Glen Quoich/ Kinlochhourn fishing.

My fly fishing guru is due a visit to Invergarry soon but I couldn't wait any longer and headed out on my own.

The soothing gentle breeze, the crystal clear water lilting against the shore, the swoosh of the fly line as it flows back and forth through the air, the rhythmic clicking of the reel as more line is released, the periodic pops as eager fish break the surface, the barely perceptible ripples as the fly is presented to the fish with impeccable precision.... well, that was the dream!

It all seemed so simple when I practised in the garden. Apart from a few funny looks from people walking the Great Glen Way thinking I was fly fishing in our 4m2 pond it was fine. Out in the real world, at an actual proper real life loch though, different story. It was a bit windy and the hook was flying up all over the place, every time it flew past my head I was tensing up in case it caught me. Within 15 minutes I had hooked my jacket and then my hat.


I thought I'd better call it day before I had my eye out, luckily I'd planned for this eventuality and headed off a bit further down the road to try my luck with my other rod and the mackerel at Kinlochhourn.


Just my luck - some proper fishermen that seemed to know what they were doing! I hid around the corner so they wouldn't see how terrible I was, just close enough to hear them telling each other that it wasn't a high enough high tide for the mackeral. Great. I'd just about decided to give in and that I should have spent the day up a hill when the rod started twitching, and I came home with 2 (nearly 3!) fresh mackerel for tea. Result!

--Matt