Fishing Reports Archives - Page 2 of 6

Returning Clients

November 27, 2017/in Fishing Reports, Reviews/by Callum Conner

One thing we take great pride in at Scotia Fishing is the volume of returning clients we’ve had – this year alone!

We feel this is better than any Tripadvisor review or testimonial. It proves the level of service we provide is of high standard to make people fly back from all corners of the globe to fish with us again in Scotland.

In four years Scotia has grown to become one of the leading providers of Guided Fishing Trips in Scotland. We’re now Scotland’s highest rated guided fishing service on Tripadvisor, receiving a certificate of excellence in 2016.

Here are some photos of returning clients and a bit of story about them!

Nice Winter Pike for Mr Penrod!

Mr Penrod from Chicago has fished with me every year since day one of Scotia! We’ve been out for Pike and Grayling and then back on the Pike – Salmon next..

His first fish on a fly rod – not a bad Grayling!

A larger than life character he is an absolute pleasure to spend a day with and I look forward to seeing him every March!

Young Jacopo from Milano!

Young Jaco with his third big grayling of the day!

What can I say about this young man, a superstar! Jacopo fished with me two years running. First year he landed some great Pike and Grayling, and lost two Salmon whilst fishing for Grayling – crazy day!

On his return visit he fished for Pike and had two days at Salmon. The first day resulted in nothing despite an impressive effort. I asked Jacopo if he preferred to chase Pike the following day or come back for another try at Salmon, he answered without hesitation “I want to catch a Salmon”.

A perfect late summer run River Tay Salmon!

Ten minutes into day two saw us land this magnificent River Tay Salmon at 18lbs – one of my favourite ever guiding moments!

Jack and Joe from Canada fished with me in Year two for Pike and had a blast! Catching over ten Pike in a day to modern lure techniques.

Young Jack the Pike slayer!

They returned in 2017 on a new quest for Jack’s favourite – Grayling, and on the fly!

Jack putting a nice bend into the 3 weight on a Scottish Grayling

Despite tough conditions they managed to fulfil this goal and land some Scottish Grayling on the fly! Young Jack is a great little fly fisher and I hope to see them back again in another few years to target Salmon!

Hiroshi from Japan was working in Scotland for Mitsubishi and decided to do a day with us to see what fishing in Scotland was all about!

First day was a search for Salmon on the River Tay. Despite a sterling effort we never managed to hook any on this day.

Beautiful River Tweed Brown Trout

Hiroshi then came back for a return trip couple months later to fly fish for Brown Trout & Grayling.

This day was a lot more productive and Hiroshi (a first time fly fisher) had a great day with around two Trout & Grayling all on fly.

His next trip he wanted to try my recommendation of Pike!

A very respectable Pike for Hiroshi

What a day he had with over 20 Pike from 4lbs up to 15lbs on baits in the middle of winter – a great days fishing by anyones standard! Hiroshi enjoyed it so much he booked another two trips a week later!

Tom from the mighty USA fished with me in my first year. We spent a day on the River Tay in final week of the season fishing for Atlantic Salmon. Tom had already fished with a guide the previous year for Salmon but had a fruitless day.

Well, he got of to a flyer with us and in the first ten minutes landed this Salmon despite the river being 7ft above summer level!

Tom off to a flyer – not a great photo but look at the smile!

He also managed another later in the day, a fresh run Grilse. Two Salmon in a day is a great result by anyone’s standards!

Tom’s second of the day – a sea liced grilse!

This year Tom managed to sneak in a day whilst on vacation with his good lady. This time it was late spring on the River Tay.

Tom on the Tay again!

Fishing was tougher on this occasion, despite seeing a number of Salmon (they were bounding about everywhere), we couldn’t manage to hook any!

Jonathan has fished with me twice over the last two years, opting to do a casting refresher and sharpen up his skills for the coming seasons efforts.

Circle c’ing like a boss!

I have had an absolute blast helping him improve his spey casting and now he has progressed onto the snake roll cast!

Justin the show off! Look at that backdrop!

Louis & Carl fished with me in 2016 of Salmon on the last day of the season at the River Tay. River was big but the fish were in the mood and they managed a few hookups and Louis landed a nice Sea Trout

Nice wee sea trout for Louis!

And Carl landed a coloured Male Salmon, typical of end of season.

Carl’s first ever Salmon in full spawning livery!

In Spring 2017 they returned to try fly fishing on the River Tweed! This time they fished hard all day with Suszy (mum) losing a belter of a Brown Trout!

Louis the little legend!

Louis saved the day at the last cast with this stunner of a Grayling!

Dan & Kate fished with me in my first year for Pike and had a great day using spoons they had custom made with their wedding date on them! How cool is that?

A proper chunk Scottish Pike!

