We visited last year, I took 2 sea trout off the Saltings which was 2 more than my husband! 😂. Having seen this video we regret not venturing up the river as far as this and certainly we’ll try that next time. We came to Lewis twice last year, 1st in June (my theory of most daylight hours and anti midge season) only went partially to plan due to the heatwave and consequently no water in the rivers and Sept it didn’t stop raining. Your videos are inspirational. My husband bought me the Shakespeare rod you tried out in an earlier video. I bought him one in return for Xmas. By the by, the mention of a Bonio brought back many happy childhood memories of my Border Collie who loved them. Had no idea they were still in existence. Thanks Phil.
You did better than me Linda but I'm sorry to have missed bumping into you! June is early to be fishing the rivers but is a great time of year for brown trout on the lochs but, as you say, no matter when you come then the weather is important. On Gress it seems like the fish move about quite a bit and especially if there is water then they may head up the river. The Dam Pool is a great example of this - it might be full of fish one day and empty the next and there is no way to predict this until you make the walk out the moor. Gress and the Creed compliment each other well as Gress tends to run off very quickly whereas the Creed might not be at a good height until a day or two after the rain and it might stay at a good height for 2 or 3 days so it is worth considering a permit for both. Did you meet Alasdair and his dog Jem? She is a border Collie and she goes fishing with Alasdair so she is on Gress almost every day. It is also likely that you might have seen John with Rudi, a liver and white spaniel. It was Rudi that got my last bonio that day as I met him just as I arrived and in the end Jem didn't turn up :-) My girlfriend has a border collie called Molly and she is a working dog but she'd be no good as a pal to go fishing as she is just so driven to work there is no way she'd stand still for even a minute and then she'd be away causing trouble somewhere. She is only 2 years old and we still have to walk her on a lead in case she would take off after something, this video was made when she was only months old and had just started at sheepdog school: th-cam.com/video/bSxcdT357Ec/w-d-xo.htmlsi=726ObI1sMAWMgvVJ
Yes, we would usually come at the end of the season but even then have been caught out with unexpectedly dry weather. Went to Yorkshire to fish the Usk and it didn’t rain until the penultimate day, then the river was in spate and unfishable! We did spend most of our time exploring the lochs in June with some mild success - it was just trying to find the access routes with all the natural drainage ditches some were not easy to get to. We’re thinking of August this year (to get away from the holiday invasion) 🤔 We only saw the odd person mad enough to venture out in Sept and no-one with a dog in tow that I recall. Spoke to a chap briefly on the Gress who was ‘collecting’ fish returns, would that have been Alasdair? Love the video of Molly dog - what IS she chasing in the loch at the end?! 😂
@@Linda-o2e2d Accessing some of the lochs can be tricky and some parts of the moor can make for difficult walking but there are also a lot of lochs right by the road with extremely easy access. The loch Molly is swimming in is Raoinebhat at Shawbost and there is a car park for the Norse Mill at one end of it plus, if you will walk a bit, there is also a prehistoric stone circle that is mostly buried in the peat. There are some huge fish in it but, generally speak, you can expect to catch 1/4 or 1/2lb fish. This video from some years back has eagles and the stone circle and so on at Raoinebhat: th-cam.com/video/55MzVIvhvd8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=J2kncTxQ9hFjKbaD The SAA Loch Achmore is also very easily accessible with relatively easy walking around the banks and good quality trout of 3/4lb up to maybe 2lb. Molly isn't really chasing anything at all in the loch but she discovered that if she splashes with her paw then she can try and bite the splashes so this is what she is doing in puddles, burns, and even the loch :-) She will swim a bit but I don't think she enjoys that as much as just splashing.
There were a few people out that day Fred and everyone thought exactly the same and couldn't believe that no one had a fish. On Gress it seems to me like the fish move about a lot so it is possible that there were very few fish in the pools I was fishing as they had moved up a bit, there is a pool much further up the river and sometimes it seems to be full of fish but on other occasions there is no sign of the fish.
Another very fishy looking river …I was anticipating a take and a bent rod almost every cast 😂…always great to be out and about in wild places mate …thanks again
Glad you enjoyed it Rick, it is a really nice river but just the way things worked out this season I didn't get much chance to fish it and I didn't manage a fish.
