South Uist Fishing Reports - from The Anglers' Retreat
As at Sun 10 May 26
April/May 26
And we are off! First day of the 26 season was with Mark James on U Kildonan. Bright sunshine, flat calm and hot but despite this we managed 7 to 1.75lb, 3 of which were caught on dry flies during a hatch. We missed a further 10.
Next up was East Bee with Mark James and MarkFreeman. I haven't fished Bee much in the last few years due to low water and weed issue, but water levels are good across the island at the moment due to the huge amount of rain we had in the first 2 weeks of April. First drift - the hole, and Mark James hooks this monster that put up a hell of a scrap 6.25lb beauty! We then had a great day with a further 11 inc 4@ 2lb and 2 @1.5lb, to top the day off our last drift was the hole again and Mark Freeman caught a lovely 3.5lb fish. Great day - fish it quickly before the weed becomes a problem.
Grogarry proved more challenging with just 7 small fish, again in quite difficult sunny conditions. N Olaphat did its usual and produced 21 nice fish and great sport. The sun then came out for 2 days with flat calm conditions so Stilligary and Bornish did not fish well with just a few small fish each. Caravan was a wash out despite decent conditions although they both lost/ moved big fish. The final day for Mark James was Mid Ollay, first on this season we moved about 35 and landed 18 best 1.75lb in a freezing cold NE blustery wind, great fun.
As predicted last week was also very cold and bright with northerly winds, fishing was really hard on some days. The best fishing was on Stilligary where Callum and George Thompson were casting to rising fish and managed 14 with the best at 2.5lb. Colin Poton and John Watson matched it the following day. The week started very well for George who landed a superb 4.5lb brownie on the second drift of the day on E Bee, he following this with a hard fighting 2.5lb fish and we ended the day with 5. N Olaphat was below par with 11 to the boat, but they raised a further 25. Mid Ollay fished well for George and Callum with 12; Callum had some good bank sport inc a 2.5lber. Three days later Colin and John only managed 3 on there as conditions deteriated.Druidibeg Skipport produced 29 small fish for Callum and George. Colin and John had 5 to 1.5lb on Grogarry, but only 1 from Hallan which is now unfishable from the boat. On E Bee Colin had a fine 2.5lb fish on the second cast but nothing after that, They all worked incredibly hard but conditions across the island were tough. E Bee is now very low and will be unfishable soon due to weed as the level drops. No rain now for nearly a month
June 25
.Martin Bamforth and Colin West started June with 3 days of howling gales to 59mph and heavy rain. Despite this we battled on and managed 11 to 2lb on Mid Ollay, 6 on E Olaphat and 6 on Druidibeg Drimore in awful conditions. Machair lochs well and truly stirred so back on Druidibeg at the Skipport side and had 23 and on North Olaphat we had 13 inc a beautiful 2lber. Machair clear for the last day on Bornish but it had a stiff chilly NW andind and we managed 6 best 2.75lb for Martin.
This week started with heavy rain and 8 fish to 1.5lb on W Olaphat for Reuben Girling. Ted Edger and Dave Pugh had a tough day on Grogary with 3 to a 1lb. Just one 2lb fish to Dave on West Ollay on a bright day followed. Reuben and Guy Wardle had 13 on Mid Ollay to 1.5 lb and Ted and Dave went with me to Caravan, the first time I have ever taken guests there. Our first two encounters of the fabled big fish in there resulted in two smashed leaders but Ted managed 2 beautiful 3lbers and Dave had a 2lb fish and 1 at1lb. A tricky loch to ghillie and requires a strong southerly wind to fish. Ted and Dave had 18 on Mid Ollay with me best 2lb. Bornish proved too much for Reuben and Guy as the wind got up to 30mph and the fish turned off but on North Olpahat we manged 23 to 1.5lb. On their final day Reuben and Guy had 4 on Stilligary with me inc 2 lovely 2lb fish to Reuben, Ted and Dave had 7 on U. Kildonan to 1.5lb. Thanks to Dave Christie for ghillieing the other boat. The coming week looks good weatherwise but as loch weed up fishing areas in some lochs are much reduced.
Busy week last week and it started with a bang for Mark James on Caravan loch when his 8lb leader was destroyed by a monster just 50m from the boat station, he made amends later with a lovely 4.25lb fish and a tremendous fight. Reuben Girling was in the boat with him and managed a lovely 2 lb fish as well. Mark had 13 on Mid Ollay to 2.5lb, 23 on N Olaphat and 4 on West Ollay where he lost a big one but managed 2 x 2.5lb fish and had more when he returned in the evening. The rest of the time he fished with Reuben and they had 7 to 2lb on Grogarry, 5 to 2.75lb on Bornish. Returner Bill Hayes and newby Mark Jones also had a good week with 34 on Druidibeg Drimore end, 15 on Mill to 1.5lb, 8 on East Ollay, 7 on Bayhead and a rather good night bank fishing on a local loch.
