As regular readers will know, Sandwood and the country north to Cape Wrath is a favourite of mine. I do try and get there at least once a year, as much just to escape humankind as to do any fishing.
I’m always careful to choose my weather, as the far NW experience is hugely dependant on avoiding too much wind and rain! Today involved an earlyish finish at work followed by a long drive north and a two hour trek to my campsite.
Up here, there is little night at this time of year so I could still see what I was doing long after the official sunset.
With the tent pitched I managed a few swigs of beer as I admired the afterglow – the photo above was quite literally taken at midnight. That was before the midges homed in properly and I retired for the night 🙂
Pre-Breakfast Fishing
Next morning I awoke long after the sun and headed a little way north to the next beach. I needed more water from the Strathchailleach river anyway, and had a pleasant pre-breakfast spinning session. Just a single take on my silver and white toby lure, and nothing hooked.
Back at camp, I munched away on breakfast and had a quick coffee before heading down to the shoreline again. I lobbed out a couple of baits into a very light surf – crab and a thin mackerel belly respectively.
Fishing was slow to start with but I did retrieve a small flounder and a modest sea trout, both on mackerel.
As the tide dropped I sought out a slightly deeper gully and lobbed baits into it. By now it was getting pretty hot under a pure blue sky. Even the chilly North Atlantic water I waded through was drying off quickly.
Low Water Turbot
Close to low water I finally picked up a little turbot. Hardly exotic, but one of my target species up here, so I had another coffee to celebrate. I added another flounder and sea trout to the list too, but no sign of the little bass.
Transferring to the other side of the beach added a couple more small seatrout as the tide rose, but nothing else. Who cared though, as I lazed in the hot sunshine and enjoyed the quiet roar of the small surf.
Back at the tent I ditched the rods and headed over to Strathchailleach for more water.
Dinner was simple boil in the bag stuff – a chicken tikka if I remember right – but consumed in quite magnificent surroundings.
I temporarily resisted the temptation of a luke warm beer and went down to the sand for another short session. A couple of fish had a go at the belly strip rolling around in the surf, but I hooked neither. I was tired after a full day under a hot sun so barely made it to sunset before cracking open that last beer and calling it a night 🙂
Final Session
Next morning was breezier and the sun a little hazier, almost a relief after the day before. Nibbling on breakfast, I decided on a final try along the beach rather than head inland for the lochs.
This was probably a good decision as the wind was offshore but pretty gusty. Easy enough to fish the beach, but probably quite tricky on an exposed loch or little burn. Hardly a spectacular session, but a couple more seatrout appeared (and went back, before anyone draws the wrong conclusions!).
The haul back along the beach and then the track to Blairmore always feels harder on the return leg.
Not helped in this case by more hot sunshine – as I stopped off at London stores for a cold coke the car was showing 28C. That is hot indeed for this part of the world!
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It’s a long drive with a long trek at the end of it, but looks to have been well worth the effort. Great stuff, well done.
Yup, it’s a long way even for me and you might need to wait a while to get worthwhile weather, but it’s a fabulous lonely place once you’re north of the main beach at Sandwood. One or two of the bogs look like they could swallow you whole though!
The proof that it’s not always raining up there! Nice little turbotlet too. I’m always thinking that we should encounter more of these round our sandy shores. They seem to be (these days) really common off the Danish sandy shores, which don’t look much different to Northumbrian dune shores – and nor for that matter from Sandwood.
Hi Martyn – there’s quite a few small turbot all the way up the Scottish east coast but not that many anglers fishing open sandy beaches with fish strip or sandeel. Ditto for the more exposed western coastlines of the Hebrides. Mostly tiny but the odd decent specimen appears from time to time. Sandwood is a spectacular setting to catch such tiddlers but timing is everything and it can be a grey and horrible spot in the wrong conditions!
hi doug hope your well after reading this i was determined to get there i was going to go by boat but you motivated me to get there on foot ive lost 3 stone and i recon i could now walk there so may or june next year here i com
Hi Robert, glad I’ve motivated someone as I struggle to get myself going at this time of year, with dark nights and grey, soggy days! The hike in is about 4 miles along decent paths (maybe a little boggy in places after rain). The beach itself is around 2 miles long and I prefer the northern end because it’s more scenic and also quieter. At low water on a decent sized tide you can walk the full length but I’ve never timed this right – so end up going over the hill at the far side of the Sandwood river (a bit of a slog). I think my preference would be mid to late May as the midges don’t seem to be in full swing. You definitely want to try for a bit of sunshine as it’s a bit of a hike to be greeted by rain and low cloud blasting across the beach! If you’re camping there are some nice spots in the dune areas or along the river, as well as the places I use which are north of the river. Travel light!!
Cheers, Doug