Afternoon all
Well we are into September and the run in to the close of the season. It is hard to belive that we are at this stage in the year already, with cooler temperatures and the nights drawing in quickly.
Its been a mixed week of weather that has just gone by, with some fairly windy conditions at time which would have tested the rods on the river on Friday and into Saturday. It is at least calmon today but there is an un natural warmth to the air, not what I woudl expect in Scotland in September.
It will soon be time for the Board staff and ghillies to be catching this years brood stock for the mitigation stocking that takes place across the river and its tributaries, so hopefully this iwll be more successful that last season.
It will not be a surprise to see the reports starting to shrink in size over next few weeks as the fish decide not to play ball for the rods who are still on the river trying to find a bit of late season silver.
We are still very grateful for Loop tackle for thier constinued support each week with regards to rod/fish of the week, it is not an easy job each week selecting a winner from all the reports from the beats but I have persevered and been able to find a successful rod each week. As we run in to Autumn and the more unseasonable weather, this weeks prize is adaapt for these conditions. This week we have a Midnight Blue Loop Torne jacket up for grabs. This is a new colour to the range and they can withstand some pretty brutal weather conditions, keeping you dry when its chucking it down. Images below show the black jacket.
Ok lets see whats been happening.
Up river at Castle Grant, Simon Crozier reports that it was a week of mixed fortune at Castle Grant, fish are present in good numbers across the beats now but as is often the form at this time of the season takes were hard to come by, however some sport was had with fish landed and a few lost .
We started on Monday with a fish of 8lbs from Pollowick, an 8lb fish from Congash rounded off the day, Tuesday saw an evening fish from Polchraine, Thursday saw 2 come to hand a nice wee grilse from The croyrace and a 6lb fish from Pollowick, Friday saw an evening fine hen of 11lb from Pollowick .
A few seatrout came to hand during the week too, the best a 5lb cock from Greenbank.
Let the rain dance begin.
Slipping down river to Lower Pitchroy and Andrew Hall who advises that they had a tough week at lower Pitchroy this week. The first half of the week was Neil MacRae and his small group of rods. Neil has fished the beat for nearly 10 years now and sadly hasn’t had a fish. This week was all about Neil though. On Monday he finally got off the mark and got him self in the 20lb club with a fish in the evening which was estimated around the 22lb Mark. Tuesday came and he only managed a seatrout about 3lb.
On Wednesday, Neil had his red letter day with 3 salmon landed to 12lb.
Sadly the wind came in the second half and made fishing difficult and seemed like it put the fish down. Hopefully the weather is a bit more in our favour next week.
Next Beat down is Knockando where Archie Baillie reports that they finished the week with 3 salmon 11,12, 16lb all coloured and 2 seatrout 2lb and 7lb respectively. Roy Cunningham had the 16lber and Philip Nuttall had the 11 and 12lbers. The 7lb sea trout was caught by Graham Whittle and the 2lb by John Taylor.
Once again things are quiet as we carry on down the river with nothign to report of any significance the only notable news was a grilse and a couple of seatrout at Wester Elchies.
At Easter Elchies, Orn Sigurhansson reports a week of good sport at Easter Elchies and two first fish. Split week this week and we were pleased to welcome the Hulley & Kirkwood, Dunn and Mclellan parties this week. Steady catches all week, with Inverfiddich fishing particularly well. First fish for both Andy Dunn and Scott Geoghegan this week. Final total 18 salmon and grilse, a really enjoyable week on Speyside.
Popping into Arndilly to see Euan Reid next to see how their week went. Euan reports as follows:-
“Well, amazingly, that’s us in September already, where has the year gone.
When I used to be lucky enough to ghillie on the lower water at Gordon Castle, September used to be my favourite month of the season with strong runs of fresh fish right to the end of the month but in common with many, if not all rivers in Scotland, those autumn runs have diminished significantly.
This week we enjoyed the company of Mike and Barbara Toone on Arndilly and even though the fish were in difficult mode we had a lovely week, a lot of laughs and 7 fish.
Paul O’Donnell got us going on Monday afternoon with a 7lb fish from cobble pot.
We had a couple of 8lb fish on Tuesday, Graeme Bone from the difficult side of bulwark and Paul again, from the normal side of back of the bog.
We had to wait until Friday for our next fish, 7lb for Guy Bostock from back of the bog. Hugo Noble had a big old crocodile from the right bank of cobble pot in the evening.
Saturday turned out to be the Steve Halsall show with a 11.5lb fish from in front of the hut and a grillse wading jocks tail on the left bank.
I’m sure we are all eagerly checking the weather forecast because most beats would benefit from a significant rise in water but as is so often the case the promised rainfall seems to evaporate in the days before it’s forecast to arrive.
Next on the list is Rothes and Aikenway where Robbie Stronach reports that they finished their week with 18 being added to the tally. On Monday a single fish was landed when Nigel Boardman got one from Bluestone. Tuesday was b etter day with Don Mackenzie getting two from Geantree, Nigel Boardman getting one from Creeky and Rob Hall-Jones got one from Carnegie. On Wednesday we blanked. Thursday saw us back in the groove with Nigel Boardman landing two from Geantree and Don Mackenzie getting two from Bluestone. On Friday Nigel Boardman got one from Creeky and on Saturday Nigel landed another from Bluestone and Rob Hall-Jones got one from Geantree.
My penultimate report this week is from Mark Melville at Delfur. Mark reports that it was another decent week with everyone in Simon Caswell’s fun party catching a fish or two each day.
We started the week well with half a dozen landed on Monday and had a good finish with 8 on Saturday morning.
Catching just short of 30 for the week was good going with every rod having some action.
Fianlly to Lewis Webb at Gordon Castle/Brae Water who advises that it was a mixed week with the majority of fish landed being residents but there were enough fresh fish seen moving through to give some encouragement that we may yet see some sort of back and run.
We rounded August off nicely on Monday with one angler, David Murray landing 7 to his own rod. As we turned the calendar to September the fish certainly became more reluctant to take, perhaps down to the sun shining through making a noticeable difference to catches as opposed to when the clouds were covering or maybe the strong winds creating a strong ripple on the surface, who knows…
Another notable fish for Carl Klein who landed a cracking fish on his birthday on Thursday, I think we can all agree that there’s worse presents to get on your big day!
I will end this weeks reports with the winner for the Loop Torne Jacket and I am delighted to say that Neil Macrae is this weeks winner, I will be intouch in next couple of days.
The week ahead looks like it will be mixed but with bery little rain in the forecast, it looks like the run in to the season end will be a tough one.
Tight lines to those out and about.
Sandy
