Hooked on Mull’s breathtaking setting

At the beginning of June I was fortunate to spend a week on the West Coast of Scotland. Whilst the rest of the UK shivered in the rain and winds we had temperatures that, at times, were higher than the Mediterranean.

I had promised my wife that no fishing tackle would accompany us on this holiday but somehow or other one rod was packed together with a selection of small flies.

That rod was a Tenkara rod which is telescopic and collapses into a tube no longer than eighteen inches so it could easily have accidently slipped into the suitcase.

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Remember when you were a child and you had a garden cane, a length of string and a bent pin or hook, well that is what Tenkara is.

So there I was, on the Isle of Mull, parked up in a motorhome on a very beautiful stretch of grassy shoreline.

The sun sets late up there, so early evening I wandered along the shoreline and soon came across a stream coming down from Ben More.

A single track road crossed the stream over a very attractive humpback bridge and beneath the bridge was the most wonderful crystal clear pool.

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Sitting on the bridge I looked down into the water and could see small brown trout darting about chasing insects.

That was it! My chance to cast a fly in Scotland.

Hurrying back to the motorhome I rummaged about, found the rod and flies and ran back to below the pool.

One thing about Tenkara, there is no reel or flyline to be worried about and being telescopic it can be assembled in seconds.

Up went the rod, line attached to the end and now came the most important decision.

Which fly?

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There could only be one choice. As I was in Scotland it had to be a Stewarts Spiders.

A fly which should never be off your cast according to WC Stewart in his well-renowned and respected book of 1857 The Practical Angler – one that has stood the test of time.

Crouching down I crept up to the waters edge and cast the fly upstream into the pool.

Immediately the line went taught and lifting the rod a brown trout came to my hand.

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Alright, I will admit it was not the biggest brown trout I have caught but it was two inches of pure delight.

Back went the beauty into the water and scurried off and back went my fly into the pool.

A third cast brought me another fish, this time it was about three inches, and so it went on until I think they must have got wise to me.

After about half an hour I had caught eight fish, the largest about six inches, it was 30 minutes of pure bliss.

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The clear blue sky, the crystal clear water and not a soul in sight.

Absolute perfection, what a wonderful experience which will always stay with me.

I am, however, sorry to say that the bridge and the pool were washed away in the July storms, a sad loss to me and to the other people who have sat on the bridge and watched those little brown trout.

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