Good afternoon everyone
Well July has now slipped under the radar and we are starting on the penultimate months fishing. It may just be me but the last couple of months have seemed to fly by.
Its been not too bad a day in Elgin, although it was wet earlier and I thought that we were is for a spell of rain but no, a shower and its back to being pleasant. The greenhouse is starting to give off the fruits of our labours with tomatoes ripening daily and they are so sweet to eat. Thye tatties int he bags are just about finished flowering so will be cuttng back the shaws to help the tattied grow.
Th early harvet is already in full swing with the long dry spell brinign crops on quicker to the point of being ripe but the downside is a poorer yield when the farmers are seeing the good in the sheds, you cannot woin them all when it comes to farming.
At least the wildfire that was raging for over two weeks in the upper Spey Valley seems, on the surface to have slowed down considerably, with noticeably less smoke in the air in the last couple of days. This does not mean it is over, as the peat will still be smouldering underground and it could cause another outbreak of fire is not monitored. Thanksfully fire crews and voluteers ares till on hand to monitor the situation and deal with anything. The helicopter support for water bombing areas is still available and this will help.
It is good to see that people are being allowed back to their homes and the cordens set up are being reduced and moved further along some of the roads in the area.
As always we have a prize up for grabs this week kindly donated by our friends at Loop Tackle. This week they have offered a Loop 7X rod of the winners choice. The 7X range is the current flagship of the rods on offer from Loop. I am the owner of a &x and can honestly say they are a joy to fish.
Okay lets see how the fishing has been in the week gone by, given the continued lack of rain and low water conditions being endured up and down the river.
At Gordon Castle/Brae Water, Lewis Wenbb advises that it was a better week with a good mix of fish caught, finishing well into the 50s this week.
We had to work hard for them at times but the perseverance paid off mostly.
One notable fish for Raffy (aged 13) who hooked and played a fish that was then netted by his sister Otty (11) quite the excitement and great to see siblings teaming up to score!
Up river at Orton, Andy Gunn reports that they were delighted to welcome the Symons party back to Orton once again.
River levels remained low, although they were around 2 inches higher than the previous Monday, and the cooler temperatures were a welcome change.
Despite the conditions, the week finished in double figures for salmon landed, with twice that number of fish hooked and unfortunately lost.
Notable catches included Christopher Lees-Jones, who landed four averaging 7lb, Ricky Randall with a fine 10lb fish, and Alister Collet, who landed two grilse.
Christopher Symons, Carole Charlesworth and Mark Pelling also all got on the scoresheet.
A few more fish were hooked on Saturday evening, providing further encouragement.
With rain forecast for the coming week, we’re hopeful the river will finally receive a long-overdue lift and bring improved fishing conditions.
At Delfur, Mark Melville reports that Well we finally had a rise on the Spey for the first time in ages!
An inch was all it was on Monday night.
It certainly made a difference for us with some fresh sweet water to entice some grilse to run the river.
Tuesday we had a half dozen including our biggest of the week at 15lbs. Wednesday we got into double figures with one salmon and the rest fresh grilse.
Some caught on the hitch and others risen, great fun!
Thursday was a frustrating day with grilse lost at the net and nothing landed! Friday we managed a few more to get us to a reasonable figure and our best week of the season.
There’s some rain forecast again this week.
Let’s hope we get another rise to get some more salmon and grilse into the safety of the river.
Tight lines.
Continuing up river my next stop is to see Robbie Stronach at Rothes and Aikenway to see how their week was. Robbie reports that they added five to thier seasons tally Andrew Farley got one from Creeky, James Cheer got one from Town Road, Jill Elkington got one from Geantree as did Ian Galloway and Ben Curtis (first fish).
Onto Arndilly next where Euan Reid advises that this week they we had a split week with Brooke Hollingbery in the first half and Christian Hollingbery in the second. Both Brooke and Christian brought a lovely mix of a few experienced rods, some that had done it before and some that are completely new to our sport. I’m sure I speak for all the ghillies on the river in that we welcome newcomers to our sport but it all becomes a bit confusing when we tell people that salmon don’t feed on returning to freshwater. I’m sure all the other ghillies struggle to answer, like me, why they take a fly but as we all know, the more we learn about salmon, the less we know.
