First guided trip of 2025- Brownies for all!

Playing a fish tutorial on the roadside

Luke, his father Mike, and partner Kate came out with us for an afternoon and evening of learning to fly fish for brown trout with us from the USA. They had experience with catching brook trout and rainbows over the pond, so they knew the drill about picky trout, but this was their first proper foray into fly fishing.

We started off with the basics, how the gear works, playing a fish, and roll casting before heading down to a shallow loch with easy wading. It is usually full of very obliging small fish, great for getting an eye in and getting the roll cast down, with plenty weeds to aim for, rewarding practice in accuracy.

Returning to the bank for photos of Luke's first brown trout

Sure enough, Luke was first to kick off the day when we moved onto overhead casting, sending a beautifully straight cast with a delicate landing right in between 2 patches of weeds 40 ft away. Almost straight away a fish came up to take his size 16 Griffiths Gnat. The "playing a fish" practice paid off, and Luke effortlessly guided his first Scottish Brown Trout into my net. Great Job!

Late afternoon saw the small loch switch off, so we drove around a little, getting the scope out to spot some rising fish. We found a small area with a few rising, and crossed our fingers that we would get a good hatch of larger midges.

Luke with the first trout of the day!

We spent a good hour getting the overhead casting sorted out, with some fish rising around us, until about 6:30 pm saw the hatch start, and the fish came in close and were feeding hard! Mike was next to score his first Scottish Brownie on a size 16 black klinkhammer, and the pressure was off. (Kate was there as a spectator, but we did get her persuaded to the waters edge, where she very quickly mastered some long roll casts, but unfortunately didn't hook up.

Mike persuaded me to grab a rod myself (it didn't take much), as they were looking for a couple fish to match Oban's famous chips from the fish and chip shop the next evening. Soon enough we had another 3 fish to the net, 2 for me and another for Mike. Connor also came along for the trip so he could scout some areas around us to find some fish, and find out what flies were being taken. He caught a further 3.

Mike with a beautifully spotted brownie

From starting fly fishing from scratch to landing fish, the guys did a great job, and everyone had a great day. Roll on the next trip!!