I'd like to do some deer stalking and salmon fishing on Lewis and Harris. Does anyone have experience in this area, as well as the best way to bring along one's personal rifle? Any other pertinent information would certainly be welcome. Thanks,

Dave Manson

Best sport in the world, but that's only my personal view :-)

I did file the following report a while back that contains some Lewis stalking and fishing:

http://forums.accuratereloadin...5421043/m/2751013932

The best person to contact is probably Russell Hird who can provide what you require, and who will certainly provide an excellent service, and who is well used to accommodating international visitors:

https://www.rjhsports.co.uk/


This is real wild sport so they'll not be selling you "tourist" stags that have been fed all winter etc. but this also means that heads will not normally be huge. Under natural conditions only a small proportion of Scottish hill stags will produce a 12 point head for example and no one on Lewis or Harris will be promising you a stag of a certain size.

If you might want to watch some video then I have some on YouTube, this is very late season Lewis salmon fishing:

https://youtu.be/EZkdt-TKBoc

This is late season Lewis sea trout fishing, don't over look the sea trout or brown trout for sport:

https://youtu.be/PWr0Lb4goKQ

And this is some brown trout fishing on Lewis:

https://youtu.be/V9HYhq8yznc

https://youtu.be/mDJ4Fds0BXk

Hello caorach:

Thanks for your help and suggestions. It's a bit of "the back of beyond", but the wildness of the Hebrides is hard to resist, and I intend to spend some time there in the fall of 2021.

Best regards,

Dave Manson

quote:

Originally posted by DManson:
Hello caorach:

Thanks for your help and suggestions. It's a bit of "the back of beyond", but the wildness of the Hebrides is hard to resist, and I intend to spend some time there in the fall of 2021.

Lewis and Harris are not like anywhere else in the UK and it is truly wild sport. If you come in the Autumn then you will find that many people on the plane, or cars you pass in the road, will be going to or from fishing or shooting of some description.

The Lewis salmon season is considered to "peak" in July but I really prefer to fish in September and early October and that is my favourite time of year to be out and about on Lewis. Clearly if you want to shoot or stalk then it is best for you to come in the Autumn and while some people might make you feel that you are missing the best of the fishing I personally disagree. It is true that in September/October most of the salmon will be coloured fish rather than the fresh run fish of July but this doesn't bother me in the slightest, some people get very "worked up" about people catching coloured fish but this is some weird form of affection from those who can't mind their own business.

If I may say so many people on this forum who are planning trips get a little hung up on details - "what sort of torch to take" or similar. The Hebrides is a much more relaxed part of the universe so my advice is to chill out, talk to someone like Russell and let him sort you out, and enjoy your trip without worrying about the small details that don't really add to the fun of being on a wild island in the middle of the Atlantic. My only advice is to be prepared for wind, Lewis is said to be the most windy inhabited place on earth, and decent waterproof clothing and good boots will make life a lot easier. However, as you can see in my videos, I wear an army surplus windproof smock most of the time, it isn't waterproof, and put a waterproof layer on under it if the weather gets very wet. In my view this "system" is simply the best way to stay dry and comfortable and I fished on Lewis 8 weeks last year, 13 weeks the year before, and have been doing it for 30 years now. So, you don't need to be spending big cash on big names, spend the money on having the best experience instead.

One other thing is that there is lots of inexpensive sport - you can fish for brown trout at no or little cost, shoot geese at very little cost, take additional days for salmon or sea trout at very little cost etc. So if you were booking sport with Russell (for example, he is about the only person on the island providing a sporting agent/guide type service that I know of) my advice is to stay as long as you can on the island as there is simply so much to do that a single week leaves you feeling that you haven't even started to experience what is available. In view of the cost of getting to Lewis it may be worth discussing taking some guided days and mixing them up with some "self-guided" days to extend the stay at very little cost relative to the travel cost. Also if you are going to be stalking in the hills it is often best to allow a rest day between stalking days.

As this is wild sport the fitter you are the more fun you can have. If you are going on the hill you can walk many miles and climb thousands of feet and there is no mechanical access so you have to walk up, and drag the deer down. That sort of fitness isn't absolutely necessary, there is stalking that only requires a mile or two of walking, but if you want to enjoy the whole experience then being as fit as possible will be a huge asset.

If that doesn't get one's blood going, I'm not sure what would. Thanks again for your input.

Dave Manson

Don't know if you are interested Dave but I was out for a spring salmon during the first week of the season. Now I need to highlight that there hasn't ever been a fish caught in February so the chances were very low indeed but none the less I had the GoPro in action and threw together some video. It isn't great, but you might enjoy it. For the last two months it has been almost constant wind and rain, most days have seen gusts to 70mph+, but by some miracle the day I went out was just the most wonderful, frosty, winter day. So although there are no fish it was just the most fantastic day to be out:

https://youtu.be/kTSlxHSL6lw

Awesome

Hello caorach:

I keep promising myself a GoPro and now I'll have to get one--up 'til now it was something the grandkids played with. Your videos, however, take it out of the toy realm and I can see it's utility.

BTW, I'm in contact with Mr. Hird and it's likely four of us will be at Garynahine in September 2021. Will keep you posted.

Dave Manson

quote:

Originally posted by DManson:
Hello caorach:

I keep promising myself a GoPro and now I'll have to get one--up 'til now it was something the grandkids played with. Your videos, however, take it out of the toy realm and I can see it's utility.

BTW, I'm in contact with Mr. Hird and it's likely four of us will be at Garynehine in September 2021. Will keep you posted.

Dave Manson

I find the GoPro works better than I expected as long as you accept its limitations. If you watch some of my videos you will notice that often I attach it to a chest mount but I also use a big clip thing to attach it to my walking stick so that I can appear in the video for a bit of variety, or rarely I carry a tripod. What I will say is that it works well for fishing, which mostly happens in daylight and often quite close up, but for shooting or deer stalking then the GoPro is too wide angle and so you can, basically, see nothing at a distance. Also the GoPro isn't good in low light which is when a lot of deer stalking might happen. With this in mind I'd suggest that it might be fun for fishing but when shooting you are probably best forgetting about the GoPro and just enjoying the experience. For what it is worth I use a GoPro 7 Black, there is now a newer version 8. As a guide I get about 1 hour record time per battery so I generally carry 3 batteries plus I have one of those portable "power bank" things and so can recharge batteries in the field.

Great news that you've been talking to Russell about Garynahine in 2021. The first river I fished in that recent "Spring salmon" video is Garynahine and also the previous link I posted of salmon fishing is also Garynahine, so you can get some idea of what the river is like. It is a fantastic river with an excellent keeper who is a first class salmon angler himself. One great advantage it has is that, even in low water, it can be fished if there is a decent wind on the water (Lewis is reputed to be the most windy inhabited place on earth) so unlike many spate rivers you don't depend on rain and so are in with a realistic chance almost every day. Russell has fantastic dogs, he uses mostly Hungarian Vizslas, and he has a lot of clients from outwith the UK, and many seem to return year after year. He is providing real, wild, sport and not "tourist hunts" and I think that is really important for the visitor who wants a real experience.

You'll have to keep us informed and file a trip report when you return.