Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Hamish Young

This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« on: 26/09/2014 at 08:42 »
I have to say I was a wee bit surprised to see a piece about Sea Trout fishing on Loch Shiel by Stan Headley being advertised in the previous issue of T&S, the fishing has improved (according to my sources) but isn't all that great to support hordes of close formation harmony singing Welsh fly fishers in hunt of Sewin Sea Trout nor some of the lure pullers from central England; or Scotland for that matter.

So reading the article was both a pain and pleasure, a pain it's 'out there' again being mentioned in the angling world and a pleasure as for me it's sort of a letter from home.
 
I grew up in Acharacle at the Southern end of Loch Shiel in a former 'large croft house' called Ardshealach. My parents had bought Ardshealach when they opted out of the civil service and it was they who extended it and turned it into Ardshealach Lodge in the '80s. Yes, the very same Ardshealach Lodge that appears in the article. It's changed a wee bit in the last 21 years but it's still home to me....
I digress.
When I was a lad Loch Shiel was my playground, 17 plus miles of fishing joy were where I spent every moment I could catching Sea Trout, Brownies and, of course, Salmon. It is a fantastic place and Stan's article has only reminded me of what I haven't experienced in 21 seasons, a day afloat on Loch Shiel. So next year I will be going back.... maybe for one or two days, maybe longer. It is a beautiful place with hidden gems around every corner and I miss it terribly.

It was in 1991 that I effectively finally left Acharacle, having already been at college in Hampshire since the autumn of the previous year, and I needed a summer job. It was a family friend who suggested I might take a seasonal Ghillies job on the River Lochy - which I did and I spent three very happy seasons there before ending up in Aberdeenshire when the folks left Ardshealach Lodge and bought the Colquhonnie Hotel. The last time I cast a fly on Loch Shiel was in '93 whilst I waited for a chap to come and buy my last fishing boat on the loch. It was a sad day, I remember stopping at the viewpoint above Dalilea on my way back to Fort William and wondering if I would ever go back.

The way that article in this months T&S 'touches' my history again is the chap who Stan has hung around with on many of his recent adventures in that part of the world.... Mark Hirst. Now as it happens Mark was the previous Ghillie on the beat I took over on the River Lochy when he took a bailiffs job on the river instead.

Small world, isn't it :?

:shock

Mike Barrio

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #1 on: 26/09/2014 at 09:35 »
Nice post Hamish :z16

Rob Brownfield

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #2 on: 29/09/2014 at 07:15 »
Looks a lovely place indeed.

Andy Wren

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #3 on: 01/10/2014 at 10:55 »
Hope I am not one of those midland lure pullers
so many Lochs and Loughs I want to drift on ,even with the old grump Stan!

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #4 on: 01/10/2014 at 18:47 »
I have only fished Shiel once, in the mid eighties. We higher a boat at the Glenfinnan end and spent the day trolling, but did not get anything. Enquires about hiring a boat at the Glenfinnan house last season but apparently no boat available in Glenfinnan any more.

It is a truly beautiful spot.

Hamish Young

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #5 on: 05/10/2014 at 11:38 »
Hope I am not one of those midland lure pullers 
I could not possibly comment :wink
so many Lochs and Loughs I want to drift on ,even with the old grump Stan!
Steady :!

Allan Liddle

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #6 on: 19/10/2014 at 08:49 »
Cracking post H

Hamish Young

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #7 on: 20/10/2014 at 08:39 »
Cracking post H

Thanks Allan  :cool:

Hamish Young

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #8 on: 27/10/2014 at 09:20 »
.... and in this months T&S Stan and Mark visit Loch Arienas on Morvern.

Now oddly enough this is another loch I have history with. It remains the only one of the main lochs in the Ardnamurchan/Morvern area where I have never had a good day despite several attempts  :z10 Somewhere in the depths of Arienas, following my last visit to that loch, lies a Seagull century plus outboard that came apart and literally motored itself off the stern of the boat a pal and I were fishing from. All that was left (other than two-stroke slick of epic proportions) was the clamp that had held the engine to the transom of the boat, the rest disappeared into the peat stained depths and will most likely still be down on the bottom of Arienas slowly dissolving twenty five years later.

That day didn't get any better as the oars both broke when we rowed for shore  :roll

Anyway, if you should find yourself over there at the right time of year then the River Aline is also well worth a chuck and has produced the goods for me in the past. So has Loch Doire nam Mart which is essentially the loch at the head of the system. However, for me, the jewel in the crown on the Ardtornish Estate is loch Tearnait. Back in 'the day' you used to walk out to Tearnait which was blessed with plenty of willing hard fighting 3/4lb trout. However, times may have changed and it may be easier to get to Tearnait now following the creation of Lochan Lub an Arbhair as part of the Rannoch (the burn/river that flows from Tearnait) hydro scheme. Speaking to an old chum from that part of the world he says it's changed significantly since the system was created, but in most ways for the better. Who knows, it's another place I may go back to for a wee adventure.

I just hope Stan doesn't do any more articles on lochs 'over there' that I know (or knew) well as I'll be forced to share an anecdote and my inane ramblings about each water here  :z4

H :cool:

Mike Barrio

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #9 on: 27/10/2014 at 22:15 »
Great stuff H :z16

Folk are going to start hunting for that Seagull now :z4

Marc Fauvet

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #10 on: 28/10/2014 at 11:03 »

I just hope Stan doesn't do any more articles on lochs 'over there' that I know (or knew) well as I'll be forced to share an anecdote and my inane ramblings about each water here  :z4


ramble on, mate. me like !  :z16

Hamish Young

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #11 on: 29/10/2014 at 09:03 »
Folk are going to start hunting for that Seagull now :z4

Aye, I tried hard to save that engine as it fell into the peaty depths but decided my arm was considerably more important  :z4 That was a 10:1 mix engine and a new(er) one was 25:1..... hard to believe we used those smelly two strokes not that long ago. When just about every hire boat on the lochs around use used Seagull engines I used to say that you could always tell which drifts had been popular on the lochs at the end of the day because of the oil slick on the lee shore....... would not happen today :!

ramble on, mate. me like !  :z16

Wilco  :z16

Allan Liddle

Re: This months T&S piece on Loch Shiel
« Reply #12 on: 04/11/2014 at 09:20 »
Yup kind of hope Stan does, great stuff Hamish.  :z16

Seagull motors eh? Farkin nightmare and I'm sure many anglers have a tale or two to tell with them.

Had a couple of them myself, one four horse even had gears on it. But in the end disappointment,frustration and the need to reach for the oars, not to mention the constant covering of oil filled petrol you got on year hands.

Orkney early years for me was where I suffered the most, those who remember the legend that was Ned Spence will have experienced his words of encouragement 'Mor, mor chok, furfuksake more chok.'
Lost a flyline one very late evening on Harray Loch chasing midge feeders when I clipped a sherry and the rod bounced up, landing on the flywheel cutting the line   :cry Still ended well as en route to Sandy next day I grabbed a new line oot Sinclair's and christened it on a four pounder.  :cool:

Was once told that a seagull was found on the beach at Normandy buried in the sand and it started once it had been cleaned up. Aye right they don't start after simply sitting on the back of a fishing boat, what chance after being buried in sand for thirty years. :z4

Still despite it all there's still a hankering for the choking smell and the unmistakable sound of a Seagull motor as it pushes the angler in search of trout, all you need is old waxed gear, black rubber waders tweed hat, silk lines, split cane rods and a wicker creel to complete the picture. Oh and a timber clinker boat of course.

 




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