Inver and the North-west (August/September 2019)

I have been out of the habit of blogging on my fishing for quite a while now, but one of the silver linings (the only silver lining?) of the heavy cloud of pandemia currently rendering life fairly tedious in many places is that I have found some time to revisit my blog. I've had a few pretty memorable trips and days since I last checked in, but I'm going to report on a late Summer/early Autumn trip to the North-west last season.

John and I had two weekends sandwiching a full working week off to play with and set off northwards late on the first Friday with a plan to fish a small, unfashionable spate river in the North-west on the Saturday. We made it as far a Kincraig before we had to stop for the night and so, by the time we arrived in the plague of midgies that is Wester Ross on the Saturday morning, it was already 11am. We stopped in, picked up our permits and had a quick flick through the book, before tackling up with our single handers and jumping into the boat on the small lochan that is the focal point of the system. The river either side of the lochan was very high (possibly 3' above Summer level) and so the lochan itself and the inflow to it was our main fishing for the day. We fished hard all day with fairly little activity, covering a lie where we knew a couple of fish had been caught in recent weeks, before taking a break for a dram and to dry out the sodden and miserable looking cocker who was ready for the car.

There was a good looking spot which we'd saved up at the outflow from the lochan, where the river makes a break for the sea over some old weirs. John very sportingly ghillied me into position a few yards from the certain death of the steep 500 metres of rapid flowing out of the lochan. I cast my flies (a subtle pairing of a Grouse and Claret on dropper and a Bibio on point, which were believe it or not chosen with migratories in mind due to the dark, peaty water) across the draw heading for the outflow weir and, just as the flies came onto the dangle, the line tightened. The fish held deep but for a good minute or so I was sure it was a decent brownie; however, after a good acrobatic fight it turned out to be a small grilse which had been in for few weeks or a month. It had taken that classic highland salmon fly, the Bibio! A great start to the trip, catching a first fish from an old Raine Family favourite holiday spot.

We had a good and successful day's trout fishing on the Sunday also after an equally successful night in the pub, before heading further North to Assynt. I managed another smaller grilse from another small, local spate river in between two unproductive but enjoyable days on the lochs around Lochinver (a few nice trout but nothing more). We then moved onto the main fishing for the trip; our three days on the lower River Inver.

We had fairly high water for our days, being at the uppermost extremity of the levels where fish were reported in the book. That said, whilst the Inver is not as spatey as other West Coast rivers, it is still water dependent and so better too much than too little. At this level, fishing the gorge which runs from the famous Star Pool down to Carpenter's and the Sea Pool at Lochinver was not really worthwhile. The vast majority of our time was spent on the beautiful pools upstream to the lower middle beat and we were fortunate enough to share four further fish between us and to have hooked a few more. Most were good, strong, classic Inver fish with strong shoulders presumably for navigating the various waterfalls and heavy flows between the sea and the spawning grounds in the tributaries and up at Inchnadamph. We also remarked that it was nice to have caught these fish from some of our favourite pools on the beat, Cow, Pollan and the unspeakably good Whirl Pool.

Here are some pictures and clips of the outside world to keep you going for now; hopefully Covid-19 will set us all free to go and enjoy the rest of the 2020 season soon enough! Best wishes to all, for now.

Calum

 A very high spate river on Day One.

A very happy fisherman on Day One.

It's handy to have a dog who will let you know when he's done for the day.

One of a few nice highland trout. Very distinct Wester Ross colouring on this one.

A quiet day in the boat in Assynt for good measure.

Another small grilse from a tiny pool.

We went for a meal in Kylesku (worth the drive) and this was the view. Beautiful.

A bigger Inver fish from Whirl Pool.  

 Red Stream.

Dad in Lower New Pool.

Fish on in Cow Pool.  

Strong netting technique. Wonder who that is.

John with his first fish.

Pleased. 

A fish from Pollan.

Carpenter's, at the bottom of the beat; too high but still beautiful. 

John has the last say in Whirl Pool.  

