Brilliant Caorach, I really appreciate your films, very understated.......the rivers out there look fantastic. Covid permitting, a wee trip might be in order for next year. Keep the videos coming👍
Thank you Keith, if you are thinking of coming then it is well worth dropping Donnie an email on donnie@ohft.org.uk - he is the Angling Promotion Officer for the local fisheries trust and so can provide lots of visitor info. In the end with my videos you only get to see the places I decide to go to so that kind of limits the scope as Lewis/Harris has many hundreds of trout lochs and maybe 30 to 40 salmon or sea trout fisheries.
Lovely to watch this again and reacquaint myself with a river close to my heart. Were you having your lunch above Major, that’s where I remember a hut out at that part of the river? Major, Big Round, Shipton, Allport, The Boat Pool and the Long Pool, a great day out and the type of river unlike anything on the mainland due to the canal like stretches. I never got a salmon out of the streamy run into the Boat Pool but a decent trout on one occasion of about a pound and half! That hole at the outflow from the Boat Pool into the Long Pool was where my father, accompanying Vice-Admiral Drummond who leased the fishing then from Grimersta Estate, saw the Vice-Admiral lose an enormous fish well into the tens of pounds, if not 20+. When you were fishing at about 4 minutes into the video, beside the seat which I think you said your reflections at the end on, that was were, when I was very young and somewhat inexperienced in the art of the rod, I lost a fish off the far bank. I have to admit that I was extremely disappointed and may well have shed a tear or two! We were fishing tiny half inch tube flies, literally just a few hairs of stoats tail around a light plastic tube, quite what the salmon saw or thought it was reacting to I have no idea. The mysteries of salmon fishing!
It is always a mystery to me Calum, salmon are a law unto themselves :-) I was genuinely having a nap in the little hut when I felt a change in the conditions. I think the wind changed direction as I could smell the sea. I cast into the top of the Boat Pool and on maybe the 3rd cast had that wee fish. Lucky break. Lunch was indeed at the top of Major's - I'd often use the hut but with it being such a nice day I just sat by the wee streamy bit of water to eat. I think the hole you are referring to is called the Sniggle Hole and it is a spot that always seems to have fish in it and where I have moved a very big fish but I have to be honest and say I've never caught something from it.
@ Yes it was the Sniggle Hole, I couldn’t remember the name off the top of my head. I do have an estate map of the river naming the pools, which in my teens, having framed it, hung on my bedroom wall, no pop star or fast car posters for me it has to be said, which is now languishing somewhere in the house, possibly the attic. I feel it would be more than my life’s worth to suggest that it goes back up on a wall now, SWMBO would certainly object.
Grand video again- roll on the season! Your bankside path looks very well maintained/provided for; so many clubs- and especially estates- seem to want your money but leave some wonderful water totally inaccessible for the fly-and then declare they are fly-only ! Thanks anyway!
Thanks Tom, we don't have any trees so the banks tend to keep themselves clear though sometimes we get high banks and stuff like that but there is nothing anyone can do about the course of the river!
@@caorach3354 Fair point Caorach but I know several local rivers inaccessible as the feeder streams are impassable-at any rate at a fishable level! Plenty of footbridges where you are......
@@tomjones7593 Yes we are very lucky on this particular river that access is generally good. In very high water there is one area that floods but you can't legislate for everything. However, not all our waters are as accessible and in fact that is the appeal as some of them require a lot of walking over mountains and similar.
Those 'runs' always look so promising to me...that is of course if you've got the right headgear !! As always great commentary, and optimism as ever! 😎👍👍
Great stuff Philip, a wee nap always recharges the batteries...as we can see....😄😄 .... lovely images of a great day out. Something blue always worth a throw. Red rules though. Thanks for sharing great viewing
Thank you Richard, basically I'd given up as conditions looked hopeless and I took into the shelter for a wee sit down. I'd been in there maybe half an hour with the feet up and the eyes closed when I just suddenly decided there was a fish in the stream down the far side of that run for me. As you can see I picked up the rod, sorted myself out, got a couple of casts out, and hooked the fish :-) No idea how it happened but I had a lot of "weird fish" this season and that probably counts as one of them.
