Hello Everyone
September has arrived and we are about to start the last 4 full fishing weeks of the 2024 season.
We will reserve final judgement on how the season has been when we reach the end of September.
Its a fine day in Elgin but clearly noticeable the last couple of mornings when out with the dog that there is definitely an autumn feel in the air with temperatures in mid single figures, indeed they were below freezing yesterday morning up in the remote parts of Sutherland.
Things are getting hectic when out and about and you notice combines and balers going at it for along as they can each and every day. I can only applaud the farmers for the time and effort they put in at this stage in the year to ensure the harvest is taken in, which in turn ensures we have cereals available for the the food/drink related products that rely on them including the one that we are famous for on Speyside – Whisky!!
The hedgerows are fairly filling up with wild produce just now, the brambles or blackberries depending on your preference are lumping up nicely and my dog and I have enjoyed some cracking handfuls when out for a walk, along with some pretty rank and sour ones too!!
The Spey Board auction gets underway tomorrow and there are around 60 lots needing bidders, covering a broad spectrum of prizes.I myself have donated a box of flies for this worthy cause. Please see the Board website for the link etc to allow you to access and view the lots online.
Lat week saw some pretty testing conditions on the river between sunshine, some rain and pretty gusty winds so no doubt these may have had an influence in the weekly results so lets see as we venture out on to the river.
Up the river is where we will start today and call into Simon Crozier at Castle Grant. Simon starts off this week by confirming that Abernethy landed a few fish last week, finishing up with 11 salmon and a couple of seatrout.
On his own beats, Simon reports a week that started off with a bang but ended with a whimper at Castle Grant, 6 fish were landed across the beats on Monday. A first fish for Minna Mackenzie from Pollowick after 10 mins was a great start! Fluctuating water and strong winds followed by the Costa del Spey conditions at times made things difficult at times . We picked away and saw fish in all the pools but as is often the case at this time of year the takes were hard to come by. We hope for more settled conditions in the week ahead.
Down at the Knockando Home Beat, Archie Baillie confirms that they finished with four salmon to 14lb, two grilse and a sea trout this week. Second half of the week had plenty of fish but no takers
At Laggan, Max Mckinstrie reports that they ended the week with 3 fish in the book, whilst across the river at Carron, ghillie Ian Borthwick advises that their week ended with 3 salmon and a grilse for the fishing effort.
As we go with the flow, our next stop is Delagyle where David Smillie reports that 5 grilse, 4 salmon and 1 seatrout were added to the season tally this week. Visiting angler Sam Thompson had seven, Bobby Hall two and Bobby Ramage had one. Overall a good week.
At Kinermony it was a quiet and unproductive week reports David Brand.
At Wester Elchies there was only one fish added to the tally reports Malcolm Newbould, who also confimed what we are all thinking, autumn is on its way and no doubt this change in conditions is having an impact as it does most seasons when we hit end of August/early September.
Across from Wester Elchies at Aberlour Angling Club, Kenny Davies reports that they ended their week with 6 fish landed. The lucky Captors being Gerry Welsh (3), Rob Morrison (2) and a single fish for Colin Barwell.
Further down at Easter Elchies, Orn Sigurhansson reports a week of 2 halves with all our fish caught in the first half of the week. We were very pleased to welcome again the Graham fishing party to Easter Elchies. The week got off to a great start on Monday morning with Les Waugh landing a fish from Smiddy and Peter Graham landing a fish from Red Craigs. Tuesday was our best day with 6 fish landed. Water lifted on Tuesday and had some colour on Wednesday. 13 salmon landed for the week. A very enjoyable week on Speyside.
Hopping down below Easter Elchies to Arndilly where Euan Reid advises what a difference a week makes.
Our last two weeks were 16 and 10 fish, respectively, and it looked like the fish might be going into awkward mode. We came in on Monday and had 10!
The only real change from last week was the water temperature, which dropped from 56f to 52.
