Good afternoon everyone
Well we have just finished the last weeks fishing in Juky and the countdown is well underway until the end of the season.
Its another lovely afternoon in Elgin after being somewhat wet overnight and earlier today. I will admit to not having seen much of the sun as have had my head in a kitchen cupboard fitting a new sink!!
Well the last week has seen a feverous amount of activity in the farming community with fields of wheat or barley getting harvested at a surprisingly quick rate, obvious trying to take full advantage of the dry conditions to get the harvest done and inside whilst pretty dry to save the costs of drying crops with machinery.
As with the harvest, the gardens are starting to produce their crops, my mother has triffid tomatoes growing in her greenhouse and producing what are meant to be salad tomatoes but they are gigantic, more like beef tomatoes, yet I have the same plants and mine are like marbles!!! she loloks as if she is going to have a cracking crop of plums so looking forward to that.
I have been asked to cover off a couple of things for the Board this week, the first being that invasive salmon species the Pink Salmon. Atti, the Board biologist has asked me to remind all anglers that if they encounter one, or more and they are seemingly prevalent in the lower river that they dispatch it and report it to the Board but also Marine Scotland.
Secondly the Board have issued the following statement about that controversial subject, the Hatchery. Any questions on this should be directed to the Board.
From Peter Graham, Chairman:-
“As many of you will be aware the board recently had a good robust and frank discussion regarding the use of the hatchery on the River Spey.
Views ranged from both extremes in those who wanted to close it to those who wanted to use it to its maximum. There were even those who supported the hatchery but felt that frankly at its current level it was not economically worthwhile.
The board acknowledged recent scientific advice on hatcheries and the ongoing debate as to consenting the extent of their operation within the Scottish Government as advised by Nature Scot which the Board noted is not supportive of interference with the natural stock.
After much open and frank debate, the board came to an unanimously agreed position and has asked me, as chair to the board, to relay this to the wider stakeholders in the Spey:
“Given the current Climate and Nature emergency the Board believes that the Hatchery could be a valuable tool to help address issues associated thereto. The Board will work with all Government Agencies to maximise the benefits of the Hatchery.”
To this end I am pleased to confirm the board has applied for and received consent to catch up broodstock for the 2025 season and plan to operate the hatchery this year and going forward within the consent rules.
In due course the Board’s Biologist, Atticus Allbright, or Operations Manager, Duncan Ferguson, will be in touch with the relevant beats to ask their consent to catch up fish.
The Board sees this approach as a workable opportunity to build on the extensive consultation with ghillies, proprietors and the relevant agencies. As you will know the Board is also a comparatively small organisation with limited resources and so relies on having this support and cooperation, which has the added benefit of a faster pace to making any of its plans a reality. To this extent we are delighted to have this ongoing support while we progress, whilst still recognising the ongoing need to consult. Further down the track we expect to engage key stakeholders and develop our plans.”
Right lets see how the river fared last week given the warming conditions that were felt as the week went on.
Starting with Fochabers Angling Association, Andy Milne reports a very good week again for us. I don’t have all the returns in yet but suspect the totals to be in the 40’s again. Pink salmon have been spotted but none caught as far as I know.
Next stop is Lewis Webb at Gordon Castle/Brae Water who advises that it was another productive week, with a fantastic mix of salmon and grilse landed ending up well into the 50s by close of play on Saturday.
The weather was more favourable in the first half of the week and as a result that’s when we caught the majority of our fish, the river is back to a height where the high sun seems to make a noticeable impact to our fish catches.
Carrying on up the river I call in to see Andy Gunn at Orton who happliy reports that the week got off to a bright start on Monday for us with former Tweed ghillie Nigel Fell landing a Grilse from Cooperee and John Walker scoring in the Turn.
Jonathan Walker opened his account after lunch with a Grilse in Cooperee.
On Tuesday Jonathan Walker had another Grilse, this time from the Willows and his 3rd came from Couperee,7lb.
Nigel landed an older fish of around 7lb from the Turn and 16 year old Ella Mason got her 1st ever fish, a nice Grilse in the Junction.
It was a bit quieter on Wednesday with only 1 Grilse landed by John Walker from the Turn.
Thursday Ant Mason finally got in on the act with 2 Grilse from the Junction and 1 from Greenbank.
On Frida Ella Mason then landed a fine fresh Grilse from Cooperee and shortly after landed a cracking 11lb fish before her sister Alina who caught her 1st ever, a nice sealiced Grilse from the Junction.
Tay Ghillie Cohn O’Dea rounded off the week’s action with 2 liced Grilse from Junction.
Mark Melville at Delfur is my next stop and Mark advises that they got off to an absolute flyer on Monday with 14 caught and a further 9 Tuesday. Harry Mountain did well with 7 to his own rod on Monday from Coliie. Laura and Jack Barnes managed to catch fish everyday which is never easy.