We began on Monday at -9″ and with a first fish, Tilly Hyslop with a grilse from the right bank of the Cobble Pot and Billy Falcon did what Billy Falcon does, 3lb Back of the Bog. On Tuesday, Billy got us going with a 5lb grilse from the right side of Jocks Tail and Henry Bolton had a 12lb fish from in front of the hut. Wednesday brought a lovely fresh grilse for Kit Harrison from Back of the Bog.
We had 2 on Thursday both in the evening and both from Back of the Bog, 4lb, Olly Line and 15lb for John Corfield.
We had to wait until Saturday for our next fish but what a success it was Ms Amelia Walker! Amelia caught her first fish from the neck of Cobble Pot, hut side, 7.5lb, once it was in the net it’s a while since I’ve seen someone so happy, well done.
On Saturday evening John Corfield had a 13lb fish and Wilf Ward had a grilse both from back of the bog.
The best was saved til last though when at last light, Lucy Kaye caught her first ever Salmon, 15lb from the Bulwark on a hitched tube.
A wonderful end to an excellent week in tough conditions.
Next port of call is Easter Elchies where Orn Sigurhansson reports a cooler temperature week at Easter Elchies with some good fishing conditions and fresh fish. We were delighted to welcome the James fishing party again this week to Easter Elchies. And what a memorable week we had, with 3 generations landing a fish. Priceless. Brian Parker started the week off, landing a nice fish in Boat Pool.
Tuesday was a special day with Eddie James (grandson) landing his first fish, from Red Craigs. And then his 2nd shortly afterwards! David James (grandfather) then on the score sheet with a fish from Fiddich Mouth on an executioner. And finally, Philip James (father) with a fish from the Boat Pool. A hatrick! The James party travelled south on Saturday and the Mone fishing party fished with us. Mark Morrison top rod with 3 fish and a sea trout. Final tally for the week, 9 salmon and grilse and 2 sea trout. A really enjoyable week on Speyside.
As I continue up the river I call into Macallan to see Richard Whyte who advises that they welcomed Mark Cockburn and his party for the first half of the week. Water levels remained stubbornly low, although the welcome drop in temperature made conditions a little more comfortable for salmon, anglers and ghillies alike.
Mark got us off the mark in fine style on Monday morning with a bright grilse from Greenbank, first cast of the day. We also managed to lose another two fish before lunch, which hinted there were still a few willing fish moving through. Tuesday brought another couple of brief connections, but neither stayed attached, and despite everyone’s best efforts that was to be the end of the fishing success for the first half of the week.
The catches may have been few, but the laughs certainly weren’t. Mark and his party were a pleasure to have on the beat, taking the challenging conditions in good spirits and thoroughly enjoying their time on the river.
Towards the end of the week we welcomed a party from Texas, all trying salmon fishing for the very first time while also making their first visit to Scotland and Speyside. Although the river wasn’t at her most generous, they embraced every minute of the experience and left with plenty of memories and, hopefully, a desire to return.
After the rods had finished for the day, I was invited to have a cast myself—an offer that I kindly accepted. The beat saved the best until last, and a fresh 13lb salmon from the tail of the Slabs rounded off the week perfectly.
Up to Wester Elchies next where Malcolm Newbould reports that it was just a single fish for them.
nOtg much action in the beats upstream of Wester Elchies until I reach Knockando where Archie Bailiie reports that a 5lb grilse for Les Tyson on Monday started our week. The 1” rise in the river on Tuesday gave us a better day with Les getting an 8lb salmon and a 4lb grilse and Des Dunlop also successful with an 8lb salmon as well. Both the salmon were coloured fish. We had to wait until Saturday for Bob Clayton to round of the week with a 4lb grilse.
Finally I stop into to see Simon Crozier at Castle Grant who tells me that the low water continues and the fishing remains difficult, however the seatrout continues to offer some sport with the odd grilse coming to hand across the beats.
The highlight of the week was a cracking seatrout of around 8lbs for Guido Sforni, his first fish on fly!
We hope that the rain forecast for this week comes to fruition!
We are badly in need to rain and I think we may get a bit in the week ahead which should hopefully help, however if the heavy rain falls on the burnt and scorched earth of the upper river, goodness knows what the river may look like if there is a lot of rain. We may see a black snake of burnt matter for a while until it settles down.
Finally to this weeks winner of the Loop 7x rod and this does not get any easier as the weeks go on but I am delighted to annouce that Lucy Kaye will be the recipient of a Loop 7X rood of her choice, I will be in tough to sort details etc out with you.
Tight lines in you are out and about.
Sandy