It is easy to make the assumption that this created the switch on, but other beats with the same conditions didn’t switch on. Salmon are weird.
Jeanette Tallis was our star Fisher this week as somehow she managed not to catch a fish. Jeanette was unlucky to lose a few, and given the standard of her fishing, there is no way she should finish the week without a fish. Next time!
Alex Hunt had 8, others to score were party leader Brian Lovering, James Cheer, Sam and Jill Elkington, Simon Caswell, and Barry Gilling with a 12lb and 13lb fish from Cobble Pot.
Brothers Tommy and Johnny Caswell had 2 each- Johnny’s were 12.5lb and 15.5lb (mission set Tom next week on Delfur). Johnny has been politely informed that next week on Delfur, he needs to be hopeless and lose heaps. Mark Melville, no doubt, will have different instructions- lol!!!
Tim Curtis had 4 including an angry 16.5lb cock fish which would have been 20ish when it last saw sea lice.
Even Blair Banks managed a fish this week!
As we continue downstream our next port of call is Rothes and Aikenway where Robbie Stronach tells me that they had 5 fish for the week . Russell Napier landed one in Geantree on Monday and this was followed up on Tuesday when Harry Wells got one in bluestone. Wednesday saw Mark Dornan get one in Creeky. Thursday was blank but Friday saw Andrew Redmond land his first ever fish in Geantree and Ian Beattie got one in Whinbush . Saturday was blank as well .
Down at Delfur, Mark Melville reports that they had a very good week starting with a dozen on Monday with fish caught by every rod.
We had good catches everyday including yesterday when the sun shone and the temperature was rising.
Some big old stale fish switched on during the week with 3 over 20lbs.
Hopefully September continues the the good trend.
At Orton Andy Gunn reports a good week for the Symons party with over 30 landed and many more lost.
All anglers connected with fish, no blank days, 4 personal bests and 3 over 20lbs.
Monday & Tursday were the best days with 15 landed.
Nick Symons landed his biggest Salmon at 21lbs. Christopher Symons tempted two 13lb fish.
Ben Fawcett landed 13lb, 5lb and his largest fish at 20lbs.
Charlie Hannington managed fish of 15,5 & 3lbs
Mark Pelling & Peter Lumley both brought 14lb fish to the net, Marks largest Salmon to date.
Juliet Cameron, Robert Hannington, James Mackintosh & Peter all caught Grilse each.
Wednesday’s main event was James landing a 21lb fish from the Turn.
The remainder of the week many more fish were landed with some fresh Grilse amongst them.
Notable catches, Ben who had 10 in total for his week at 15,10 & 9lbs
Charlie 14lb and Nick 12lb.
Our penultimate stop is Gordon Castle and Brae Water where Lewis Webb confirms what we have been seeing this week on the river, a tougher week than they would have liked for the time of year, ending into the 20’s by close of play on Saturday.
The gales and small rises in water made the first half of the week challenging sadly off the back of Wednesdays rise the Grey seal made its ugly appearance and has scattered the fish from the some of our pools which were previously “bouncing”.
The seal, which is out of its natural marine habitat, has a serious effect on our fish catch, the ecosystem of the river by pushing fish further up than where that may wish to settle and go on to spawn, our fishing business and therefore on all our livelihoods.
The lack of licence this year to control seals where they shouldn’t be has had a detrimental impact on the lower river economy and furthermore the local community.
The end of the week was rounded off with some rare sun, not ideal for fishing but it was nice to feel some heat, I think everyone will remember the summer that was the 31st August 2024.
Our final port of call with with Andy Milne of Fochabers Angling Association who reports that they finished of August by adding 15 salmon & grilse caught this week, mostly fresh but a few older fish in the mix, too. As reported by Lewis the seal was spotted in the FAA water too.
The week ahead looks as if it will be mixed again on the weather front so we will just have to see how the first week of the final month finishes next weekend.
Tight lines if you are out and about
Sandy
