Good afternoon
As the last week of April slipped away and we entered the month of May, the river was hit by a further pollution incident.
On Friday I was contacted by Callum Robertson and Operations Manager Duncan Ferguson on a call to advise that the above had occured on the river.
The incident took place in the vicinity of the Knockando Burn where it looks like Caustic Soda ( unverified at this moment in time) was discharged into the river, resulting in the pollution and devestation of about 2km of the burn. The Knockando Burn has been the source of a lot of work in last few years by the Spey Board staff with mitigation stocking, along with the installation of a fish pass over the weir and to see this incident wreak havoc is gut renching.
Caustic soda is used in Speyside’s biggest industry, whisky production as a cleaning agent for stills etc as it kills of any micro organisms which maybe present as a result of the brewing process.
The incident has resulted in the death of thousands fish, eels, invertebrates and even a dead bird of prey. This is the second such incident in two weeks and I am lead to belive that there has, yet again been a multi-agency rssponse to this. I am also lead to believe that the source of the spill has been identified but I am unable to verify this information.
This is heartbreaking for the angling community and the outpouring of anger on social media is understandable given the fragile nature of the Atlantic Salmon population so we will wait and see what the outcome of any investigation is and whether the penalty for this is justifiably strong.
So many are correct in their opinions of the penatlies imposed by Government Departments and Quangoes do not seem to reflect the severity of what takes place, putting habitats, fish stocks and other life that is so dependent on the river on the back foot for many years. We see too mnay of the incidents takin place over the country with punitive outcomes delivered on the perpetrators.
It is a cooler kind of day in Elgin with some frain last night but not enought o have a amterial affect onr river levels but at least the “jamaican conditions” experienced at times last week are no longer with us.
Loop Tackle are once again putting up a prize for this weeks report. I am delighted to announce this weeks prize is a rod of the winners choice from the LOOP Trak Range. This range of rods is not yet available to the angling community with the official launch, tomorrow the 4th May. The winner will be one of the very first to own one of these new rods. there are 15 models in the range covering single and double handed models
Ok lets see how the fishing has been.
Up at Grantown, the assocation water had a fish from Slop Thomas on Friday evening, advises Simon Crozier.
On Simons’ own beats at Castle Grant he reports that after a cracking fishing day weather wise on Monday it was Costa del Spey weather and a river that fell back to below summer level by the end of the week.
However sport as had, 2 fish were caught on Monday one each from Slodischar and Congash burn respectively. Dave Bartle and Baz the captors.
Two fish of 8 and 9 came from the Croy Race on Wednesday and we rounded off the week with a fine 8lb fish for Andy Sutherland from No1 burn.
Popping down the river to Knockando it is great to see Archie Baillie back in harness after his post op layoff. Archie advises that they started the week with three nice fish all as tide fresh. 8lb from Big Island, 7lb from Craigsteele and 11.5lb from the Long Pool.
I’m afraid it went downhill from there until Saturday morning when we had a very fresh fish of 11lb again from Craigsteele.
My next stop is Carron where Neil Borthwick reports that it was a difficult week at Carron this week unfortunately. Long term Norwegian clients Hans Terje Anonsen & friends fished hard throughout the week, adjusting fishing times to suit the warm & sunny weather conditions however it took until Saturday morning before the first & only fish of the week would be landed.
Retired Carron Ghillie Ian Borthwick was kindly invited to fish a rod for the second half of the week & he was the lucky angler to land a 9lbs fish from the Little Griggle.
Down to Delagyle next and David Smillie who was delighted to report that they added another fish to their tally, with John Stamp landing a 12lber in Gean Tree.
Slipping downstream to Kinermony to see David Brand who advises that thay landed three fish this week, with the captors being Angus Rutherford, Geoff Fisher and Graham Ritchie.
Across to Wester Elchies now and to Malcolm Newbould who reports that they had another three fish, which given the overhead conditions last week is pretty reasonable.
Swinging back across the river to Aberlour Angling Club where Kenny Davies reports one more for their season, with Andrew Philips getting one out of Creepie.
