Ralf Warta. August 2013
08 – 09/08/13 Ralf Warta’s Scottish battle.
DAY 1: Ralf had discussed the possibility to go fishing when he was over in August and now he was living the dream! We walked up the path with near perfect weather before us. The clouds were zipping over the mountains revealing a lovely glimpse of blue sky every few minutes. Within 20 minutes we found ourselves at the loch side. After careful thought into where to start we worked our way round the far bank and after a few minutes, BANG, Ralf had his first highland trout trying to escape the secret weapon (all my customers no what I mean…) on the end. As it was his first ever Scottish wild brownie we had a small swig from the hip flask, slipped him back to fight another day and got the flies straight back out there!
A few more fish graced the net before we moved round the loch to try the next bank when the unexpected happened – the wind simply disappeared! Midge nets down and up to higher ground for a re-check on the weather.
The breeze soon picked up again and we found ourselves walking 10 minutes over the hill to the next loch. The breeze continued to pick up and then die for the next hour until we both decided to try a more exposed loch about 30 minutes walk away.
Needless to say we arrived at the new loch with a lovely breeze only to see it die again!!! This is not usual for up here but to have it happen three times in one day is more than bad luck!!!! We still fished on and got a few more trout before the day had come to an end. It had given Ralf his first ever trout from Scotland, plenty of advice on how to fish up here and also how to react to changes in the weather. Happy with our day we headed back to the hotel to plan the second day and pray for some wind!
Day 2:
The weather forecast had said breezy in the northwest. Why did the sea look like a millpond when I opened my curtains then?? Oh god! Please give us some wind! I spoke with Ralf about the options when a light bulb switched on in my head. I knew of a large loch where there was free boat for today. It would be an extra 5 pounds but there was a good chance of a sea trout and an outside chance of maybe even a salmon. He didn’t need much convincing – we just needed the wind.
We arrived to a light breeze and I put Ralf through the paces of boat fishing. He had never fished from a boat before and it was then that I learned that he had only been fly fishing for 1 year. Believe me, I wish I could have fished that well after only 1 year of practise! By watching him use the rod I had simply assumed that he had been doing it for a lot longer.
Out of nowhere the wind started to blow and we now found ourselves moving down the loch in a good wave up to the salmon rocks. We tried every lie at the rocks but to no avail so I told him to leave the fly behind the boat as I rowed us back up. At this point a trout suddenly decided to jump onto the fly much to the amazement of Ralf! Not huge but a welcome sign in ever improving fishing weather.
The first drift brought a few rises and as I was again getting ready to row back up the loch Ralf’s rod hooped over. He hadn’t expected the trout to fight so hard, but they do! After a few minutes a fine trout of just under a pound was netted. A very happy Ralf posed for a quick shot before releasing the trout back into the dark water of it’s home.
