Land of Hope

The Land Of Hope showcases superb Atlantic salmon and brown trout fishing in the wilderness of northern Scotland and is part of the Wildland Limited enterprise. Located in Sutherland under the shadow of Ben Hope, the system begins high up in the glens and drains into the iconic Loch Hope. The shimmery waters of Loch Hope are fabled amongst sea trout and salmon anglers that enjoy to drift down the shorelines chasing hard fighting fish with surface lures.

The river Hope is a magical river that tumbles from the north end of Loch hope and runs down the estuary through a series of beautiful pools. The stunning intimate river provides some of the most exciting visual fishing one can imagine. The shoals of grilse arrive on each tide, cascading into the pools and will eagerly take small traditional salmon flies and particularly hitched skating flies.

When fishing loch Hope we took preference to fish the 9’ #6 Cross S1 and the 10’ #7 Evotec Cast M/F rods, teamed up with the Evotec 100 fly lines, these were ideal for casting two and three fly casts out of the boat and dibbling the flies in the rolling waves at the end of the retrieve. We felt the medium fast actioned rods were perfect for playing the ferocious grilse and sea trout on the small flies.

When fishing the river Hope we some times fished #5 rods to ensure super delicate presentation over some of the slower pools. The Cross S1 590 loaded with the Opti Flow line and the Opti Dryfly reel was superb when there was not much wind and a real pleasure to play lively salmon and sea trout. When the wind got up we took preference to fish the Cross S1 690 and the Cross SX 690 to deliver the flies across the pools.

The combination of fishing the sea pools and the river with tide fresh salmon and sea trout on such light tackle provided some mesmerising sport that we shall remember for a long time.