Overview Season Charges Day Tickets Fish to Catch Tackle to Use Photo Gallery   The Fishing     Sea Trout Although stocks of sea trout, the migratory version of the brown trout, have been in decline on many areas of the west coast of Scotland, populations in the Western Isles have remained locally very good. For example the River Creed, in 2003, had its 19th best-recorded catch since records began in 1874. Sea trout fishing begins in June when the first adult fish return to freshwater on their upstream migration waiting for the start of the spawning season. From then on they can be caught in the sea, burns and rivers and in the lochs. On the more productive systems runs will continue throughout the summer with large numbers of finnock, arriving in from July. Often fresh fish will run up to and after the end of the fishing season. The smaller burns may not get a run until very late in the season with the adult fish making a quick run for spawning during periods of high flow. Fishing for sea trout in the sea is probably the most exciting way of catching these superb sporting fish. There are many places around the coast of Lewis and Harris where sea trout congregate in the sea either in feeding areas or waiting to run into freshwater. Once a feeding area has been found great sport can be had either by spinning or fly-fishing. As the sea trout are still in feeding mode a sand eel or small fish imitation lure is usually all that is required. Sometimes they will take with great gusto whilst on other days there will be many follows and plucks at the lure. Probably, the most exciting way to catch them is by fly-fishing from a float tube in the sea. The usual method is to use a floating line and a large sand eel lure, size 2 to size 10, casting to cover the swirls of feeding or jumping fish. Often a fish will follow the retrieved fly for many metres before taking the fly with a swirl or turning away. This can be heart-stopping stuff especially if the angler has just cast his fly over a big fish. As the fish are still feeding they are in the peak of condition and usually put up a tremendous fight. Fish can be caught throughout the day, especially if there is cloud cover, but is generally best in the early morning or evening. (Note: float tubing in the sea should not be undertaken alone or without the angler getting local advice on tides, currents and sea conditions. It should only be carried out during periods of settled weather with a good weather forecast.) Incidentally, the often quote advice about using a long soft rod for sea trout fishing as they have soft mouths is a bit of the mark. In fact they have hard bony mouths often making hook removal difficult. A large wide gape hook is often the best way to secure a good hook hold. The reason why a long soft rod is advantageous is that sea trout, in freshwater especially, is often wary and is lightly hooked and are able to make their escape if held too hard. Given a rise in the water level the adult sea trout and finnock will run back up into home rivers from June onwards. Much of the sea trout fishing in the Western Isles takes place in the lochs as often the freshwater systems are small and burns all but disappear during dry weather. As in the sea the sea trout will often be found in localised areas. They can be caught either by bank or boat fishing. Many systems are fly only but sea trout can be caught by any method on waters where permitted. Float fished worm fishing can be productive, as can a small spinner such as a Mepps/Droppen type lures. Given suitable conditions, cloud cover and a good breeze fly-fishing for sea trout from a boat is considered by many to be the cream of wet fly fishing. Floating lines and size 8 – 12 bushy flies such as Claret Bumble, Clan Chief, Kate Maclaren and muddlers in various guises are usually most productive. Unlike in rivers the sea trout take quite freely during the day in lochs, almost as if the security afforded by open loch environment overrides their natural shyness during daylight hours. In the open water of a loch the sea trout is very safe from predators other than man, even an otter will struggle to catch one out with the confines of a pool in the river. Sea trout fishing in the burns and rivers can be very good during spate conditions when any method will catch fresh running fish, with a carefully fished worm deadly in the deeper pools. There are only a few rivers on the Western Isles with enough holding pools to make sea trout fishing worthwhile, the River Creed being one, other than in high water conditions. Daytime fishing in these places during low water conditions will often result in many follows to the fly but few takes. However, as anywhere else, they can be caught during the evening and night by fly-fishing. Pools holding sea trout where the only result will be follows to the fly during the day will produce solid takes to small flies from dusk onwards. The only drawback to this form of the sport is that the classic conditions for night- time sea trout fishing are warm, balmy evenings. These conditions occur a lot in the Western Isles, however, they are also classic conditions for the dreaded midge, which can make night-time fishing unbearable. Although stocks of sea trout are very good in many areas of the Western Isles careful conservation of this precious resource must be practised. Stocks have improved recently as the result of more enlightened fishery management as encouraged by bodies such as the Western Isles Fisheries Trust. Catch and release is the norm now and the days of taking home catches of 20-30 fish should remain in the past. A 3lb sea trout has usually made at least one previous spawning run into freshwater, maybe as a finnock, where its main predator is man. If we want to catch more fish of that size then they must survive the initial spawning runs to grow onto mature fish. Most fisheries now have bag limits in place to protect stocks, which allow the angler to take home one or two fish for the pot whilst the rest are returned. On systems where sea trout occur it is criminal to kill small brown trout as they may one-day smolt and return as a sea trout. The life cycle of the brown/sea trout is very flexible and given the meagre feeding available in many freshwater systems in the islands the life cycle choice to migrate to sea for feeding prior to spawning will often by the dominant one if survival conditions it the sea are favourable.   Salmon Sea Trout Brown Trout For more information about the fishing season, or if you have any queries contact us and we will be happy to help you.

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