Things are quiet until Easter Elchies where Orn Sigurhansson reports a week of bright weather, BBQs, fresh salmon and sea trout. A split week this week and we were very pleased to welcome both the Jones and Davies fishing parties. Blue skies dominated the week, however both parties fished hard and were rewarded for their efforts. Lower Dips continues to fish well and we were pleased to land 2 fish from the Boat Pool this week. We were also pleased to welcome Beverly and Peter from Cox Enterprises who are writing a book on the plight of the Atlantic salmon. Both were looking for photography of salmon being hooked and landed. After blanking on the Tweed on Saturday, the pressure was on to land a fish at Easter Elchies. Tony Mone stepped up and landed a cracking 10lb fish from Lower Dips on Monday. Pressure is a privilege. Fish were caught throughout the week, including a number of sea trout around the 3lb mark. Cooler conditions forecast for next week. Final total of 7 salmon and 4 sea trout. A good return in the conditions.
Below Easter Elchies lies Arndilly where Euan Reid advises that this week we had our friends from Iceland and in terms of friendships it was a great week, in terms of fish it was tough.
We scrapped our way to 3 fish. The water is low and in low water the weather matters more and at times this week the weather was against us with the sun.
We were seeing some fresh fish and I’m surprised that we didn’t pick up a few more as the water temperature was reasonably low, 50- 55f. Heyho , we lost a few and some of the ones we got were important fish! Adalsteinn Petursson had an 11lb fish in front of the hut on Monday ( his first Spey Salmon), Gimme had a sea liced 9lb fish from the arns on Wednesday and Dagmar had a lovely 11lb fish from Back of the Bog, her first ever Spey fish, on her first ever try of a snake roll, while being 7 months pregnant!
Egill came close a few times but Steinur was the closest with a fish lost close to the net in Jocks Tail. Next time.
A great fun week with lovely people.
My next stop is with Robbie Stronach at Rothes and Aikenway who reports that they finished with 3 for the week. Kevin Clayton got one from Junction, Scott Jopling got on from Burnmouth and Kenny Ferguson got one from Geantree .
At Delfur, Mark Melville reports of atougher weeks fishing on the river and more importantly yet another pollution disaster on another very important Spey tributary burn!
It beggars belief that we still seem to be having these pollution incidents every year or so!
The question must be asked,why?
Back to the fishing.
The weather was not what we were looking for but to be fair we’ve had a good run of it for a while!
As every salmon angler knows bright sunshine and cold east winds are never a good recipe for success on the river.
Monday was actually a good days fishing conditions wise but Sam and Jill Elkington’s party couldn’t buy a pull!
Tuesday late morning provided Jill’s biggest ever fish, a cracking 18lb sea liced hen caught in Hollenbush which gave her a great fight!
We rested the afternoon’s when the sun was glaring down and Andrew Read caught a nice fish from Beaufort Wednesday evening as the sun settled below the horizon.
It was a Saturday afternoon fish before the nets were wet again. Brian Lovering landing a fine sea liced fish from Beaufort.
The water temperature was well up as you can imagine but fell away yesterday and should keep dropping this coming week. It should make fishing a lot more productive as we get back at it again tomorrow.
My penultimate stop for the week is Orton where Andy Gunn reports that they began the week with the water level at 8 inches and finished at 6 inches. The average temperature was a pleasant 11°C (52°F).
Monday saw the annual Jepson party return from Norway. Geir Magne Johnson landed his first-ever Spey fish – a magnificent 14lb catch from Island Point. Alister Fraser from the Badiozzaman party also had success, landing his first salmon in years – a fine 9lb fish from the Willows.
Things quietened down until Wednesday when Magnus Jepson skilfully brought in a fish of around 7lb from the Junction under bright and hot conditions. Thursday continued the warm and sunny weather while Friday offered near-perfect conditions but without any action.
Sport picked up again on Saturday morning when Paul Devlin landed a hard-fought 13lb fish from the top of Cooperee.
Overall, it was a solid week considering the conditions. Looking ahead, the forecast predicts warm gear next week – happy days indeed!
Last but not least is Lewis Webb at Gordon Castle/Brae Water who advises that it was a week of contrasting conditions on the “Costa del Brae” at the beginning with the bright sunshine before giving way to some welcome cloud but turning to a sharp northerly wind by Saturday, resulting in the air much cooler than the water temperature. Fish were seen moving consistently throughout the beats on most days, alongside early indications of resident fish establishing themselves in several pools.
they finished with 4 fish and a sea trout landed for the week.
My final task this week is to announce the winner of this weeks prize. Now this job is not getting any easier as the weeks progress and with a few worthy candidates this week I am delighted to announce that this weeks winner is Dagmar ploder Ottosdottir. I will be in touch to get your chosen rod and details
The weather in the week ahead looks a lot cooler and mixed so we will see what happens.
Tightlines if you are out and about.
Sandy
