[Iain Cameron]

More or less last minute, and a substitute for not managing to the Shetland Git the Gether, i'm off to North Uist for a few days at the end of August.

No plan yet, other than accommodation booked for Mon 26th august - Sat 31st. Ferry over from Skye on Mon 26th, back the following Sunday.

Fishing... well, I guess a week's permit from the North U angling club, then lots of roaming around. Improvise, play by ear, just fish whatever feels good on the day/night/morning.

I genuinely know nothing of the fishing over there; i've heard good things. Time to go see

Any recommendations for North U fishings welcome.
And the ferry is cheap (<30 single) so anyone wanting a mini-adventure, pack some "standard loch patterns" (guess which book i was reading the other night) and come along.

It looks like the whole island is fishy. should be fun!

iain

[Eddie Sinclair]

Iain,
PM sent.

Eddie.

[Rob Brownfield]

Lots of Pike on the fly Iain Take a 2 weight and some size 24 fry patterns. Sorted!

[Allan Liddle]

Have a good trip Iain, never fished in Uist yet, but will have to put that right sometime.
Shame about Shetland, but always next time. 

Cheers
Allan

[Iain Cameron]

Well, just back last night from 6 wild and windy days chasing trouts on North Uist. 6 days, 730 miles, a dozen new waters, miles of walking, and lots (and then some) of windy days.

Long drive from Aberdeen to Skye made enjoyable by bright sunshine and the stunning scenery of the glens. Scotland in the sun is just beautiful. Onwards to Uig for the shortish ferry hop across to Lochmaddy, then to the highly recommended Ardnastruban BnB on Grimsaay.

Driving across Uist is dangerous - water on both sides, and you're constantly looking and scanning the very fishy looking lochs and lochans... you have to force yourself to concentrate!


ready to start.

So, day one, headed to a brackish, sprawling water with a few tidal inlets, with the intention of chasing some slob trout. Oh, and of course it was very windy (but only n the 15mph-20 range, which proved to be the calmest conditions of the week!).  Wonderful water - hugely prolific, with snails, flatties, pin fry, little minnnowy things, shrimps, all manner of weed and underwater grasses. And daddies everywhere in the heather and grass.


A long hike to the top of the water, marvelling at the amount of life in the margins (and spooking a fish that left a large bow wave). A fruitless first hour or so hunting. Then found a narrow channel, with  wind lanes running between my shore and a rocky shore across from me, some 40 metres away. A few casts in and a fat 12oz trout took a claret DHS. Great!  Two casts later, and a solid bang. Tightened into a decent fish, which swam, back out of the water, straight upwind. Imitating Paul Young, i remember saying "Wow, that's a beezer" and a few other choice words as it leapt and led me around. Safely netted and weighed at a very healthy 2lb 4oz. Took a size 14 claret snatcher.



closely followed by number 3, a fine trout of exactly 1lb 8 oz



so, 12 noon. that was 3 fish in 40 minutes, for a total of 4.5lbs... i thought I was in for an incredible day, but sadly, that was it. Not a single take, tug, tweak or trout to be seen the rest of the day. I tramped and trudged and waded and watched and waited... Made it back to car, heated some tinned ravioli (dining in style!) then opted to explore another couple of lochs nearby.

One was unfishable - wind in my face; one, from the road, looked unfishable - bonkers weed growth of huge tall stems making grass islands, but I returned later to have some sport in the open areas. SO, back to loch one, and another long hike to fish its nearby cousins. Windy, no fish...

getting dark


time to hit the road


Day one set the trend - bursts of action; shit weather; lots of hiking and exploring to find parking spots/fishable spots; attempts at numerous waters, sometimes fruitless, but lots of enjoyment of being out in wild wild places.

[Iain Cameron]

Day Two, fuelled with another excellent breakfast from Margaret & Stewart at Ardnastruban, I headed off for a Machair style loch which Stewart had recommended. Very shallow and clear, bright sunlight for a change, but again, 20+mph winds. sigh. Nae fish. sigh

Loch number  two for the day was a typically stony, peaty water, and looked promising enough, although the margins were lifeless apart from small black shrimps under some of the rocks. And, for a change, i could park right at the roadside. Fished the lee bank, roll casting with the wind. 2 hours of fruitless casting, again not a touch. A disconsolate trudge back to the car in the squalls. The fishing gods were against me!


kirk and water

Returned to the weeded loch I'd dismissed on day one. Trudged around the soggy bogs to find some open water.