Thank you Christopher, I'm glad you liked it. Despite my failure to catch a fish it is a fantastic river and access is very easy through the angling association.
🤦♀️ I can’t believe it, we drove past that loch SO many times when we stayed at Brue! We thought it was too close to the road. How wrong can you be? And, having joined the membership for SAA (excellent value) we DID fish Achmore (thought we’d give it a go as we’d seen it in one of your earlier videos) moved a couple of fish but didn’t land any. Both back on the agenda for next time. Thanks for the linked video. I agree, the stone circles are fascinating - I wonder if the people gathered round for a brew and a big bun?🤔🤣
Raoinebhat is not always super-productive but you can usually manage a few wee trout even in less than ideal conditions but there are big fish in it. I've seen double figure sized fish jump and knew of one about 11lb caught but they are hard to get and mostly come to a worm or spinner. Locally everyone says to fish it after dark as that is when the big fish move. The loch looks shallow with all the small islands etc. but it is actually up to 60ft deep in places and even the shallow looking bit up at the car park end is 30ft deep. I think the big trout lurk in the depths. Don't get into it in waders as it drops away really quickly. Achmore fishes better from the boat but on the right day you can manage reasonable action from the bank. It is shallow with weed beds and the like so the boat working around the edges of the weeds will usually pick up 5 - 10 times the number of fish the bank angler will get. The two lochs right in the village of Breacleit on Bernera (NOT Breascleit near Callanish) are also easily accessed and can produce really good catches of quality trout up to around 2lb but, with being in the village, they don't feel at all remote and you have to watch for the power lines. Just outside the village of Breacleit there is a big long loch called Barabhat and you can park right at the end of it. It is a dour loch but will produce really good quality fish up to maybe 4lb with something approaching 2lb being average. The banks aren't especially easy walking in places and with it being a long loch then, clearly, it is a long walk to fish all of it but from the parking spot at the north end you can get a lot of fishing for not much effort or walking.
That’s really useful information Phil, thank you ! I would never had thought it was as deep as that. We went to Bernera but didn’t fish, just had a look around. At Achmore there was another car parked up but we didn’t see anyone and assumed they were round in the bay out of sight. There was an upturned boat on the bank but on investigation it didn’t seem sea worthy! I think another lesson learned is to keep moving and not stay in one place for too long. I’m now tempted to make an extra trip this year just for the lochs maybe come back end of season for the sea trout. We’ll see. Bob (my husband) used to go night fishing for sea trout when there’s a Poacher’s Moon and there’s no better sound when approaching a river of fish crashing about to raise one’s excitement for a successful venture. Once, when I was still learning I insisted on going along with him, my fly was everywhere but in the water ! 🤣
@@Linda-o2e2d There is a boat that lies on the shore at Achmore but the SAA boat is usually moored just off where that one lies so I'd have to guess someone was out in the SAA boat. Keeping moving is a good plan as it allows you to develop a feel for areas of the loch that fish well. Most lochs have good areas, and ones where you'll catch nothing, and you often have to find this out for yourself simply by trial and error. Perhaps instead of making several trips you could come for a number of weeks and fish for brown trout and take days at salmon or sea trout when the conditions are suitable or when you fancy it? I usually take 5 weeks from the start of September to fish and I generally get a good mix of weather and opportunities for both browns and salmon. We don't really have any tradition of fishing at night for sea trout but it is interesting that sea anglers often catch large sea trout off the shores but yet such big fish aren't so commonly caught by the fly angler. I often wonder if some night fishing might not reveal that the big fish are in our rivers but they are simply too wary to get caught in daylight when we are fishing?
Interesting concept - a few weeks? 🤔🤔 Might do that. Less chance of Loganair misplacing our rods, (twice now) most disconcerting! I think Bob resorted to night fishing because I out fished him during the day! In 1983 ( our 1st born was 6 months old ) we were lucky to hire a half mile stretch of the River Camel (North Cornwall ) from a local farmer on the proviso that we’d relinquish the beat if someone wanted to fish for Salmon. £10 for 2wks, my inauguration into Sea trout. Bob warned me not to be too optimistic but was somewhat frustrated as I proceeded to catch one after the other. The baby’s cries announced lunchtime and Bob laughs as he recalls he watched me wade out of the river, lay my rod down and push the baby’s buggy further into the field and promptly return to the river. He said “Oh, my turn to look after little one, is it ?” To which I replied “Well, you aren’t catching anything !” Pleased to report the lad was non the worse for his mother’s brief abandonment! 🤣
I agree :-) Really this video is almost real time in the sense that I only fished for a very short time though I did stop for tea but it isn't in the video.
