Good afternoon everyone
I hope this finds you all well on a lovely afternoon. The weather is certainly improving and there is at times a warmth to the sunshine.
The last week has seen a change in the conditions, bringing us more spring like weather which I think we have all be looking forward to. I am surprised to see some people out cutting their grass. Its a bit early for me.
I was on the riverbank on Thursday and it was so nice to sit in the sun and see, as well as listen to the songbirds. I was amazed at the variety I saw going about their business. I am sure the preparations for this years nesting are already underway.
It is great that the days are lengthening now at both ends, no more dark travels to and from the office.
The farming landscape is slowly coming to life with ground preparation underway in areas but I am yet to see my first lamb of the year as I journey to work, I am sure they will not be far away.
Not much to report from the Board this week other than to say that thanks to the generosity of Loop Tackle, all the staff now have a “uniform” and it certainly tidies them up!!
Right on to the river- who caught what??
Once again we have a prize up for grabs for the winner this week courtesy of Loop Tackle. This week sees a Loop Evotech G5 reel as the victor’s spoils so I will advise the winner later on.
Last week saw a pretty settled week apart from a small lift in the middle of it which brought and bit of slit and dirt to preceedings butt hat did not deter people from being out of the river.
Starting up the river at Castle Grant where Simon Crozier reports our beats remained lightly fished last week. We did manage a few kelts across the beats but nothing fresh. We are looking forward to our weekly tenants starting next week so the first springers from Castle Grant should not be far away.
Heading down the river to Knockando where Sam Jarman is holding the fort for Archie Baillie which has undergone recent surgery and we wish him a speedy recovery. Sam advises that Happy to report Ronnie Fraser caught our first fish for the season on Friday afternoon from the Long Pool.
It was around the 7lb mark and took a size 8 Roncade fished on a floating line with a fast sinking 10ft tip. It’s encouraging to hear of other fish being caught on the Middle river on the back of a rise in levels on Wednesday and warmer air temperatures towards the end of the week.
Water temperatures are still fairly low compared with recent years due to melting snow, and with another cold spell forecast for midweek, hopefully that remains the case for the next few weeks at least.
We have a few more rods fishing next week so fingers crossed the fish keep sneaking up.
Down at Carron things remain quiet according to Neil Borthwick who comments that this weeks guests fished hard & covered the water well. A few kelts were landed throughout the week & then on Saturday morning we were unlucky hitting the post when a fresh fish was encountered however it came off before landing in the net.
Fingers crossed for next week.
Things remain quiet at Delagyle reports David Smillie, but hopping down to Kinermony and to David Brand who reports that they finished the week with three in the book. The lucky captors being Mark Macormack landing one and Mark Morrison a brace. Further fish were also lost during the week.
At Wester Elchies they added four fish to their seasons figures according to Malcolm Newbould. Shane Fraser got the week off to a flyer with a brace. Another fish was landed on Wednesday evening and Chris Grant landed one on Thursday. Chris was hoping that this weeks prize was a pair of waders and crocs are not ideal for ploutering about in the river!!!
Across the river on the Aberlour Angling Club water, they too added to their total with a couple of fish landed at the start of the week with further fish lost on Saturday. The lucky rods were Callum Imray and Daniel Clarkson. Well done gents.
At Macallan, Richard Whyte advises The beat was very lightly fished this week, although conditions were favourable, with the river in good order by the end of the week.
A short cast on Saturday produced a fresh salmon of around 5lb from Greenbank, taken on a size 10 gold-bodied white Willie Gunn. A second fish was hooked shortly afterwards but unfortunately lost.
Fishing was carried out single-handed, and while no photograph was taken, the fish was unhooked quickly and released safely.
Stopping in to see Dougie Ross at Craigellachie to see how their season is going and Dougie was happy to advise that they manged to land a couple of fish during the week.
Down at Easter Elchies, Orn Siguhansson reports a fine week on Speyside with some spring weather. A solitary fish, landed on Wednesday by Andy Semple. A cracking Spey springer. Pockets of fresh fish running through.
Slipping down to Arndilly to see Euan Reid who reports that they had a split week here with Derek Wiseman and his team for the first half and Allan McKay the second. The first half team were unfortunate to only lose a fish, Matt Newton losing a fish in the tail of the Cobble Pot.
Allan couldn’t manage with work commitments this time but Robert McQueen headed the second half team and we had 4 fish. Geoff Fisher had a 13lb fish from the boat in the tail of the Long Pool last thing on Thursday at 2 ft on our gauge.
