South Uist Fishing Reports - from Anglers' Retreat
April/ May 20
Covid 19 restriction prevented any fishing during this period.
Jun 20
Fishing started in earnest but sadly ony for me as we are unable to host and guests and no visitors are allowed on the islands. Estate lochs not available by boat so restricted to bank or club lochs. Unsurprisingly I made hay! My highlights were:
North Olaphat - 4 trips - 31 trout
West Olaphat - 1 trip AM- 10 trout
East Olaphat - 1 trip PM - 5 trout
Druidibeg - 4 trips from bank -22 trout
Frasers - 1 trip am (fiona) - 6 trout
Dun a Cille - 1 trip - 8 trout
Dun Mhor - 1 float tube trip 3hrs - 16 trout
Bayhead - 2 trips - 17 trout
West Ollay - 1 trip - 1 x 5lb 4oz, 1x 3lb 10oz, 1x 2lb 4oz, 1x 1lb 8oz
West Ollay - 3.5lb from bank
East Bee - 2 trips- 9 brown, 3 seatrout
The West Ollay trip was most memorable because the loch was covered in thick Sea Harr and it was freezing cold.
I have also bank fished numerous SUAC mid and hill lochs and caught another 50+ fish to 2lb.
July 20
.As usual the weather turned in July but fishing has been steady. My highlights so far have been:
Druidibeg Bank - 9 small trout
Frasers Float tube- 18
North Olaphat - 2 trips 20 (Fishing very well this season)
East Bee - 1 x 2lb, 1 x 1.5lb seatrout
Clachen - 10 (4 over 1.5lb)
West Olaphat -6 + 5 to Fiona
Fada - 2 Finnock
Upper Kildonan - 9
The first guest of the year was regular visitor Graham Gow who had a nice 3.5lb seatrout from Fada + 6 finnock, 8 x 1lb+ trout from Upper Kildonan, bad weather did not help him. Jamie Kay another regular fished with me on |Upper Kildonan and had his best day ever fishing in South Uist with 10 in the boat, together we lost or rose a further 30+. Jamie enjoys his bank fishing and also had 6 from Frasers, 5 from Druidibeg and 8 from Dun Mhor
A surprisingly good month for fish given the weather. The Sluice gate on Bee is currently being repaired which should help the ecosystem considerably
Aug 20
August kicked off with the arrival of David Ogg, Simon Barnes, Brian Glover and Rick Knight who fished hard for a week in difficult calm and sunny conditions, their reward was a 6lb 10oz Seatrout for David and a cracking 3lb Brownie for Rick with Simon and Brian both having fish to 2 3/4lb and numerous fish above 1.5lb caught. Bornish, Grogarry, Stilligary and Fada fished particularly well. Total for their week - 47 Brownies, 14 Seatrout.
John Watson and Colin Paton had a difficult week weather wise ranging from flat calm and sunny to full blown gales but they persevered and ended up with over 20 trout in the last few days particularly from the bank on Mid Ollay.
The final full week was taken by Paul & Scott Clydesdale, Tony Connor and Brian Fraser. What a week they had; it started with 70 trout from the banks of 3 club lochs on Sunday. On Monday Tony and Scott had 2 salmon (10.5 and 5lb) and 13 seatrout (best 3.5lb) from Roag and Paul had a fantastic 6.25lb Brownie from West Ollay. This was followed by a 4.5lb salmon to Tony on Upper Kildonan and a 4.5Lb Brownie yet again from West Ollay. They had numerous 2-3.5lb brownies from Grogarry, Stilligary and Bornish and a fantastic day on Upper Kildon which produced 17. Great fishing guys.
Best catches
David Ogg's 6lb 10oz Seatrout from Fada
Paul Clydesdale 61/4 lb Brownie from West Olay
Tony Connor 10.5lb Salmon