Wild and woolly river . When's the best time of the year to fish Phil for those of us who want to visit from the continent? Interesting the different strategies for the sea trout. No trout to be seen though in this video. Flies or just no fish there?
I always like to fish late in the season and if you enjoy other sport then you can also shoot wildfowl, grouse etc. in September and October. The Gress River tends to be a late river and so September is probably its best month however speaking more generally then the main salmon run will come (in most places) in July and so a lot of people like to fish at that time. So in a way it is a matter of personal choice but if you are coming to fish for salmon or sea trout then I'd suggest not coming before the middle of July. If you are more interested in brown trout then a lot of people like to fish in May in particular but, again, I prefer later in the season. With brown trout July and August are said not to be such good months and while I am sure there is some truth in this it has never put me off. There was one sea trout in this video but the camera didn't pick it up at all well, it pretty much jumped over my fly line :-) Conditions were good for a fish but for some reason they just weren't taking on that particular day, several people were out fishing and I don't think anyone had a fish and I've no idea why. It is also the case that I really didn't fish for very long at all, the video is probably about as long as my actual fishing time, so I didn't put in much effort on the day and I could have worked upstream a bit to see if I could find a fish willing to grab the fly but I only had very limited time.
That is a good catch, especially this past season though I think parts of Ireland did better with water at just the right time which was good. I only fished a few days for salmon this past season but like you it was a sinking line and a heavy tube that did the job for me.
We visited last year, I took 2 sea trout off the Saltings which was 2 more than my husband! 😂. Having seen this video we regret not venturing up the river as far as this and certainly we’ll try that next time. We came to Lewis twice last year, 1st in June (my theory of most daylight hours and anti midge season) only went partially to plan due to the heatwave and consequently no water in the rivers and Sept it didn’t stop raining. Your videos are inspirational. My husband bought me the Shakespeare rod you tried out in an earlier video. I bought him one in return for Xmas.
By the by, the mention of a Bonio brought back many happy childhood memories of my Border Collie who loved them. Had no idea they were still in existence. Thanks Phil.
You did better than me Linda but I'm sorry to have missed bumping into you! June is early to be fishing the rivers but is a great time of year for brown trout on the lochs but, as you say, no matter when you come then the weather is important. On Gress it seems like the fish move about quite a bit and especially if there is water then they may head up the river. The Dam Pool is a great example of this - it might be full of fish one day and empty the next and there is no way to predict this until you make the walk out the moor. Gress and the Creed compliment each other well as Gress tends to run off very quickly whereas the Creed might not be at a good height until a day or two after the rain and it might stay at a good height for 2 or 3 days so it is worth considering a permit for both. Did you meet Alasdair and his dog Jem? She is a border Collie and she goes fishing with Alasdair so she is on Gress almost every day. It is also likely that you might have seen John with Rudi, a liver and white spaniel. It was Rudi that got my last bonio that day as I met him just as I arrived and in the end Jem didn't turn up :-) My girlfriend has a border collie called Molly and she is a working dog but she'd be no good as a pal to go fishing as she is just so driven to work there is no way she'd stand still for even a minute and then she'd be away causing trouble somewhere. She is only 2 years old and we still have to walk her on a lead in case she would take off after something, this video was made when she was only months old and had just started at sheepdog school: th-cam.com/video/bSxcdT357Ec/w-d-xo.htmlsi=726ObI1sMAWMgvVJ
Yes, we would usually come at the end of the season but even then have been caught out with unexpectedly dry weather. Went to Yorkshire to fish the Usk and it didn’t rain until the penultimate day, then the river was in spate and unfishable!
We did spend most of our time exploring the lochs in June with some mild success - it was just trying to find the access routes with all the natural drainage ditches some were not easy to get to.