First cast. weed. 2nd cast, a splashy take. hurrah. The margins here were much more lively with shrimp and bugs and wee fishes, which is always a good sign. Crazy winds once more (25mph ish) meant that casting wasn't pretty, but angling down the wind lanes produced a few fish in the 4-12 oz range, which was some good sport at last. And finally saw a rishing fish -the first of the trip! Darkness and the rain forced me home to dry out.

view from the car...



Two days, 5 lochs with very different character- brackish; peaty & stony; machair& sandy; and just plain weedy and mixed up. Quite a remarkable selection and variety.

Next day, thursday, I rose at 5am to try a sea pool at low tide, hoping to encounter a sea trout. The sea pools are where there's and inflow/outflow between lochs and sea, so kinda like sea water river fishing. Hopes weren't high as the reports hadn't been good... but you gotta try. Long story short - a long walk over the sands hunting for structures and weedy pools and enjoying the scenery as the sun rose behind the clouds. I'd definitely recommend a guide for this; it's hard to know where to start, and you're always a bit nervous of disappearing into the kelp.  Fishless again, and time to leave as the tide rose around me. Ah well, it was a different scene.

kelpy & rocky, and sometimes flat and sandy


After a wee snooze and a shower, it was back to the weedy loch of the previous day.

SLX at the ready:


Same as the previous day, some decent action to DHS and wee bumbles, but nothing of any size; I think that loch could hold some decent lumps though, as despite its size, it looks very rich in feeding. The wind killed me; couldn't get the flies in close to the big reed beds, frustrating, but that's fishing!

[Iain Cameron]

day 4, straightforward walk into the hills for some classic peaty, rocky loch fishing; two lochs in the hills, joined by a peaty burn. Did I mention that it was windy.... crazy howling gale at my back made the walk in a bit easier....



not easy fishing, but did get a bit of sport with lovely spotties. Had the Maclean weigh net with me. Remarkable that the fish were either 8 oz, or 1lb. Had two at a pound, and 7 or 8 at half a pound. Guess it's an age/growth thing.

remarkably spotty


and very pretty


they had very pronounced faded black spots on the belly. Quite an odd feature.

this wee one was very blackly spotted


Most of these fish came from fishing off the lee shore where there were small weed beds on the shore, a clear gap, and visible weeds withing casting range offshore. It's all about location location location.

The wind changed from a dastardly SW to a bastardly W, whipping the waves and blowing the rod out of my hand almost. I'd covered the two lochs as planned though, and followed the deer tracks to the car, wind and rain in my face. Soaked. soggy, but cheered by seeing the 4 wild stags ahead of me.

Only an idiot would be out fishing in this weather I thought, as I drove back to the BnB to dry out. Oh, i recognise that car, look there's Eddie "Edfish" 

quick natter with Eddie and his mates, watched them try a few casts before they headed off to seek sheltered spots... and we made a plan to head to a promising locale the following morning, hoping to toast Eddie's birthday with a trophy fish.

for now though, it was time for drying out...

[Jim Eddie]

Great reports Iain, shame about the weather, looks like you had a grand time all the same 

 

Jim

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Iain ..... awesome, thanks for sharing

Cheers
Mike

[Allan Liddle]

Great stuff Iain some crackin fishing there 

[Iain Cameron]

last couple of pics

This loch and I have unfinished business; an amazing setting.



One side of the loch is shallow, sandy, wadeable. It then drops off into untold darkness. That drop off marginal area screams fishiness. The catch returns book shows a lot of blanks, but a few bruisers in there too. And all C&R.

unfortunately that day was a tad windy, and I fished it from 1030 until about 1700 in freshening (!) breezes



Somewhat exhausted after all the weather beating, I needed a pick me up, and asked the locals where I could get some Red Bull. Think something got lost in translation:




Great wee trip, enlivened by some entertaining breezes.



just about sums it up!