South Uist Fishing Reports - from The Anglers' Retreat

There was very little fishing activity at the start of the season across the island mainly due to very windy/ wet weather. I had 6 trout from the bank on Frasers in late March and 3 from a short session on N Olaphat. No guests in April.

May 23  as at 28 May b

My first guests of the season were Richard and Ben Allison, both relatively new to South Uist and fly fishing in general. We had great fun on E Bee moving 6,landing 2 on a cold day before going to the road hole' for a last roll of the dice. Richard landed a 2lb Brownie, moved another and lost a bigger seatrout at the net all in the space of 15 min. U Kildonan yielded 10 in tough conditions. ,Blown off Mid Ollay the following day, we moved to Bayhead and caught 10 drifting off the north shore. Their final day on Stilligary was a day of two halves, we stopped at Bee road hole again first thing and Richard had another lovely 2lb fish but Ben hooked a v large fish which snapped his 6lb line like cotton onto Stilligary they had 12 in the colder overcast morning and nothing in the afternoon in near perfect conditions. 

Ian Durband and Gordon Birch enjoyed their first trip here and despite cold and v windy conditions they did really well with 10 on U. Kildonan, 16 on Druidibeg, 21 on N. Olaphat, 6 on Clachen (lost 2 huge fish but had 4x 2lb+) and 8 from Stilligary including a 2.5lb. Bornish was a wash out with Sea Harr. 

Regulars Simon Barnes and David Ogg took 40 and missed just as many on N Olaphat on their first day. The rest of the week was struggle due to a chilly NW wind which effected everyone. They managed 8 on Hallan, 8 on Mid Ollay, 5 on Bornish, 6 on Grogarry and 8 on Upper Kildonan. Their final day on West Ollay was going to end in defeat until the last 20 min when David landed a 2.5lber and on virtually the last cast at the boat station Simon landed a cracking 4ln 14oz beauty. 

Tony Connor and Mark Hamilton shared the house with them and managed 12 on Mid Ollay, 16 on Dun a Cille, 19 on Stilligary, 44 on N Olaphat (brilliant loch) and 3 small fish on W Ollay (after raising 7 good fish that refused to take). They also had a productive wading visit to E Bee's road hole with Mark landing a 2lber and losing something much bigger. Tony also had a 2.5lber in Clachen and Mark lost a much bigger fish. By the way E Bee is unfishable from a boat due to very low water. The weather set for warm and sunny next week which will hopefully trigger some hatches and banish this persistant chilly wind.