In 2017 they returned on a mission to catch Scottish Grayling and do a day on the Pike lake again!

The Pike wasn’t as productive as their first year but they manage a few Trout & Grayling with this one the highlight of the trip.

Lovely grayling for Dan the man!

This is just a small selection of the clients we’ve had return over the past season. We will look forward to seeing more in 2018!

Tight Lines

Callum Conner

MD & Head Guide @ Scotia Fishing

2017 Fishing Season So Far Report

September 13, 2017/in Fishing Reports/by Callum Conner

Wow where has this season gone! It’s mid September and I am getting a small break in between moving homes to write a little update/report on the fishing!

Spring this year was a strange affair. April became the driest April on record for Edinburgh. This had an effect on the river fishing, undoubtedly.
We endured a tough period of fishing throughout April and May with temperatures reaching 27 degrees celsius up on the river banks some days. Such periods of heat and low water do make for tricky fishing, particularly with Salmon.

Worth falling in for mid-fight.

However, there were a few still getting caught and our guest above Will from California done well to land this beauty after falling in mid-fight! Don’t expect any sympathy from the guides until the Salmon is landed folks! 🙂

The Trout fishing for us was a challenge in Spring but did improve into the summer. We did manage a few nice ones but none of the real big Trout we often encounter at this time of year on the dry fly.

Erin had a blast with trout on the Tweed system!

Before and after the Grayling spawned saw some great sport but there were some tough times in the low water conditions. Stealthy anglers were rewarded with fish up to 2 1/2lbs.

“That fish Gray”

The Pike fishing was pretty reliable in spring. It did take a while to get warmed up at the Pike loch before they really switched on !

Ken displays Mrs McMillan’s excellent Pike! Look at those markings!

We also had the pleasure of guiding culinary legend and all round gentleman Mr Albert Roux (O.B.E).
I had the pleasure of four days with Albert and two members of his team. I enjoyed the breakfasts and lunches and will savour those bank-side chats!

Canelou, Vytas & Albert enjoying some Pike fishing in Perthshire!

As we moved into summer the rains came and the temperatures dropped in typical Scottish summer fashion! This done wonders for the fishing and we endured some of the best fishing of the year so far in July/August.

Ian managed this proper Tay Salmon after losing one earlier on the fly. A quick change of tactics resulted in this fine specimen.

Ian’s second Salmon on his second day of fishing. He lost one shortly before on the fly also!

Dave from Cape Cod managed a nice fresh Grilse on the fly during two days of fishing on the River Tay.

All the way from Cape Cod Dave managed this beauty on a fulling mill cascade fly

Also worth noting was the Sea Trout fishing in early summer. Alexis had this little spanker from the Tay on the fly when fishing for Salmon.

Beautiful Sea Trout for Alexis from France!

The Grayling really switched on in the bigger waters and we had some really good fish on the nymphs not shy of the 3lbs mark.

Medwin displays a rather thick Grayling!

With high river conditions we brought out the streamers for the Trout and I saw a few fish well over 2lbs lost by clients during this period. A real sickener but that’s fishing! There were a few nice ones though including Mr Shintani from Canada below.

Nice trout for Eric on the streamer!

The Pike fly and lure fishing was pretty good when we had settled weather conditions and some nice fish came to both methods. Pick of a bunch would be Jeff’s pictured below. He fished away solidly all day with nothing until the last ten minutes. Landing a 8lber closely followed by this 17lber and an awesome fight!

Pike are just awesome on a fly rod!

I even managed to sneak in three days of fishing myself up in the Highlands and managed a Salmon each day.

Sometimes I get to fish too!

The fish of the trip however was my friends first ever Salmon, what a way to start your Salmon career with a 9.5lbs sea-liced bar of silver. They don’t come much more perfect than that!

Ewe Beauty – My First Salmon from Scotia Fishing on Vimeo.

It feels very Autumnal now here in Scotland and the river banks are looking splendid as the leaves turn. This is a truly special time to fish in Scotland – cannot wait to update you on the rest of our season in the coming weeks!

Tight lines

Callum

Kids Fishing Trips in Scotland

June 4, 2017/in Fishing Reports, Packages/by Callum Conner

We always get asked via enquiries if kids are welcome on our fishing packages. Absolutely!

As passionate anglers and guides, we find nothing more rewarding than welcoming newcomers (kids especially) into our wonderful sport! This is the ultimate in job satisfaction.

We can offer some exciting, child-friendly options for kids fishing trips in Scotland.

Young Nico From France with one of 15 Pike landed in a day with Head Guide Callum Conner

Our head Guide Callum Conner is one of the most qualified guides in this industry. He holds an up to date disclosure (a must for working with kids in the UK) to compliment his other angling qualifications.

