Hello everyone
As I sit here looking out at a lovely sunny afternoon, it has been a mixed week of weather. I think it is fair to say Speyside had four seasons over the course of the last 7 days.
A bit of snow still remains on the high hills but if this temperature keeps up, this will not be there for long and we will probably see a further period of fluctuating river levels. I was looking at the SEPA gauges during the week and they seem to be like a barrage of waves, up and down on most days. I was lucky enough to be on Easter Elchies yesterday, thanks to Callum and Jim for the donation of the prize to the River Spey Anglers Association raffle and the winner Wes Grant-Parke of You Fish Scotland for the invite. Also a big thank you to Dani Morey (www.ladyfisher.co.uk) for giving up her time to be our ghillie for the two days. Nothing doing, saw a couple of fish in Lady’s Haugh and the Fiddich Mouth. The river having fallen away well on Friday slowly crept up as the day warmed, with the level up 8 inches by the time we left.
It has been a quiet week on the fish front, the fluctuating water levels probably not helping the situation.
Aberlour Angling Club visiting rod, Gerrard Macauley from Airdrie landed the following belter of a fish. Not sure of method of capture but shows the fish are there, if you can find them.
Across the river at Wester Elchies, Bryan Herbert got their week to a great start, landing this fine fish, with 4 feet on the gauge. The fish was landed on a black and yellow monkey style fly with a silver conehead in the Brock.
Other than the above no reports of other fish hooked. The conditions played a part in the number of fish caught but that will no detract from the efforts put in by both ghillie’s and rods in trying to a Spey springer. The capture of kelts still being reported from some beats.
We can only hope that we slowly see a settled period with the snow melt out of the way and rivers levels starting to settle to hopefully increase the chance for rods to encounter fresh fish.
Away from the fishing the Spey Board has advertised a couple of job opportunities for prospective candidates. These are a seasonal Invasive Species Officer and a Fisheries Biologist/Environmental Scientist (to replace the senior Biologist). Any interested parties can find out more information by clicking on the links below.
Seasonal Invasive Species Officer
Fisheries Biologist/Environmental Scientist
The week ahead looks a bit more settled with some light rain forecast for the end of it. I will keep my fingers crossed that the river continues to settle and opportunities will present themselves during the week.
Tight Lines to all fishing wherever it may be.
Sandy