The final week of June saw regulars Julian Williams and Bob Aves come up, their week started well with 25 on N Olaphat but deteriating weather meant the rest of the week was a battle with the wind. That said they had 6 nice fish on Mid Ollayand a fun day on Schoolhouse and the sea pools catching finnock but their highlight was another fabulous day on Caravan where Julian had 2 cracking 4lb fish, plus a 2.5lber landed 10 seconds before I netted a similar fish which Bob had on, they also had a couple more at 1.5lb.
Rob Disbury and Alex Fisher were also over for the first time and had 2 cracking days with me on two different parts of Druidibeg (24/32), 8 on Upper Kildonan and 6 on Mill after being blown off Grogarry. They caught on all days but it was a baptism of fire for them.
I'm now off for a well earned break
Aug 25
First guests after our break were Uist first timers Bernard Cronshaw and Alan Henderson. They had a great week apart from the first 1/2 day on Bornish (1). They managed 20 on Druidibeg, 8 crackers to 1.5lb on Grogarry, 10 on Upper Kildonan inc 4 over 1.75lb, 21 on Mid Ollay best 1.5lb. They also had a day on Castle hoping for Seatrout but ended up with 22 brownies to 1.5lb so we moved to Dun Mhor and had another 12 - great day! More generally migatory fish are now showing more and the first Grilse has been caught.
First timers Richard Winstanley, Andrew Younger, David Chalk and Neil Cosburn had the wildest week of fishing I have known Their first day was cancelled with 80mph wind and for the rest of the week it never dropped below a steady 35mph. All machair lochs were out of action and most of the club lochs as well. Nonetheless they persevered and managed 12 nice brownies on Bayhead, 7 on Mill, 13 finnock/ seatrout on Schoolhouse inc a lovely 3lber to Richard. Andrew lost a estimated 8lb seatrout on Druidibeg near Dun Raghuall. On the carpark side they managed 20 brownies and finally 7 finnock on another trip to schoolhouse and a couple of finnock on Bharp. Given how challenging and restrictive the fishing was they did well.
Last week started with a bang with Iain Lowe catching his first Salmon at 5.5lb and 22 brownies plus so many lost/ missed on North Olaphat in mostly flat calm conditions. What a difference a week makes! Sadly it didnt last and the rest of the week was a struggle in bright sunshine and flat calm conditions. Douglas and Iain managed a couple of seatrout from Schoolhouse to 1.75lb and Rick and Alan had 6 nice trout on Upper Kildonan to 1.5lb and after moving of Bornish to West Olaphat proved great fun with 12 to 1.75 despite the conditions. In these sort of conditions SUAC lochs will largely outperform estate lochs in terms of numbers caught.
Last week Jim Gray and Co started t on Upper Kildonan with 3 to the boat before an early finish in favour of shorts/ teeshirt/ beer but it did produce a lovely 2.25lb machair trout for Bob on the first drift before it got too hot. The rest of the week was a challenge due to the weather with only a few finnock landed but on their final day on Roag both boats lost very large fish.
Regulars Clive Lunn and Iain Whitehorn arrived last Thursday and started on Bharp where Clive had 2 finnock and a nice 1.75lb seatrout. This was followed by Schoolhouse which produced 6 seatrout/ finnock with the best at 1.75lb.
Then we had THE day on West Ollay when Iain landed the biggest brownie I have ever seen at 8.5lb, it was huge and had a fight to match! Congratulations Iain, the biggest Brownie caught on the estate this year so far, See top left in Rogues Gallery in South Uist Fishing section for the picture..
He was doubly lucky because 5 mins earlier he also landed a 3lb fish in a narrow weedy channel which took some getting out.
Today on Caravan we were fighting a 48mph wind but Clive still managed a lovely 2lber before it all got too much.
Sep 25
Iain managed a lovely 3.5lb seatrout in Castle and on Roag Clive had a hard fighting 6.5lb salmon. We had a lovely day on North Olaphat with 36 to the boat including a cracking 2lber. Fada proved very disappointing but Lower Kildonan produced 3 1.5lb seatrout for Clive and 7 cracking brownies at around 1.75lb each.
Niall and Heather Morrison joined Clive and Iain during last week on their first trip here, and had 4 finnock on Roag, 2 finnock on Schoo;house and 2 finnock on Bharp.
Fishing has been tricky lately due to the huge amount of rain we have had and periodic high winds. Brown trout fishing has improved significantly and the odd decent Salmon or large seatrout are also being caught.
Poor weather blighted Tony Ronan's second visit of the year unfortunately. He lost a day and 2 others were near impossible but as usual he soldiered on and had a few on N Olaphat and Bayhead.
Our season ended prematurely this year due to a cancellation but I would like to thank all our guests in 2025 for their patronage, It was a pleasure hosting you all.
Best catches to Date
8.5 lb Brownie - West Ollay - Iain Whitehorn
4.25lb Brownie- Caravan - Mark James
6.5lb Salmon - Roag - Clive Lunn
3.5lb Seatrout - Fada - Neale Moss
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