We try to cater for all ages of kids and experience levels but would agree that below seven is too young. Mainly due to size and strength more than anything. We would also listen to your judgement and shorter sessions may be an option.

Here are some of the highlights we’ve had over the past three seasons with kids fishing in Scotland with Scotia Fishing.

Fishing Trips for Kids in Scotland

Young Louis, is a little superstar. Some hilarious chats on the bank about football teams. Managed to persuade him to support my local team in Edinburgh and still supports them on his return so he gains extra brownie points!

Superstar Louis with a fine Scottish Wild Brown Trout!

One of my most memorable guiding experiences with Jacopo from Italy. One of the most talented and polite young anglers I have met.

After hooking two Salmon in a day in 2015 and losing them whilst trout fishing, he returned in 2016 to put it right and on his second day landed this epic 18lb Atlantic Salmon on the River Tay!

18lbs of River Tay Power House – no problem for this Italian teenager!

Junior Maier from Canada landed some special Pike with us including this 15lber!

15lbs of pure predator for this young man!

That is just a small selection of some of the highlights we’ve had with kids fishing in Scotland with Scotia Fishing over the years.

If you’re looking to organise kids fishing trips in Scotland then Scotia Fishing have the experience to provide them with a great experience!

Please contact us using the “Contact Us” button at the top of the screen.

Summer Fishing in Scotland 2016 Update

August 22, 2016/in Fishing Reports, News/by Callum Conner

The 2016 Summer fishing in Scotland is almost coming to an end – where have the months gone!
Apologies for the lack of updates with the blog, we’ve had a lot going on at Scotia HQ.

We’ve had a very positive season with many clients visiting from across the globe including USA, Canada, Australia, Europe and Asia. Our summer has been rather cold, which although not so pleasant for those visiting the country on vacation, has made for better fishing conditions!

Scotland in summer, it takes some beating for natural beauty!

Late spring and summer period has seen some great fishing spells for all species, particularly salmon. The Tay has received consistent runs throughout the summer months with many multi sea winter Salmon mazing an appearance throughout the river system.
The lower river has fished particularly well from July onwards, with some beats having their best July for over a decade!

Returning the new record Salmon landed 18lbs of Tay silver!

Our clients felt the rewards of this with some good catches. The highlight of the bunch had to be returning customer Jacopo (only 13 years of age) landing a Tay powerhouse 18lb Atlantic Salmon!

Kid Catches 18lbs Salmon From River Tay Scotland! from Scotia Fishing on Vimeo.

This young man is a little superstar!

Also having a great day was big Sebi from Switzerland with a stunning brace of Tay silver on the fly! Not bad for your first time ever Spey casting!

A few “woo hoos” were in order!

His girlfriend also lost two spinning – what a day that could have been!

With the colder weather our rivers fished very well and we had much better brown trout fishing than last year. We picked up a number of nice browns on nymphs during this period.

Robert (Rab) aka 603 Fly Guy with a nice brown on the Euro nymphing set up!

I had a great day out with Robert on the river chatting about all things fishy – the fishing was as good as the banter also!

Cody had a cracker right at the close of play, proving it pays to fish hard to the end!

Cody’s new PB Brown Trout on the Frenchie…

As well as the ever obliging and very welcome Grayling…

Rafael’s first ever Grayling!

The Hill loch brown trout fishing has been hit or miss, on the colder days it has almost felt like winter up at these higher altitudes, putting the fish down. We have still managed to catch a few though!

It can be cold up on the tops of these hills. Still as beautiful though!

Leonard had some good sport fishing traditional Scottish wet fly tactics.

Leonard with an average wild brown trout…

The Pike fishing has been consistently good with fly and modern lure fishing tactics. For a couple of weeks the big fish were hard on the feed and our clients landed some great pike during this period on lures..

The biggest of the season so far goes to Piotr using light lure fishing tackle.

As fat as they get, this Pike was sitting under some of the largest shoals of Perch fry I have ever seen!

Chad managed a cracking first ever Pike on the fly.

A hard fighting Pike on fly…

Just look at the beautiful colouration on these Pike!

I managed a couple of short breaks myself including a three day trip to Iceland (report to follow soon). I also took a recent foray up to the Highlands with my partner. We were unlucky with the weather though and endured some spectacular wind and rainstorms, which put an end to the fishing, but made for some interesting photographs!

Tornado like wind storms up in the Highlands of Scotland

The summer fishing period in Scotland is coming to an end for 2016. With the arrival of Autumn we hit one of the best times of year to fish for all fresh water species in Scotland.
It is also one of the most beautiful seasons to be on the water with the leaves turning on the trees and misty mornings – I can’t wait!

Tight lines!

Callum Conner

Scotia Fishing Head Guide
SGAIC Qualified & Loop Tackle endorsed Instructor

Fishing Trips for Kids in Scotland

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