River Laggan
The view while sailing through the Firth of Lorne looking over towards the mountains on Mull was breathtaking. It was late August and we are on our way to the beautiful Island of Islay, on the west coast of Scotland for a week’s holiday. It was my second visit to this fabulous island but my wife had never set foot on it’s beautiful shores.
I must have been around seven or eight when I first visited Islay with my parents. I still remember that holiday to this day, mainly because of one image which has remained ingrained in my mind. My father and I had been fishing a trout loch and on our way back to the cottage in the evening we stopped at a bridge, which spanned a small river on a quiet single track road. We stood peering into the dark peaty waters of the river below. Downstream were two ladies fishing. I remember my father shouting to them “any luck?” One of the ladies bent down into the long grass and lifted up a lovely fresh silver grilse that she had just landed. Then to my amazement her fishing companion did the same, giving us a broad beaming smile. I was astonished that such a small river could produce two beautiful fish. This made a big impression on me as an eight-year-old and from that day onwards I decided that if I ever got the opportunity, I would come back to Islay to fish that same river.
On the ferry sailing through the Firth of Lorne
Through the course of our week’s holiday we intended to do some fishing, enjoy the spectacular scenery, sample the local sea food and of course the world famous Islay whisky from the eight working distilleries on the island. We had booked a cottage on the Laggan Estate, which had stunning views over the atlantic and from where on a clear day the coast line of Co Antrim could be just made out.
The Estate has four beats on the River Laggan that extend upstream from Beat one at the estuary. The River Laggan is a spate river and relies on adequate rainfall for the fish to enter the system. We had managed to secure a daily beat rotation for the week. With the cottage being only walking distance from beat one, this was ideal as we could pop to the river whenever we fancied a cast.
We drove off the ferry at Port Askaig a few minutes before 9 pm and being late August the light was beginning to fade. Driving across the island towards Bowmore (the island capital) we witnessed a stunning sunset over the atlantic ocean. Our cottage aptly named Ghillie Brae was situated two miles outside Bowmore down a farm track road. We arrived at our cottage in almost darkness. The views across the atlantic would have to wait until the morning. We were pleasantly surprised by the cottage. With it’s modern décor, two large bedrooms, well-equipped kitchen and spacious living room it was perfect.
Our neighbour at Ghillie Brae!
The following morning, we were awakened by the rain beating off the bedroom window. Pulling the curtains back revealed a stunning secluded landscape, of white beeches, rolling hills and a deep blue sea… wow! By looking at the puddles outside it had clearly been raining heavily for a few hours. Would the river be rising?
We were both quite excited by this prospect and decided to spend our first morning on the Island exploring the river. Seeing the River Laggan gave us a bit of a shock. The week before, I had spoken with the Head Keeper, who advised us to take no more than an eleven foot trout rod with floating lines and small flies. I was expecting a small spate river. What we were confronted with instead was a medium sized fast flowing river that could easily accommodate a fifteen foot fly rod. After a drive along the river and a closer inspection of the pools, it became apparent that the river was in full spate. This was a relief as neither of us had packed a longer rod. We saw all four beats on the estate and in spite of the water being high the great potential of the fishing was easy to see. By mid-morning, the rained had stopped and the river appeared to be dropping. How lucky were we? A big rise in water on the Sunday before our week’s fishing was about to commence on a spate river, surely this is what dreams are made off?
That afternoon we decided to make a plan for the week. The beats rotated at lunchtime on a daily basis, with each beat accommodating up to four rods. We had already been assigned our rotation at the time of booking. We had initially intended to fish only a couple of hours each day either in the morning or afternoon and explore the island during the rest of our time. With the river being in full spate and now dropping we decided that it would be best to concentrate solely on fishing on our first day. We had been allocated beat two in the morning and we would then be changing over to beat three in the afternoon. We enjoyed a nice BBQ outside our cottage that evening, both looking forward to exploring the river the following day.
The great thing about the Laggan Estate is that all the beats have good vehicular access, so within five minutes of leaving our cottage we were on beat two the following morning. The river had dropped considerably and had shrunken from its swollen state the previous day. We could now see why we were advised to take smaller rods. The pools were looking in terrific order and they could all be covered comfortably with a single handed trout rod. My wife decided to use an eight weight eleven foot rod, paired with a midge tip fly line. At the terminal end, her weapon of choice was a size twelve Cascade double. I chose a similar setup but with a full floating line. I decided to try one of my favourite claret coloured Rogans Irish shrimp flies, tied on a size ten treble. This fly has served me well in the past, especially in dark peaty water. We decided to try and explore as much of the beat as possible in the morning. With a spool of nylon and a box of flies in our jacket pocket, we were on our way. My wife fished the top half of the beat, while I elected to fish a few pools downstream from her.
A Rogans shrimp fly
The pools we fished were very varied and unique in character. Some of the runs only took three casts to cover while others took twenty minutes. That is the beauty of fishing such a small but intimate river. You just never know what is around the corner. What was not just around the corner for either of us was a take and by midday we had covered the whole beat in what seemed like perfect conditions. It had been the biggest spate of the season so far and we were fishless. Then it dawned on me; we were only a mile from the sea. Had the fish moved further upstream? We both consoled ourselves, by believing this was the most likely explanation. We decided to drop by our cottage, pick up some items for a picnic lunch, coupled with a bottle of wine and drive up to beat three for the afternoon.
Beat two looking in great condition
Beat’s one and two on the Laggan Estate run through flat pastoral farmland. On both these beats you can see, even smell the salty sea air in a westerly breeze. Beat’s three and four are set in a much more dramatic setting. The river enters a valley in these parts, where the pools are much deeper and more defined. The farmland is replaced by rolling heather clad hills. There is usually very little wind in the valley, which on the west coast can only mean one thing, midges!
