- If you want a bit of walk, relatively short distances (Beannach on AAG; Loch Lexy near Clachtoll or down the Stoer Peat track on ACT lochs) - or head right into the hills (up from Inchnadamph has some great fishing but maybe better later?).
On the ACT lochs head down the Clachtoll or Stoer peat tracks and there's a multitude of smaller lochs and lochans.
The Shieling loch has fished OK early season in the past
Hi there, we have never fished before - but this looks like a fabulous detour from our N500 journey that is coming up over May half-term. Do you need to know how to fish to fish here or is this a good place for adults (and children - 9 years old) to learn/try out? Thanks
Some of the fishing can be challenging, even for experienced anglers and most of the freshwater fishing is fly fishing only, which is a more technical form of fishing. However, the following may help:
Children are usually allowed to fish with a worm and bubble float, using a basic spinning rod, which is much more straightforward.
There are people who can take you out and give tuition - Stewart Yates who runs Assynt Flyshing is qualified coach and does take families out. See the 'Assynt Fly Fishing' link at the bottom of the home page and ask him.
Fishing in the sea - spinning or bait fishing - can be a good entry point for fishing. You can do that from the shore, or there are sea fishing trips (see the Sea Angling page for some contacts).
If you need tackle - starter kits etc - then chek out Mackays Hardware in Lochinver as I think they sell them.
Hope that helps, but others may want to make suggestions...
I had heard that this loch can be dour and difficult but was on holiday 5 minutes away so thought I would give it an end of September go. Overcast skies with light south westerly winds, I started on the south shore at about 2pm. The water is deep around most of the shoreline and wading is not needed or safe by all accounts. I had fished around the loch with not a single pull. Eventually, I put a small black nymph on point and a muddler hopper on the dropper. At 5pm as I approached the north-west shore (facing the boat beach), I had my first little brownie. A gloriously dark speckled but lean fish. And then with almost every other cast, I had a pull or fish to the pound. The north shore into the wind around the shallows and sparse reeds produced fish on the top and below the waterline. I found the north end shallows and small headlands at that end of the loch to be productive especially using a floating line and figure of eight retrieve.
Leave your car at the entrance to the track and don't have leaky wellies (as I do) as the land around the loch is boggy. I stayed away from the private area of the lake that is demarcated by broken wire fences down to the waters edge. This is a truly wild place, not too big (a boat is available), but easy to get to and you are likely to be the only one there.
I'll be canoeing on Loch Assynt next week and a little fly fishing for trout. Is there anywhere I can buy the permit online rather than having to visit Mackays?
The Assynt Angling Group don't do online permits unfortunately. You could try ringing Mackays and see if they can do over the phone or you'll have to pick one up. Also, I think you need their permission if you're intending to fish from your canoe rather than the shore - the AAG rules are on their website: https://assyntangling.com/fishing-rules
15. No launching or use of boats other than those provided by the Assynt Angling Group.
I'm not a rep of the AAG, so I'm just passing on what's there!
I was casting a sand eel savage gear 19g off of the rocks down from the salmon Bothy and cause a decent size sea trout!!! It had some sea lice so decided to help the little guy out. Absolutley stoked.
Sorry I've not heard anything more about that. You could try the Assynt Angling Group direct and see if they know. I will also email them but I am away at the moment.
Or maybe try the Oykel bridge hotel who have fishing on it.
The new owners of Ledmore Estate have not put boats back onto Urigill, Cam or Veyetie. The Assynt Angling Group has 3 boats on Cam and one boat on Veyetie. The latter is a a 15 foot "highlander" boat with a 4 stroke 4 hp Yamaha outboard. For September 2025, this is available to visitors / club members Monday through Thursday and Club members (only) Friday-Sunday.
The Assynt Crofters Trust and Lagg Fishery are jointly in the process of applying for a Protection Order to protect fishing across the North Assynt area.The rest of Assynt and Coigach - that controlled by the Assynt Angling Group - has long had a Protection Order in place. This means that they can enforce the need for a permit as well as rules which protect fish stocks. North Assynt - the ACT estate and the Strathcroy (Lagg) estate have never had this in place. They are now seeking to do so. As part of this process there is a public consultation with anglers and local communities to ask for their views.
Please see the new page on this website which provides much more information and please complete the consultation survey which you can access here.
In the interests of full transparency, I am working with ACT and Lagg on this proposal and think it will help develop fishing in the area as well as give protection to fish stocks which has been absent in recent years. The open, public consultation is genuine and wants to hear your views about it, consider objections, address concerns and provide more information.
Fished this loch on a warm, overcast day in early June from the north-west facing promontory with a light southerly behind me. With only a little bit of a ripple I wasn't expecting much, but about two-ish a sedge hatch began and I had a couple of hours fantastic fishing. Right on the edge of the ripple an Irrestible Adams solicited a response on almost every cast. Literally lost count of the number of fish hooked, some landed, some missed, with the biggest a feisty 14 inches or so, although I lost one that felt very good indeed. Amazing couple of hours of dry fly fishing beneath Beinn Uidhe's stunning slopes.
Walked up to this loch, using the path from the north end of Awe path takes you away from the loch not sure if there is a path from the main one to canisp but couldn't find it. Anyway strong wind and light rain made it difficult to fish, moved roung to halfway up the eastern shore, fishing with an olive bumble I landed 6 in an hour and a half all around the 6 inch size, had a double on the one cast big one about 10 in with the smaller one at 6in, great sport inspite of the weather conditions
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