First, meet our team of professional fishing guides. In fact, it’s taken 20 years to assemble this fantastic team. In addition, we are proud to welcome you to the places we have studied and fished all our lives. Without exception, we are all keen to share our knowledge and passion for Scotland. As a result, our aim is to deliver memorable experiences. Because, we don’t care if you’re a beginner or expert, you’ll aways find a kind word and a helping hand.
Meanwhile all of our guides have different skill sets. Therefore, we will find the right fit. Finally, more than anything we are committed to delivering enjoyable and memorable fishing trips in Scotland.
To sum up, please also see what our guests had to say… by reading our reviews of fishing trips and tours in Scotland.
Stewart Collingswood
Founder/Managing Director
I’ve been an Orvis Endorsed guide in Scotland for 18 years. I carry PVG clearance (safe to work with minors), RYA power boat qualification and First Aid certification. I’m a professional photographer and qualified CAA drone pilot. I spent my boyhood fly fishing on the River Tweed system in Scotland, fishing for salmon, trout and grayling. This fuelled an interest to fish explore every corner of Scotland, for all species.
Roger Dowsett
Tour and fishing Guide, Inverness and Highlands
Roger is highly skilled, guiding on various rivers and lochs throughout the Scottish Highlands.
Roger is the founder of Troutquest, and Salmonquest who work in a trusted partnership with Alba Game Fishing, and we work closely together on various guiding days on the River Alness, Conon, Oykel, Beauly, Shin and a huge variety of majestic trout lochs in the Ross & Cromarty and Caithness & Sutherland regions in the Highlands of Scotland.
John Hood
Fishing Guide/ Casting Instructor
John is a senior member of our team, having worked with Alba for over 10 years now. He is both a guide and casting instructor and holds the SGAIC single and double hand qualification.
He is PVG Disclosure Scotland checked (safe to work with minors) and a trained first aider. John is patient, kind and holds great angling wisdom. He is also a highly accomplished fly tier, and his trout and salmon patterns are truly unique.
Graeme Ferguson
15 years with Alba, Fishing guide, Fly Tyer
Graeme is ex Scots Guards and a veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a superb fishing guide, river & loch trout specialist & Fly Tyer. In addition he works as an associate for Orvis and lives and breathes for fishing.
He is meticulous with detail and enjoyable to spend time with. Graeme has also fished for Scotland at International level.
Bill Drew
Head Fishing Guide/ Business manager
Bill joined Alba after retiring from running a fishing guiding business in Scotland for 14 years. He began his fishing in rural Aberdeenshire and the rivers of the North. For more than 30 years he has fished the iconic river Tweed. As a fly fishing guide for the last 20 years, guiding more than 2000 clients. Bill’s initial interest was gleaned from his Dad and he has passed on his passion for fly fishing to his children and grandchildren and happy clients from every corner of the globe.
Scott Rutherford
Orvis Endorsed Guide Dee, Spey and Tay
Scott works part time for Orvis and is an Orvis endorsed guide. Scott guides on the River Dee, Don, Devon, Findhorn and Spey, he’s also available on Shetland and Orkney.
Scott also guides on the River Ness.
Additionally, Scott also has great knowledge of the trout lochs in the Aberdeenshire area, including the excellent Loch Insch. Scott is one of the nicest guides you will meet, a true gentleman and ambassador for the sport and Scotland.
Cuillin Rae
Fly tyer/ Guide/ Scotland Team member
Cuillin is a full time guide for Alba a member of Team Scotland. He competed in the 2022 World Fly Fishing Championship. Also, Cuillin is a superb fly tier and his patterns are lethal on the rivers and lochs of Scotland. Cuillin completed Workplace First Aid training in 2021 and is currently working towards a professional casting qualification.
Moray McFarlane
Fishing Guide River Tay, Earn, Tweed, North Esk and trout lochs
Moray is a former ghillie with 14 years experience managing beats on the North and South Esks and middle River Tay.
First photographed holding a fishing rod at the age of three, he has a lifetime’s worth of fishing knowledge covering salmon, sea trout, wild trout and pike. With the passionate belief that there is always more to learn about the art of fishing, he takes great satisfaction in using that education to ensure guests have a memorable experience..
Bob McAndrew
Fishing Guide River Tay, Ericht and trout lochs
Bob is a former gamekeeper and highly skilled trout, pike, and salmon angler, specialising in wilderness fishing.
Based in Blairgowrie, he guides on the Tay, and tributaries and is a highly skilled at tying effective fly patterns for Scottish waters. Bob is also available for deer stalking and other shooting trips.
Hugh Hynd
Fishing Guide- Edinburgh/ Lothians
Hugh manages one of the private fishing venues we have access too and is also one of our most trusted guides. You can call him “Shug” “Shuggie” for those overseas guests, this is what anyone called Hugh gets called in Scotland! Hugh is a highly experienced pike and trout fisherman and also guides on the Tweed and Tay for salmon fishing trips. Hugh has a calming relaxed nature and is good fun to be with, he is extremely patient and steady, as well as reliable and good fun to be with.
