[Ben Dixon]

Thought I'd post a few pics from out Assynt trip last week.

Trout fishing was fairly good, we fished Asynt twice, Ailsh and a few puddles with funny Scottish names.  Very few sea trout about at the usual marks but we did turn up some nice pollock.

Week started off with a days trout fishing (read playing with new toys) on the Ness, once again the conditions were not great but we caught a few reasonable trout


Hamish trying to break my new Helios 15'er


Bumpy second day on Assynt, this is about as cheery as "boat bitch" got all day    The boats really are not the best in a blow, getting any sort of reasonable drift was almost impossible but we did get some nice trout that day


So bumpy I'm really pleased I had my strap on Orvis inflatable boat seat with me, despite the piss ripping I got for it.



Nice Assynt trout on a Blue Zulu.


Fished Ailsh on the last day, most of the day was flat calm and quite hot, midgies and clegs everywhere but, considering the conditions we did quite well.  Beautiful fish in Ailsh and we saw some decent specimens moving although most of those caught were average highland loch size


A very flat Loch Ailsh

Most productive trout flies for the week were lime sedgehogs, Claret spangles, blue zulus and and the H-LOB, this is a new top secret pattern tied by the boat bitch.

Whilst the trout fishing was good fun, my main reason for heading up north or to the West of Scotland is to fish in the salt.  Sea trout were thin on the ground this year so we spent a good bit of time chasing pollock....


Nice bend in Wills TCR9


Hamish into a nice fish


And the fish, superb pollock at 6lb, the best we managed between us


My best of the trip, 5lber that put up a great scrap on my 9wt Helios


Average size from the best mark, size fish varied with state of the tide.  We were getting the fish on everything from small clousers to EP baitfish patterns fished on Rio Outbound type 8 sinkers or heavy Teeny lines.


Newly hatched dragonfly, not really fishing related but quite cool to see.


Feeding time at the zoo!!

Top trip, think Kev & Stuart are away up there this week.  Kev, I'm holding you to your promise of pictures!!!


Cheers

Ben

[Chiz]

Lol at the boat seat

I used to do a lot of sea fishing at Portlethen and I've never seen a pollock with those beautiful yellowish colour as in the first photo.

Looks like you had a fantastic time though. That brownie is a beauty as well

[Kevin Muir]

Hi Ben

I will take lots of photos, hope I don't loose my camera like last year!

The long range forecast looks the best for over five years, fingers crossed we get a few decent fish.

If not, still a stunning place for a week away.

We will be trying for a few pollock and trying out the dap again with longer rods this year.

As usual, the weather will dictate the plan of action, hot and sunny, Pollock fishing, wet and windy tubing for trout, can't wait.

I will post photos when we get back.

Kev.

[Sandy Nelson]

Looks like a great trip
thanks for the piccies.

SW for pollock looks like a lot of fun,
have to try that more often when I get back, at least I'll
have the proper gear now.

As for the zoo, brilliant photo

sandy

[Hamish Young]

Another excellent 'break' (more knackered when I got back than when I left ) up in Assynt. A trip I had really been looking forward to which more than lived up to the trip in '09. As Ben says, managed Assynt twice this time. I have always liked 'big' lochs as I grew up fishing on that sort of water. Although I moved a lot of better fish to the dap they seemed reluctant to take hold

This years salt water adventures were bloody great fun, managed some really nice Pollock on my trusty 10ft #7wt which served me very well. Here was our first 'mark':

Will and Ben at our second 'mark' which was far more productive:

One of many Pollock in the 3lb class we encountered, took this on a clouser type fly:

These fishing trips are hard on a chap..... Ben before tea in the morning is not a pretty sight:

But getting in amongst the Pollock tends to bring him back to life:

On Assynt and a good brownie nears the boat:

Which turned out to be the most amazingly marked/coloured brown I've seen in a very long time:

A great trip and as I'll be 'properly' moved to the Inverness area by September it's suddenly all a lot closer
I can see regular trips to Loch Assynt and Ailsh being part of my angling future

H 

[Mike Barrio]

Cool ..... thanks for sharing the trip with us guys and for the awesome photos!

Best wishes
Mike

[Rob Brownfield]

Cracking photos indeed...such happy faces

Stunning trout!

[Jim Eddie]

Looked like a great week guys 

 

Jim

[Matt Henderson]

These fishing trips are hard on a chap..... Ben before tea in the morning is not a pretty sight:

Quality photo of Ben.  I look like that most mornings regardless of whether I've been on the Pop or not.  What I like most about this picture is the fact that you've obviously only taken the essentials for your trip judging by all of that fly tying gear!

Cheers

matt

[Stuart Smith]

Ben theres more chance of me getting you photos. Kev as a habbit of leaving his camera on top of his car and driving off TWAT

were heading off tonight to get there for first light to see if theres any sea trout about then off to little puddles in the hills

hope everyone enjoys there week at work(sorry but it had to be said) haha

stuart

[Iain Goolager]

Great fishing 
pity about the Sea-Trout but I'm sure the SWFF was immense fun. Did you eat any of the Pollock?

Iain

[Hamish Young]

No Iain, they were all returned safely to the briney deep - although the thought of Pollock curry was quite tempting
H