evening everyone
Right planning a trip up to this neck of the woods, looking to go mid june! had a scope arround the web, found some info, anyone got any recent experience of the area, lochs to try? boat hire? ticket prices? flies? done lots of river fishing and some wild brownie fishing but none up in this area! who is the local expert or old hand ,got to be someone one here who knows whazzon?? have read some worring threads on the area just wondered if they were true? any help would be greatly appreciated thanks ahead of time, cheers zimtrout

Hugo Ross in Wick give him a shout he will sort you out with boats etc . Evening sessions on Loch watten should be in full swing by then . If you are after a trophy fish Loch Heilan holds some monsters but they dont show too often . Other than that its gods country enjoy ..

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Imagination is more important than knowledge.

bear in mind a drive between thurso and durness will take you most of the day, permits for wick and thurso from hugo as above, watten, sarclet, heilin etc, permits for the durness lochs from martin at glengolly guest house in durness, 4 lochs,
durness lochs are 15 quid a day from the bank, watten is a fiver or so from the bank, boats extra.

Midges? I went to Loch Hope once...never, ever again in the summer. As we drove there from Altnarharra I thought there was a fog bank around the loch. As we dropped down the mountain road into it...it was midges. They reduced visibility to about 100 yards. You couldn't breath, open your mouth or eyes. It was unbearable.

If there are fishy times when there are no midges, I would go, but that experience scarred me for life. I too, would love to know when and where to go where there are no midges. I had the sweats and shakes from the bites I got.

Caithness and Durness dont have that many midges as the terrain is grass on Limestone soil , so not an issue .

Fish St John's Loch at Dunnet, you get the permits from the carvan park at Dunnet Bay.
Bank fishing and boat fishing.
I fished way early last year at begining of season, too early!
Heard that June is best month.

Loch Heiln is top notch, you get tickets from Greenlands farm next to the loch.

Pure Gods country up there, my mother is from there and spent many a happy holiday at my Grans in Barrock manse.

Don't forget there is fantastic sea fishing up there, fly rod also!

Hope this helps
Cheers
Rusty

Don't know about Durness but I can assure you that Caithness most definitely has its fair share of midge. Pop up to Strathmore on a still, mild day in August for the full effect.
Talking of Strathmore, Loch a'Cherigal contains the most fantastic trout I have ever had the pleasure of connecting with, hard fighting and amazingly beautiful. Permits from the Ulbster Arms Hotel in sunny Halkirk. Another of their waters, Loch Eun, holds fish in the 2 to 4lb range and is set in breath taking scenery. Loch Calder can provide excellent sport from the bank and is free of charge. Arctic Char rise to feed on the surface at certain times during summer and Ferox trout can be caught on the fly during this event.
If the midges are about, Avon's 'Skin so Soft' keeps them at bay.
Fantastic fish and chips in Thurso, after a hard days fishing. Eat them sat in the car looking over Thurso Bay.
Enjoy your trip.

Sorry ,I was refering to the bits round Watten ,Heilen and St Johns which had been recommended.Your right about the other bits, like the rest of the Highlands midges are a problem.

Cheers Colin

Right have booked the accomadation, have booked a boats through Hugo Ross for loch calder and loch watten! Have contacted the chap who runs the booking of boats at the durness limestone lochs! and have printed off the pamphlet for the assynt area, i think there is enough fishing in the caithness, durness and assynt areas to keep anybody busy fishing for a lifetime,hope we will get a tasteof some of the area. think this first trip will be a big eye opener and a good fact finding mission! thank you for all your help so far chaps very muchly appreciated!
bit worried about these midgies, if they are anything like the sandflies in new zealand they are a bloody nightmare! what are the best methods of repellintg them???
and the next question what flies are the best, have picked up a few from some tof the very good websites that detail the area, any favorites out there?? cheers duncan

Go out on the limestone lochs at night, we never used to start untill 11 oclock. Fish dries it can be an education. I hear caladail is all but finished but borlie still holds some surprises. Lanish is a bit strange as much depends on what has been put in from the other lochs. We used to fish it with very small black and gold spider untill about 2 in the morning. fish the vee on borlie when you see it you will know what I mean. I used to get the lochs to myself but things have changed. try buzzers from the shore during the day. across in caithness hugo is your man, he will keep you right. even if you dont fish it go and look at heilan and remember it has produced 2 double figure brownies in the last 5 years. you will have a great time just remember your skin so soft. jim