From Wednesday onwards they became harder to catch as the water warmed up and the air cooled down.
We did manage to get into the mid thirties with two first fish caught for Amanda Slack and Aimee Rawlings which everyone enjoyed
Mostly grilse again as you’d expect with some good fish up to 16lbs were landed for the week.
It looks like a wild day tomorrow when storm Floris pays us a visit, it should help the river again once it settles down.
At Rothes and Aikenway, Robbie Stronach report that they finished with 7 for the week. the lucky rods being Rex Dawson with two fish from Bluestone, Glen Tollett got one from Town Road, John Leigh landed one from Creeky, Peter London also had one from Bluestone, Noel Edison got one in Geantree and Chris Shilling landed one from Town Road too.
Carrying on up the river, Euan Reid at Arndilly advises that they had a party hosted by Jess, Christian and Brooke Hollingbery.
It’s been another low water week beginning at -4″ and finishing at -7″. The water threatened to warm up midweek, 62°F on Thursday morning, but cooled off down to 58°F on Friday and Saturday.
We began the week full of hope and expectation, but lost a few with nothing landed on Monday.
With hopes a little dampened after Monday’s experience, we were fortunate enough to land 9, with Tuesday appearing to be the Sir George Hollingbery and Billy Falcon competition.
Sir George got us started, 12lb from the right bank of Cobble Bot. Billy landed his first Arndilly fish, 5lb from Back of the Bog followed by another from the same place of similar size either side of George Hollingbery’s 5 lb fish from Town Road.
Sir George had a fish from Long pool in the afternoon before Billy made it 3 each in the evening with a fine 12lber from the Back of the Bog.
Billy’s brother Frank caught his first Arndilly fish from Back of the Bog followed by Edward Hume and Isobel Hobbs both catching their first ever fish, 9lb and 6lb respectively from the right bank of Cobble Pot.
Edmund MacCarthy, who was made a priority on Wednesday had a 10lb fish from the left side of Cobble Pot with the significant input from Blair. From the same spot in the afternoon, we were delighted to see Tom Rivett-Carnac get a lovely 12.5lb fish. Well done Tom.
Friday was a Hollingbery day with Lady Janette, 5lb from Cobble Pot, and Christian, 4lb and 5lb ( and very nearly a 3rd) from the Piles right bank.
Ben had a brace, either side of the Cobble pot on Friday, 16lb left bank and 4.5lb right bank, and Christian also had a 10lb fish from the right side of the Cobble Pot.
Sir George had a hard won, 14lb fish from Gilmour on Friday afternoon which offered to head for the Cobble Pot but was dissuaded from doing so with a significant bend on a 7 weight.
The sun came out on Saturday and between that and the Highland games in Aberlour, we had nothing on Saturday.
18 for the week, given the conditions was an excellent return with an energetic and enthusiastic team.
At Easter Elchies Orn Sigurhansson reports another week of two halves, this time the conditions best on the first half of the week. We were pleased to welcome the Dobbs fishing party to Easter Elchies this week. The team started well, Rainer Wirz landing a grilse second cast! David Dobbs top rod with 4 fish to his name. Rain forecast today and tomorrow which will help conditions for next week. Total of 18 salmon and grilse for the week, including 7 from Inverfiddich.
Not aware of any fish being landed between here and Wester Elchies, where Malcom Newbould advises that they finished their week with three fish in the book.
Kinermony ghillie, David Brand advises that they only landed one fish on Monday by Marc Mcallmont, plenty about but seems they have switched off. I do not hope that is the case as it’s too far from the end of the season for this to happen.
Up at Delagyle, David Smillie was delighted to report a hat trick to Bobby Hall this week, with a 5lb seatrout, a 5lb grilse and a 13lb salmon. All out of Pol Mac. Well Done Bobby.
Carron only had one grilse and a single sea-trout for their week reports Ian Borthwick
My last stop this week in Knockando where Archie Baillie reports that they had a good week with 6 salmon heaviest 12lb, 26 grilse all good solid grilse and 8 sea trout to 6lb as well as a dozen or so fish lost. Nearly all salmon were old fish, but all grilse were nice fresh fish. A few of them had red vent. Sea trout had been in a while. Great start to the week on Monday landing 12 salmon/grilse and a couple of sea trout. Catches slowed as the week went on but good none the less considering conditions. Top rod was Les Tyson with 20 salmon/grilse and 7 sea trout to his own rod.
Well the weather is set to take a bit of a turn tomorrow as storm Floris hits the UK shores. It looks as if it is going to bring some welcome rain but not so welcome gale force winds for a while tomorrow afternoon/Evening. The rain will hopefully lift the river and once it settles we can hope the fish are still about. The rest of the week looks to have a bit of cloud in it so fingers crossed for continued good fishing.
Tight lines if you are out and about
Sandy
