Caladail along with its three sister lochs is tucked away in a fold of limestone in the far North West of Scotland. The limestone on which they sit make for sublime fly fishing. Unlike the acidic, peat bog lochs and lochans which cover the West Coast – the fast growing fish in these lochs enjoy a rich aquatic, alkaline, environment with bountiful insect life and hatches. Until I fished the limestone lochs, fishing on the west coast was about the scenery rather than the trout. On Caladail and its sisters – it’s all about the trout.
The water is so gin clear on the limestone lochs you can see a bed of weed 20 feet below the surface as you drift on the wind. On neighbouring Croispol I have seen the flash of a fishes mouth at 20 yards as it turns on a fly 6 inches below the surface. Black-headed gulls circle and swoop to pick off the hatching Olives, while trout snap at them from below. You won’t see this on a southern reservoir, its flyfishing magic.
I was out on Caladail one June afternoon with a good wind blowing. Unfortunately it had been so strong in the morning we hadn’t managed to get out. The downwind shore was lined with foam, full of shucks from last nights buzzer hatch. I was fishing with black thread buzzers – a southern reservoir tactic not suited to such strong winds and was just about to change to more traditional Scottish patterns, when the rod was virtually torn out of my hand. My heart was in my mouth during the powerful fight that followed – I’d come a long way to experience this and I savoured every moment. I soon netted a beautiful fin perfect, yellow bellied 2.5 lb wild brown trout which signalled the start of a hatch that continued for the next 2 hours or so. A further 5 fish followed all between 1.5-2.5lb, making this the best days fishing I’ve ever had in Scotland.
The water is so gin clear on the limestone lochs you can see a bed of weed 20 feet below the surface as you drift on the wind. On neighbouring Croispol I have seen the flash of a fishes mouth at 20 yards as it turns on a fly 6 inches below the surface. Black-headed gulls circle and swoop to pick off the hatching Olives, while trout snap at them from below. You won’t see this on a southern reservoir, its flyfishing magic.
I was out on Caladail one June afternoon with a good wind blowing. Unfortunately it had been so strong in the morning we hadn’t managed to get out. The downwind shore was lined with foam, full of shucks from last nights buzzer hatch. I was fishing with black thread buzzers – a southern reservoir tactic not suited to such strong winds and was just about to change to more traditional Scottish patterns, when the rod was virtually torn out of my hand. My heart was in my mouth during the powerful fight that followed – I’d come a long way to experience this and I savoured every moment. I soon netted a beautiful fin perfect, yellow bellied 2.5 lb wild brown trout which signalled the start of a hatch that continued for the next 2 hours or so. A further 5 fish followed all between 1.5-2.5lb, making this the best days fishing I’ve ever had in Scotland.
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