Hebrides 12: Fishing on Loch Grogarry

Loch Grogarry is one of the many machair lochs in South Uist, now owned collectively by the islanders and run by Storas Uibhist.  I only had one day in which to go fishing, so took advice from the Storas as to which loch I should try.  Grogarry was the suggestion, and its single boat was booked for me for the day.  If I'd been expecting Scottish loch-style fishing to be anything like that at my usual venue of Grafham Water, I was soon disabused of this fact.  No engine (just a pair of oars); only me on the boat (so I had to row as well as fish); wild brown trout (not stocked rainbows); and spectacular scenery (not a concrete dam wall in sight).  The photos below were taken with my iPhone, as the changeable weather would have meant my "real" camera getting a couple of soakings during the day!

The fish above is a superbly conditioned 2lb wild brown trout, which was the one and only fish I caught all day.  No matter, as I only needed one for my dinner; and very good it was too, with a few new potatoes and some salad. Yum...

Rods, Poles and Perches

Well, actually, it's a Pike not a Perch, and to my knowledge there were no Poles at Ravensthorpe Reservoir on the opening day of this year's fly fishing season.  Although the aim was to catch trout, this rather fine specimen decided to go for my fly (so to speak).  Photo courtesy of John Caldwell at the other end of the  boat!

What a handsome brute (the fish, not the angler).

Day 12: Fishing on the Sabie River

Friday 7th August 2009

This was our last full day in South Africa, and I was allowed to spend it fishing while Harriet and Izzi pottered around the town. Fly fishing is very popular in that part of the world, and there was an excellent shop in the town where I spent a long time (and many Rands) finding out about it. There was no problem in hiring the necessary tackle, as I hadn't brought anything with me.

I became a temporary member of the Sabie Fly Fishing Club, which owned the rights to a 5km stretch of the Sabie "River". Not much of a river - more of a small stream - mostly overgrown, and overlooked by a huge plantation and saw mill.



Not the most attractive of locations, but it was fun to relax a bit and have a day on my own. The fishing was slow - I managed a couple of small rainbows - but that didn't matter. What was more of a problem was the mud, which had to be traversed in less than ideal footwear.



Given that we had a longish drive to Nelspruit ahead of us, Harriet phoned me about 2:45 to say that my time was up. Reluctantly I headed back to the tackle shop to drop off the items I'd borrowed, and then we drove south towards our final destination for the holiday: the Hawkshead Holiday Camp, about 15km out of Nelspruit. The cottage there was fine, except the whole area was incredibly noisy due to its proximity to a motorway, the N14.

We attempted to get some food at the local shops, but gave up very quickly since they turned out to be a petrol station and a rather seedy looking liquor store. We then did what seemed a good idea at the time: namely to drive into Nelspruit to find a Nandos, or equivalent. Big mistake! The driving was incredibly hairy as there is no central reservation on South African motorways and the local inhabitants seemed ambivalent as to which side of the road they should drive on. In the end we gave up looking for a restaurant, opting instead for a Super-Spar where we bought food to cook back at the cottage. The last braai of the holiday was a bit hit and miss, owing to the fact that the outside light was broken. Come to think of it, the bedroom light was broken too, along with several other things in the cottage. All in all, fairly typical of South African accommodation!