Upper Shin

The River Shin is, with the Oykel, Carron and Cassley, one of the Kyle of Sutherland's four famous rivers. Like the Awe, Ewe and Kirkaig, the Shin has long been famous for being a small river that holds huge fish. 

Unlike the others though, the Shin's water level is held up by two hydro dams, meaning the river remains at a very good fishing height throughout the summer months. 

Every week of the season holds a chance of landing a great fish.

Guests regularly land fish in excess of 20lbs, and fish of 30lbs or more are often seen and indeed netted for the hatchery. A 38lb salmon was landed in the Shin in 2012 and another one in 2014.

The season on the Upper Shin starts towards the end of May when the water temperature is sufficiently warm for the returning salmon to jump the falls. The season ends on the last day of September. 

Trout fishing mirrors the salmon season and is at its best from April to June. Fishing is free when taken with accommodation.

The River Shin catchment drains some 220 square miles in to loch Shin (a vast sheet of water some 16 miles long). This was the largest river in Sutherland, at least in terms of the volume of water that it dispensed before the dams were built in the late fifties.

The River Shin benefits from the two dams by having a good compensation flow through the fishing season. when other rivers are unfishable due to low water, the Shin is always in fine shape.

From Loch Shin the river drops 270 feet in its short seven mile course; The top half is relatively calm, but there are plenty of tumbling rock-strewn sections that really established the Shin's legendary reputation as one of the most challenging of salmon rivers. The last pool on the Upper Shin is called Grief, and it lives up to its name. Just a few hundred yards further downstream are the Falls of Shin, or Big Falls, a daunting obstacle 12 foot high, which fish will generally not ascend before May.