On Saturday Geoff got his second, 8lb opposite the sycamore tree in the top of the Long Pool.
Just after lunch, 17 year old Brodie McQueen had a 12lb fish from the boat in the Piles on his first Arndilly visit, closely followed by Jim Fisher who had our first from Reids, 9lb. The water was sitting at 1ft and 43f.
Unusually for March we lost a few this week. Normally the early fish hook really well but not this week.
Matt lost his one early week followed by Robert in the Piles and Jake Young lost a couple including one estimated in the high 20’s in Town Road.
We are active in the local community and for the third year running we have met with some of the staff and children from Rothes Nursery on the Rothes beat. The children walk down from the Nursery and meet with Rothes Head Ghillie, Robbie Stronach and myself and we talk to them about the importance of the river to the local area and everything that lives in and around it. Having shown them aquatic insects and given them a cast each with a child friendly practice rod, Robbie gave a demonstration of the various Spey casts. We think the favourite activity of the visit was getting to eat their snack in the main Rothes hut, I think the Rothes Nursery Staff enjoyed that bit too!
Many thanks to Robbie and Rothes and Aitkenway for facilitating this educational visit.
Finally, this week we started our new full time Ghillie, Mike Murdoch. Mike brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of this River and others in this country and abroad. Blair is moving on in a couple of weeks and we are delighted to have Mike as his replacement.
Down at Rothes and Aikenway, Robbie Stronach advises that they ended up with 3 for the week and a couple lost . Sandy Lawton got one from Junction , Ryan Clark got one from Burnmouth and Graham Ritchie got one from Burnmouth. Well done.
My next port of call is Delfur where Mark Melville reports We enjoyed a good weeks fishing with our early spring rods finishing on a high.
Graham Ritchie got us started on Monday with our first sea liced fish caught in Collie with the water temperature at 38f and our gauge sitting just below 0.
Tuesday was a tough day with brutal winds, the rods fished hard but with no reward.
The resulting snowmelt arrived through the night and lifted the river up well over a foot while carrying a wee bit of silt and colour but perfectly fishable.
Thom Macleod very kindly invited the Delfur team to fish on Wednesday. I was the lucky one who managed to catch a superb fish from the tail of Otterhole in the afternoon whilst basking in the sunshine and warm spring weather.
We had our third fish and a first at Delfur for Douglas Campbell at 10lb from Broom. This fish was very badly seal damaged!
Saturday was a very memorable day with the river falling away again to -5 and the water temperature up to the warmest of the year at 44f, all the pools were in great shape.
David and Kate Traill from Inverness both got on the score sheet.
David caught his fish from the Bridge pool in the morning at 7lb.
Kate who had never fished the Spey before showed everyone how to do it in the afternoon with a magnificent sea liced fish of 20lbs caught in Big Haddie!
It gave Kate a hell of a fight on her 13’ rod and Hardy St Andrew reel! As most will know the St Andrew has virtually no drag at all!
Well done Kate, a fish of a lifetime which I’m sure will stay in your memory for a long time.
The river is looking good for tomorrow and it’s nice to hear of beats up and down the system now catching a fish or two.
Tight lines
My penultimate stop off is with Andy Gunn at Orton who was happy to advise that they got off to a great start when Rod Murray and Robin Baird both had 8lb fish from Lower Cairnty on Monday morning.
Robin had his 2nd, a lovely fish of around 6lb from The Turn on Wednesday morning and another member of the Murray party, Martin Kennedy landed a 9lb fish from Upper Cairnty in the afternoon.
Peter Green an Orton regular this Spring landed a 7lb fish from Lower Cairnty on Friday evening and managed another fish of 12lb from Upper Cairnty on Saturday afternoon.
Finally Lewis Webb at Gordon Castle/Brae Water reports that they finished with 3 for the week with only a handful of rods out up until the tail end of the week when we got our fish.
Gordon Castle also have a last few spaces available for our ladies day. Comprising of fishing, Prosecco and afternoon tea style lunch all included.
Looking at this weeks catches and trying to select a winner was not easy but am delighted to say that Kate Traill is this weeks worthy winner and I will be in touch to organise the prize.
Next week looks to be a reasonable week although it is set to be a bit colder in the middle for a couple of days before we see temperatures coming back up.
Tight Lines if you are out and about
Sandy
