kitchen which keeps a smile on my face in these dark days of lockdown. I just redecorated the room and brought down the case while painting and this inspired the story. The other case is in the Scourie Hotel cocktail bar, the new bar iis a great improvement and my fish sits low down on the short wall. It had its pride of place directly above the bar for 15 years, I just wished it was open in July as we passed as the grand range of cased fish here is very inspiring and we were thirsty.

THOUGHTS:

·       9 years too long to be the fish I had stocked?  a nice thought though

·       Why did it take me 9 years to return? My diary shows I was too busy fishing other beats

·       Was it a known big fish loch previously? Rosanne knew about the possibility of it but I had not heard any other rumours. Fish over 5lb have been lost in here since!

·       Size of the loch! Amazing how a fish can grow so big in such a space

·       Applauding a big fish became customary in our Hotel week after this surprising occasion and I miss the camaraderie we had in the 90’s and 00’s

·       The Board Master knows nothing! But I’m happy with that fact 😁

The Early Days

The year was 1983 and I was twenty seven years old, single and a proud house owner. I had been coming to Sutherland for over ten years in pursuit of the brown trout and now it was time to say goodbye to camping and static caravans and stay at the famous Scourie Hotel. A visit a few years earlier which went as far as the entrance of the hotel where six huge stuffed trout adorned the walls of the entrance, and were all caught by the same angler, from the same loch, on the same day! I knew this was the place for me.

My brother Robin and I booked bed and breakfast, but it soon became apparent that there were few other choices for dinner, so we ate in the hotel that first night. Dress code was relatively formal, a blazer and tie were respectable enough for our fellow guests which included a couple of reverends and a handful of ex military personnel. Our first night was eventful, the gentleman who served us wine was a little shocked when we requested a second bottle of Valpolicella, at £3.30! I wished we had drunk even more at that price! It turned out that our wine waiter was in fact the proprietor Mr Ian Hay who over many years, became a great friend.

Many writers including Negley Farson, Jon Beer, Bruce Sandison, James Babb and Roger Pierce have their own take on this fishing oasis in the far north of Scotland. I cannot compete with their brilliant writing ability so I will just tell you my story as it is.

After our second bottle of red wine on our first evening we were summoned to the map situated in the main lounge as it was our turn to choose a beat for our first days fishing. The Board Master, let’s call him Bob , was an austere character who had sat at dinner immersed in a book in between courses, of soup, melon and mutton with capers followed by queen of puds (a favourite at that time). The Board Master demanded that we showed him our fly boxes, which were full of size 12 & 14 traditional wet flies to which he declared “useless, last week in the terrible gales we were fishing with size two salmon flies !”.  We were stunned and after some issues over our fitness which seemed unnecessary, we were allocated a beat with a short stiff climb and a fly which Bob called his green squirrel tail fly size six, as the weather was looking more favourable. We were prepared for our first day at this auspicious place with a preferred beat and THE fly despite its size, we retired to bed.

 

I would love to skip the next part of our evening but even today I shudder at my stupidity when in the middle of the night I left my single room for a nature break in the shared toilet on the landing only to hear my bedroom door close behind me.

It was late May, very light, and I was naked without my key. At least my bladder was empty. I went slowly downstairs to reception, what did I expect? Twenty-four-hour service? This was not a London hotel with 24 hour service! What sort of a hotel would be prepared for a  stupid and slightly inebriated person who had locked themselves out of their room? I returned upstairs to my brothers’ room and knocked on his door explaining the predicament. I spent the rest of my night on his floor which was cold, and I remained sleepless.

After breakfast we travelled to our beat which was indeed a short but tiring walk. Robin caught the best fish of the day after a matter of minutes on the fly which he had been given the night before in a cloudless sunny day.

People who visit the hotel tended to book the same week or fortnight every year and we got to know Bob over the years, and he became slightly less scary and more friendly year after year. Unbeknown to us some years later he had been tying a selection of his favourite flies for our group and gave us all a small packet of them.

They were beautifully created traditional flies, Silver Invicta, soldier palmers, butchers, red and silver and guess what? All size 12 & 14.

A few years on, he sadly left the hotel in tears as his permanent job had gone and he was reduced to a pension to pay for his fishing outings. His choice was Scourie or his other love Lough Corrib in Ireland. He chose Corrib but as it turned out he passed away six months later never to revisit either place.

If you are reading this then you know what I am saying, it is not a dress rehearsal so fish, fish and fish and enjoy every day because .......?

 

Peter, Michel and our dear departed friend Nigel enjoying a pint at the Scourie Hotel 2005