Are we going fishing? Hold on 'til I get my rod :-) Thank you for the comment Johnston, it might be a few months before we get back out but we have to remain positive for next year and despite the unusual circumstances this year I did have some great days out.
Beautiful place! As a non-salmon fisherman at the mo, I do enjoy watching yours and others’s videos. Everyone casts across and down. Is there a reason for not casting upstream? Keep ‘em coming 👍
Salmon seem to mostly grab the fly out of aggression and they are well used to seeing things floating downstream with the flow of water. If you cast the fly downstream then it swings across the stream and you can use the current to make it work in the water and this seems much more effective in getting the salmon to make a grab for the fly. In the Hebrides anglers quickly saw that a muddler minnow type fly could be used in the top dropper position to make a wake as it skates across the pool and so this has been a tactic in use for many years - similar to the concept of the "hitch" fly that has recently become common. In some places where the current is very slow then sometimes anglers will cast upstream, especially if the wind is too strong to allow for a downstream cast, and then retrieve the fly quite quickly so that it is moving completely differently from any debris that might be drifting down the river. I'd guess that with salmon being predators so their brain is programmed to grab at things that are "escaping" from them so the anglers job is to somehow tap into this part of their brain and get them to take hold of the fly.
dunno if anyone cares but if you're bored like me during the covid times you can stream pretty much all the latest movies on InstaFlixxer. I've been binge watching with my girlfriend for the last few months :)
It is a 7 weight Michael, basically I've sort of settled on 7 weight for everything though I do have some 4 weights as well that get used for trout or sea trout on calm days. For the most part out fishing always involves something of a battle against wind so when the conditions are anyway uncertain then the 7 weight always gives a better chance of winning that battle.
A quick mention that you have 666 subscribers - Iron Maiden/Revelations number of the beast and all that. But more importantly - the hat is cool. I give ten points for the hat. I know nothing about fish, unless it is battered, so I am focussing on the hat.
Thank you, the truth is I know nothing about fish or fishing as well so that is why I went for the hat look - it gives you and me something to focus on :-)
It worked well for me as, given the conditions, I'd almost lost all hope :-) I think anyone who fishes understands that feeling you get when you know you are about to hook a fish, or in this case when you suddenly get a feeling that there is a fish in a certain spot for you.
I believe in 'extra sensory projection...... Unless it's just wishful thinking....... I mean fish do live in the water after all....... so that fish ?????????? and there may well have been a few of his or usually her pals there as well methinks and hopes! Very entertaining your videos..... I must mention about my Welsh pal I am always quoting/ I really miss him if only for a good argument about fishing. He used to shoot geese in Wick and told me - I had a walk but didn't fish but saw some bloke fly fishing and I got nattering to them and said when we fish on the main tributary of the Spey we have got moaned at because we do a lot of upstream casting which gets results when 'nothing else works' Ah they said we cast in and then 'back up'. Iv'e heard of that I said they cast across and then quickly step upstream. That brings the lure faster across and down whereas we cast further upstream. Our water may well be deeper as well than their's. I was always amused at my pal although an expert he did not know sometimes where his lure was wwhen a fish took it! I once said to him where did that fish take you, he said somewhere up there about between 4 ft and 20 ft up! I fished with a heavier tube and knew roughly withi a foot or two where my lure was although only once ddid I see a fish take the lure and that was on a bright sunny day and the fish was right in front to the left about 6 feet away. Apparently a purpleish blue fly works on a bright day, fished on a short line. I would never bank on that being a firm bit of advice for ever though.
Nice work, Effort equals reward blah blah blah, but in truth you deserved that fish as it was the cherry on your cake, and the cake was nice without the cherry anyway. Great stuff keep em coming sir.
Thank you, you are right that some days salmon fishing is a war of attrition and you simply have to keep at them until one of them is stupid enough to grab the fly.
Brilliant Caorach, I really appreciate your films, very understated.......the rivers out there look fantastic. Covid permitting, a wee trip might be in order for next year. Keep the videos coming👍
Thank you Keith, if you are thinking of coming then it is well worth dropping Donnie an email on donnie@ohft.org.uk - he is the Angling Promotion Officer for the local fisheries trust and so can provide lots of visitor info. In the end with my videos you only get to see the places I decide to go to so that kind of limits the scope as Lewis/Harris has many hundreds of trout lochs and maybe 30 to 40 salmon or sea trout fisheries.
