Afternoon all
Its not been a week for fishing really, unless you were willing to do the early morning and evening shifts, with beach visits, a round of golf or whatever takes your fancy filling in the warmest housrs during the day.
With just over 10 weeks of the season left, the run in has begun- its been very quick at passing this year, although some may not say that given the results so far.
Everything is ripeneing well and indeed some of the farms in the area have started on their barley/wheat harvest already, I am sure this is an early start for the area given our location but it is a sign of years to come if global warming is playing a part. Some of the early season tatties have also be lifted around Elgin so its all go in some quarters.
Some of you will no doubt have seen on the news and social media sites of the massive wildfire that is currently burning in the Cairngorm National Park. Whilst this does not directly impoact fishing it is having an affect on other aminals and birds who rely on heather cover for food and somewher to hide. Hope fully this will be brought under control and residents will be allowed back to thier homes within in the restricted area where the fire is burning.
The other news that has come out in last couple of days relates to our sister rivers in Norway where the deciison has been taken to close a number of these from the start of August until the season closes due to low returning numbers of fish. I am sure I am not the only one who finds it sad to see pictures coming from these rivers of smiling anglers with large dead fish which is what they can do but with the Atlantic Salmon in a precarious position for future survival then some restraint should be shown.
Once again our friends at Loop Tackle have generously offered a prize for the weekly report, which this week is a Loop Trak rod of the winners choice. A lovely medium fast actioned rod at a very affordable price.
Right then lets see how the fishing fared during the week gone by and it will not come as a shock that relsuts have not been great due to the long hours of sunshine and warm temperatures. Remember safe fishing handling during these warm days.
Up at Castle Grant, Simon Crozier reports that it has been a tough week with continuing low water and hot conditions making things pretty tricky.
However a few hours in the morning and evening produced a few fish across the beats, sea trout made the bulk of the catch but an odd grilse is creeping through and some older residents are waking up now again.
With cooler weather forecast we hope for an upturn in fortunes.
At Lower Pitchroy, Andrew Hall reports that they had another relaxed week due to the bright conditions and warm temperatures, with very little fishing took place. The rose wine took more of a battering than the river I think. Despite the very little fishing effort we still managed to land a couple fish and couple sea trout.
My next stop is Knockando to see Archie Baillie who advises that three coloured salmon ranging from 8lb to 12lb and a coloured 3lb sea trout was our total for this week. All the fish were caught in the evening with virtually no activity during the warm and bright days. There aren’t many fresh fish around the beat and it feels like we’re fishing over the same fish day after day.
Carron is my next stop where Neil Borthwick reports that Peter Buxtorf won this weeks lottery ticket at Carron landing a 4lbs grilse on Wednesday morning in the Bothy. His 1st Carron fish.
Things remain quiet until Wester Elchies where they landed a solitary fosh for thier week advises Malcolm Newbould. the lucky rod was Anthony Tinsley who caught a grilse on Friday morning when the temperature dropped a little.
Continuing downriver my next stopping point is Easter Elchies where Orn Sigurhanssen reports that the week began with settled, sunny conditions from Monday through Thursday. The very warm weather meant fishing was largely confined to short but productive windows during the early mornings and evenings in between the haar descending and lifting.
Despite the challenging conditions, fish were landed on every day of the week except Friday, including several superb resident salmon and one or two welcome grilse. Unfortunately, catches tailed off towards the end of the week, with Friday and Saturday proving much more difficult. Nevertheless, Richard Davidson managed to land a salmon from Inverfiddich on Saturday morning to finish the week on a positive note with 12 salmon and grilse landed and another 4 lost at the net.
As always, good company and excellent spirits made for an enjoyable week, with many of the afternoons spent relaxing on the beach at Cullen while waiting for the evening fishing window.
This weeks report from Arndilly is not from Euan Reid who gets a week off but party host David Wood and this is what David had to say about their week:- “I’m just writing with a report for the last week at arndilly. Whilst the weather was not conducive to catching Salmon, nevertheless we had another wonderful week on Speyside. The party managed to catch three Salmon, all at the start of the week, with Kellie Wood, Paul Sardeson and Roger Jackson all contributing.