Turn Pool and Scramble.

Star Pool, just prior to signing off for 2019.

Pleased with that.

Farleyer Lower, Tay, & Dochfour, Ness (3 & 4 July 2015)

I had intended to be heading to Manchester for the Lancashire vs Yorkshire T20 cricket on the Friday, but a disastrously-timed sell-out meant that alternative plans were required. I had been intending to make the trip North to fish in the Inverness area this Summer and so this seemed like a good opportunity. I booked a last minute rod on Farleyer Lower on the Upper Tay, to break the journey, and took a rod on Douchfour, Ness, for the Saturday when I would be in Inverness.

I had fished Farleyer Lower previously this Summer, in June, when the river had been running at 2' 4". This was quite high for the beat, which ideally suits fairly low water, especially upstream on the Lyon, causing the late Spring and early Summer runs heading for this spawning catchment to hold until higher water allows them to run. While the gauge was still well above Summer-low (it was 1' 4" on the day), the Lyon was very low and so conditions were better for my second visit. I would have liked to have had longer to explore the extremities of the beat, having fished the central, double-banked part of the beat on my first visit; however, late arrival and early departure for Inverness meant I would be best focussing on these favoured, mid-beat pools again.

The upper of the two best holding pools on the beat, Balhomais Burn, suited the lower water and was more pronounced than in June. If I was being fussy, though, a couple more inches might have allowed the fly to swing further; the best and cleanest fish that rose while I was fishing had been lying in a fairly slack patch of water, away from the main flow, and so was not easily covered.

I fished Balhomais first from the South bank (the 'correct' bank, in fishing terms, being on the inside of the bend). I opted for a shooting head, floating tip, fairly long leader and a dressed Cascade, knowing that I could cover the pool at greater depth later in the day. No fish showed as I fished down the pool and past the croy, which must form a good lie. During my previous visit, the higher water allowed Balhomais Stream, the continuation of Balhomais Burn, to fish nicely, but it didn't suit the lower water and so I moved down to Sophia's, the next main pool downstream.

Pictured: Looking upstream from Balhomais Stream, to Balhomais Burn, with the Lyon catchment in the background.

Sophia's, the lower of the two main holding pools, was less well-suited to the low water. At 2' 4', the main flow deflected off the croy at the top of the pool and created a seam through the middle of the pool forming a focal point for each cast. In the lower water, the flow was slack, meaning that the fly needed to be worked a little to create some movement. I had a run through with my Cascade before having another quick run through with a rapala, to no avail.

Pictured: Sophia's; a little low here, maybe.

While the main fishing is on the South bank, sharing a march at each end with Bolfracks, the longer Farleyer Lower fishings are on the North bank. Here, the beat runs from Dalrawer, at the upstream end, down to the Home Farm Pool and beyond, at the downstream equivalent. On another day, I would have liked to have fished the Dalrawer stretch at the top of the beat and the Home Farm Pool, but with only an hour or so on the North bank, I elected to focus on the same pools as while on the South bank.

On the North bank, Balhomais Burn can be fished in low water by carefully dropping down the banking and picking your way along the margins. There are also various croys to use as vantage points. I started at the top croy, which is slightly downstream from the very top of the pool. With the extra elevation above the water and the ability to hold the rod tip above the main stream, I decided to change to a small Sunray Shadow in order to skate this over the streamy, broken water running off the croy. While I was doing so, fish began to show in the pool, which ranged from a reddish-black to sparkling fresh. I had no takes on my first run down, so I gave the pool a few minutes rest. Later, I tried again with a smaller fly at greater depth, holding the fly in the main current for as long as possible; no takes again and by then it was time to set off for Inverness.

No fish, unfortunately, from Farleyer Lower, but it certainly looks like it holds fish fairly well despite fairly modest catch averages (especially in the Spring and Summer months). I notice as I'm writing this that there were four fish from the beat in a day today, while at 1' 9" and the Lyon at 7". I'd like to have a chance to explore the rest of the beat, perhaps in very low conditions and see what I can do.

