So, last Wednesday I got an invite to pop up to Assynt for a few days to wet a line that I was more than happy to accept.
Arrived at lunchtime on Wed and fished Borralan. Although the fish were not 'totally on' still managed perhaps a dozen for the afternoon which was great fun. Nothing big size wise but more than enough to keep me amused. Best fly - pink tailed loch ordie....
On Thursday we were due to have a boat on Veyatie but there was a bit of a mix-up and when we got to where the boats were we needed to phone the estate office. This is where it gets interesting.
Where you pick the keys up for the boats is at the head of perhaps a 0.5 mile track which heads downhill to the loch. When we got down there I started unloading my gear, however didnt get phone reception so needed to drive back up the track to see if I got reception where we picked the keys up. Stuff back in the car, pressed the start button ( new car has one of these 'proximity keys' which means you can start the car if the key is close enough by pressing the start button) and off we went. Parked at the top of the track, turned the engine off and tried to phone again. No reception. Though " I'll drive a wee bit further and get reception...."
Pressed start - "key not detected"
What ?
Pressed again - " key not detected"
Oh God, i must have dropped it at the lochside next to the car allowing the car to start and me drive away without the key ! Now I am 0.5 miles away , cant start the car, have no spare key and cant even lock the car.
Ran back down to the loch in my waders - no key to be found ( at least i hadn't ran over it which was a small mercy - as otherwise i'd be in real trouble)
Ran back to the car - slowly as it was uphill and sunny !
Jumped into the car - " key not detected"
went through all the boot contents, checked under the seats - nothing
Tried the start/stop again - the car started ?!?!??
Turns out the key was in the bottom of one of my wader jacket pockets but as my jacket has 6 pockets i missed it. The reason the car couldn't 'see' the key was i had my mobile phone in one of my other pockets and it was interfering with the signal....
Lesson 1 - technology is a pain in the .......and you can start and then drive away a car without having a key on board !
After that nightmare had the rest of the day on Loch Cam. Of course fishing was really hard as it was very hot, sunny and there was no wind.
At least we didn't blank, although it was a close run thing.....
Thursday night opted to leave my waders to dry under an open porch at the cottage.
Friday morning, went to put the waders on , looked at the left foot. Looked again. What's wrong with the fabric ? It looks......MOUSE ATTACK. Uuuuuuuuurgh. The little........
Had they nibbled the material enough to make it leak ? That was soon answered when i stood in Loch Borralan .....
Lesson 2 - never leave your waders outside
Still , at least the fish were biting !
Which brings me to:
Lesson 3 - the best lochs are sometimes the ones right next to the roadside, just where you least expect them
