Stillwater · Granite · Highlands / Wester Ross

Loch Maree

Loch Maree venue image
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Loch Maree was once the finest sea trout loch in Britain.

Species

Day off — closed today

Reopens Monday. Use the day to walk the beats.

Closed — confidence not applicable today.
Water temperature for atlantic salmon
Cool — slow
4°C est.ideal 10–14°C
0°14°28°
Why this score · for atlantic salmon
  • Temperature130% weight
  • Flow4525% weight
  • Clarity9520% weight
  • Feeding Time1015% weight
  • Pressure8510% weight
Conditions
Level
Dry recently
No gauge reading
Water temp
4.2°C
Estimated
Clarity
Clear
Air temp
3°C
Wind
E 5 km/h
Calm
Pressure
1001 hPa
Rain · 48h
0.3 mm
No meaningful rain
Rain · ahead
16.6 mm
Moderate rain · next 48h

Live readings — water temperature is an estimate where the gauge does not record it.

How to fish it · for atlantic salmon
When
Spring fish from March; grilse from late June; main run summer. The Maree salmon fishery has declined but salmon are present alongside the brown trout. Fish from a boat with traditional drifted methods.
Where
Drift lines along the Wester Ross shore margins; the deeper drift channels between the islands.
Method
Drifted team of three with traditional wets — Stoat's Tail, Cascade, Munro Killer in size 10 to 12. Dapping with a long rod and floss line is the historic Highland method, still effective. Floating line is the daily default; intermediate when fish hold deeper.
Kit
10 to 11 ft #7/8 boat rod, floating and intermediate lines, 10 to 12 lb fluoro. Drogue and a long-handled net.
Through the year
0–3 scale · May highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Salmon runRun
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Large Dark OliveHatch
1
2
2
1
March BrownHatch
1
2
1
Iron BlueHatch
1
2
2
1
Blue Winged OliveHatch
1
2
2
2
2
1

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Gallery · 1
  1. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
Directions
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About this water

Loch Maree was once the finest sea trout loch in Britain. In the years between the wars and for two decades after, anglers came to the Loch Maree Hotel and fished from boats and hired ghillies and caught sea trout in numbers that now seem impossible — and were, eventually, proven to be unsustainable. The collapse came in the 1980s with the arrival of salmon farms in the sea lochs of Wester Ross, and the sea trout runs that had built the loch's reputation were broken within a single generation. What remains is a great wild Highland loch, still beautiful, still holding brown trout and the occasional sea trout and the odd salmon that runs the short River Ewe below. The setting is among the finest in Scotland — Slioch and the Torridon peaks rising out of the water on every side, the islands in the centre with their Caledonian pine. Fish it with respect for what was lost and gratitude for what remains. Boats and permits through the Loch Maree Hotel and Wester Ross Fisheries Trust. Mandatory catch-and-release for sea trout throughout.

  • Loch
  • Granite
Seasons & zones
  • Salmoncheck local (typically March) → check local (typically October)

Sea trout: Variable seasonal (2026) — Loch Maree was once considered the finest sea-trout loch in Scotland — a fishery of extraordinary reputation. Sea-lice from west-coast salmon farms have driven a near-complete collapse in migratory sea-trout stocks. Rod catches are a fraction of their 1960s–80s peak. Sea trout are still present and occasionally caught, but the fishery cannot be promoted as reliable. Catch-and-release under Maree estate management.

Other water nearby · 5
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