Loch Arienas

I was so looking forward to visiting this loch in the heart of the Morven peninsula, as it is one not many people will have fished, including myself. We were on a 3 day fishing trip which was to be a day on this loch, a day fishing the River Aline for salmon and the final day on Loch Tearnait. The weather was more like high summer than early spring. 
Loch Arienas is a big water about 2 miles in length and 3/4 mile wide at its broadest.
You can bank fish some of it but wading is not recommended so we had arranged for two of the boats from the Ardtornish estate who own the water. We were surprised that the boats were not traditional standard loch boats but more of a flatter, broader design. These are probably very difficult to sink or capsize but they are not the most manoeuvrable boats we have been on.

The day was warm, the sky was clear and the water was like a mirror. The water was crystal clear, as good as I have seen. However, these are not good conditions for fishing for brown trout. We had fished from the bank for a couple of hours yesterday and caught some small brownies close in but we could see good fish rising further out.

Clear mirror water

Today was the exact opposite, we saw exactly 3 fish surface in a full day's fishing and needless to say we caught zilch between the 4 of us. After a couple of hours of nothing happening we fished the far bank and a large salmon breached the water between the 2 boats. Heart rates rose and we were energised again but that was it for the morning. We went up and down the loch but no fish were rising so all the fishing was under the water using intermediate and sinking lines. We tried conventional wet flies and even resorted to a couple of small lures and sea trout flies.
Apart from the salmon the main event of the day was the arrival of a seaplane which flew over the loch hugging below the cliffs of the ridge, what a view they would be having. It turned at the far end of the loch and flew back towards us. I said to Colin that it was going to buzz us but no it dropped right down and landed on the loch and motored up the other bank and turned. It sat for a minute or two then the engines roared and off it went back down the water and then up into the sky and gone. I have never witnessed that before when out fishing.

The Seaplane

Back to the sun bathing. At about 2ish a slight wind got up and a ripple appeared on the water, brill just what we wanted. Immediately a fish splashed close by followed by another shortly after, probably the same fish. But optimism again, dry flies on but despite changing every 15 minutes an hour went past with no hits and no more fish spotted. 
For the rest of the time we fished near the salmon fish-farm where we were told big trout had been caught but not today.
What a disappointment but all anglers know you get days like that.
I got even more pissed off when the guys in the other boat described a bird that had watched. From their description it was almost certainly a sea eagle, a bird I have never seen, was I jealous.

Looking to the West

The positives are it is a lovely place to fish, almost no noise, very tranquil, as you are in a remote spot. There are fish in here as the salmon proved, the record brown trout is almost 7lbs, so I will be back another day.
As we packed up we spotted 6 red deer, all young males grazing in a hollow close by. Almost certainly immature stags chased away by the king stag as the rutting season is imminent. It was ironic as we had spent a good part of the day studying the hills and ridges to see if we could spot any deer. There are plenty of deer fences covering these hills so there must be a lot of deer as well. If you are bank fishing there are a herd of Highland cattle that roam freely as you can tell from there droppings. No doubt they are docile beasts but as always take care.

Mirror image