We’re thinking of August this year (to get away from the holiday invasion) 🤔
We only saw the odd person mad enough to venture out in Sept and no-one with a dog in tow that I recall. Spoke to a chap briefly on the Gress who was ‘collecting’ fish returns, would that have been Alasdair?
Love the video of Molly dog - what IS she chasing in the loch at the end?! 😂
@@Linda-o2e2d Accessing some of the lochs can be tricky and some parts of the moor can make for difficult walking but there are also a lot of lochs right by the road with extremely easy access. The loch Molly is swimming in is Raoinebhat at Shawbost and there is a car park for the Norse Mill at one end of it plus, if you will walk a bit, there is also a prehistoric stone circle that is mostly buried in the peat. There are some huge fish in it but, generally speak, you can expect to catch 1/4 or 1/2lb fish. This video from some years back has eagles and the stone circle and so on at Raoinebhat: th-cam.com/video/55MzVIvhvd8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=J2kncTxQ9hFjKbaD The SAA Loch Achmore is also very easily accessible with relatively easy walking around the banks and good quality trout of 3/4lb up to maybe 2lb. Molly isn't really chasing anything at all in the loch but she discovered that if she splashes with her paw then she can try and bite the splashes so this is what she is doing in puddles, burns, and even the loch :-) She will swim a bit but I don't think she enjoys that as much as just splashing.
The river looked n fine fettle, very surprised you didn't get a few pulls Philip.
There were a few people out that day Fred and everyone thought exactly the same and couldn't believe that no one had a fish. On Gress it seems to me like the fish move about a lot so it is possible that there were very few fish in the pools I was fishing as they had moved up a bit, there is a pool much further up the river and sometimes it seems to be full of fish but on other occasions there is no sign of the fish.
Another very fishy looking river …I was anticipating a take and a bent rod almost every cast 😂…always great to be out and about in wild places mate …thanks again
Glad you enjoyed it Rick, it is a really nice river but just the way things worked out this season I didn't get much chance to fish it and I didn't manage a fish.
Beautiful water. Relaxing video. Well done!
Thank you Christopher, I'm glad you liked it. Despite my failure to catch a fish it is a fantastic river and access is very easy through the angling association.
🤦♀️
I can’t believe it, we drove past that loch SO many times when we stayed at Brue! We thought it was too close to the road. How wrong can you be?
And, having joined the membership for SAA (excellent value) we DID fish Achmore (thought we’d give it a go as we’d seen it in one of your earlier videos) moved a couple of fish but didn’t land any. Both back on the agenda for next time.
Thanks for the linked video. I agree, the stone circles are fascinating - I wonder if the people gathered round for a brew and a big bun?🤔🤣
Raoinebhat is not always super-productive but you can usually manage a few wee trout even in less than ideal conditions but there are big fish in it. I've seen double figure sized fish jump and knew of one about 11lb caught but they are hard to get and mostly come to a worm or spinner. Locally everyone says to fish it after dark as that is when the big fish move. The loch looks shallow with all the small islands etc. but it is actually up to 60ft deep in places and even the shallow looking bit up at the car park end is 30ft deep. I think the big trout lurk in the depths. Don't get into it in waders as it drops away really quickly. Achmore fishes better from the boat but on the right day you can manage reasonable action from the bank. It is shallow with weed beds and the like so the boat working around the edges of the weeds will usually pick up 5 - 10 times the number of fish the bank angler will get. The two lochs right in the village of Breacleit on Bernera (NOT Breascleit near Callanish) are also easily accessed and can produce really good catches of quality trout up to around 2lb but, with being in the village, they don't feel at all remote and you have to watch for the power lines. Just outside the village of Breacleit there is a big long loch called Barabhat and you can park right at the end of it. It is a dour loch but will produce really good quality fish up to maybe 4lb with something approaching 2lb being average. The banks aren't especially easy walking in places and with it being a long loch then, clearly, it is a long walk to fish all of it but from the parking spot at the north end you can get a lot of fishing for not much effort or walking.
