Saturday 23 February 2013

Salmon Fish Scotland from Amhuinnsuidhe Castle

Following on from my blog about planning fishing holidays I thought some suggestions on where to go to have a wonderful fishing holiday might be of interest. 
 
My first recommended location relates to Atlantic salmon and sea trout fishing in Scotland.  More specifically it relates to fishing on the Amhuinnsuidhe Castle Estate, on the Island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. (see map).  I have been fortunate enough to have stayed at the castle and fished there on a couple of occasions. To get there you fly to Stornaway from Glasgow or Edinburgh.  The Castle provide the transport from the airport. It takes about and hour through spectacular scenery.
 

Just staying in the castle is a wonderful experience as it is furnished beautifully and the cuisine is superb.  It is a real fishing and deer stalking sporting venue well-equipped with everything one would expect.

 
The fishing is from bank or boat on the numerous lochs and from the bank on the rivers.  Lochs like Voshmid are well regarded in Atlantic fishing circles.  Each day the estate manager, Innes, and his team of gillies determine where the fishing will be most productive and off you go.  Some lochs are within a few hundred yards of the castle others are 30 minutes’ drive away in the Landrover (see map). 
 
 
 
Right next to the castle the river from Lady Loch runs through a gorge into the sea. In spite of being exhausted from fishing all day, I used to fly fish the sea pool at first and last light if the tide was in (see picture).  On practically every retrieve I would hook either a sea trout or a pollack.
 
At the time of year I fished there we would mainly fish the lochs by boat on the drift with the gillie putting us across the most productive locations.  We used a team of two flies with a silver stoat on the point and an orange tailed muddler on the dropper.  The hen salmon I caught in the picture below took the muddler.
This location provides a serious fishing experience and when I have fished there in October the weather can be a bit challenging.  It is not all blue skies and balmy days as the next picture shows.

There are big fish there but sadly I have not been fortunate enough to hook a really big fish like this (see picture)!  I wasn't even there (I copied off the brochure).

For those into hunting as well as fishing there are 55,000 acres of deer stalking (and shooting)!
 
Whilst I was out on the loch one time, the laird’s daughter  Rachel bagged a stag and the gillie rowed us over to collect her complete with trophy.

 
Well I hope you found that interesting.  The castle has a very informative web site should you require more information:-  www.amhuinnsuidhe.com/  

If you are able to spoil yourself and visit the castle and fish the waters (and maybe shoot a stag) please do let me know how you got on.




 
 

 

2 comments:

  1. William, Thank you for your comment, I am new to blogging and am trying to make the posts varied and interesting. This one was easy to write as it is such a splendid place. Regards Alan Carter

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  2. I like the contents of this blog. Don't forget to get the thrilling experince with fishing in Dubai

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