Return to the Highlands - Part 2

Peter asked me to post a summary of what happen at Corriekinloch after he left us on Sunday. The main features of the second week were that we started to catch a few, consistently larger fish from the bank of Loch Shin, mostly by fishing a little deeper than we had been doing and using some less traditional flies such as bead headed lures. Interestingly most fish still took the dropper which for me was usually a Golden Olive Bumble but it seemed as if the weighted lure made a difference in presentation that attracted bigger fish.

Lovely looking Fish from the tiny stream outside the house

Fish of about 1lb 4oz from Loch Shin

Phil experiencing tough going

We also hiked to a much more distant hill loch. This was tough going, taking us some two hours to cover about five miles to get there. The picture on the right gives an idea of the terrain. The Loch is called Loch Bealach a Mhadaidh. We decided to go there on a tip from some anglers who called at the house, they were heading into the hills themselves and advised us of this as a good option. It was a wonderful place, directly under a hill called Conival west of Ben More. We watched a Golden Eagle mob an Osprey and chase it off. We all caught trout and I had a red letter day with eight between 10 and 12oz and innumerable smaller fish. Almost all the fish I caught were on Sedgehoges which for me was probably the most productive fly of the whole trip. These were often taken within seconds of landing in the heavy chop produced by the strong Easterly wind. We were all exhausted when we got back, but it was a great day. Other than that we continued to fish hard everyday until late into the evening, we explored some areas of Loch Shin which were new to me, the loch is vast and has miles of fishing which rarely if ever sees a bank angler. We had a tough, windy but very enjoyable day on Loch Merkland with Phil and Kev taking good fish and lots of small ones. Loch Craggie remained poor and the River became very difficult to fish because a strong and cold downstream wind, though Kev had some success using a French Leader set up and heavy nymphs.

                                    Loch Bealach a Mhadaidh

Overall we had a great couple of weeks, caught loads of fish, though nothing huge, got eaten alive by midges and had a great time. For those who have never tried it I recommend highland fishing. The fish may not be the biggest but the places you can catch them will make your heart sing.