Why I’m buying a mile of Loch Ness (and how you can beat me to it)

You’re in the boat, tea in hand, line resting quietly in the deep water. The air smells of damp pine, ancient peat, and high-stakes optimism. You tell yourself you’re out here for the tranquility, the majestic Highland views, and the soul-cleansing solitude. But let’s be honest, you’re actually looking for an underwater leviathan.

Every fisherman has a bucket list, but owning a stretch of the most iconic, atmospheric, and legendary body of water on Earth usually doesn’t make the cut—mostly because it sounds entirely impossible. Yet here I found myself, staring at a listing for a continuous one-mile stretch of Loch Ness shoreline, complete with formal, deeded boat fishing rights. It’s called The Major’s Mile, and reading through the details feels less like looking at a property listing and more like inheriting a legend.

The lineage of legends (and very big fish)

Loch Ness isn’t just deep in depth, it holds more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined, it’s deep in angling folklore. The Ness system has long been famed for producing absolute behemoths. This is the land of casting legends like Alexander Grant, the “Wizard of the Ness,” who in the 1890s walked down to these waters with a 21-foot greenheart rod and set fly-casting distance records that stood for decades. It’s also where he landed a historic 55 lb monster Atlantic salmon – a fish roughly the size of a well-fed retriever.

And if you think those leviathans belong strictly to Victorian history books, think again. The Ness system continues to yield incredible sport across salmon, trout, and pike:

• Atlantic salmon & sea trout: According to catch reports from FishPal and regional fishery boards, early-season spring salmon moving through Loch Ness to upper spawning rivers regularly exceed 15 to 20 lbs. Renowned beats connected directly to the loch, such as the upper Dochfour stretch, routinely record prime Atlantic salmon into double figures alongside wild sea trout reaching 5 to 6 lbs.
• Ferox & wild brown trout: The loch is famous among specimen hunters for its heavy, predatory Ferox trout. Recent catch logs on platform hubs like FishBrain highlight anglers landing wild brown trout ranging from classic 1 to 2 lb loch-style trout up to hard-fighting specimens pushing 6 lbs+.
• Northern pike: For predatory tactics, double-digit northern pike between 12 and 20 lbs are frequently logged by boat anglers and guides trolling the shallow weed margins and sudden drop-offs around the loch.

Standing along the shoreline at Abriachan, looking out across the expanse where the dark water drops off precipitously into the abyss, you realise every cast connects you to this living tradition. And yes, before you ask: I kept one eye on the rod tip and one eye open for a humped silhouette breaking the waves! Look, if a 50-foot prehistoric reptile does happen to fancy a hand-tied salmon fly, you’re going to need more than a 12lb tippet. But even if Nessie passes on your fly, the sheer adrenaline of trolling across the deep water in your own boat is unbeatable.

A slice of Highland sanctuary

Stretching for roughly 1.6 kilometres along the northwestern shore, The Major’s Mile is an untouched corridor of ancient native woodland, secluded gravel beaches, and dramatic shoreline. Untouched for 30 years and held by the same family for decades, it feels like a secret pocket of the Highlands hidden in plain sight.

Under Scottish common law, owning this mile of bank gives you riparian rights to fish from your own private gravel clearings. Even rarer, the title includes formal deeded salmon and sea trout fishing rights for a boat to cover the entire loch. Imagine launching your boat slipping out past Urquhart Castle as the sun breaks over the ridge, and having the right to fish across the entire vastness of Loch Ness. It’s the kind of sporting privilege that rarely changes hands, usually passed down through generations behind locked estate gates.

Own your piece of the story

Whether your dream involves establishing a private casting sanctuary, creating a legacy family asset, or simply sitting on your own piece of Highland shore watching the light shift across the water, opportunities like this don’t come around often. Offered at offers over £95,000, it costs less than a city parking space, yet offers a mile of the most famous water in the world.

I haven’t signed the final papers yet, which means the dream is still up for grabs. If you’ve ever wanted to own a piece of true Scottish heritage, put your phone down, pack your tackle box, and check out the official listing before someone else claims the mile.

Written by Steve Tipson
Steve’s obsession with angling began over thirty years ago on the banks of the River Avon. From those early days chasing Roach and Chub through river glides, he has developed a deep-rooted love for the British countryside and its diverse waterways. Whether he is watching for Tench to stir the bubbles in a quiet gravel pit or reading the complex flow of a river, Steve’s writing is fuelled by a lifetime of experience spent at the water's edge. He remains a dedicated student of the sport, as happy sharing technical tips as he is capturing the simple peace of a morning on the bank side.