@@caorach3354 , much appreciated. Many thanks 👍
Another great film.
Lovely to watch this again and reacquaint myself with a river close to my heart. Were you having your lunch above Major, that’s where I remember a hut out at that part of the river? Major, Big Round, Shipton, Allport, The Boat Pool and the Long Pool, a great day out and the type of river unlike anything on the mainland due to the canal like stretches. I never got a salmon out of the streamy run into the Boat Pool but a decent trout on one occasion of about a pound and half! That hole at the outflow from the Boat Pool into the Long Pool was where my father, accompanying Vice-Admiral Drummond who leased the fishing then from Grimersta Estate, saw the Vice-Admiral lose an enormous fish well into the tens of pounds, if not 20+. When you were fishing at about 4 minutes into the video, beside the seat which I think you said your reflections at the end on, that was were, when I was very young and somewhat inexperienced in the art of the rod, I lost a fish off the far bank. I have to admit that I was extremely disappointed and may well have shed a tear or two! We were fishing tiny half inch tube flies, literally just a few hairs of stoats tail around a light plastic tube, quite what the salmon saw or thought it was reacting to I have no idea. The mysteries of salmon fishing!
It is always a mystery to me Calum, salmon are a law unto themselves :-) I was genuinely having a nap in the little hut when I felt a change in the conditions. I think the wind changed direction as I could smell the sea. I cast into the top of the Boat Pool and on maybe the 3rd cast had that wee fish. Lucky break. Lunch was indeed at the top of Major's - I'd often use the hut but with it being such a nice day I just sat by the wee streamy bit of water to eat. I think the hole you are referring to is called the Sniggle Hole and it is a spot that always seems to have fish in it and where I have moved a very big fish but I have to be honest and say I've never caught something from it.
@ Yes it was the Sniggle Hole, I couldn’t remember the name off the top of my head. I do have an estate map of the river naming the pools, which in my teens, having framed it, hung on my bedroom wall, no pop star or fast car posters for me it has to be said, which is now languishing somewhere in the house, possibly the attic. I feel it would be more than my life’s worth to suggest that it goes back up on a wall now, SWMBO would certainly object.
Grand video again- roll on the season! Your bankside path looks very well maintained/provided for; so many clubs- and especially estates- seem to want your money but leave some wonderful water totally inaccessible for the fly-and then declare they are fly-only !
Thanks anyway!
Thanks Tom, we don't have any trees so the banks tend to keep themselves clear though sometimes we get high banks and stuff like that but there is nothing anyone can do about the course of the river!
@@caorach3354 Fair point Caorach but I know several local rivers inaccessible as the feeder streams are impassable-at any rate at a fishable level! Plenty of footbridges where you are......
@@tomjones7593 Yes we are very lucky on this particular river that access is generally good. In very high water there is one area that floods but you can't legislate for everything. However, not all our waters are as accessible and in fact that is the appeal as some of them require a lot of walking over mountains and similar.
for sure your not only there to fish but to enjoy the cool surrounding...
Those 'runs' always look so promising to me...that is of course if you've got the right headgear !! As always great commentary, and optimism as ever! 😎👍👍
Headgear can be very important if you have no hair :-) I wasn't too optimistic when I took a nap in the shelter but even that ended well!
Great stuff Philip, a wee nap always recharges the batteries...as we can see....😄😄 .... lovely images of a great day out. Something blue always worth a throw. Red rules though. Thanks for sharing great viewing
Thank you Richard, basically I'd given up as conditions looked hopeless and I took into the shelter for a wee sit down. I'd been in there maybe half an hour with the feet up and the eyes closed when I just suddenly decided there was a fish in the stream down the far side of that run for me. As you can see I picked up the rod, sorted myself out, got a couple of casts out, and hooked the fish :-) No idea how it happened but I had a lot of "weird fish" this season and that probably counts as one of them.
Great video great commentary puts me in the mood for a cast .
Are we going fishing? Hold on 'til I get my rod :-) Thank you for the comment Johnston, it might be a few months before we get back out but we have to remain positive for next year and despite the unusual circumstances this year I did have some great days out.
