After spending a long day on Loch Sunart with little more than dogfish to show for the effort it can sometimes be hard to see what the attraction of the place is. However, although it can be a frustrating place to fish, it does hold some very large skate and some of the largest spurdog in Scotland plus respectable conger and thornback rays.
A daytrip is possible from Edinburgh, but it’s a long day and I usually prefer a two or three day expedition. You can launch from several locations, including Strontian (good, free, but a long way from the fishing), Resipole (awkward, chargeable, close to decent fishing) or Salen jetty (easy, chargeable, close to decent fishing. Watch the reef!). The loch is more exposed than Etive, a fact which needs to be kept in mind in winter, and also has some shallow water areas to the east of Resipole (have and use the chart!).
Common skate can be targetted in Sunart, although they often take small baits aimed at spurdogs. Most skate are small (<50lbs), but they certainly get close to the 200lb mark and I’ve seen them to 185lb on my boat.
Spurdog can exceed 20lbs, although most are far smaller, but they are relatively few in numbers compared to Loch Etive. In recent years their numbers seem to have dropped sharply.
Conger exist in decent numbers to at least the high-20’s. As with Etive, the best tactics are to anchor; put a modest sized mackerel bait (or squid/bluey according to preference) hard to the bottom; and wait.
Most anglers target the deep water holes around 400 feet or so that are found from Resipole down to Laga Bay, moving around until they hit fish. However shore anglers hit fish in much shallower water and they may follow the same pattern as in Etive, moving into the shallows as darkness falls.
I’ve tried two or three times in the upper basin near Strontian but have been disappointed each time – loads of dogfish and a few whiting but nothing better.
Boat camping is possible in several parts of the loch, and the problem is usually finding a decent campsite rather than a sheltered anchorage, as most of the shoreline is very rough and boggy. I’ve managed a solo camp at the old Iron Age fort at Dun Ghallain (a lovely hidden anchorage) and also on Isle Oronsay, but room for two would be difficult unless you’re very good friends.
You can see all my posts on Loch Sunart here.
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Just read your reports about fishing in Loch Sun art makes Great reading ,
Not been a boat owner for long but have always wanted to fish on Sunart so hopefully your reports will assist when I do go up in the next couple of weeks for a couple of days
Looking to launch at Salen Jetty is there any landmarks that I could find with ease
Many Thanks and keep up with the excellent reports
Tobby
Hi Tobby,
Loch Sunart can be a pretty hard place to fish and I often struggle to get numbers of fish (spotty dogs excepted). Although the quality can be good it can also be difficult to actually find them in the first place.
Launching from Salen I’d be tempted to try the deep hole just east of your launch point – it’s about 380 feet deep and can hold good spurs. I usually give it a couple of hours but not much more than that if the fish aren’t showing. You can try pretty much anywhere down the centre of the loch, but I often have a go in the deepest part of Sunart, near the fish farm at Laga Bay in around 400 feet. Again spurs are the main target, but I’ve had conger, thornies and skate from here too. Both the mark at Salen and Laga Bay show clearly on the chart and should be easy to find, but there are plenty of other options.
I’m not sure I’d pick Sunart without experience on some of the other lochs first – bigger fish is one thing, but it can be very slow going. Wherever you choose to fish you will need a decent anchor setup with plenty of chain and probably an Alderney ring retrieval system.
Hi
Is that a Warrior 165 you have there.
I have had one built and am soon to collect it from Lancashire and tow it back to my home on the Isle of Skye.
Amy comments on the Warrior!
Hi John,
Well built and capable sums it up, I suppose. I’ve had mine for 8 years now and would identify only a couple of problems:
Against that I’ve never felt unsafe aboard her, and she’s capable of working a fair way offshore (I did a 110 mile trip round Mull a couple of years ago). With one or two aboard the Warrior’s a great angling boat, and it can fish three without any real difficulty. Four would be too many for serious fishing, in my view.
I’m sure you’ll have plenty of fun with your new toy – although the last time I was in Skye it was blowing horizontal sleet!
Hi
For anyone wishing to fish Loch Sunart we have facilities at Laga Bay available. Either bring your own boat with moorings and pontoon on site, hire a self drive Pioner Multi, Charter our 38ft Aquastar or a combination of all three!
