Do you have your own boat John?

 

Hi John,

There's piles of information on Etive and Sunart on here, but they're both a pretty long haul from Sutherland (but relatively handy for the central belt, which is why you see so many reports for them).

I spent 5 days fishing around Loch Alsh, Loch Carron and Loch Duich in late October a few years ago. The weather was dire most of the time but we did manage to launch most days, even if we did little more than spin 360 degrees round the anchor rope in winds that blew from every direction. There were some fish around when things calmed down a little - plenty conger to low twenties from Loch Duich (best catch was close to shore on the northern side) and smallish codling/ling on the drift from Loch Carron not far from the avalanche shelter area. We tried skate fishing in the deeper water at Loch Carron but with no interest, although I'm sure there are some there. One awful day (think horizontal sleet) we launched at Kyle of Lochalsh and hid in a little inlet across the water on Skye, for a couple of baby conger and some doggies off a tiny wreck. The original plan was to fish Loch Torridon as well but we eventually bottled on that idea given the weather. There was a thread about Torridon on here a week or so back which you should have a look at - it would certainly be on my list if the loch was more accessible to me.

Given better conditions I think we'd have caught a fair bit more, so I'd give a thumbs up to the potential for Duich and Carron over the autumn/winter. We launched near Dornie at a slipway close to the road bridge - free and OK, but rather slippy stonework and a bit of tiderun if I remember right. At Carron we launched at Stromeferry - good slip but a bit cluttered with gear and weedy. I fished Carron again in March this year, but just for a few hours from an inflatable - mainly for smallish ling near the avalanche shelter.

Other than that I'm guessing, but the lochs around Kylesku might be worth a shot and maybe not too far from you. Deeper water to the seaward side of the bridge and shallower to the east, with fishfarms, etc. Decent shelter from a SW wind as well. Conger, rays and skate would be my target, and possibly spurdog.

General point for all the lochs - get your anchor setup right, with a good length of heavy chain and plenty of rope and a way of lifting it from 300 feet of water. That was my mistake the first year I fished Etive - too little chain meant I dragged the bottom in any wind.

If you do get out I'd be very interested to hear your reports (good or bad)!

 

Do you have your own boat John?

Hi, yes i do have my own boat, a 17ft Sea Nymph, though its not ready for the sea yet, few more things to get done on it. Thats why i was asking about winter fishing, as hopefully i will have the boat done before next spring. Cheers, John.

 

Hi John,

There's piles of information on Etive and Sunart on here, but they're both a pretty long haul from Sutherland (but relatively handy for the central belt, which is why you see so many reports for them).

I spent 5 days fishing around Loch Alsh, Loch Carron and Loch Duich in late October a few years ago. The weather was dire most of the time but we did manage to launch most days, even if we did little more than spin 360 degrees round the anchor rope in winds that blew from every direction. There were some fish around when things calmed down a little - plenty conger to low twenties from Loch Duich (best catch was close to shore on the northern side) and smallish codling/ling on the drift from Loch Carron not far from the avalanche shelter area. We tried skate fishing in the deeper water at Loch Carron but with no interest, although I'm sure there are some there. One awful day (think horizontal sleet) we launched at Kyle of Lochalsh and hid in a little inlet across the water on Skye, for a couple of baby conger and some doggies off a tiny wreck. The original plan was to fish Loch Torridon as well but we eventually bottled on that idea given the weather. There was a thread about Torridon on here a week or so back which you should have a look at - it would certainly be on my list if the loch was more accessible to me.

Given better conditions I think we'd have caught a fair bit more, so I'd give a thumbs up to the potential for Duich and Carron over the autumn/winter. We launched near Dornie at a slipway close to the road bridge - free and OK, but rather slippy stonework and a bit of tiderun if I remember right. At Carron we launched at Stromeferry - good slip but a bit cluttered with gear and weedy. I fished Carron again in March this year, but just for a few hours from an inflatable - mainly for smallish ling near the avalanche shelter.

Other than that I'm guessing, but the lochs around Kylesku might be worth a shot and maybe not too far from you. Deeper water to the seaward side of the bridge and shallower to the east, with fishfarms, etc. Decent shelter from a SW wind as well. Conger, rays and skate would be my target, and possibly spurdog.

General point for all the lochs - get your anchor setup right, with a good length of heavy chain and plenty of rope and a way of lifting it from 300 feet of water. That was my mistake the first year I fished Etive - too little chain meant I dragged the bottom in any wind.

If you do get out I'd be very interested to hear your reports (good or bad)!

Hi, thanks for that really useful info. I've looked at various posts on Loch Etive. Sounds like it could be worth the trip, a long haul though from sutherland, as you say. Noted the lochs you've mentioned and will see what info i can gather about them. Thanks again, John.