That’s really useful information Phil, thank you ! I would never had thought it was as deep as that. We went to Bernera but didn’t fish, just had a look around. At Achmore there was another car parked up but we didn’t see anyone and assumed they were round in the bay out of sight. There was an upturned boat on the bank but on investigation it didn’t seem sea worthy! I think another lesson learned is to keep moving and not stay in one place for too long.
I’m now tempted to make an extra trip this year just for the lochs maybe come back end of season for the sea trout. We’ll see.
Bob (my husband) used to go night fishing for sea trout when there’s a Poacher’s Moon and there’s no better sound when approaching a river of fish crashing about to raise one’s excitement for a successful venture. Once, when I was still learning I insisted on going along with him, my fly was everywhere but in the water ! 🤣
@@Linda-o2e2d There is a boat that lies on the shore at Achmore but the SAA boat is usually moored just off where that one lies so I'd have to guess someone was out in the SAA boat. Keeping moving is a good plan as it allows you to develop a feel for areas of the loch that fish well. Most lochs have good areas, and ones where you'll catch nothing, and you often have to find this out for yourself simply by trial and error. Perhaps instead of making several trips you could come for a number of weeks and fish for brown trout and take days at salmon or sea trout when the conditions are suitable or when you fancy it? I usually take 5 weeks from the start of September to fish and I generally get a good mix of weather and opportunities for both browns and salmon. We don't really have any tradition of fishing at night for sea trout but it is interesting that sea anglers often catch large sea trout off the shores but yet such big fish aren't so commonly caught by the fly angler. I often wonder if some night fishing might not reveal that the big fish are in our rivers but they are simply too wary to get caught in daylight when we are fishing?
Interesting concept - a few weeks? 🤔🤔 Might do that. Less chance of Loganair misplacing our rods, (twice now) most disconcerting!
I think Bob resorted to night fishing because I out fished him during the day!
In 1983 ( our 1st born was 6 months old ) we were lucky to hire a half mile stretch of the River Camel (North Cornwall ) from a local farmer on the proviso that we’d relinquish the beat if someone wanted to fish for Salmon. £10 for 2wks, my inauguration into Sea trout. Bob warned me not to be too optimistic but was somewhat frustrated as I proceeded to catch one after the other. The baby’s cries announced lunchtime and Bob laughs as he recalls he watched me wade out of the river, lay my rod down and push the baby’s buggy further into the field and promptly return to the river. He said “Oh, my turn to look after little one, is it ?” To which I replied “Well, you aren’t catching anything !” Pleased to report the lad was non the worse for his mother’s brief abandonment! 🤣
It's important to have regular tea and banonio breaks, fish or not.
I agree :-) Really this video is almost real time in the sense that I only fished for a very short time though I did stop for tea but it isn't in the video.
Wild and woolly river . When's the best time of the year to fish Phil for those of us who want to visit from the continent? Interesting the different strategies for the sea trout. No trout to be seen though in this video. Flies or just no fish there?
I always like to fish late in the season and if you enjoy other sport then you can also shoot wildfowl, grouse etc. in September and October. The Gress River tends to be a late river and so September is probably its best month however speaking more generally then the main salmon run will come (in most places) in July and so a lot of people like to fish at that time. So in a way it is a matter of personal choice but if you are coming to fish for salmon or sea trout then I'd suggest not coming before the middle of July. If you are more interested in brown trout then a lot of people like to fish in May in particular but, again, I prefer later in the season. With brown trout July and August are said not to be such good months and while I am sure there is some truth in this it has never put me off. There was one sea trout in this video but the camera didn't pick it up at all well, it pretty much jumped over my fly line :-) Conditions were good for a fish but for some reason they just weren't taking on that particular day, several people were out fishing and I don't think anyone had a fish and I've no idea why. It is also the case that I really didn't fish for very long at all, the video is probably about as long as my actual fishing time, so I didn't put in much effort on the day and I could have worked upstream a bit to see if I could find a fish willing to grab the fly but I only had very limited time.
Had a fair season 16 outa 24on a small Irish spate river.the right fly and size using fast sink line seemed to work when others couldn't touch a fish
That is a good catch, especially this past season though I think parts of Ireland did better with water at just the right time which was good. I only fished a few days for salmon this past season but like you it was a sinking line and a heavy tube that did the job for me.