Afternoon all
With just over 5 weeks of the 2026 season left, we enter the twilight zone. It maybe a tad early to be contemplating the season that has gone before, so far but I think it is fair to say, its been very mixed once again. Everyone will have their views on what has transpired this year and how they can make it better. We all know that an increase in the numbers of fish would certainly be very welcome but how do we achieve this by staying within current legislation? Is it time for a serious challenge to current regulations but we know this would need to be joined up approach but as always these matters take time and money and sadly our stocks of salmon do not have time on thier side.
A lot of the stuff in the garden is currently at its peak and we will soon see more of the countryside take on its autumn hues but late summer/earlyautumn crops still have to be harvested and we will see what results these bring. Most of this years harvest is in but farmers will still be keeping an eye on the weather to take advantage of any windows available to get things finished off.
I have read in the press this week or certainly recently that the first signs of regeneration atre taking place at the spots in the wildfire site in the Cairngorms. Fire Fungus has been found in some spots and it seemingly thrives in conditions that were left adn it helps to breakdown the carbon and prevents soil errosion. We can only but hope that the regeneration of this vast area happens, although it will take time.
Thanks to the continued generosity of our friends at Loop Tackle, another fabulous prize is on offer this week. Ahead of its formal launch tomorrow, the lucky winner will be able to pick a Loop Strom rod of their choice. I will be announcing the winner at the end of my report.
Ok lets have a look at the week which has gone by.
My first stop this week is at Gordon Castle/Brae Water to see Lewis Webb. Lewis advises thatit was a good week of catches here, aided by the rise in water shuffling about some residents and encouraging some more fresh fish to run.
We had everything from sealiced grilse to coloured salmon this week with the biggest being 38” long. Signs of the autumn are creeping in with the tress showing colours as are the fish, with the cooler water temperatures we’ve noticed them starting to drop back into the tails of some of the pools.
An awkward north wind persisted through the majority of the week but our guests persevered and landed (and lost) some great fish but tthat did not put Graham Ritchie off, who landed 7 to his own rod on Saturday.
Up to Orton and to Andy Gunn who advises that it An Excellent Week on the River
Two regular teams were on the beat this week, and the bump in water height certainly added to the enjoyment. There were plenty of bent rods, good sport and, most importantly, lots of fun had by all.
John Stamp and his merry band kept everyone entertained with barbecues and beer most evenings, while Charlie de Roeper led the opposition.
Monday saw four fish brought to the net, with Jim Lapinskie landing two, and Anthony Bird and Ben Sangster getting one each.
Tuesday produced 5 fish, with John Stamp landing two and Gordon Bell, Will Bird and Charlie de Roeper each landing one.
Wednesday saw Jim Lapinskie, Sophie de Roeper and Will Bird all land single fish, with Will producing a particularly good 14lb fish from the Glide.
Thursday proved to be the slowest day of the week, with John Stamp the only angler to find a fish. His 14lb salmon came from Cooperee.
Friday, with the river slowly rising, saw five fish landed. Farquhar Murray had a fine 14lb fish from Cairnty, while John Stamp landed another two. Sophie de Roeper got her second fish of the week from Junction, and Neill Scrimgeour procured one from Cairnty.
Saturday morning saw a falling river and the action got underway immediately, with Sophie de Roeper and Anthony Bird playing fish at the same time in Cairnty. Anthony managed another fish before heading south at 11am. Farquhar Murray landed his second fish from Cairnty, while Neill Scrimgeour added two more and John Stamp caught his final fish of the week, all from the Turn.
Gordon Bell then managed two more from Cairnty during the afternoon, with a couple more fish landed on Saturday evening, including a fine 15lb fish from the Turn.
All in all, an excellent week on the river and our most productive of the year so far. Plenty of fish, plenty of bent rods and plenty of good company made for a thoroughly enjoyable week.
Mark Melville at Delfur is next to call at to see what transpired during the week. Mark reports that Dane Douetil, family and friends started their second week with a half dozen fish on Monday.
Toni Douetil with two including a good double figure fish from Sourden. Doug and Kay Macleod both had a grilse each and Dane also caught a couple.
