It’s been a long wait to get back to the Orkneys mainly due to Covid which scuppered a planned return. This time I was also going to fish on Shetland which has been an ambition of mine for a long time.
We stayed in Dounby again which is an ideal location in the centre of the main Island and not far from any of the lochs.
I decided to fish Harray on the first day of decent weather as I had not fished it before. It’s the largest of the freshwater lochs on the Island and can be very susceptible to the wind, however on my visit I had ideal conditions, with 10mph winds and overcast. This being the middle of May, it was mild (for the Orkneys)
I launched the float-tube in a mini harbour next to the Merkister Hotel and had the good fortune of speaking to one of the local anglers just as I was setting up. He informed me that yesterday a lot of fish were caught in front of an island opposite and suggested I should head there. He would have been fishing in a boat with an outboard and the journey there would have taken him about two minutes. However, in a float tube the 800 yards took the best part of 30 minutes!
I was set up with a team of traditional flies and a floating line. Kate McLaren on the top dropper, a size 12 silver Invicta middle dropper and a black pennel on the point. A lot of Orkney flies are brightly coloured due to the often-coloured water here, and I had some in reserve.
I fished continuously as I made my way towards the island and it wasn’t long before I hooked my first fish, a brownie of about a pound taking the invicta.
By the time I reached the island I had caught another of about 12 oz. They fight really well and it’s a pleasure playing a fish from the armchair comfort of a float-tube!
Steady drifts about 50n yards from the island produced three other brownies with the best going a pound and a quarter. The strange thing was that all the fish came to the middle dropper, the silver invicta. I changed the top and point flies a couple of times to see if it made any difference, but they obviously wanted that silver invicta.
Returning to the car park also produced another fish which bucked the trend and took a bright marabou mini muddler.
A couple of days later I was on Swannay, again with perfect conditions, 11 degrees, 10 mph steady breeze, overcast with some drizzle. I had again joined the Orkney Trout Fishing Association which is only £25 for a visiting angler yearly membership. This gives you access to some car parks and fishing huts and the money goes towards the upkeep of the fishing.
I parked at the OTFA car park which is also ideal for launching a float tube.
Similar flies and tactics to my visit to Harray. The day produced a steady number of takes and I ended up with nine brownies up to a pound. There was a boat out on the water, and I could see they were catching well from all areas.
Swannay is a great water to fish from a float tube as there are many skerries just under the water and you can just drift into them and fish around them without risking damage to a boat or propeller. Ideal if you don’t know the water as the locals do.
That was it for my fishing on Orkney. I now had two weeks on Shetland with over 300 lochs to choose from. Turned into a disaster as within a couple of days a lorry took off the front of my car as it was parked and unattended in a car park. No fishing!
However, I have an excuse to go back as it really is a special place, not just for the fishing.