@@caorach3354 great stuff you stay safe ,look forward to more of your adventures next season 👍
Beautiful place! As a non-salmon fisherman at the mo, I do enjoy watching yours and others’s videos. Everyone casts across and down. Is there a reason for not casting upstream? Keep ‘em coming 👍
Salmon seem to mostly grab the fly out of aggression and they are well used to seeing things floating downstream with the flow of water. If you cast the fly downstream then it swings across the stream and you can use the current to make it work in the water and this seems much more effective in getting the salmon to make a grab for the fly. In the Hebrides anglers quickly saw that a muddler minnow type fly could be used in the top dropper position to make a wake as it skates across the pool and so this has been a tactic in use for many years - similar to the concept of the "hitch" fly that has recently become common. In some places where the current is very slow then sometimes anglers will cast upstream, especially if the wind is too strong to allow for a downstream cast, and then retrieve the fly quite quickly so that it is moving completely differently from any debris that might be drifting down the river. I'd guess that with salmon being predators so their brain is programmed to grab at things that are "escaping" from them so the anglers job is to somehow tap into this part of their brain and get them to take hold of the fly.
@ thanks for the information. I think I’ll have to give it a try one day. Tight lines 👍🎣
That bit of streamy water seems just right for the fly!
dunno if anyone cares but if you're bored like me during the covid times you can stream pretty much all the latest movies on InstaFlixxer. I've been binge watching with my girlfriend for the last few months :)
@Ralph Arjun yup, I've been watching on InstaFlixxer for since november myself :D
Cool videos. I'm guessing your wielding 7 or 8 wt rod?
It is a 7 weight Michael, basically I've sort of settled on 7 weight for everything though I do have some 4 weights as well that get used for trout or sea trout on calm days. For the most part out fishing always involves something of a battle against wind so when the conditions are anyway uncertain then the 7 weight always gives a better chance of winning that battle.
@@caorach3354 👍Sure are giving your 7 weight a work out. Very Nice.
17:55😂😂😂🐟🐟🐟
A quick mention that you have 666 subscribers - Iron Maiden/Revelations number of the beast and all that. But more importantly - the hat is cool. I give ten points for the hat. I know nothing about fish, unless it is battered, so I am focussing on the hat.
Thank you, the truth is I know nothing about fish or fishing as well so that is why I went for the hat look - it gives you and me something to focus on :-)
Nothin like followin your instincts for a fish 🥃🥃
It worked well for me as, given the conditions, I'd almost lost all hope :-) I think anyone who fishes understands that feeling you get when you know you are about to hook a fish, or in this case when you suddenly get a feeling that there is a fish in a certain spot for you.
I believe in 'extra sensory projection...... Unless it's just wishful thinking....... I mean fish do live in the water after all....... so that fish ?????????? and there may well have been a few of his or usually her pals there as well methinks and hopes! Very entertaining your videos.....
I must mention about my Welsh pal I am always quoting/ I really miss him if only for a good argument about fishing. He used to shoot geese in Wick and told me - I had a walk but didn't fish but saw some bloke fly fishing and I got nattering to them and said when we fish on the main tributary of the Spey we have got moaned at because we do a lot of upstream casting which gets results when 'nothing else works' Ah they said we cast in and then 'back up'. Iv'e heard of that I said they cast across and then quickly step upstream. That brings the lure faster across and down whereas we cast further upstream. Our water may well be deeper as well than their's.
I was always amused at my pal although an expert he did not know sometimes where his lure was wwhen a fish took it! I once said to him where did that fish take you, he said somewhere up there about between 4 ft and 20 ft up! I fished with a heavier tube and knew roughly withi a foot or two where my lure was although only once ddid I see a fish take the lure and that was on a bright sunny day and the fish was right in front to the left about 6 feet away. Apparently a purpleish blue fly works on a bright day, fished on a short line. I would never bank on that being a firm bit of advice for ever though.
Should say extra sensory perception
Nice work, Effort equals reward blah blah blah, but in truth you deserved that fish as it was the cherry on your cake, and the cake was nice without the cherry anyway.
Great stuff keep em coming sir.
Thank you, you are right that some days salmon fishing is a war of attrition and you simply have to keep at them until one of them is stupid enough to grab the fly.