Fishing and shooting: 'Bit by bit a detailed picture of angling in Assynt will emerge'

Assynt is the first part of the UK to have all its fishing interactively computerised – north west Sutherland is at the forefront of digitalised angling, collaborative web mapping and, I would hazard a guess, sustainable time wasting, which is what most people do on computers.

So any puddle in Assynt which can boast so much as a minnow has been converted into a blob on a computerised Ordnance Survey map. Click on the blob and it tells you where it is, what it is, if there are any fish in it and how to get there.

Eventually each of Assynt's 75 lochs, sea fishing opportunities, burns and rivers will have an encyclopedia of fishy information attached to its blob as each visitor adds a little something of their own experience, be it how many times they fell in or what they had in their sandwiches. Bit by bit a detailed picture of angling in Assynt will emerge.

The website will likely be the first of many across the UK, particularly for remote rural areas trying to make the most of natural resources. In other words, encourage angling tourism. Little is known of the role angling plays in rural communities, says Substance, a social research cooperative which set up the map.

Their work is entitled: Research into the Social and Community benefits of Angling. So, armed with a big Lotto grant, they are spending three years finding out. I think I can safely say the results will show angling is a terrific benefit to everyone and the Substance report will be a useful tool with which Assynt and other remote areas will be able to lever cash out of various EU rural development funds.

Still. Mock not. The website is already rather fun, as people add their experiences to each blob with helpful remarks such as: "dangerous in strong winds" and "don't wade out too far, there are some very steep drops," or "… you get the occasional salmon coming through and there's lots of trout (usual flies – Zulu, Invicta and a Goldhead work well)." Which I would say was pretty useful.

"Donald" has left us a mini essay on "Bad nan aighean" and how he found a boat on the shore and drifted about the loch pulling in 8-10oz trout three at a time and then finally picked up a sea trout. He draws a veil over whether he put it back or not (I hope he ate it) and has produced a photo of the fish.

As to the question, why Assynt? Because there is a right mix of land ownership there, with everything from community-owned land to private rivers and angling associations. It has already been the focus of work by the Country Sports Tourism Group, and Dr Adam Brown, who rejoices in the title Director of Substance, likes Assynt – as good a reason as any.

I suppose we could always complain that by encouraging the world to go fishing in Assynt it will cease to be wild and undiscovered. But that's progress for you.

www.assynt.anglingresearch.org.uk

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• This article was first published in The Scotsman on Saturday, May 29, 2010