Fishing Areas
We aim to provide anglers visiting the Northern Highlands with useful information on how to access some of the superb fishing on offer in this region.
To accomplish this, we have divided the mainland region into 7 fishing areas.
To describe both river and loch fishing by area, is best done with reference to the river catchments. These can be divided into 3 groups based on the coast that each river drains into.
As can be seen from the map, the east-west divide is close to the West Coast, in many places just a few miles inland.
Northern Highlands Coastal Watersheds The second level of spatial classification is based on the approximate boundaries of the old counties. Although they have little significance to local government these days, they are still known as geographical areas.
Hence the West Coast is divided into West Ross-shire and West Sutherland and the East Coast into East Ross-shire, South and East Sutherland, and the northern part of Inverness-shire holding the Ness system and the Beauly catchment to its north.
There are two variations from this methodology to arrive at the final areas. The boundary of the North Sutherland area is extended to the east to include some of the Altnabreac lochs, because access to them is from Forsinard.
As Caithness is distinct from a topography viewpoint and only has 2 major salmon rivers, one draining to the north the other to the east, it is considered as a single area.
Northern Highlands Fishing Areas