This little trip to Loch Caolisport was a first for me. I finally ditched the day job a couple of months ago, and one ambition is to try some new places. More time for the great outdoors in general and fishing in particular means I can afford to play a few wildcards.
Loch Caolisport wasn’t my first choice but offers a little shelter from a howling NW wind. A good look at OS maps showed some decent camping options too. My wee Avon SIB hasn’t had much use recently so it was pressed into service and loaded with gear for an overnight trip.
I didn’t actually set off until early afternoon and took my time working up the loch. Once I eventually reached my chosen beach I quickly decided to leave any fishing until tomorrow – by now the wind was a high force 4 and gusting 5-6. It was pretty cold too, with some icy bursts of rain blasting through from time to time. No fun at all in a little SIB!
I popped my tent up in the relative shelter of the land and explored the bay instead. The photo below was taken the next morning once the wind had dropped a little and the sun was out. Quite transforming!
Day 2 – and some fishing!
Although the wind did indeed drop the next morning there was still a stiff offshore breeze. That meant hugging the shoreline to have much chance of a fish or two, with a focus on pollack.
Working my way out to the Point of Knap at the mouth of Caolisport I dropped a grapnel over the side and commenced operations. The wind still complicated things but at least I could fish reasonably effectively and comfortably at anchor.
Pollack were certainly about and I landed six, with a couple more throwing the hook. Nothing terribly big, topping our with one fish around 6lbs and the rest considerably smaller. Very welcome though!
I popped some ragworm down to the seabed too, hoping for a wrasse, but only succeeded in attracting small pollack.
This wasn’t a long session and I took my time working back down the loch. Exploring the shoreline and slurping a coffee on a beautiful quiet beach is as much fun as the fishing itself 🙂
Happy retirement Doug – looking forward to seeing some new places featuring. Caolisport certainly looks beautiful
Well I’m certainly getting out more – I reckon Corkwing is now 5 trips (of varying quality!) behind. That’s excluding any account of hiking the Cape Wrath Trail which took up half of May, and which I’ve more or less given up writing about 🙂 So far, retirement certainly beats working!