The machair lochs lie on the west side of South Uist, nestling below the mountains of the east and behind the Atlantic sand dunes to the west.

Machair land is limited to small areas of land on the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland and the soil has a high shell content of up to 90% crushed shell. The lochs that sit on the machair are alkaline and sustain a rich food supply for the salmon, sea trout and brown trout that inhabit them.

A network of drainage ditches, rivers and burns connects the lochs to the sea and, though the system was built to protect the low lying grazing land from flooding, it allows the migratory fish to reach a greater than expected number of lochs.

Their close proximity to the sea makes many of the South Uist lochs brackish and this adds to the unique experience of machair fishing.

Though popular with anglers for the salmon and sea trout that grow up to 10lbs in weight, the lochs also yield brown trout at weights of up to 4lbs. However, average sizes for fish caught are closer to half the weight of the largest the lochs yield each year.

Salmon & Grilse
5 Year Average: 64.8

Year	’04	’05	’06	’07	’08	Average
April	0	0	0	0	0	0
May	0	0	0	0	0	0
June	0	0	0	0	0	0
July	6	6	18	11	15	11.2
August	11	16	28	35	12	20.4
September	10	29	15	23	18	19
October	5	20	18	18	10	14.2
Total	32	71	79	87	55	64.8

Sea Trout
5 Year Average: 572.4

Year	’04	’05	’06	’07	’08	Average
April	0	0	0	0	0	0
May	0	0	0	0	2	0.4
June	8	0	0	1	0	1.8
July	115	84	42	70	43	70.8
August	172	179	229	88	62	146
September	160	196	308	109	71	168.8
October	128	211	272	238	74	184.6
Total	583	670	851	506	252	572.4

Trout
5 Year Average: 1408.4

Year	’04	’05	’06	’07	’08	Average
April	21	28	35	26	0	22
May	240	301	451	547	651	438
June	119	254	441	424	803	408.2
July	85	120	152	297	153	161.4
August	140	141	172	120	274	169.4
September	129	217	116	199	386	209.4
October	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	734	1061	1367	1613	2267	1408