Loch Bealach na h-Uidhe

Got up to loch Bealach na h-uidhe yesterday. Walked in from Inchnadamph. Blue skies and not a cloud in the sky. A few hillwalkers around but daughter and I had the loch to ourselves. Some good fish rising, probably gorging themselves on a large Olive hatch. We couldn't tempt them with our offerings and could only try for a couple of hours before we had to head home. Wind was from the SE, occasionally spinning to the NW. Water was gin-clear and tasted excellent. If I have the chance again, I'll be camping for the night. Spectacular scenery, beautiful loch - don't really care that I didn't catch anything!
Callum M

I fished there in May and was rather disappointed by the beahaviour of two 'gentlemen' who marched up a couple of hours after me. i watched from the other side of the loch as they dumped their bags almost on top of mine . later it transpired one of them had trodden on and broken the spare tip piece of my rod. and then without a word they waded out into the loch and started casting flies, one of them actually landing his fly a few yards across and ahead of me making it impossible for me to continue fishing. i imagine this sort of thing is common on ponds full of flabby stocked rainbow trout where i suspect these two learnt their trade. I walked round to my bag, and politely enquired if they planned to stay all day and got a surly- 'yeah and whats it to you?' response so left them to it and went and fished fiddle (where i discovered the broken rod tip).
what a shame to behave like that. i would happily share even a small loch like this (after all its a long walk in) or arrange to swap round (fiddle and fleodach are nearby) but not with people who don't even have the manners to respect their fellow fishermen.

the 3rd day of our annual assynt trout fishing holiday and we awoke to a beautiful day at last. after taking a hearty fry up in the excellent newly re-opened lochinver mission we set off to loch bealach na h-uidhe. a long walk but at least the path was good. we spotted rising trout in fleodach coire and the fiddle loch, so the omen's were good. we arrived at our destination and found good fish rising all over the loch with what looked the best fish out of range in the middle, there was a good hatch of large olives and we took fish close in fishing a dry fly left static. my mate faired best with four trout the best being over 2 lbs and his best assynt trout to date(we've been coming 10 years), it took a long time to land and was released to fight another day along with his other two 3/4 pounders and one of about 1 1/2 lbs. i lagged behind with two of about 3/4 lbs which fought like tigers and were also released un-harmed. the scenery in this part of assynt is worth the walk alone, so to catch some nice trout aswell was an added bonus. roll on 2012.

paul j

Another fairly big walk in to another cracking loch. Had two or three hours here on a lovely dramatic day where the thunder clouds that were creating a deluge over the Cromalt Hills thankfully were only forming overhead. That said, the westerly wind was swirling around the loch creating casting havoc! However, with the warm sunny breaks large olives were hatching, which was bringing up as steady rise across large areas of the loch. Most of the trout looked pretty decent, although many were beyond casting range. I managed five fish between 10 ounces and just over a pound, probably averaging about 3/4lb. These fish are fit, round shouldered and healthy specimens. I returned most of the catch as it's only a wee loch. I am tempted to drag the float tube up there after watching some pretty decent looking fish throwing themselves at the olives out near the middle. First fish fell to an oliver buzzer fished static. The others all fell to a size 12 Adam's. Beautiful light and scenery. Red throated diver chicks on one of the wee lochans near by. Ring ouzel on the rocky slopes, and eagles being mobbed by raven on the mountains behind. Another cracking day out.

Tight lines

Matt