Well after the boss time I had on the trip in April I was mega keen to get myself on again this year so I booked for September so I could hopefully try my hand at fishing for Salmon on the River Sorn and River Laggan and also Sea Troot in one of the sea lochs.
We had arranged for me to drive Glen and the other guide for the week (Heathy) up to Islay so the morning started off with bacon butties at mine and then transfer all the gear from Glens van to my car. We all managed to squeeze in and after Glen double locking his van (hes scouse-ist) we were off.
The usual conversation flowed when you have 3 blokes in a car (Glen-Port Vale, Heathy-Older Women) and after several hours we arrive at the ferry terminal.
Great Views Driving Up
We had an hour to kill before getting on the ferry so we got a spinning rod out and decided to have a chuck. Well who else would catch a Mackerel on their first cast!! Glen has his breakie for the next morning!! top stuff.
Quick few casts before the ferry
Rate tasty fish bro
Off the ferry and we head for Woody's gaff to meet up with him and the other 2 guests known only as "the judges". Heathy was sweating due to the fact that there where 2 blokes of boss class in the house and me and Glen had been winding him up telling him we would be getting smashed and swearing our tits off. After calming Heathy down we met Karl and Anthony (whos names have been made up for the purpose of this blog)who within practically an hour felt like we had known them much longer. We drank wine and whisky and had a good laugh and then bed after a long day.
Glen and Heathy had gone up a little while before me (they must have been so tired after dozing in the car whilst I drove them haha) and I was looking forward to getting my head down.
Getting ready and into my bed Glen started stirring and suddenly belted out "IN ME ARSE " god knows what he was dreaming about then I heard the laughter from him and Heathy.
So, take 2 and finally asleep. Thinking we would have some kind of lie in til about 8-8:30 me and Glen were woken by Heathy spouting some crap about how you should never eat or feed hedgehogs and that they must be killed or something like that - we were still half asleep to care or take any notice.
Anyway after that we all got up had some scran and set off for Finlaggan Loch.
After all getting set up we headed down to the shore and with Glen and Heathy helping out Karl and Anthony I was allowed to go off and fish. I had about 8 small wild brownies mainly on the LTD sedge and bibio all within an hour and then the fishing just switched off at the flick of a switch. The others had a few fish too and it was then decided to head off to give Skerrols a go for the afternoon.
The shores of Finlaggan
Before leaving Finlaggen we bumped into a group of Polish lads who were over for the whisky tours. after trying a little of the whisky they had Glen jumped in and was trying to explain how he had fished the River San. the conversation went a little like this:-
Glen : do you know the River San?
Polish Lad: San? No! How do you say it?
Glen: the river San.... S A N, SAN!!
Polish Lad: Sun? river sun?
Glen: No San, san, san.
Polish Lad: River San? i don't know it.
Glen: Yeah the River San, you know S A N!
Polish Lad: OOOOOHHHHH San? yes I know the river San
Haha, I love languages! it gave us all a laugh and after 10 mins we finally were away.
We had a fab afternoon on Skerrols, with the other lads out on the boats and me wading around. The fishing was ok, but it had suddenly gone bitterly cold and started raining so the fishing switched off yet again. We all mainly had success on a mix of Sedges,Bibios and Katie McLarens.
Well, after tea and warming ourselves up we got stuck into some more wine, champagne and whisky and and sat in Woody's back room laughing and joking looking out onto a moonlit Loch Indaal. Then the music requests started and after some old skool NWA hip hop the phrase "this reminds me of my Oxford days" was slurred. we had an absolutely quality night. You usually have one night on a trip/holiday where you go that little bit madder than the others and this was that night.
Loch Indaal (Woody's back garden)
Woodys back garden
Surprisingly up early we had all walked down to the bottom on the garden and had 30 mins fishing for Pollack and Mackerel and then it was decided that conditions were right for some salmon fishing. After meeting up with the guy from Islay Estates we decided that we would fish the River Laggan as we could all fish this together. We had stocked up on various flies and then drove to the estates H/Q where we all put our gear in a Landrover and set off. I had never fished for Salmon before so wasn't really sure on techniques needed and how to approach it and the best parts of the river to fish.
In the morning I fished a stretch by myself whilst Heathy and Glen guided Karl and Anthony. I muddled my way through and caught a few very small trout not much bigger than my treble.
I then met up with Woody and Chris who had joined us the night before. Taking a break at the side of the river I said to Woody "am not sure if this Salmon fishing is for me mate". Its not like me to be like this but I got a few pointers on the fishing and carried on. Woody went off with Anthony and me and Chris fished a long stretch overlapping each other until he overlapped me and went out of sight around a corner about 200 yards away. I was flicking my fly diagonally upriver and retrieving at different speeds until the fly swung around at the bottom of my run. About 8 casts in and at the end of my run - Thud!!! oh crap, snagged!!! The snag then started to rise in the water but I still wasn't sure if I had just dislodged a sunken branch or something else.My heart pounding at the unknown I waited for whatever was on the other end of my fly to come to the surface. Then, all of a sudden I saw a large head and then a flash of silver and all hell broke loose.The salmon, with one quick flick of it tail turned and headed downstream. For some reason I was thinking so far ahead and realised I didn't have a net and where I was was too deep and a bit of a drop for me to beach it. I screamed like I've never screamed before - A scream a teenage girl drinking cheap alcopops down the park on a Friday night would be proud of.
CCCHHHHHHRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS, I'VE GOT A FU@7IN FIIIIIIIIIIISH!!!!!
I screamed and screamed as I didn't know if he could hear me due to the wind and distance. My first ever salmon and I didn't want to have it hooked and not able to land it because I didn't have a net. My heart still pumping the fish made another couple of decent runs and then a sight I will never forget Chris running over with his net- Relief.
After about a 10 minute scrap the fish was ready to net and after a quick scramble to untangle his net Chris graciously netted it for me. Major shock set in then and I was actually speechless for a few seconds. Id only know Chris for a few days but he got a big hug off me. As it was my first Salmon it was swiftly dispatched and that was me done for that day. I always find it hard to describe feelings when fishing but I think I was physically and emotionally drained haha.
For the next couple of hours I walked the bank with Woody watching the others hoping they would catch too. After a couple of hours we decided to call it a day and went back to the house leaving just the keen ones Chris and Heathy to fish on till dark. After picking them up later we all enjoyed the Salmon washed down with great white wine and some Bowmore 12yr. Woody however opted for his favourite floury cheese baps - class!!
A Happy Tim
After another early wake up call from Heathy, I think it was women advise he was asking me and Glen for this time at 7am we decided to go to a new Loch as Karl and Anthony had booked to go on a days stalking - obviously their profession would frown upon the seedy type of stalking so they were after a nice Stag.
Me, Glen, Heathy, Chris and Woody had decided to visit a Loch not fished on one of the trips before. it was called Ardnave and we headed off on the drive over. Uunfortunately conditions were not favourable as the water was very coloured and we called it a day after an hour or so. Its a hard Loch to fish but I've heard there are some big Brownies in there.
We then decided to pick up some fresh Oysters from a local farm to eat later with the others and then headed for some sea trout fishing as high tide was 1pm ish. We all sat off on the beach looking out onto a fairly calm sea and swallowed a few Oysters - not my cup of tea really but I guess it was one of those moments that I got caught up in. After feeling a little frisky from a couple of Oysters we all cooled off by spreading out down the beach and slowly wading our way into the sea and began fishing for these amazing fish. Glen had caught one earlier in the year and you could tell he was still buzzing off it. We had pretty much fished it through and headed back up the beach to the cars. Heathy, bless him was still out there trying his hardest and then I heard "he's into one". I quickly turned around only to see Heathy launching his rod into the sea - he had lost it. I felt for him but had to giggle slightly at the sight of him almost breaking his rod,
Still hungry for fish the conditions were perfect to head over to Skerrols to catch something for tea.
Myself and Chris fished the far left hand side of the loch (looking from Skerrols House) and Heathy the far right. the next 2 hours produced one of the best in terms of most productive afternoons fishing I probably have ever had. We fished a mix of drys and wets and could not stop pulling them in - we were all going to eat well tonight. This afternoons fishing was topped off with a magnificent sight and another first for me - My first up and close sighting of a Golden Eagle. I was suddenly aware of a dark object flying from left to right along the top of the tree line right above where Heathy was fishing. I just turned and starred in awe and looked at Chris who had seen it too - we just both look shocked. An absolutely amazing sight and one I will never forget. We could still see it a good 5 mins after it had flown over the Loch as it was so big. A great end to the fishing day. Now back to the house to eat and have a great laugh.
Heathy (MILF Hunter) with the Skerrols catch
Cooking up a nice tea
Lord Pointon
Weather closing in
Well the second to last day was here and we decided to head off to Loch Gorm to fish the Fly Fish Islay September Comp. weather seemed to be ok on the way down but as soon as we were fishing we knew it was going to be a tough day. The strong winds we had had overnight had coloured the water up with a nice peaty tinge. I picked up a couple of fish on the dry close into shore and Chris picked up about 4 decent ones through the day but it was still a really tough and choppy days fishing. we had even managed to damage our prop on a submerged rock and Heathy (who had borrowed a reel off me) managed to get my Rio Gold tangled around the prop and had to promptly cut the line in order to try and start the engine before we grounded on the island - Nice Work!!
After grabbing a tow from Glen we all managed to get back onto dry land and headed back to the house to clean and warm ourselves up.
That evening we all looked back on the boss week we had had drank and laughed as we had done every other night in the week. Its not just the fishing that makes these trips special but without sounding cheesy its the whole experience from fishing, to great company to the laughs you have in the day and evenings that make it an absolutely 5* fishing trip. Woody's hospitality and Glens fishing expertise and stories are a must to experience.
Getting towed in
Chris being presented with the Fly Fish Islay Trophy and the Quaich of Woody's Perpetual Dram
Me having a drink from the Quaich and looking proper scouse
The last day myself and Chris decided to visit a few distilleries and pick up some special malts from around the island and then we all headed off for a nice pub meal and early bed as we had an early ferry to catch.
My second and another quality trip - see you next year!
Machir Bay
Machir Bay
Woody doing his thang!
All the best
Tim
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