The Blackcock pool
We parked beside the hut on beat three, opened the car door and were greeted by clouds of midges. After rushing into the hut and quickly closing the door, we looked downstream at the Blackcock pool. It was looking in great order. It was a narrow pool like most pools on the Laggan but had a fast flowing run at the head. It then broadened slightly and curved around to the right. The pool looked deep and exactly where running fish could be lying. It was a long pool by Laggan standards and would take at least half an hour to fish. After a long and leisurely lunch which my wife washed down with a couple of glasses of wine, we went back on midge watch. It looked no better but we both decided to at least have a go. I lasted two casts before the torment from the Islay midge became unbearable and I looked around to see my wife already sitting in the car taking refuge. This was a shame as the pool looked like it could produce a fish. We both decide to go back to the cottage for an afternoon nap and try again in the evening.
A nice grilse from beat three
Thankfully, there was a little more breeze when we arrived back at the beat shortly after five. We decided to split the pool in two as we were not sure how long we would be midge free. My wife fished the top half and I fished the bottom third of the pool. I decided to persist with my Rogans shrimp fly. There was less current towards the tail of the pool, so I decided to impart some extra movement on my fly by hand lining. I could not have been fishing for more than five minutes when I felt a solid take followed by a big boil on the surface of the water. I was into a fish and shouted to my wife. The fish initially remained quite deep and then shot off downstream. There was little I could do to stop the fish as I was only using a ten foot trout rod coupled with eleven pound fluorocarbon leader. I had little option but to follow the fish. Thankfully, the fish did not swim out of the pool, instead opting to turn and run back towards me. The fish then broke the surface and I could see it was a lovely grilse. By this time my wife had come down to where I was playing the fish. In all the commotion, it had not gone unnoticed by either of us that the wind had dropped and the midges were out again. After some brief thrashing on the surface of the water, I guided the fish to my wife who slipped the net under it. We had caught our first Islay salmon. After a quick picture shared with a cloud of midges, the fish was returned as did we, back to the cottage for a well-earned drink!
The Sea pool on beat one
The following morning I was up early so took a drive down to beat one. The water had now dropped away significantly. My intention was to have a quick cast through some of the pools before breakfast. Thankfully, the brisk westerly wind kept the midges at bay. I fished three lovely pools and lost a decent sea trout of around two pounds. It was fresh as paint and would have been a nice bonus first thing in the morning. I then went on to fish the deep Sea pool. This pool as the name would suggest is the last pool on the river adjacent to the sea. The pool can hold large numbers of fish, especially after a prolonged drought. I fished the pool hard covering every inch but did not see a fish. This was hardly surprising as there had been a big spate two days prior and any fish lying in the lower reaches of the river would most likely now be long gone. With the sun splitting a cloudless blue sky, I decided to call it a day. We had been allocated beat four in the afternoon so midge permitting we would try again in the evening.
The wife's grilse safely in the net
It was just after six when we ventured back up the valley to beat four. The river had dropped significantly again and now it was clear that most of the fish would be lying in the deep holding pools. Beat four has a lovely variety of pools and some interesting runs to explore. The best looking pool appeared to be the Upper bridge pool, located just below the bridge. I realised as soon as I stood on the bridge and looked downstream that this was the same bridge my father and I stood on all those years ago. As the water had dropped, my wife decided to try a small size fourteen Silver Stoat with jungle cock cheeks. I started fishing at the head of the pool and she concentrated on the tail. Just like the previous evening we could not have been fishing for more than five minutes when the rod was bent. This time, it was my wife that was shouting for the net. She had hooked a nice looking grilse at the tail of the pool that was leading her a merry dance. At one point, the fish cart wheeled out of the water but my wife hung on for dear life. The fish then decided to head for a weed bed on the far side. Fortunately, my wife was able to apply enough side strain on the fish to turn it. After a further run, the fish was beaten and I was able to net it. After a quick picture, the lovely five pound grilse was returned. As if by clockwork, our small flying friends were out again and gorging themselves on us. This was in spite of us liberally applying insect repellent. We therefore decide to call it a night. We were both over the moon, having done very little fishing and landing two fish in two days. The River Laggan had already been good to us.
The stunning paps of Jura
We decided to give the fishing a miss the following day and instead explored the beautiful Island of Jura. Jura was stunning. We saw golden eagles, red deer and otters in abundance on a back drop of scenery that can only be described as breathtaking. The white sandy beaches combined with the turquoise blue sea contrasting with the towering paps of Jura were a sight to behold. The following day we decided to visit a couple of distilleries on the Island. Being in Islay it would have been rude not to! The distillery tours gave us a fascinating insight into Islay’s rich whisky producing heritage. After a few drams of the amber nectar, by mid afternoon, neither of us was in a fit state to go for a cast!
For our final day, the estate very kindly facilitated a beat change that would mean that we would be fishing beat three again. It was a cool windy day, so thankfully there was not a midge in sight. The water had dropped away now, but we still had some deep pools to explore on our beat. We fished hard through the morning seeing the odd fish. By lunchtime, we had covered the whole beat and had nothing to show for it. We sat in the hut and pondered fishing on or going back to our cottage and finishing off the goods we had purchased the day before. We opted for the latter option and our last night on Islay ended up being a lot of fun!
The perfect ingredients for a good night!
We reflected on our time in Islay while on the ferry crossing back to Oban the following day. We had a lovely week and the scenery on the island had been jaw dropping with the whisky and seafood matching our surroundings. We had caught a couple of salmon and I had managed to fulfil my childhood ambition of fishing the River Laggan. We can’t wait to step back onto the shores of this wonderful island again and indulge in the delights that Islay has to offer!