South Uist Fishing Reports - from The Anglers' Retreat

The prime month of the year and it has v difficult due to uncharactistic poor weather with days lost of all. Jim Carr, Bob Laws and John Archibald on their first trip here managed 5 on Mill, 2 on a sunny flat day on Bornish and 12 on Dun a Cille. Regulars Martin Bamforth and Colin West had an equally challenging time with 5 on Hallan (bright/ calm), 5 on Upper Kildonan (perfect day but big hatch the night before), 8 on Mid Ollay and 12 on Altabrug in a howling gale. A tough week for Mark James and Reuben Girling with winds not dropping below 35 all week and cool with it, still no active fly life. That said we had good days on Druidibeg (28), N Olaphat (15), U Kildonan (10) and Mid Ollay (10) plus others from the bank on Frasers, Diesel and East Olaphat. Its a struggle at the moment and the Machair lochs havent really switched on yet. Julian Williams, Gareth Richards, Mark Mathieson and Bob Avery battled bravely with weather and had a good week. Julian and Gareth managed 143 trout for the week with the best days on Druidibeg Est side (43), E/W Olaphat (23) and Upper Bornish (20). The machair lochs are not fishing that well, but they had a good morning on Stilligary casting to feeding trout with a fine 2.5lb fish the highlight. Mark and Bob managed 80, including a beautiful 2.5lb fish on Stilligary and a great day on N Olaphat (38). Reuben Girling was also here and managed 36 from both boat and bank. Peach Muddler, Clan Chief, Peter Ross and Claret Bumbles taking most fish. Graham Gow finished the month off in style on Fada with 2 grilse to 5.5lb to the boat and one lost during a red letter day thanks to a Colin McKenzie secret weapon.

Jul 22

We were on holiday during July and I did not ghilie but friends reported really hard going due to topsy turvy weather and the usual trout doldrums at this time of year. I managed 3hrs on a boat with my 15yr old niece Naimh and a friend Emma who between them caught 20 on Druidibeg despite never having fished before. Emma managed a monster Druidieb trout of nearly 2lb on the dap.

Aug 22 

Just to prove that Graham Gow isnt the only one who can catch 2 salmon in a day, new guest Graham Lamond had 3 seatrout and 2 x 4lb grilse plus one bigger fish moved in the burnmouth of Roag during a spate in a purple patch of one hour. The rest of the day we didnt even see a fish! The rest of his week saw constant fish, particularly of Druidibeg.

John Watson and Colin Poton follow Graeme and sadly had to endure some terrible conditions (when the rest of the uk was basking in sunshine) Despite this they caight fish throught, the highlight being a 4lb salmon and two fine seatrout on Lower Kildonan. They also had a fun morning on Druidibeg before rain halted play. This week its Simon Barnes, Rick Knight, Brian Gibson and Alan Craig, Sunday was a struggle on Clachen and Bayhead but Monday saw Alan catch 5 on Grogarry including fish of 2.5 and 3.75 both in awesome fights. We had a fun day on Druidibeg with boats landing 55 and 37 respectively, well done to the victors Brian, Alan and Colin McKenzie. If we counted total fish lost/ raised in all we saw in excess of 200 fish!! Druidibeg is a great place to start a fishing trip and learn how to hook fish here. Simon and Brian also had a fab day with me on West/ East Olaphat boating 36 with many lost. For me the highlight of their week was my day on N Olaphat with Simon and Rick, they managed 46, which is far and away the best day Ive ever had on this fabulous club loch. The party had to endure some tough condition with wind in excess of 30mph most days and sporadic heavy showers so well done indeed. A more settled week forecast next week for Tony Connor, Scott Clydesdale and Ted Edger