River Aline

Today was to be the highlight of the trip, fishing for salmon and sea trout on the River Aline. When I booked our party onto the river I spoke to the ghillie who in fairness said that if the weather was in our favour then this would be one of the prime times to fish the river. The river is deemed to be a spate river which means that it needs rain to make it run/fish well. Of course it had not rained for weeks so the river was almost bone dry and as such no fish were running and hence no fishing for us.
The bridge into the estate, photograph below, shows the imposing Ardtornish lookout tower where you can see that the current owners have built their home on top of the tower. I'm sure the views looking down Loch Aline will be stunning but they didn't invite us in so I cannot say for sure.

The river has declined from its heyday and as such the Ardtornish Estate are trying to bring it back to its prime. One of the initiatives is its own salmon hatchery which functions by stripping eggs from a salmon caught in the river, growing them on and releasing the fry back into the river. Most of these will die through natural wastage but those that survive will return to their place of birth in the future thus creating the circle of life and ultimately more fish running the system.
The picture below is taken from the bridge looking upstream. This was taken about a month later and would have been ok for fishing, when we were there the water flow was a trickle.

River Aline looking upriver

A few of us walked the river and it looks a lovely place to fish. All of the river can be fished mainly from the bank with normal single handed rods. In places you can see where the estate have created rock dams but leaving a space for the salmon to come through thus controlling the runs. I'm sure it looks very different in a spate and much more fun.
The picture below, again taken from the bridge, looks down Loch Aline but in the foreground is the pool where the salmon will hold before making their way upriver. This pool is out of bounds to anglers.

Looking downriver to Loch Aline

Oh well off to a loch again.
As an aside, in the hotel bar that night, I was speaking to a farm worker who was out herding cattle that day alongside the river. He mentioned a large pool close to where we were where trapped salmon were leaping out of the water. They must be frustrated beasts. He wasn't for giving us the exact location which is fair enough. I wouldn't have wanted to fish these pools under these conditions but it would have been nice to see.
Another one of those, I will be back, situations.