Tuesday was another good day getting into double figures. Dennis Constant was the top rod with 3 from the Hollenbush. Not to be outdone, Orla Constant did her usual and caught a fish.
Dom and Abbi Henry both had a few between them and Dane put another two up on the scoreboard.
Wednesday started the morning with a wee rise which seemed to put the fish off the take.
This pattern continued the next few days with Friday having a bigger dirtier rise.
All good news to help the river pull some fish in and move some of the residents about and into
a taking mood again.
We didn’t blank at all and picked away each day until super Saturday where we had our best day with almost 20 fish caught and landed.
Abbi and Dom Henry had a couple each from Collie and Sourden including 3 double figure fish.
Ian Reed had 3 plus 1 from Friday from Big Haddie and Hollenbush.
Guy Douetil caught 4 from Beaufort in the morning and Nicki Douetil managed a couple too.
Dane Douetil landed a couple from Collie.
Guy Douetil also had a finnock that was snatched by a passing otter! After a bit of a tussle the otter won and was last seen munching on his supper!
A great week with lots of fun and laughter as always and so nice to meet young Alfie Henry for the first time.
Next on my stop off points is Rothes and Aikeneway and head ghillie Robbie Stronach. Robbie reports that they finished with 8 for the week. The successful rods being Graham Ritchie got one from Bluestone, Maddie Spence (she is the 4th generation of the Spence family to catch a fish at Rothes ) landed one in Creeky, Jimmy Simpson got on the scorecard two from Creeky and one from Burnmouth, Freddie Spence got one from jamieson, Will Cook was also on the scoresheet with one from Burnmouth and Jamie cook got one from Creeky.
As we continue up the river my next stopping off point is Arndilly where Euan Reid reports that this week we were lightly fished on Arndilly which will have given the fish a rest which is no bad thing in low water conditions.
The rise of water on Friday would have been better if it was on Saturday and bigger because it will be away before we know it but it will have moved fish about and possibly tomorrow could be good. Yesterday (Saturday) we saw good numbers of fish with some fresh fish also.
So we had a week of low numbers but some important ones. Mrs Sarah Clarke had a milestone fish for the beat, 7lb from the back of the bog on Thursday afternoon on a #8 jocks tail.
Barney Foot had his first fish, 4lb from in front of the hut on Friday in the midst of the rising river. No photo of Barney and his fish as it saw its moment and went for it! As always fish welfare is more important than a photograph, well done Barney.
Not to be outdone by his wee brother, Felix got his first on Saturday morning, a bonny 12lb fish from the back of the bog which was not as shy as Barney’s!
We had 5 for the week and some special ones within and a relatively rested beat for next week so we head into that with hope and expectation.
Moving away from fishing, in the spring we had many more queen wasps than I have seen before, looking for places to build nests and we all thought we were in for a year they were a major menace but that has not been the case. I don’t know what has happened to them but I haven’t seen a wasp in weeks and bee numbers are away down also. I’m don’t know if this is local or widespread but it is a bit of a concern.
Easter Elchies in next on the list where Orn Sigurhansson reports another slight rise in water on Friday at Easter Elchies this week. We were very pleased to welcome the Graham fishing party again to Easter Elchies. Water up on Friday to +3 inc down agin to 0 on Saturday and -6 today. On the score sheet was Peter Graham, Nick Waugh, Alister Kyle (first fish) and Kirsty Waugh. Total of 7 for the week – a really enjoyable week.
As I continue up the river, a single fish for Wester Elchies was the only reported catch until I reach Carron where Neil Borthwick reported that this week the Spence family & friends had fishing on both Carron & Laggan beats. They were rewarded with 11 salmon/grilse & 2 sea trout.
The week began with low water again however we got off to the best possible start when 14 year old George Wise landed his FIRST ever Salmon out of Midcast just before 11 o’clock in the morning. Having fished 3 days in the same week last year this was only the 4th day George had fished for salmon so very well done young man!!
Tuesday produced the second fish of the week this time Ollie Cook landing one Above the Bridge. Wednesday saw Freddie Spence land a grilse in the Salbs & his sister Maddie Spence get a sea trout in Pol Dornie.
