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At one time, not so long
ago, Scottish sea trout fishing, to many of us, conjured up pictures
of skilled boatmen rowing solid, clinker built boats down age old
drifts on wild west highland lochs like Maree, Stack, More and Hope,
coming in with famous catches of sea trout taken on the wet fly or
on the dap; pictures of short summer nights on west coast rivers
when the sea trout fought to get at a well fished fly. But that was
before the coming of the salmon farms, the growth of which has
coincided with a marked decline in stocks of west highland sea
trout.
Today, sadly, few fishermen make the annual pilgrimage to the
west highlands in search of sea trout. Catches on the once famous sea trout
rivers are a fraction of what they were. Boats on the lochs lie idle, hotels
rooms empty. Will our politicians come to their senses?...... we can but
hope. But,
despite the bleak picture in the north west, the sea trout still come in
the short Scottish summer to the rivers of the east and south, to the
Spey, Dee and South Esk, to the Earn, Nith and Annan. Not perhaps in the
numbers of the past..... but that only adds to the appeal, to the
challenge.
I hope, in these
pages, to give some suggestions on where, in Scotland, you might find good,
accessible sea trout fishing and some ideas on the tackle, tactics and flies
which might, just occasionally, be successful in luring this most game of
all game fish.
Please select from the following pages for more
information.
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No Scottish game fishing guide would be complete
without mention of the
