Good afternoon all
Its a lot cooler in Elgin this afternoon, compared witht he temperatures that we exoerienced during the week gone by. I work in an old farm building which has not Air conditioning and to say it was unbearable at times would be an understatement, I am glad the torrential rain, along with thinder and lightning we experienced on Friday night have settled things down a bit.
The garden is looking well just now, lots of colour and obviously the weeds love the wet and warm weather so they seem to be sprouting quicker than normal. We have enjoyed the first two tomatoes from the greenhouse but it may be a wee while before any more ripen. The tops on my tatties are like triffids but hopefully the flowers will set shortly and I can then chop then down.
It has been a busy week on the Spey Fishery Board front, with Operations Manager Duncan Ferguson speaking to the media on various platforms about the plight of the river and the fact we are heading for another season of severe water scarcity. This scenario greatly affects the already endangered Atlantic Salmon and makes life very difficult for these magnificent fish. The major headache that is faced on the Spey is Water Abstraction and recently Scottish Water has increased the amount it is abstracting from the Spey and it has done so, without consultation with SEPA as it says what it is doing is within the existing permitted levels agreed with SEPA.
Also Board Biologist, Atticus Albright and his team have been out and about undertaking survey work in areas of the catchment. the team have finished their nstocking monitoring work and will commence mainstream surveys when water condiitons and temperatures permit.
One of our winners of the Loop G5 reel from a number of weeks ago, Helgi Gudbrandsson with Orn Sigurhansson on the Midfjardara River, Iceland, with his Loop Evotech G5 reel, won at the end of March at Easter Elchies, River Spey.
I would also draw everyone’s attention to fishing in warm water and steps that should be taken to avoid stress to the fish. This could mean fishing in coller parts of the day ie early morning and evenings, try not to handle fish aim to release without any contact, keep fish in the water at all times and if necessary stop fishing, expecially if water temperatures climb above 18 degrees celcius.
Up for grabs this week is a Loop Trak rod of the winners choice, courtesy of Loop Tackle. A lovely rod to fish with and defintiely value for money.
Ok lets see how the fishing has been.but ti should be no surprise that it has been tough given the conditions endured at times during the week gone by.
My first stop this week is to see Andy Gunn at Orton to see how they fared in the tough conditions. Adny advises that It was a tale of two halves for Team Haggie this week. After racing into a commanding lead with 10 salmon on the scoreboard by Wednesday morning, the second half proved a much tighter affair, with just two more fish added before the final whistle!
The opening exchanges were full of attacking intent.
Rob Hutchison got the campaign off to the perfect start, finding the net with a fine fresh 14lb salmon from the Turn on Monday morning.
Nick Denman quickly responded with a tidy 5lb grilse.
Just before half-time, skipper James Haggie levelled things up in style with a cracking fresh 8lb fish from the Junction.
The second half began with Nick Denman edging back in front, converting another chance with a grilse from Cooperee.
Tuesday developed into an end-to-end contest that finished honours even. Rob Hutchison bagged a brace from Cairnty, weighing 10lb and 4lb, while Nick matched him with two of his own—a 5lb fish from Cairnty and a 4lb fish from the Junction.
By Wednesday, Rob looked to have one hand on the Golden Boot, adding a 6lb salmon from the Turn before rounding off his haul with a 5lb fish from the 20lb Pool.
Thursday’s soaring temperatures slowed the pace considerably, with neither side able to add to the score.
There was still time for a couple of late strikes before the week came to a close. On his very first salmon fishing trip, Dave Wakeman marked his debut with a well-taken 5lb grilse from Cooperee, before Samson Steiger White produced the strike of the week—a magnificent 16lb salmon from Cooperee on Saturday to ensure Team Haggie signed off with a memorable finish.
Final score: 12 salmon landed, with plenty of quality fish and some standout individual performances.
Up to Delfur where Mark Melville reports of another difficult week conditions wise with everything from heat, sunshine and a misty dreich Saturday!
We started off with a few fish Monday including a good sized sea liced grilse for Mr Nicky Mountain in his 91st year from Otterhole.
Viscountess Knutsford caught a good fish from Beaufort along with Viscount Knutsford who landed a large grilse.
Tuesday Nathalie Fraser landed a 13lb fish from Broom along with her husband Charles Fraser who caught a 10lbr.
That was it for us for the next few days as the water started to warm up the rest of the week and by Friday it was uncomfortably warm at 69f first thing in the morning.
Not good conditions for catching fish and in my experience the fish tend to go deep into the cooler water and are not keen to grab a fly.
There’s always the odd exception like with any conditions when you’re dealing with Salmo Salar.
