The Best Trout Loch in Sutherland?

After a weekend in Applecross I was ready for some familiar territory and where else better to go than the “best trout loch in Sutherland”

It is a long drive to Lochinver if you chose the scenic route and visiting Sheildaig was a great start to the journey. Glen Torridon was stunning and the hitchhiker that I picked up at Kinlochewe insisted I would save time going via Garve but I dropped him off and ploughed north via Loch Maree and the Gairloch coast.

As soon as I top the rise above Ardmair I know I am nearly there, each mountain I see as I drive towards Elphin reminds me of mad long fishing trips to lochs high up in these hills. At Elphin you get your first sighting of Suilven with its tower at the far end and reminds me of a trip many years ago with three brothers. We walked from Elphin through Cam, Veyatie and then Fionn lochs fishing all including the small satellite lochs to the Kirkaig falls. We caught Char in Cam and 1/2lb’s from the small lochs with a better fish off the end of Veyatie. Splitting up into pairs we were able to test all the small lochans and hot spots for any signs of bigger fish, meeting up at set venues to check totals and what flies were working best.

It amuses me that the worm fly and the Soldier Palmer were the best flies back in 1927 and they still were in ‘79 on this Williams brother’s adventure as well as now in 2013. They were the preferred choice for those trying to catch quantity as well as the odd big one. Dry fly is used but when covering so much water the wet fly has been the popular choice for us.

At Lochinver I stopped to pick up some Scottish pies from the Spar and lamented the closing of the bakery where they made the best hot pies in the world back in the 70’s. At Kirkaig I parked the car filled the small pack with lager, whiskey, pies, rods, reels and my faithful Hardy smuggler . I was in shorts, gaiters walking boots, running vest and had a fishing shirt which was stowed away ready for the time spent fishing.

It took me 45 minutes to see the full expanse of Fionn Loch and another twenty to hit the stream on the north side. It was here that my plans changed completely, it was a glorious sunny day with no clouds to be seen and no haze to block the views. So I decided to climb Suilven and descend the north side and skirt the Na Barrack lochs before fishing “the best trout loch in Sutherland”. It was a very V C Wellington* type of thing to do and was probably my inspiration but I felt no urge to rush to Scourie to be there in time for dinner. 

A can of 1664 was much needed motivation half way up the Suilven path climb but it gave me time to look back west and south and scan the lochs fished in my youth. Na Tri Lochan, Sionascaig, Loch Fionn, Veyatie and the wonderful connecting stream. At the top I shared my whiskey with some fellow walkers who were surprised to find a fisherman amongst the completed ascent party. When they left I rested and fell asleep for a good 30 minutes before my phone rang with my brother Peter enquiring as to where his clothes were as dinner at the Scourie Hotel was approaching. It was 3pm and I was a least 3 hours from my car and I had yet to start fishing so it was unlikely they would arrive before 9pm. The Scourie Hotel Board Master would be wearing jeans on his 1^st night on duty, a first for him but I am sure not for the Hotel.

The views north as you descend the steep path were fantastic, Cansip stood out so clearly as did   the lochs between it and Loch Assynt which I had fished one early May when I had crossed from Kirkaig to Inchnadamph. They are of a good size and hold some good fighting fish which rise to a dry fly on a windy day.

Once at the bottom of the path I traced my way between the Na Barrack lochs and the steep sides of Suilven. There is  a plateau that develops rapidly as you travel west and if you can ignore the great fishing to the north you can travel easily on these giant paving slabs. There are some tempting fish in these lochs though and especially in the main loch I have taken fish of over a pound on many occasions in the last 30+ years in all weather conditions. The Grouse & Green being a terrific fly on this water as well as a Teal & Green.

As you reach the end of Suilven's western slopes the going gets tough and back in the 80's I badly twisted an ankle on miss placing my footing amongst the mini hillocks. It was an injury that cut short a 4 night trip from Elphin to Kylesku, I managed to limp to the Lochinver surgery with some help from a hill walker.  If you do have dodgy ankles which I now have after 40 years of rugby and walking the hills do wear ankle bracelet supports. Even with good boots it is worth having that extra support while carrying a pack and balancing with a 10ft rod.

Your first site of The Loch as you leave the Na Barrack lochs. Taken in 1979 and the quality shows

As you reach the rise at the end of the Na Barrack lochs you get your first sight of “The Loch”, on this day the sun was shining in the west and it was a perfect picture with a slight breeze from the North West and not a soul around. This was our first view of the loch back in 1974 when as a 14 year old I pushed on ahead and as we were passing flicked out a fly just to see if there were any fish about

On the first cast I felt a huge knock and assumed I had snagged the bottom which was strange but on the second cast a 2 1/2lb trout took the wormfly and nearly ripped the small fly rod rod out of my hands, it gave me a terrific fight and was landed as my brothers arrived by the loch side.

We were on our way back to the tents at Achmelvich campsite so there was only time for a few casts for each of us. I carried on with the wormfly for a few minutes with another strong take but this area of the loch is shallow and playing the fish was hazardous among the rocks and the fish released himself easily and the loch went quiet

 

 

1980, I was twenty and proudly wearing my new jacket with friend Doug and bro Peter (PS I wore a Donkey jacket before this)

Peter & Keith in waders and Barbour jackets at the Best Loch in Sutherland. 1979 we think and got lost in the clouds earlier that day only 200 yards from our destination.

