South Uist Fishing Reports - from The Anglers' Retreat
As at Weds 6 April 25
March/ April 25
For my first day out in 2025 I took a couple of mates out on E Bee on 20 March. I was not expecting anything but we had one to the boat on a drift and while transiting to the sluice end we disturbed a big fish in the narrows. On the way back I pulled in so they could fish the narrow channel, then all hell broke loose on the bank! !n 10 min one of my friends caught trout of 4, 4.75, 3.5 and 2.5lb almost on consecutive casts... amazing.
Since then the weather has been bright and cold with no rain, fishing has been tricky but is starting to improve although I worry about water levels already.
May 24
My first guests of the season were regulars John Watson and Colin Poton and Callum and George Thomson. Despite plenty of sunshine iit was chilly for most of the week with strong winds but the fishing was very good considering. Colin and John surpassed all previous visits with 119 trout for the week. Highlights were Mid Ollay (40!), North Olaphat (30), Hallan (27 to 2lb), Stilligary (16), Grogarry (4 but lost missed loads). Thanks to Ali OHenley for the majority of the ghillieing.
Callum and George also had a good week with the highlights Mid Ollay (12) Grogarry a 3lb Silver fish that looked like a seatrout but may have been one of the silver varients, North Olaphat (16), Stilligary (5 in a gale) and East Olaphat (5 all around 2lb). There are lots of stories of other big catches so things have definately picked up and fish are taking on the surface. Water levels are very low already as we have not had the rain the mainland has experienced. East Bee is already virtually unfishable and all others 1-2ft down.
Last week was very strange, conditions were good but for some reason all lochs fished poorly and catches were down for everyone. Despite this Tony Ronan had a good week starting with 11 on Mid Ollay with 3 at 2lb in very variable low wind. Stilligary followed with 10 to 2.25lb. We had a bright sunny and flat calm day on Langavat/ Caslub for only 8 including a seatrout on Caslub. He managed 14 split between Frasers and West Olaphat and 18 on the estate Drimsdale Druidibeg boat again in difficult conditions. We need some steady weather.
Last week was very challenging for regulars Simon Barnes, David Ogg, Jon Carney and Ralph Barnett. 2 days of bright sun and no wind follwed by 2 days of gales to 40mph then 2 days of 7degree northerly! They persisted and the highlights were 16/18 on N Olaphat,9 on Dun a Cille, 30 on Druidibeg 3/6 on Grogarry. The fish just were not playing due to the variable conditions.
This week has started with a bang with one of my best days on West Ollay I have ever had with Kevin Gibson and Willie Wilson from Kenny Irvings party which also included Charles Laurie. We had 10 fish but 7 were over 2 lb, best was 3.25lb, they also dropped a bigger one. The rest of the week was very mixed however as we continue to be plagued with a chilly NW wind. Fishing was good when the sun was showing and the temperature lifted but all lochs across the estate fished poor in dull colder conditions. Their best days were N Olaphat (30 - reliable as every). I had a superb day on Mid Ollay, with Willie and Charles who between them had 24 with Charles catching 3 lovely fish over 2lb, Kenny and Kevin joined us at 1430 after a poor morning on U Kildonan and managed 16 in just 3 hrs. Druidibeg estate boats (35 & 22), W Olaphat (9), Grogarry (3 best 2lb), Bornish (2), Upper Kildonan(1), Upper Bornish (11), Stilligary (7 best 2lb), Hallan (3 best 2lb). They fished hard and had some good sport in the evening after dinner.
This coming week will be tricky 30+mph wind and a feel like temp of 7 deg forecast everyday!
June 24
.Is this the first week of June or January?.. its hard to tell!
30mph everyday and feels like temperature of 6 degrees. Despite this Martin Bamforth and Colin West battled on and had some good days. 16 on Mid Ollay inc 3 over 2lb, 11 on Bayhead and 5 on N Olphat. I introduced them to Caslub and despite 7 seasons in one day they had 14 best 1.75lb (great loch to fish in a East/ West wind). Their final day was on West Ollay in bad conditions, I took them through to the smaller adjoined loch and the had 3 best 4lb, had to leave early due to hypothermia!