Pictured: Balhomais Burn, from the left bank - plenty of fish in here, it seemed.

I set off back to the A9, keeping one eye out for the various Upper Tay beats of which you can get a glimpse from the road. The drive doesn't quite have the atmosphere of a drive along the Upper Tweed in the back-end, for example, but there are a few spots I'd like to fish at some point in the future as a result of an initial viewing from the road.

I arrived in Inverness at around 9pm, checked in at the hotel on the banks of the Ness, just upstream from the castle, and met my old university flatmate for a few drinks and a spot of ceilidh dancing - 'when in Rome'. I had a look at the river on my way back to the hotel, remembering all the references to the river in 'On The Beat With Black Shrimp', by well-known Ness character, John Cathcart, which I have been reading on and off for the past year or so.

Picture: A night time view, looking upstream on the famous Ness Association Water, from near the Castle.

I arrived at Dochfour, at the top of the River Ness, at the back of 9am and was introduced by the head gillie to the new under gillie, Bruce Neill, who was my company for the day. After gearing up, we headed down to the river from the rod room, over the Caledonian Canal. I was to start the day in the Weir Pool, at the top of the beat and went with a 15ft intermediate tip and a dressed Cascade that I caught on earlier in the season. 

Pictured: An angler fishing The Weir Pool (credit to Bruce for this one!).

There is a long wade out to the main fishing water in this pool and, even then, a relatively square cast works best to get the fly into the depth of the pool. There is a main channel, fairly close to the right bank, through which to swing the fly before it slows on approach to the shallower, near-side water. I had been fishing for only about 10 minutes or so, having been working my way down to cover a sheltered patch of water, behind a shingle bar on the near side of the current, when I had a firm take. The fish 

held position for a minute or so and I spent this gathering up my line onto the reel and getting into a good position, wary that the middle of the Weir Pool is a fairly precarious place to play a fish from. After a few moments, the fish made its move and headed for the stronger current and main depth of the pool. It came to the surface on a couple of occasions and I caught a glimpse of it at a fair distance.  It looked fresh but, at this stage, I would have guessed it only weighed around 8lbs or so.

Over the next few minutes, I navigated my way back across the considerable width of the pool, while keeping pressure on the fish. At the same time, Bruce made his very timely arrival and watched the last five or so minutes of the fight. On a number of occasions, the fish seemed to be played out before, finding another burst of energy and going on a run. Eventually, though, it came up to the surface on its side and was drawn into Bruce's net.

We got a good look at the fish, Bruce having very diligently held it in the water in the net.  It was recorded at 13lbs and had two long-tailed sea lice just above its tail. It was the freshest fish I've had and it was a stroke of luck to catch such a well-conditioned fish while having a suitable amateur camera-man at hand; it could have happened at any other time and I would have just had a picture of it with my rod, so I was grateful for this. We each had our photos taken with the fish - which was only the second since Bruce's recent arrival at Dochfour - before it was recovered in the shallows and swam off strongly. The left bank at the point of the pool where the fish was netted is very shallow for a considerable distance out into the pool, so it was great to be able to watch it cover some 15-20 yards or so before losing sight of it.

Pictured: The 2nd fish under Bruce.

Pictured: The 13lbs, sea-liced cock fish.

Over the rest of the day, I fished Burn Mouth and Netting Water, in the main, and had another couple of goes in the Weir Pool, all to no avail. I did have a tug in Burn Mouth on the same fly, not long after the landing my fish, but had nothing that stuck, in amongst a host of self-inflicted, calamitous tackle malfunctions.

Pictured: The view downstream towards Burn Mouth, from the tail of The Weir Pool (credit to Bruce, again!).

I called it a day at 5pm and caught up with the other rods, before going for a celebratory curry. It was a fantastic day and I'm already keen to go and explore the Ness (and wider Ness system) some more. I heard only a couple of days after I fished that a 22lber was caught, again under Bruce, so congratulations to him on his start as a gillie and best wishes for the future!