Unst
- Details
- Published on Saturday, 01 May 2010 18:28
- Written by Bruce Sandison
Unst in Shetland is the most northerly island of the British Isles, home to the UK’s most northerly salmon, sea-trout and wild brown trout fishery. However, in the early 1990’s, exacerbated by the massive expansion of fish farming throughout Scotland’s West Highland and Island areas, sea-trout numbers declined, and, in the autumn of 1992, Unst Angling Club members and supporters decided to do something about it.
Davie McMillan, President of the Unst Angling Club, told me, “We realised that the future of our fishing was in our own hands and that if we did not act, then nobody else would.” Since then the club has been hard, work, clearing up the burns and streams through which sea-trout and salmon reach their traditional spawning grounds. The club also developed a hatchery and began a unique sea-trout restocking programme using native fish, reared in their natal streams.
The result is that catches have improved by 25%, and continue to do so. The club operates a strict catch-and-release policy and every salmon or sea-trout caught is returned to fight again another day. More sea-trout have been seen around the island this season than for nearly two decades. This has certainly been the case on Loch of Cliff, the largest loch in Unst which drains into the sea at Burra Firth at the north end of the island. Salmon, perfectly shaped wild fish of up to 12lb in weight are being caught and the largest sea-trout taken weighed 10lb.
I have to declare an interest here because my ancestors came from Unst, but if you are looking for an exciting fishing holiday amidst some the most dramatic scenery on Planet Earth, then head for Unst. 
You will find excellent accommodation at Saxa Vord, which offers self-catering houses, a comfortable bunkhouse, restaurant and bar www.saxavord.com and a warm welcome from the members of the Unst Angling Club (tel: 01957 711554).
Thus when I was invited by Davie McMillan to join club members and guests at their annual ‘simmer dim’ fishing festival in June, it took me all of a microsecond to say “yes”. My ancestors come for this most lovely of all Shetland isles and, to me, returning to Unst is like coming home. The club was originally formed as a sea-angling club back in the 1960’s and it had a thriving membership. Indeed, as far back as 1733, when Thomas Gifford visited Unst he found “the inhabitants are for the most part fishers.” Little has changed today and sea fishing is still an integral part of the club’s activities.
Fishing for wild brown trout and sea-trout became increasing popular in the mid-1980’s, when local anglers were joined by enthusiasts stationed at the Royal Air Force base at Saxa Ford in the north of the island. Shetland’s sea-trout were legendary. Very few places on Planet Earth could match the quality and quantity of the islands runs of these most spectacular of all salmonids, particularly fishing amongst the voes and at the burn mouths along the coastline.
The sea-trout restoration programme is being carried out by volunteers, ranging in age from 8yrs old to 74yrs, old who strip native fish in their spawning burns. In the autumn of 1992, eggs and milt from 46 sea-trout were collected and laid down in a makeshift hatchery as Coutts Mill Burn resulting in 55,000 point-of-feed sea-trout fry being returned to their natal streams. Since then, the hatchery facility has been expanded and the club now release upwards of 170,000 to their native burns each year. The work involved in doing so has been very much a community-lead initiative with children from Uyeasound Primary School, where head teacher, Barbara Priest, is also a Unst Angling Club member playing an important part; the children attend the fish in the hatchery and for the past six years, look forward to ‘release day’; when they fill plastic bags with fry and set off to release them in chosen pools.
The club also approached local landowners and persuaded them to allow Unst Angling Club to manage fishing rights on their behalf. Davie McMillan told me, “I don’t know if we are doing everything right, but at least we are moving in the right direction, and, with the commitment of a forward-thinking committee, we fully intend to keep doing so.” Judging by the increase in the size and numbers of fish now being caught, I think that Davie and his colleagues have got it right. And, judging by the enthusiasm, courtesy and good humour of the people I fished with during the long, light night of the ‘simmer dim’, the continued health and prosperity of the islands precious brown trout and sea-trout populations seems to be assured.
I must say, however, that during the night of the Festival, if I had caught two more fish I would have had a brace. But the heaviest fish, caught by Lindsay Thomson, weighed 4lb 12oz and the twenty-four anglers taking part in the event raised £1,595 for the Teenage Cancer Appeal. Well-done Unst, and thank you for a great evening!
Bruce Sandison is a writer and journalist and author of nine books, including the definite anglers' guide, 'The Rivers and Lochs of Scotland' which is being revised and updated prior to republishing.
He contributed to 'Trout & Salmon' for 25 years and was angling correspondent for 'The Scotsman' for 20 years. Sandison writes for the magazine 'Fly Fishing and Fly Tying' and provides a weekly angling column in the 'Aberdeen Press & Journal'.
His work, on angling, Scottish history and environmental subjects, has appeared in most UK national papers, including 'The Sunday Times', 'The Telegraph', 'The Daily Mail', 'The Herald', 'Private Eye', 'The Field' and in a number of USA publications.
Sandison has worked extensively on BBC Radio. His series 'Tales of the Loch' ran for 5 years on Radio Scotland and was also broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and on BBC World Service. His series, 'The Sporting Gentleman's Gentleman' and his programme 'The River of a Thousand Tears', about Strathnaver, established his reputation as a broadcaster.
Sandison has had extensive coverage on television. He wrote and presented two series for the BBC TV Landward programme and has given a number of interviews over the years on factory-forestry, peat extraction, wild fish conservation and fish farming.
Sandison is founding chairman of 'The Salmon Farm Protest Group', an organisation that campaigns for the removal of fish farms from Scottish coastal and freshwater lochs where disease and pollution from these farms is driving wild salmonid populations to extinction.
Bruce won 'Feature Writer of the Year' in the Highlands and Islands Press Awards in 2000 and in 2002, and was highly commended in 2005. Bruce lives near Tongue in Sutherland with his wife Ann.