On our recent trip to the U.K. we went to Scotland and I fished for salmon on the Oykel River, courtesy of son in law Edward. The guys drove up from London and the girls rode the overnight train to Inverness where they hired a car for the ride North to the Oykel Bridge Hotel. The drive was a good bit of the length of the country and took around 12 hours. We went fishing as soon as we got our gear stowed away. I used a 16 foot fly rod, as long as my boat at home, and Edward’s father’s Hardy perfect fly reel. The reel is around 100 years old and works perfectly. We were so far North and the days were so long, we could fish a long time after dinner. This photo was taken at 11:00 p.m.

The next photo is of our arsenal of flies.

The Oykel is set in a beautiful part of Scotland where the misty rain came often, but a waxed cotton coat kept it at bay, and due to the temperature, felt mighty good. The next two photos are of Edward, one at a steep walled part of the river just behind the hotel, and the other where the bank is flatter with a salmon on.

Rick, Edward’s friend who went with us, struck first, and then I caught one (the next photo) and then Edward caught two. They all were about the same size but we saw some biggies jumping at the falls trying to make it upstream to spawn. I was alone when I caught the fish so I could not take a presentation photo. The one I did get was hurried as I wanted to return the fish quickly to the water. You might notice my foot next to the fish to give some perspective of the size. The second photo is of a sea trout that I caught.

 

We went to an old cemetery not too far from the river. As you can see from the photos, Scotland was beautiful and lichen was growing on everything.

 

 

The food at the Oykel Bridge Hotel was superb. Some in London was also. Among some of the goodies for me were smoked eel and a smoked Isle of Man kipper that I had for breakfast. The kipper is in the photo. Note the “Sylvester the Cat” effect on the right side of the photo.

Needless to say, the trip was outstanding fun. Much of that was due to Edward’s heroic efforts.