 

On this day in 2010 I had as much time as I wanted but in my thinking I would be happy with just one fish to confirm the loch’s status in my mind. There was no sign of rises or movement as I set up my 8ft 6” Hardy Smuggler and set in my new Greys reel which was a Christmas present on its first outing. It was a little large for this rod but the smaller reels have little capacity for backing and when a 4lb fish decides he is boss this rod has little to offer in resistance. Dry Flies drifting on the wind have always done well here so a large size 10 Stimulator was attached to my 16ft leader with a 6lb brown Drennan cast.  

Casting a small 8ft rod after 3 days with my 10ft Sonic can be testing so I false cast across land before nearing the water. The reason for this was that I have caught at least two fish from this loch while just dropping a wet fly into the shallows as I organised myself in getting line out. I did not want this happening again as I wanted a perfect first cast and a rise on the first drift. The Stimulator went out about 20ft from the bank to a place where I had seen a very nice fish many years before (90’s) and where the bank is higher than anywhere else. It was perfect as I waited crouched down in anticipation of the 1^st rise. Striking a fish with a small rod is also totally different fishing wet or dry flies, the tip action requires a much more vigorous jerk rather than my usual pull that had been so effective in Applecross during the week.

After a good five minutes with a bit of twitching and retrieval I conceded defeat on cast 1. On one knee I prepared myself and pulled in some further line before loading the rod ready for cast 2 and covering fresh water with a new drift. The line, leader and fly flew out and caught the breeze and landed delicately in the light ripple, the light coloured Stimulator looked perfectly poised. My concentration was totally transfixed on the task and we waited………

It was not a delicate rise the wild brown trout smashed into the fly and turned aggressively creating a terrific splash and swirl. The line was taught immediately and I lent into the fish rather than the anticipated strike.

It ran.

Then ran some more, way out into the loch not showing itself or even leaping as I had given it as much line as it had needed. At some point it changed its mind and turned back toward me and at some considerable speed, I hand lined the line from the yards of tangled spaghetti in the heather below my boots. The fish then suddenly leapt clean out of the water and showed its true identity as a very large heavy fish of at least 3lb+. Playing of fish can be tedious to readers as George Melly used to say and this one was the norm, on and off runs to the deep and then going left and right I guess in search of weeds or boulders. As this went on I got the fish on the reel and gained the upper hand within minutes.

To be honest I have an amazing memory of catching fish but I only remember the take, the initial fight and maybe a bit about the netting or beaching. But the rest is usually a void and when I try and recall it is a mess of a thousand trouts played. It’s a muddle of hanging on, getting control, looking for the net, getting the net ready, where can I net it, panic on losing the fish, does size matter and then what size is it really!!

Hey no worries, I steered the fish towards the bank 15 yards further along where it was far less steep, descended to the water’s edge and brought him/her closer for inspection. A magnificent specimen, fat and healthy, big spots and a tinge of red left of the eye. 20” with big red spots on the lower edge of its belly, I knew instantly that no net was needed it was the biggest and healthiest fish I had ever encountered here at Graham’s Loch named after me by my brothers and lifelong fishing friends. I released the fly while she was in the shallows and as many fish I had caught in Chile the previous year she darted off into the depths grateful to grow on ready for my further visits in years to come.

Back in the 70's when I had hair fresh face and my faithful Beret

 This loch however is never easy and blank days are a plenty but at least you do see rising fish and even large fish feed in the shallows especially at first light around 4am. It has deep areas and a point that is to die for where 3 bothers and a nephew have camped for a couple of nights in the past.

 I have fished at midnight after driving 697 miles from London one crazy day in the nineties, That morning the deer where unhappy with my lodgings as they barked at my tent at 5am. The biggest I have seen is 5lb+ in the late 80@s, the largest hooked was as described in 2009 but 21” fish have been caught but thin as an eel.

A typical fish from this loch thin, long but beautiful. This was caught on the first false cast and ended up being the only fish that day.

Returned successfully.

 It is fished by many anglers and some like I have been going there over the last 40 years and word has spread through guides and the new licences. But it still has the capacity for 4+ fisherman and you can easily spend a day here but the Na Barrack lochs should always be visited as they have mysteries of their own. My late friend Vince and I came up here in 2006 and had just one fish on my first false cast but we later explored the small lochs to the west and had some fantastic fun on the way back to the Kirkaig. But be careful in 1979 after climbing the steep rise from Fionn three of us got completely disorientated in the cloud and spent 2 hours by a small loch where we rested in our waders and Barbour jackets eating our sarnies and drinking our McEwans.  As the cloud rose we saw Suilven and discovered the loch was less than 200 yards from rested location.

On our last day we would always travel all the way up the loch for the 2^nd visit in hope of a bag to take back to Wales

Three nice fish for our Mothers cooking pot.

 

Suilven’s pillar looks over you always while you are fishing this special loch, at every cast you feel something is looking over you and have that well known feeling the someone is  watching you at all times. I take it as a positive vibe and love the loneliness of the rea especially after spending the previous days walking Oxford St and the Harrods luggage departments. I never feek remote or concened about solitude and if anything fear that my time will be broken by fellow walkers, rock scientists or anglers.

I will leave a whiskey or two under a rock on my next visit and leave it for those dedicated fisherman who adventure out and are prepared to walk the 2 hours and enjoy the best of fishing in the “Best Loch in Sutherland!”

Tight Lines 2014

Off to Draycote tomorrow

Can't wait  cheers Graham *V C Wellington wrote a great book in which he describes journeys such as this but walking from the Culag Hotel to Suilven and back  and there is now a website researching his past see http://www.assyntanglinginfo.org.uk/angling_history_literature for all relevant info,