Assynt : What a great way to spend a week, from Ullapool to Durness, dramatic scenery, self catering in a small bay near Lochinver, bonnie sunsets, sandy beaches, sea otters, awesome pies, bacon rolls, seafood and coffee ..... and fun with the Landy on single track roads!
I also enjoyed an awesome day with Stewart at 'Assynt Fly Fishing' in spectacular surroundings
We don't really do fishing guides in Scotland ........... but we should
There are lochs and rivers round every corner in this area and Stewart's local knowledge ensured that we made all the right choices for a cracking day on the water!
After about an hour's walk in ....... or was it two? ( we were so busy chatting along the way about all things fishing that I really can't remember
) we reached our destination and there were a couple of fish rising in the river, so I set about having a cast or two and Stewart stayed on the bank and started digging gear out of his rucksack.
It's a strange place to fish, as always you get immersed in what you're doing as your eyes follow your fly, the takes, the misses, the trout that come to the net, but when you pause or look up ....... that landscape really hits you - Boom!
Stewart had been busy and the next thing I know, I'm sitting on a rock with home baked cakes and freshly brewed coffee ..... does life get any better
And to top this off, when we moved further upstream we came across some delicious wild strawberries for dessert
The trout were mainly fairly small, as you would expect in the hills ( some even smaller
) but we caught plenty and both had a cracker or two to get excited about.
Stewart was having a ball fishing wets on his fibreglass 2wt, so I felt somewhat over-gunned with my 5wt rod and wished I'd taken my usual #3 ...... but not to worry, I was still having loads of fun with all the splashy rises to my dries!
In fact we were having so much fun on the river, we lost track of time and headed on up to the loch a bit later than planned
It was a tad breezier up here and I was now glad I had the 5wt .... Casting into the wind I soon got into a nice trout or two
An awesome day out in great company ........... Thanks once again Stewart, I'll be back
If you are heading for Assynt ...... you can contact Stewart ( Stewart Yates on the forum ) via PM.
Check out his website at
https://assyntflyfishing.com/
