Fish & Fly - 04/03

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Islay

Our April 2003 contribution from Terry Lawton

Terry Lawton paid a flying visit to the island of Islay, where the European Fly Fishing Championship is being held in September, and spent a short time fishing on two of the championship lochs.

Food is always an important part of any fishing expedition, whether for a day or longer. I am pleased to report that there is some very good food and drink – more on that in a minute – on the Scottish island of Islay. I had a fillet steak of Islay beef and it was the tastiest steak that I have eaten for a very long time. The oysters and scallops were very good too.

There was time for some fishing between the eating and drinking sessions. Kate McLaren made new fly fisherman Paddy Mulchrone a very happy man indeed. She played a pivotal role in helping him catch his first-ever brown trout.

Although all the fishing will be on lochs – both from the bank and from boats – holding the European Fly Fishing Championship on such an attractive and scenic an island as Islay, has the great advantage that the event will be kept compact and there will be no need to travel very far between the base and the four competition lochs. The lochs are Loch Finlaggan, Loch Gorm, Loch Ballygrant and Loch Kinnabus. Gorm, the largest of all Islay’s lochs, is recognised as one of the world's great brown trout lochs.

I was one of a small party that assembled on Islay to sample the fishing, scenery, hospitality and whisky to take part in the Bowmore Pro-Am Fly Fishing Invitational this April. Teams were made up from the visiting press, Morrison Bowmore Distillers and past and hope-to-be members of the Scottish team. As this was my first fishing competition, it was pleasantly light hearted and the fact that I had not fished from a boat before was not a great handicap.

My team fished Loch Gorm from the bank in the morning. The loch lies in flat land very close to the sea and can, apparently, get quite rough. The morning started hot and sunny and there were clouds of buzzers when we arrived at the loch. The temperature soon dropped and the air turned very cool. The conditions had quite an impact on the fishing and the best catch was out Scottish international with 33 fish, mostly pretty small. The teams fishing in the afternoon had much the better of the conditions with the top score of 64, by another Scottish team member. Bigger fish were caught in the afternoon, compared with the tiddlers of the morning.

Our afternoon session was boat fishing on Loch Ballygrant which is a picturesque loch, smaller than Gorm, surrounded by trees with the mountains of Jura looking over the north east end of the loch. A boat is the only way to fish this loch. There were buzzers in evidence and a sparse hatch of some type of large dark olive which was enough to keep the fish high in the water where rises could be seen. We spent an enjoyable afternoon catching fish of around half to three-quarters of a pound. Although they were not large, they are hard fighters and feel much bigger.

Dr Andy Walker, a fishery scientist with the Freshwater Fishery Resources Group, was in our party and he was collecting information for a paper on conservation that he will deliver in September to the championship. He measured all fish caught and killed, took scales samples, and showed us the stomach contents of a number of fish. He was able to show us cock and hen fish which had spawned, immature hen fish, and what they had been eating. Food ranged from eight sticklebacks in one fish, to many snails in most fish, and the odd buzzer larva.

In these days of more and more anglers fishing catch and release, it was interesting that Andy Walker was very insistent that fishermen should kill all the fish that they catch on these lochs to stop them from becoming over-populated which results in the spread of disease and under-sized fish. The championship is going to be a catch and release competition.

Morrison Bowmore Distillers, sponsor of the European Fly Fishing Championship 2003 which is being held on Islay between 8 and12 September, through its Bowmore Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, is a very dedicated and committed sponsor of the event. The championship will be the biggest-ever fly fishing event held in Scotland and the sponsor and organisers see it as a way of telling the fly fishing world that the country is capable of staging and organising a world-class competition. Morrison Bowmore Distillers also sponsor a film festival in Glasgow and an international horse trials every summer.

The Morrison Bowmore Distillery is one of seven on the islands and a tour of the distillery is not to be missed. We were able to taste most stages of the production of single malt whisky from the fermented wort, or wash, through raw spirit at 68 per cent proof (!) to a 40 year old single malt straight from the barrel. Many bottles of 17 year old Bowmore Islay single malt were drunk at the social functions.

From what I saw and experienced on a very short visit, I would recommend strongly that anyone who wants to fish some interesting lochs for hard-fighting wild brown trout - and the same waters as those to be used for the forthcoming championship - go to Islay this summer. You will be assured of a warm welcome, with excellent whisky to be drunk and plenty for any non-fishers to see and do. Don’t forget to have some Kate McLarens, Bibios and Connemara Blacks in your fly box.