Also in the house that week were Graham North and Duncan Brown, they had 15 on Druidibeg, 13 on Upper Bornish, 1 on Hallan, 7 on N Olaphat and an excellent 16 on Mid Ollay in 3 hrs (best 3lb) having been blown off Upper Kildonan. Loch choices this week were all about avoiding machair due to the wind.
This last week has seen a continuation of poor weather with fishing that has been off, lots of fish showing but coming short or splashing at the bob fly. Nevertheless Ted Edger and David Pugh enjoyed their week despite being blown off Grogarry on their first day. West Ollay continues to fish well and they had 5 to 2lb, 6 on Caslub in a flat calm morning before we moved to Dun Mhor and had great sport landing 26 in 3hrs and many more missed (another great club loch now with a Lomond boat on it). Mid Ollay produced 9 to 2lb, Dun a Cille 13 to 2lb and West Olaphat a poor 6 in good conditions.
The past week has been a continuation of the same theme, high winds and cold conditions when fishing was only good during rare respites.Reuben Girling had his usual 2 week stay with his wife Pam and despite being 83 managed to fish most days, his highlights was 7 on Dun Mhor and a fabulous 3lb fish from W Ollay. Mark James fished hard during his stay and managed 14 on Mid Ollay (fishing very well), 8 on N Olavat on a difficult day,16 on Dun Mhor 10 of which were from a productive evening session and 11 on Stilligary best 2lb. John Nolan also fished and did well on Frasers from a boat with 8 having had 4 on East Ollay in the morning and he had 5 on N Olaphat with Mark. Tough week with no choice but to fish club lochs although Grogarry and Stilligary are still ok. Bornish and Upper Kildonan had not been fish for a month because they are constantly churned.
The final week of June saw the arrival of Jullian Williams and Gareth Richards and today they managed 7 on West Olaphat and 4 on East Olaphat in near perfect conditions, lots of fish coming short. This was followed by a customary great day on Druidibeg with 40 (a rather unfair 30/10 split - sorry Gareth!) and loads missed. Same again for N Olaphat with 25. They also had a great day on Bayhead(6) / Dun Mhor (10) + 10 from bank the next day when they were blown off Grogarry after catching 3 small fish. Caslub also fished well again with 9 best 2lb. It was another difficult week in high winds but they both fished very well. Generally the machair lochs are fishing poorly as this poor weather continues and they are perminently churned especially Bornish and U. Kildonan.
Please note E Bee is now unfishable due to low water/ weed. The estate is aware and plan to take remedial action.
July 24
We were away on holiday for most of July but I can report that the Salmon and Seatrout are in in numbers.
Aug 24
First guests after our break were David Lonsdale and Dave Martell. They endured some pretty bad weather but had some memorable days as well, chief of these was without doubt the best day on Roag I have ever had in terms of numbers of Salmon and Seatrout showing. David managed his first Salmon, a 3.5lb Grilse, a 5.25lb Seatrout and a couple of others in the 2.5lb region, Dave managed one on 2.5lb but both missed more and must have seen 50 fish moving. Two good days on Druidibeg estate sides produced 54 trout and a lovely 3lb Seatrout to David besides Dun Raghhaill. Machair lochs were badly churned but N Olpahat and Dun Mhor saved the days with 14 on both. By the time we fished Fada on Saturday the heavy rain had pushed up the spawning burns twice and all the fish have run up the system.
No guests this week so I ghillied Ian Jones and his friends Gerald, Dave and Alan. We started on N Olaphat in a howling gale and heavy rain and between bank and boat they still managed a dozen trout before it got too dismal. Druidibeg club followed and we had a great day with over 30 caught between boat and bank mostly at the southern end. On Fada during strong winds Dave Lythgoe had a lovely 5lb Salmon around the burn mouth and Gerald sadly lost a nice seatrout in the west bay. Last day was on Dun a Cille were they had 22 by lunch and only 6 afterwards when the temperature dropped and cloud/ rain came in.
Generally its been a week of very high winds and loads of rain, all lochs are nearly full and the spawning burns have been in constant flood. Ghillies are reporting lots of Salmon and big Seatrout being caught, Ian Kennady says its the best he has seen in 30yrs!. Machair lochs have been unfishable however.
