Our last day on Islay with Fly Fish Islay was a bit of a stunner, with a very manageable breeze and sunshine for much of the time. We headed out to the coast to have another go at the Sea Trout but to be fair we were probably late on the water by 30-60 minutes….but it’ s a holiday and there is breakfast!
As setting’s for fishing the sea loch has to be world class, with pristine sands, blue sea, green hills and the mountains of Jura in the distance. It would be on my list of 50 places to fish before you die, had I been consulted for the book!
We started at the bottom of the channel and worked our way up as the tide came in increasingly quickly. There were definitely fish around, I think everyone seen one or more swirling or turning on top but alas it wasn’t to be, one of the guys had a hatful of wee juvenile Pollack ( Pukies they seem to be called locally) on an Orange fly, but nothing else of size was encountered.
There were seals, certainly two and maybe three very close to us as we fished, probably looking to snatch an easy meal had we hooked anything.
Then Back to the Loch One Last Time
So mid-afternoon we called it a day and headed back to the house. With only a few hours of daylight left
Having had one on my chosen cast of the week of Snatcher, green tagged Kate and Diawl Bach I decided to mix things up a bit and give some other patterns a go to see what would work. I am not a lure angler but I wondered if tying on a Black Humungous might entice any bigger residents sitting tight to the bottom. Arguably an intermediate line woul dbe the way to go but I couldn’t be bothered changing so made do with the floater and just let the fly sink before retrieving. I did get a couple of good pulls before things locked up…..and then it all went slack…. I had lost my entire leader. Not sure if it was a decent fish had had a go- to be fair even the wee fish were hitting the flies deceptively hard. But I think I ended up in a snag and maybe a poorly tied knot gave way losing me all three flies.
As it was the only flies I had lost all week thats not a bad score.
A Dram to End on
Tonight’s wee tot was Deanston
Loads of Vanilla on the nose with Malty notes, and on the palate, honey ginger and a little citrus fruit.
The Malted Barley makes an appearance in the satisfyingly lengthy finish
I reset up and tried again and had a couple more tugs on the Humungous, with a couple of trad winged wets on- a wet Wickhams, and a Grouse and Claret but it wasn’t getting me any fish to the net so another change. A couple of Sedgehogs in Black and claret and a CDC Greenwells. Nothing but to be fair there was nothing showing on top.
After a fairly sharp rain shower blew through, I retired to the bank for a we break and a rethink. I was inclined to tie on a wee gold beaded Hares Ear but then as I was pondering my options, a fish rose bout two rod legths from my place on the bank. The light was fading, time for a dry. I tied on one of my self dyed, ginger, CDC bubble wing Sedges. I cast where I had seen the fish rise and after a few average casts, a near perfect presentation with the fly turning over beautifully and literally landing on the water as if wafted on the wing beats of angels ( am I writing too much bollocks?) a fish ( a small Brown) snatched it as soon as it touched down. Small but very very satisfying.
Then as I was blethering to Paul in the boat as he returned ot the pier, I spotted a fish rise near a fence that runs out into the water, then again, and again. But the water between me and the fish was too deep to wade and it was about a 40 yard cast away, and in to the prevailing breeze. it wasn’t too strong but I wasn’t going to hit the distance when already waist deep in the loch.
A change of position was required and I returned to shore, moved along a few yards then got within casting range, cast and first cast, a rise and a take and a very pleasing nice 10″ or thereabouts loch Brown. With the sun now behind the trees and the sky peppered with scarlet and orange clouds I decided that would be my last cast and very likely my last fish on a dry fly this season.
A great end to our Islay trip this year.
If a trip like this interests you, you can find out more from Fly Fish Islay either on the Web or Facebook. There are usually 5-6 trips per year for small groups typically four staying in top end
Fly Fish Islay’s partner company Distilled Events also run trips to the Island offering exclusive tastings and insider visits to the famous Islay distilleries accompanied by
