The hotel has leased fishing rights on the South End of Loch Hope. We have one boat and fishing for up to two rods is available. Please contact the hotel for this year's rate. There are three beats on South End and beats are rotated on a daily basis. You will be advised at the time of booking which beat you will be fishing. A ghillie is advisable but not essential.

Those of you who have used our boat in the past will be pleased to know that we have purchased a new boat for South End. It is a Club 15 and comes with all the knobs and whistle including a bailing pump.

The following gentlemen are experienced ghillies and have excellent knowledge of the fishing on Loch Hope. Please contact them directly.

Mr Bruce Sandison Tel: 01847 611274 or email:   bsandison@btinternet.com   Rate £25 per hour.

Mr Brodie Sandison Tel: 01847 601215 Rate by arrangement.
Mr David Crichton Tel: 01549 402333 Rate by arrangement.
Mr Lindsay Smith Tel: 01549 411258 Rate by arrangement.
 

Bruce Sandison has very kindly provided the following information for those of you who have never before had the pleasure of fishing on Loch Hope

Amidst the gloom of the demise of Scottish sea-trout stocks, destroyed by fish farm disease and pollution, one loch still offers sport with this most graceful of fish: Loch Hope in northwest Sutherland. Every season produces upwards of 500 sea-trout as well as useful numbers of salmon and grilse. In order to preserve and enhance Loch Hope sea-trout stocks, all fish under l lb 5 oz must be returned to fight another day and Hope regulars readily comply with this eminently sensible rule.

The loch lies amidst spectacular scenery and is approximately six miles north/south by up to one mile wide, dropping to a depth of over 180 feet in Middle Bay. The west shoreline is trackless and may on only be reached on foot or by boat. The narrow, twisting, single-track road from Altnaharra in the south to Hope in the north margins the east shore.

Fishing on South End Loch Hope is divided into Beats 1, 2, 3 and Middle Bay. Outboard motors are not allowed on South End; to reach Beats 2 and 3 boats have to cross Beat 1 and the disturbance created by an outboard engine might put flighty sea trout 'down' on Beat 1. North End Loch Hope is fished by the Hope Estate where outboard motors are allowed. North End also has the right to fish one boat each day in Middle Bay.

Beat 1 is relatively shallow, with an average depth of 15ft, and fish may be taken from almost anywhere, from the margins to the middle. The best drift is from the tree on the south shore, north down the middle of the loch to the headland where the beat ends. The start of the drift is in very shallow water, about 2ft deep, over a sandy bottom amongst patches of weed. Salmon
favour this area, some 100 yards out from the shore.

Beat 2 includes the mouth of the Strathmore River and is always exciting. You just know the fish are there, smelling the fresh water flowing down from Glen Golly and the north face of Meall Garbh. Over the years, silt and sand has been washed into the loch forming a considerable shelf. Sea-trout and salmon congregate there, and in the bay to the west of Eilean Mor where half a dozen small streams rush in from craggy Meall Glas.

Beat 3 takes in the narrowing neck of the loch prior to Middle Bay. The Beat begins where an old wall comes down the hill to the water and the best drift is along this shore, about 10 or 15 yards out from the bank. It is essential to have someone on the oars all the time, holding the boat in position. Too far in or too far out is just not good enough. To have the best chance of sport, you must hold the right line. Fish the drift right down to the sandbar at the entrance to Middle Bay.

Middle Bay is a vast affair, two miles north/south by up to one mile wide. Most rods begin fishing on the west side, in a large, semi-sheltered bay that extends from Creag Bhreaig in the north to a point of land half a mile south. Close to this point is the feature known as "The Castle", an underwater stack around which sea-trout shoal.

The east shore of Middle Bay is an endless delight of points and corners, shingle banks and weed patches. The largest sea-trout ever landed from Loch Hope was taken at the Black Rock on this shore; a magnificent fish of l7lb 2oz, caught on August 4, 1959 by legendary Altnaharra Hotel gillie, Hugh Sutherland. Double-figure fish are rare today, but most seasons produce sea-trout of up to 9lb.

The remainder of Loch Hope, North End, is fished from Ian McDonald's cottage close to where the A838 Tongue/Durness road crosses the River Hope on its brief journey to the sea in Loch Eriboll. North End is not as productive as the South End, but it still produces more than ten times the combined total number of sea-trout taken from the likes of Maree, Shiel, Stack and Eilt.

On North End, the wooded west shoreline is a good place to begin, drifting south to the cairn and stream mouth near Arnaboll Cottage. On the east bank, arrange a drift in the vicinity of where the Allt a'Mhuilinn enters the loch and south again into the next bay, down to the mouth of the Allt Braesgill burn. Keep the boat near the shore, approximately 10 yards out.

As to the flies to use to catch them, then your choice is probably going to be as good as mine. In any case, when it comes to flies, I am a dyed-in-the-wool (no pun intended) traditionalist. I tend to use the same patterns, year after year, for both brown trout and sea-trout. They have been good friends to me and, for what it is worth, here they are: Ke-He, Soldier Palmer, Black Pennell, Grouse & Claret, Greenwell's Glory, March Brown, Dunkeld, Silver Invicta, Silver Butcher. I fish a three-fly cast on a 12ft leader. However, dapping is perhaps the most popular fishing method used on Loch Hope and, I am told, most fish are taken 'on the dap', almost always using a Daddy-long-legs.

The bare facts I have outlined above should prepare you for your first assault on Loch Hope. But nothing, I can assure you, will prepare you for the sheer beauty of this most wonderful of all Scottish lochs. Start a love affair with Loch Hope now.

Bruce Sandison