Simon Barnes (Simba Rods), Alan Craig and Douglas/ Ian Lowe just had a very challenging week with constant high winds but persevered and did quite well considering conditions. Best days were an incredible 35 on Bayhead, 30 &17 on N Olaphat, 31 on Druidibeg, 17 seatrout to 3.25/ 4.5lb on Fada (loads& bigger lost/ missed), 10 Seatrout on Roag in 58mph wind, 2 nice brownies to 2.25lb on West Ollay from the bank and a big one lost, 20 on East Ollay, 8 on Caslub and 10 seatrout from Castle best 3lb.
Last week Jim Gray and pals Bob, Jon and Roy endured the worst week of weather i have experienced here in 8yrs, everyday wind was above 42mph and heavy rain storms. They persevered but clearly had a difficult time despite there being a fair number of migatory fish in the system. Only 2 small seatrout and 32 brownies for the week but the highlight for me was watching total beginner Roy beat his friends on the last day on Druidibeg.
Full winter levels on all lochs now and I am confident that East Bee will again be fishable. Coming week looks good and finally the machair lochs will be fishable. Despite the weather, some very good Salmon and Seatrout were caught last week in what seems to be a bumper year.
Long time South Uist visitors Clive Lunn and Iain Whitehead had a difficult start to their trip with vv high water levels. The Roag burn burst ists banks and every loch at full winter height. Roag was a wash out on day one but they had 3 seatrout to 2.75lb on Fada the following day.. Another 2 seatrout to 2lb and a 3.5lb grilse followed on Schoolhouse. Castle produced a 2lber plus lots of brownies. Out day on West Ollay was largerly unprodutive until Iain had a loely 3.5lb fish and Clive lost a fish of 5lb plus. We had an outstanding day on Bharp with 16 finnock and 6 seatrout best 2lb and on Bayhead they had 2 finnock and 23 brownies which averaged over a pound each!
Sep 23
Clive and Iain's final two days on Roag and Fada were tough; water levels have dropped 4ft and most of the fish have dissappeared with just the very occasional one showing. They managed 2 seatrout around the 2lb mark and a couple smaller.
Jonathon and Jane Mclean came for a few days and learnt how to fish loch style managing 25 trout on their final day from Castle/ Dun Mhor.
Migatory lochs are back to low levels and with no rain forecast for at least a week fish should start to build up again with each tide. Machair and mid lochs remain full.
Last week was a bit of an ordeal for Chris Ward and Stewart Todd. It started well with 25 brownies from a combination of Bayhead and Dun Mhor when the weather was warmer with less wind. Mon -Weds it got much colder with wind over 50mph and feels like temp of 6deg which put the trout right off, to add insult the migatory lochs are larger empty now due to the amount of rain we have had in the last month. Dun a Cille fishds ok on Thurs with 9 to the boat during periods when the wind/ chill reduced and on their final day they had 30 on East Ollay best 2lb on a much better day.
This mad weather is doing my head in! For the final week of my season guests John Phillips and Garry Evans had to endure the opposite end of the weather spectrum with 5 days of hot, bright sunshine and flat calm. I managed to salvage their week with 13 on N Olaphat and 17 on Dun Mhor and a nice 2lber on Upper Kildonan but I take my hat off to them for enduring each day. Ar least the banter was great and they got a tan!
The weather is about to change so fishing for the remainder of the trout season should be ok. The migratory lochs are now starting to fill up with late fish again as we have had no rain for a couple of weeks, visitors should focus their efforts on these. A nice 10 seatrout came off Fada 2 days ago.
Thanks everyone of making the effort to come up in 2024, hopefully see you all again in 2025 along with some new faces.
Those thinking of making the journey should not be put off by my tales of woe concerning the weather, it has been a odd year weatherwise across the whole country and hopefully the jet stream with be less erratic next year.
Best catches to Date
4lb Brownie - West Ollay - Martin Bamforth
3.5lb Salmon - Fada - Clive Lunn
5lb 8oz Seatrout - Druidibeg Club - David Marsden
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