This year’s trip to Assynt is brought to you by the expressions ‘is it
’ and ‘what’s the plan
’.
Apologies to my compatriots from this trip if I’ve borrowed any of your photos from the trip; many are better than mine or have stuff I’ve missed when a camera wasn’t handy. With that out of the way.... let the story telling begin.
Once again we headed north to Assynt for the annual June gathering. After heading off from my place near Beauly on the Saturday morning we headed initially for Ullapool. A cooked breakfast at the Frigate Cafe & Bistro in Ullapool set us up for the day. If you’re in the area its really well worth a visit
http://www.ullapoolcatering.co.uk/ Following some supplies shopping we headed for Lochinver and picked up our weekly tickets at the Tourist Office. Heading off to the harbour we came across windknot where (Michael) was already terrifying the yachties with his back casts as he scoured the harbour area for some fish.
It was damn cold and windy when we arrived in Lochinver and by the time we got to the cottage in Drumbeg it wasn’t much better. Undeterred, cars were unpacked and float tubes assembled for a short session on Loch Drumbeg where plenty of free rising trout of the three to the pound size are to be found. Well, usually. I fished hard and managed a dozen wee trout before deciding a nice warm coffee and a dram were more appealing than the prospect of frozen hands and man vegetables. It wasn’t warm out.
Decision was made to hit the salt on the Sunday so we all headed off to bed nice and early without touching a drop of alcohol. Pure dead honest we did.
On Sunday at the ‘Bay of Pigs’, our nickname for one of the better Pollock marks on that bit of coast, the motley crew started fishing whilst trying to get over Lee’s unusual dress sense......
Lee was the first to hook into a Pollock and what a belter it was for his first Pollock on the fly.
Sport was unusually slow; a few picked up here and there but not the usual fast action with rod benders.
Deciding that it just ‘had to be done’ our Kev (in his honorary role as the Robson Green extreme fishing lookalike) made for the salt in his float tube for some extreme fly fishing. Certainly he looked pretty comfortable out there and very shortly he was into a Pollock that ran him pretty ragged in the kelp beds.
Successfully returned I wondered if it was the first Pollock to be caught from a tube with a fly rod in the UK? I don’t know of it being done before.
Not to be outdone, our equally intrepid dresser windknot got out there in his inflatable kayak and got into a fish too. I though he looked a wee bit like a floating advert for Burberry wading jackets..... But, then again, he was pretty visible in case the worst happened.... Our Kev kept him under control whilst the wind picked up:
Monday we had three boats booked out on Loch Assynt. The Assynt Angling Group now has three boats on the loch following the loss of Loch Ailsh from their fishings. Seems likely that the proprietor of the Ailsh fishings may also withdraw from the protection order too, which is a great shame for all visitors as Ailsh is a superb water and undoubtedly my favourite loch in the area. Anyway, Euan and I had the ‘new’ boat based at the Lochinver end of the Loch. Things got off to a bad start.
My nice new downrigger didn’t fit the boats gunnels which really pissed me off something chronic as I really wanted to (finally) get to use it. The sun climbed further and brighter into the sky which didn’t help, and with the wind chopping and changing direction faster than many a member of the fairer sex changes their minds when out shopping my mood got worse. Things didn't improve as the day progressed, but I did try to smile.....
Conditions were, quite simply, shit. It was a struggle to catch even a small trout on the fly and whilst the boats offered on the Loch are very stable they’re a pain in the arse to get a consistent drift in differing (or any) wind conditions. You must have a drogue and know how to use it. Eventually, Euan and I made the right decision and beat a retreat off the water. A good decision only ruined by our landing just in time to meet the world’s best angler on the shoreline. Well, that’s what he said he was.
Despite his undoubted ability as a tempter of great fish with nothing but a pin, some string and a cane I was in such a foul mood that I was having
very uncharitable thoughts about making the world a better place by chucking him in the Loch with some stones attached to him for good measure when... oddly enough...he legged it. Probably just as well.
I’ll leave the others to add their two cents about their day on Assynt, couple of cracking stories in there I believe.
Tuesday dawned and we hit the salt again. Sport was still slow. I caught naff all.
But Euan beat his personal best Pollock on the fly twice. Git.
Wednesday.... salt again for me and Euan whilst others headed to the hills. I nipped into Lochinver and cancelled two out of three boats booked on Assynt for Thursday as the Monday had been such a shit day. Euan and I decided we would still give it a go and retained the Inchnadamph boat. After visiting the Lochinver Pie Shop (you just have to go there) we made it to the ‘Bay of Pigs’ and this time I actually managed to get a fish or two!
My nice new Orvis Access 9’ #9wt proved to be very effective and the Encounter plastic reel more than ‘man enough’ for the job. Honour satisfied, Euan and I headed back for dinner at the hotel in Drumbeg and worked that indulgence off with an evening of tubing on Drumbeg which was great fun with loads of nice wee fish going nuts on olives.
Thursday dawned windy, although we had reservations about the wind direction and its strength we headed out onto Assynt with hopes high. After I got my head around getting that damn boat to drift ‘properly’ Euan and I had some great fun with brownies up to just under a pound in a ‘proper’ big wave. Unusually, we turned no big fish.
As it was a tad 'breezy' we stopped at the castle for lunch and had a chuck at the trout rising in the bay:
There are worse places to have a bite to eat:
Friday was ear-marked as a ‘tubing day for Euan and I, initially the plan was to ‘hit’ a couple of lochs other than Loch Cul Fraoich – but we ended up fishing the biggest loch on the Stoer peninsula. That wind we had on the previous day came back with a vengeance and much ‘flippering’ was needed to just hold station at times. The others joined us early afternoon after another wee adventure they’re better placed to tell the story off than I, but at one point there was five of us ‘tubing Cul Fraoich with mixed results. Euan had a belter of around 17 inches and I managed three to about a pound – but all early on in the day. I had to cut my session short as I got a really bad cramp in my right leg. The short 100 yards back to the shore were utter torture so I did the honourable thing after making it back to the shore... I sat down and took in the scenery and had a chat with another angler who was shore fishing. He had caught nothing and had been there since dawn. He hadn’t seen a float tube before – I got the feeling he had been out in the hills for a
very long time – and was curious about how they worked. Euan made his way back, beaming from ear to ear having had a decent trout on Cul Fraoich for the first time.
Tired, we beat a retreat back to the cottage did some cleaning and tidying and reluctantly packed the Alfa ready for a last days fishing on Staurday on Loch Awe before heading home.
Saturday dawned with almost perfect conditions, the first time all week. A gentle warm breeze with a nicely overcast sky was properly promising and when Euan and I arrived at the Loch more Mayfly than you could believe were on the ‘wing’. I haven’t seen that many Mayfly for years.
With a gentle breeze dapping was out, so we gently drifted down the loch pulling wets and in some cases fishing them as ‘dries’.
In a nutshell I could wax lyrical about that day, it was fabulous. I’ll let the photos tell the story.
A perfect way to end what was, in many ways, an often character building but enjoyable week.
Cheers boys - it was a blast
H