Alan Catney
Fishing Guide River Dee and Aberdeenshire
Alan is a retired policeman having worked in Aberdeenshire and was able to turn a lifelong passion of salmon fishing on the Dee to a retirement job. Alan is calm, knowledgeable and fun to be with. Alan is available for guided salmon days on the River Dee, Don and Deveron, and the numerous trout lochs in the area.
Alec Harvey
Fishing Guide/ Sea Fishing and Trout
Alec Harvey is a highly experienced guide and former World Champion Sea Angler. The Sea Fishing world still talk about him, however, nowadays, his focus is on trout fishing on Scottish Stillwaters.
Alec once won two brand new cars in a World Sea Fishing competition. His fly tying skills are available on YouTube.
Mark Ashburner
Trout and Grayling Fishing Guide River Tweed, Whiteadder and Tay
To begin with, Mark is from South Africa and has lived and worked in Scotland for years.
Also Mark is an extremely enthusiastic and competent trout and grayling angler, with a brilliant personality and enjoyable to spend a day with. Mark also makes his own fly rods and ties flies.
Sam Jarman
Fishing Guide/ casting instructor Spey, Dee and Tay
Sam is a highly focused salmon fishing guide on the River Spey, Dee and Tay.
Sam also works with the English premier league as a coach. In addition Sam is an accomplished golf coach and has written books on the subject. He applies the same patience, methodology and training principles to casting and is one of the most patient guides on our team. He is currently doing his SGAIC salmon casting certification.Stephen
Fishing Guide – River Tweed and Tay
Firstly Stephen used to run a successful trout fishery in Scotland and that’s where we met him. For the last few years, Stephen has been a superb, salmon, trout river guide but also someone who is adaptable and can cover fishing still waters.
Stephen can guide on the Tay, Dee, Tweed systems and is a very patient and pleasant guide to spend a day with.
Scott Baillie
Fishing Guide – River Spey
Scott is another one of our guides that works in the oil industry, and when not offshore, enjoys guiding on the River Spey. Scott is highly experienced and has a relaxed, knowledgable manner.
Scott is very patient and knows the river Spey inside out. Scott has also been a Ghillie on the Gordon Castle beats of the Spey as well as working for other Spey beats. He has an excellent reputation on the river.
Bob Cockburn
Fishing Guide – Trout Lochs and rivers
A superb trout guide and fly tyer. It’s often joked about with our team that Bob could catch trout in a puddle.
Bob specialises in loch fishing and fishing for rainbow trout. His local water is Coldingham Loch, and when not guiding, Bob is a permanent fixture on the loch, fine tuning his skills. His specialist fly patterns are lethal, so try and raid his fly box when he takes you out.
Will Fouracres
Fishing Guide – Trout Lochs and sea fishing
Will is an ex sea skipper, having ran a sea fishing charter in Berwickshire for many years.
Nowadays, Will specialises in trout fishing on still waters and rivers. He is highly experienced and a trained first aider. Will is also available to assist on sea fishing days around Scotland.
Darren Primrose
Chauffeur/ Tour Guide
Darren is a retired police officer and now experienced tour guide. He is reliable, friendly and knowledgable on the geography and history of Scotland.
Also, Darren has a long wheel base Mercedes people carrier, with ample space for 7 guests and a huge boot for luggage.
Kevin Barron
River Spey/ Deveron Fishing Guide
Kevin, works in the oil industry and in between stints working offshore, he is an experienced guide on the River Spey and River Deveron, with over 40 years experience. Kevin worked as a ghillie on the Gordon Castle beats. He lives close to the River Spey & Deveron where he has guided for a number of years. Kevin is a very enthusiastic guide, who loves passing on his knowledge to help others.
George Dale
Part time Fishing Guide, business advisor
George holds a director position in an accountancy firm and also works part-time as an Alba fishing guide.
He is one of the more experienced members of the team and is warm, friendly and knowledgeable on different aspects of fishing. George also advises Alba on business and accountancy matters.
Andy Burton
Tour and Fishing Guide – Western Isles
AlsohHe is now based on the Isle of Lewis and is available to guide on salmon and trout fishing trips in the Western Isles.
Finally, Andy is working on completing his SGAIC double hand salmon casting assessment.
Andrew Muszynski
Fishing Guide/ Trout and Salmon
Andrew is in every way a naturalist and outdoorsman.
He is a qualified surveyor and fishery manager and runs a private trout loch in the hills of Perthshire. He likes nothing better than exploring the rivers and lochs in the North and West coast of Scotland.
He is a keen trout angler, game shot and deer stalker and enjoys sharing experiences. Andrew also has access to some excellent shooting.
To conclude, these guides will maximise your day with us. Afterward, if you have enjoyed your day with your guide, it is custom in Scotland to tip. Finally if you wish to book a trip in Scotland, please get in touch.