COLUMN: My doubts over my fishing trip to Lewis were groundless - it was the best of holidays
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Northern Lines by Keith Williams
Having extolled the virtues of living next to a salmon river in my June column, I quickly found myself in a role reversal.
A fishing trip to Lewis had been booked way back in the autumn of 2021 and loomed ever larger in my diary as the day of departure grew near. Gone was the luxury of knowing that if conditions were not right then I could be back home in matter of minutes, putting my efforts into something other than fishing.
Instead, I experienced all the doubts and neurosis that tend to beset holiday anglers. Given the fact that the Hebrides are not noted for early salmon, would there be any fish to catch in the rivers and lochs? Would weather conditions be conducive to good fishing even if the salmon were present? Online reports of catches were eagerly scanned; weather forecasts watched with more attention to detail than normal; and messages exchanged with those in the know at the fishery.
In the end, I consoled myself with the thought that I was in no different a position than the vast majority of people who fish for salmon and indirectly pay my wages. I would have to just take my chances. Additionally, even if the fishing was not good, I was revisiting a place I had always found restful and had longed to see again.
As it transpired, I need not have been concerned. Fresh salmon were coming into the system from the Atlantic on each tide and rainfall had put the river in fine fettle. After dinner on the first evening a short walk to the river from the lodge was rewarded with a small grilse which took a fly I had tied specifically for the holiday. I had cast the fly half a dozen times or less.
Most holiday fishers would agree that the difference between catching two salmon and one during a trip is but a single salmon, whereas the difference between catching nothing and one salmon tends more towards the infinite. Having ensured that the potential for a blank week had been banished, I settled easily into the rhythm of fishing familiar pools.
As I fished downstream towards the sea loch, I absorbed the splendour of my surroundings until, somewhat startled, a glance at my wristwatch informed me that it was fast approaching midnight.
The evening set the tone for the rest of the week. All the experienced members of the fishing party caught plenty of fish and most days were full of incident and tales of near misses.
Sometimes being a holiday angler is no bad thing after all.
Dr Keith Williams the director of Kyle Fisheries.
