Lochindorb
- Details
- Published on Friday, 27 October 2006 15:21
- Written by Bruce Sandison
Lochindorb lies seven miles north-east from Grantown-on-Spey astride desolate Dava Moor, glowered over by mighty Cairngorm mountains, unseen from the busy A939 Grantown/Nairn road. The name means ‘loch of trouble’.
But not for anglers, because Lochindorb is the ideal place to introduce beginners to the gentle art of fly-fishing, or to restore one’s own angling self-confidence.
Lochindorb gained the ‘troublesome’ reputation because of its association with the great and mighty. Or rather, great and nasty, dependent upon your historical point of view. An important castle stood on the small man-made island at the north end and, in Scotland, where there is a castle, there was invariably trouble. Edward 1st, the ‘Hammer of the Scots’ paid Lochindornb a social call in 1303 whilst quelling yet another rebellion of his unwilling, surrogate subjects. After spreading death and disaster over a wide area of Moray, he relaxed at Lochindorb Castle, no doubt doing a bit of fishing whilst enjoying the view. Before he left, he gave instructions for the original Keep to be enlarged to the status of castle.
In due course, the castle on the island became the property of one of Scotland’s most unprincipled villains, Alasdair Mor Mac an Righ, or ‘Big Alasdair’ to his friends. He is better remembered in history as the Wolf of Badenloch, the natural son of King Robert 11. His peers regarded big Alasdair as a monster – which was saying something in lawless fourteenth-century Scotland when anything not firmly nailed down was considered fair game by all. Going to bed safely at night then was no guarantee of a safe awakening the following morning.
Having married the Countess of Ross for her rich lands, rather than for her beauty, Alasdair deserted her when he discovered that the lady’s family had excluded said rich lands from the marriage agreement. The Countess appealed to the Bishop of Moray for redress and that unhappy prelate made the mistake of finding in the Countess’s favour. The Wolf responded by stealing large chunks of the Bishop’s property and was immediately excommunicated by the outraged prelate. Big Alasdair therefore decided to ‘re-educate’ the Bishop.
The Wolf paid a late-night call on the towns of Forres and Elgin, doing what he did best, burning, rape and pillage, including the destruction of one of the most beautiful places of worship in Europe, Elgin Cathedral. The affair eventually ended with the Wolf on his knees doing public penance before the Scottish court, which had been assembled for that purpose at the front door of the Church of the Blackfriars in Perth. But the Countess never got a single penny and Badenoch continued to live with a mistress who bore him five lusty sons. Big Alasdair died, not much mourned, in 1394, it is said after losing a game of chess with the Devil at another of his ‘lairs’, Ruthven Castle on the banks of the River Spey. 
It would be a poor day indeed if this lovely Highland water sent you home empty-handed. Even the biggest duffers in the world, and I include myself in that luckless brigade, should catch their fair share. The loch is full of small, brightly-marked, brown trout, which average just under 8oz in weight. They give great sport and you should manage at least a brace or two. Perfect for breakfast, dressed in oatmeal and fried - the trout that is, not the piscator.
There are larger fish in Lochindorb, so treat every rise with caution and respect. Trout of over 7lb have been caught here in the recent past. Fish rise and are taken from all over the loch and no one place is essentially better than another. The loch is generally shallow, 2 miles in length by up to half a mile wide. A minor road margins the east bank and the west bank may be accessed by a track leading round the north shore to Terriemore Farm. Boat fishing brings the best results and my favourite drift is down the east shore past Lochindorb Lodge, but the west bank, south from Terriemore Farm to first promontory where a feeder burn enters from Carn Bad Churaich (409m), can also give excellent results.
The ruins of Lochindrob Castle, with its infamous water dungeon, can still be seen on the small island, entangled in bramble and birch trees. Those consigned to the dungeon swam and sank. The pit was filled with sufficient water only to ensure that the occupant could not sit down. I never cast a fly by the shore of the island without thinking of the self-seeking wild Wolf, sitting in the great hall, plotting his revenge on his unfortunate wife and the hapless Bishop of Moray.
Plotting the downfall of the loch’s trout is less taxing and damaging, at least to human life and limb. Or should be. One autumn day, my wife, Ann, and I were fishing Lochindorb when the wind rose suddenly to gale force. Flinging both fishing rods to Ann, I grabbed the oars and began to struggle back, across the wind, to the mooring bay. As we neared safety, two fish grabbed our flies which had been left trailing behind the boat, one trout on each cast. In a flurry of lines and hot cursing, anxious not to lose the fish, rods were passed from hand to hand and, in the heat of the moment, the boat grounded in the shallows and tilted sideways.
I slid out, in slow motion, and found myself sitting up to the waist in the cold waters of the loch. Wet is wet, so I dragged the boat ashore and, dripping, reeled in. Firmly attached to a size 14 Silver Butcher was a good trout of 1lb. The other fish had long-since gone. “Thank you, Bruce” said Ann, leaping nimbly ashore. “Let me have the rod and I will land it.” I consider, momentarily, open rebellion, but wisely did as told. In these circumstances, even Big Alasdair himself would never have argued with Ann, ‘Wolf’ or not.
For further information about Lochindorb, contact:
Caretakers Cottage, Lochindorb, Glenferness. Tel: 01309 651270
Angus Stuart, 60 High Street, Grantown-on-Spey. Tel: 01479 872612
Expect to pay in the order of £15/20 per boat per session. Falling in is free.
Would anglers please note that free bank fishing on Lochindorb is no longer allowed due to litter and anti-social behaviour by certain groups of anglers. Permission of the owners MUST be sought before fishing Lochindorb.
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 Sandison 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.