There was also a spattering of sea trout as well as a few salmon lost. Huge thanks are due to Euan Reid, Keith Maclaren and Mike Murdoch as well as to Graham Nichols for their hard work, patience, and enthusiasm. Their hard work commitment and professionalism during what was not the easiest of weeks from a fishing point of view contributed so much to the pleasure of the whole party and it’s hugely appreciated. All are great ambassadors for the sport as well as the river and the wildlife that inhabit the valley.”
Next stop is Rothes and Aikenway where Robbie Stronach reports that the finished with2 for the week. Henry Sykes got one from Geantree and John Faith got one from Creeky . Lost a couple as well.
Delfur is the next call to see Mark Melville to see how they fared with conditions – Mark advises that Monday came and we were back to the heat and sunshine of the previous week.
Mornings and evenings fishing made it more comfortable but not so much for the fish as the water temperature rose all week until we had a break in the weather just before the weekend.
We picked away with a grilse or two each day along with an occasional salmon. Most caught were fresh with one older double figure fish.
The river is now down to a similar level as this time last year which isn’t surprising considering how little rain we’ve had this month. On a plus side as the water cooled towards the end of the week we definitely started to see a few more grilse and some fresh fish arrive into the beat.
Lets hope the water cools down this week and we can start to enjoy some good sport.
To Orton next where Andy Gunn advises that they welcomed the Dobbs party back to Orton, and it’s fair to say team leader David was suffering a little from low water despondency.
David has plenty of excuses for blanking for the first time in 34 years on Speyside. He blamed the early morning mist on the water, followed by bright warm days, then the combination of warm water and cold air in the last hours of light. Add in terribly low water levels and a distinct lack of fish running, and he had many reasons not to feel too bad about his failures.
However, the rest of the party fared better, with each day producing at least one fish. While most were fresh grilse, they were very welcome indeed.
Ollie opened the account with one of three fish he hooked from Cooperee on Monday morning.
Newlywed Alisha Koberling landed a fresh grilse in the Junction on Tuesday, her 1st ever Scottish Salmon.
Later the same day came the highlight of the week, Georgia Dobbs finally landed her first ever salmon, a beautiful fresh grilse from Cairnty after years of effort and near misses. Well done, Georgia!
Ollie returned to the Junction on Wednesday and landed a solid 10lb fish.
On Thursday Alisha scored again, this time from Cooperee.
On Friday Danny Dobbs had a grilse from the Junction, and Jamie landed a lively sea trout from the Willows.
On Saturday morning heavy showers, cloud cover, and cooler conditions provided a welcome relief. Danny took another nice grilse in The Willows.
Orton owner Zander Millar rounded things off with a grilse from the Turn in the late evening.
Despite challenging low water conditions, the Dobbs party showed great resilience and enjoyed several memorable moments — especially Georgia’s long-awaited first salmon.
Tight lines to everyone, and we look forward to seeing the party back on the river soon!
My final stopping off point this week is Gordon Castle/Brae Water where Lewis Webb advises that It certainly wasn’t the easiest week of conditions, with bright sunshine, low water, high river temperatures and a chilly northerly breeze bringing misty mornings and cool evenings that made the usual dawn and dusk spells less productive than we’d hoped. Despite that, we stuck at it and finished with a respectable week.
The catches were made up mainly of grilse, although salmon to 13lb were landed, and plenty more were hooked that unfortunately never quite made it to the net. First run through the beats in the mornings proved by far the most productive, while giving the river a rest during the heat of the afternoon proved the sensible approach allowing for some leisurely lunches and time to explore all that the local area has to offer.
Saturday finally brought us a proper “fishing day” and with that we had our best day of the week.
The week ahead looks settled but with no rain in the forecast conditions will rmeian very tough on the river with probably the early morning and evening sessions paying dividends as the river continues to shrink away.
I am delighted to announce that Georgia Dobbs is this weeks winnewr of the Loop Trak rod of her choice- Well done Georgia and I will be in touch with the details.
Finally can I please compliment the photos and videos that are submitted for the report. I know that modern technology helps greatly but the pictures most weeks are stunning so thanks to the rods and ghillies for their efforts.
Tight lines if you are out and about
Sandy