We have lochside accommodation, drying room etc see http://www.selfcatering-ardnamurchan.co.uk if it’s of any interest to you. We have years of fishing experience and can offer advice re marks, weather, sea conditions etc as well as launch & retrieve your own boat if staying on site.
Our Charter boat Laurenca 2 held the Common Skate record for a long time.
[I thought a bit before adding this comment, as I don’t normally include anything about a service I’ve never used personally, but the Laga Bay setup is a well known operation, and it’s a question that does get asked from time to time. I added a reference into my links page as well.]
Hi, can I ask you about your anchoring setup. I used to own a Warrior Pro Angler but mostly used it from the Fylde coast and north Wales never Scottish sea lochs. I used to anchor it regularly but never in more then about 20 to 30 mtrs or so.
Next summer we have booked a seasonal caravan pitch at Resipole so will be there most of the time from April to November. I am fortunate in having a wife who is equally as keen (and often more successful) a sea angler. We currently have a 4mtr air floor SIB and 15hp Tohatsu which is too cramped really for 2 up fishing and heavier than is comfortable, the Tohatsu especially.
We intend to get a trailered polyethylene boat 4 to 5 mtrs for use in the loch next summer. We have used similar in Sunart before but only ever fished drifting, this time we want the ability to anchor and bottom fish.
Can I ask you how much chain and rope you carry. I have read your articles extensively and it seems we should be looking at the deeper areas 100 mtrs plus. Conventional advise would indicate we should be looking at maybe 5 to 8 hundred mtrs which seems an impractically large amount. I used to carry 10mtrs chain and 100mtrs 12mm rope on the Warrior, I’m not sure of the anchor locker difference between your Warrior (You have an Orkney now I believe) and the Pro Angler but there’s no way I could envisage carrying best part of a Kilometer of rope. I could probably get away with 8mm rope for the boat we are thinking about but even so 5 to 8 hundred mtrs seems unmanageable. What sort of anchore scope do you aim for, I’m wondering if your getting away with 3 to 1 or even less. Finally if you can only carry 1 anchor what would you recomend for Sunart, I’ve previously used a small plough but I’m wondering if maybe a Danforth would be more compact.
Great articles mate, you are an inspiration (I’ve never used a small boat as an ice breaker LOL), thankyou for any insight you can provide.
Heading up to stay @ Salen bay for a week and I have booked a berth for my 520 there. Will have the kids so it will be largely messing about with hopefully some fishing etc! I presume there are also mackerel/pollock around for the kids to catch?
I have never fished for skate or spurs and not sure my gear is up to it! Any advice on basic (lightish) set up would be gratefully received)!
Cheers and love your work, Fraser.
Hi Fraser, there will be small pollack and other species drifting close in along the margins – sabikis or smallish hokkais should work (try a small bit if mackerel on a couple of hooks). Not sure when the mackerel come into the loch but the islands and narrows out past Laga should be a good bet.
As for spurdog, you can quite comfortably catch them on spinning rods, so no problem with gear. Just make sure you have a thick mono or wire trace. The main problem with spurs is finding them, as it’s a big loch! The deeper holes are usually a good starting point, including the one just off Salen Bay. You can get skate on light gear but it becomes hard work – getting them off the bottom is difficult but once they’re moving you shouldn’t have a problem unless you have a bit of tide running.
On a decent day you could always combine a bit of fishing with some seal watching around the likes of Oronsay island and then hop across to Tobermory for a flying visit to Mull.
Is it possible to fish from the shoreline on lock sunart. Is it heavily weeded within 30 yds of beach?
Hi Jim,
Been away, so sorry for the delayed reply. Sunart is fished a fair bit from the shore, although I haven’t tried it myself for a long time. Most lochs have a weedy fringe but reasonably heavy gear (definitely not beach gear and 15lb line) will normally pull through it. Access to the shoreline might be a problem along much of the loch but check out Navionics web charts for deeper areas and take it from there. Most of the better fish I’ve had have come from roughly Salen out towards the open sea and I’ve only had dogfish and small pollack from the inner loch around Strontian.