Thursday was quiet as the magic ingredient started to appear as the water steadily started to rise & by Friday morning we had a lovely water around 1ft flowing through the beat.
Along with the water the fish also showed up on Friday. Oscar Lewis got the ball rolling with a grilse out of Dalmunach. Henry Spence also had a grilse on the opposite side of Dalmunach. Next up was Freddie Pitts-Tucker landing a grilse in Pol Voulin. In the afternoon Maddie Spence had a salmon out of Horseshoe. Henry Spence had his second of the day out of Pol Dornie & to round the day off Freddie Spence got another fish out of the Slabs. 6 fish a red letter day on Carron/Laggan this season.
Hopes were high on Saturday morning & although we didn’t reach the highs of Friday we still added 2 more salmon/grilse & 1 sea trout. Andy Pitts-Tucker had a decent sized salmon out of McGregors in the morning. The afternoon was quiet but the evening produced a sea trout for Sophie Pitts-Tucker in the Bridge Pool & to finish off a rather enjoyable week Henry Spence landed his 3rd fish of the week in Horseshoe.
Amazing what a little water can do for beats in the middle river hopefully we can see more of it between now & the end of the season.
Archie Baillie at Knockando is my next visit and he advises that A split week this week. Started off on Monday with -3” on the marker we managed to land two older double figure salmon.
On Tuesday we had a sea trout around 2lb. Although we had a small rise on Wednesday we were blank. A change of rods on the Thursday. We were soon off the mark with a couple of fresher grilse but that was it as far as Thursday went.
When we arrived on Friday morning the marker was showing 5” and still slowly rising. For once we benefited from the rise in water. We had 8 salmon to 17lb 3 grilse and 4 sea trout. The icing on the cake was Ross Ramsey who previously had never caught a fish from the Spey. He managed 4 salmon 1 grilse and 1 sea trout in one day quite a feat. The river had dropped back to 4” on Saturday and for us it was a bit quieter. We still managed a salmon a grilse and a sea trout.
Next door at Lower Pitchroy, Andrew Hall reports that we had a good week last week with fish caught every day. Wednesday morning was the only session where a fish wasn’t landed. We started the week at – 11”, it peaked at +6” on Friday and finished on Saturday at -3”
This week at lower Pitchroy was the Wills family and George Wills got us off the starting block pretty quick with a fish from neck of polarder.
It was all quiet the rest of the morning but the evening got a bit busy for an hour when Laura Wills got a 6lb fish from Pats cast in the pouches. Mr Christopher Wills had a fish from neck of polarder and Mr Mackinnon got a 3lb sea trout and lost 2 fish from the boat in middle polarder. Laura Wills rounded the evenings session off with a 2.5lb sea trout.
Tuesday morning produced a fresh 4lb grilse for Lady Kate Wills and the evening fish was caught by George Wills.
Wednesday evening, Laura Wills got a nice fish in the neck of polarder and Mr Christopher Wills also had one from the same spot.
Thursday came and it was Mr Christopher Wills back on the score sheet with a 10lb salmon from Delgarven. Managing to hold his nerve with an army of canoeists watching on patiently from the other side, they gave him such a cheer when he beached it that I heard the roar from half way down the pool below!
Thomas Wills arrived to the beat after long drive up from the south but didn’t hang about getting in on the action. He managed a 10lb salmon and a 2lb seatrout before dinner.
Friday produced 3 fish for Thomas Wills. 1 from station in the morning and another 2 salmon in the evening from
Polarder.
Saturday came and after the rise the day before, the water was very black but that didn’t stop George wills getting a fine fish of about 7lbs from slobs.
In the evening, I was kindly asked to fish with the family and and managed to round the week off with a fresh 4lb grilse from Greenbank.
It was a great weeks fishing with fish caught in every pool on the beat, every member of the party getting fish and a good number of fish were also lost. Final score was 14 salmon/grilse and 3 seatrout. Let’s hope for more of the same next week.
Next week looks to be dry and reasonalbe temperature wise so we will wait and see what transpires. The colour that was in the water on Saturday should hopefully settle.
I am delighted to annouce that this weeks winner is Ross Ramsey, so I will be in touch about your prize.
Tight lines if you are out and about
Sandy