It’s only right to treat the fish with the utmost respect if you do catch one. Play them hard, keep them under the water on their backs at all times and release with no fuss.
The thunder and lightning sadly missed the catchment on Friday night with the heaviest rain falling north of us.
Saturday afternoon had the top rod of the week, Mr Nicky Mountain hooking and landing a fine double figure fish from the Otterhole.
He once had a 32lbr from the same pool.
It has been a privilege to ghillie for him the last 23 years and to hear his stories of times gone by spent with his family and friends.
My next stop is Rothes and Aikenway where Robbie Stronach reports that they landed 5 for the week. Erica Munro Ferguson got one from Geantree, Emma Worrall got one from Carnegie andMrs Bladon got one from Town Road and one from Geantree. Nigel Houldsworth rounded the tally off with one from Town Road.
Continuing up the river Euan Reid at Arndilly is my next stop. The report from Arndilly is that they welcomed Simon and Katie Browne and their family. The conditions this week made us work hard for what we got but in the end we finished with a reasonable enough total with only a single blank day.
Simon had 3 salmon on Monday, 12lb from the right bank of the Cobble Pot and 10 and 14lb from the Back of the Bog. David Clarke had a sea liced sea trout from the Long Pool and Paddy Peake had a sea trout from the Bulwark as the light faded.
On Tuesday Lucy Hardwell had a grilse from Cobble Pot on the left followed by Maggie Clarke catching a similar fish on the opposite side. Charlie Browne had a good fish from the Back of the Bog in the evening.
Paddy Peake had the first of his brace on Wednesday from the Cobble Pot and Charlie had a memorable fish from the Bulwark at last light on a hitch. Hitching here is anyone underused but very intense and visual method of catching a salmon, well done Charlie.
Angling effort was limited after lunch on Thursday and Friday because of the heat and Thursday was blank but George Butler had his first salmon late in the afternoon on Friday. Catching your first fish is always a memorable moment and we feel fortunate that here at Arndilly it happens frequently. Just to back this up, George’s wife Nin caught her first fish on Saturday morning, from the same place as George, Cobble Pot, many congratulations to a husband and wife double firsts.
Also on Saturday, Simon Browne had a 14lb salmon on a conventional set up and a 4.5lb sea trout on a hitch and Paddy finished off a lovely week with a grilse, all from the left side of Cobble Pot.
At Easter Elchies the report from Callum Robertson is with Orn in Iceland, Geoff Holloway looked after Easter Elchies this week. We were very pleased to welcome the Brodie party again this week to Easter Elchies. Monday was the highlight of the week, with 3 landed, including a 23lb salmon. Challenging conditions all week with high air and water temperatures and -10 on the gauge. A very summer week on Speyside.
A brief update from Richard Whyte at Macallan as follows “I’m not seeing much activity, not the head of fish in the water that I would expect/like.”
Wester Elchies saw 4 fish added to thier tally reports Malcolm Newbould, with the highlight of the week being Edge Llewellyn. Edge started salmon fishing on Monday and landed his first salmon on Wednesday – well done.
Things remain very quiet on the river as we continue to journey up river with nothing to report showing that the fish maybe there but they are not being seen and without underwater footage we cannot speculate to what fish are in the river and in what numbers – this stretch of the river Kinermony to Carron is showing owrrying signs, which ties in with last season where very little was reported for weeks on end on the beats.
At Knockando, Archie Baillie advises that there is not a lot to tell you this week. A fresh 4lb grilse and two older salmon at 7lb and 14lb all from the Long Pool.
My final stop this week is with Andrew Hall at Lower Pitchroy , where he reports that we had a very enjoyable week with a new team at Lower Pitchroy this week. Although the beat was very lightly fished, the fishing was rather frustrating and the fish were a bit quiet to say the least. With low water, warm water temperatures, cooler nights and atmospheric pressures all over the place it made a tricky week (I’ve got an excuse for everything). Despite that, we managed to bring 3 to the net biggest being 15lbs. I believe the fish are there but just switched off and lying on the bottom. Hopefully we get some decent rain soon and freshen things up and brings more fish on the take.
We badly need rain to freshen things up and clean out he pools of slime etc but the week ahead is not looking too good, with warm weather forecast for the week. If conditions previal then fishing will be curtailed to mornings and evenings, the cooler times and possibly stopped if we see temperatures increase.
This is not what we want to see but it is something that is becoming the “norm” at times and is very worrying for salmon. This just goes to back up what Duncan was reporting this week arouns water scarcity and the ev er present abstraction of what afre vital resources.
This weeks prize winner is Edge Llewellyn – well done and I will be in touch regarding your prize.
Tight lines if you are out and about this week, look after yourselves and most importantly the fish.
Sandy
