Good afternoon all
July has been and gone, we are now into August and there are just 8 full weeks left of the 2024 season. I cannot believe that we are well into the second half of the season already.
Lats week saw a bright and settled week, good for other things but not ideal for the fishing.
The gardens in and around Elgin remain colourful and are always a pleasure to see, still a lot of perfectionists out watering their lawns to keep them lush and green, I will admit to not being one of them. i would much rather water my greenhouse and flower pots than try and keep what little lawn I have in pristine condition as no-one bar us, as a family see it.
It is good to see the fruit trees starting to bear fruit and this is certainly a better picture than last season where by a late frost got to a good proportion of the blossom, resulting is very poor yields. I am certainly looking forward to picking a good crop of plums from the ageing tree in my mother’s garden, that is if my uncle does not get there before me.
The fields are certainly starting to take on the golden hue of ripening crop and it wont belong before we see the combines, yet along hear the drone as they work late into the night when they get going. Coming from farming stock it is a sound I do not grow tired of, along with all the other sounds of a busy countryside.
I am delighted to announce that the Spey Fishery Board has a appointed a successor to Roger Knight who left the Board to become CEO of the Specy Catchment Initiative.
The Board are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Stuart Ray as its new Director. Stuart brings with him a wealth of experience and a deep passion for the conservation of Atlantic salmon.
Stuart is a Master Spey Casting Instructor with the Association of Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors (AAPGAI) and has extensive experience as a salmon angler and instructor throughout the UK and abroad, including on the River Spey. This has given Stuart a broad and vital understanding of the current situation facing Atlantic salmon. His extensive knowledge of the challenges facing Atlantic salmon populations and his commitment to finding sustainable solutions to these issues impressed the Nominations Committee during the selection process.
Leaving behind a successful 25-year career as a practising dentist, including time spent as a Clinical Director of a Dental Company, Stuart has expressed his excitement at working in a role that combines his passion and life-long obsession with Atlantic salmon. He is particularly enthusiastic about relocating to the region and contributing to the preservation and enhancement of the Spey’s aquatic ecosystem.
Everyone at the Spey Fishery Board looks forward to Stuart joining the team later this summer and encourages everyone to warmly welcome him. His first task will be the development of a new strategy for the Board’s approval, using the output of the recent Consultation and face-to-face meetings with key stakeholders. We anticipate that many will have the opportunity to meet Stuart in the not-too-distant future, on the riverbank or during various Spey Fishery Board activities.
Ok lets see how the river fared against the backdrop of low water and bright warm weather in the week gone by.
Lets head up the river starting with Fochabers Angling Association where Andy Milne reports a great week again for us with about 10 salmon and 30 grilse caught, visiting anglers getting most of them.
Unfortunately a big grey seal was spotted in the Pot pool one evening which doesn’t bode well for the future.
We can only hope that the Board can deploy the non lethal methods its has at its disposal to scare this intruder back to sea.
At Gordon Castle/Brae Water, Lewis Webb advises another good week on the beats, finishing in the 50’s.. Plenty of action across the beats with the majority of fish being grilse, with that we had a lot of fish on and off with what we think is about 5:1 loss to land rate but as both Ghillies and guests have said it’s great to see the fish here.
A couple of days we had the sun appear and the difference in the catches was noticable with the low water and high sun putting the fish down but hopes were still high so we persevered and managed to get into fish.
Towards the end of the week we noticed a few fish jumping downstream, usually a sign of water on its way so we shall see how accurate next weeks forecast is, they seem to know a lot better than us!!
As we continue on this weeks upstream adventure my next port of call is with Andy Gunn at Orton. Andy happy to report another good week finishing in the 20’s this week with many lost.
Fresh Grilse provided most of the sport with a few older Salmon bending the rods a little further.
Low water and mostly bright conditions made it tricky but John & Jonathan Walker, John Reeve, Ant Mason & Peter Latchford all landed multiple numbers.
Well done to the rods that have landed fish so far.
My next stop is Delfur where Mark Melville reports that they had another good week here at Delfur with fish caught by everyone in the party.
Friday they seemed to switch off here though we managed a few yesterday.
We had a good mix of quality fresh sea liced grilse and some good fish up to 16lbs. Some fresh and some older fish.
Up at Rothes and Aikenway, Robbie Stronach confirms that they ended up with 20 for the week. The week got off to a great start on Monday with 8 landed. The lucky Monday rods being Glen Tollett who had two in Geantree, Peter London had two from Creeky, John Leigh who had a fish from Junction and Geantree, Tony James with one from Town Road and Rex Dawson with one from Junction.
Tuesday was anther busy day with 6 fish landed, John Leigh had fish from Town Road and Sycamore, Tony James had a fish Jamieson and a further fish in Junction, Rex Dawson landed one from Geantree and Glen Tollett with a fish from Bluestone
On Wednesday Peter London had a fish from Long Pool and Tony James got a fish from Geantree. More success on Thursday saw Marc Bennett- Coles land a fish from Geantree, Tim Shilling had one from Junction and Howard Lee got one Jamieson. Friday saw just a single fish landed when Noel Edison got one from Carnegie.
Onwards to Arndilly where Euan Reid reports that this week, we had Christian and Jess Hollingbery splitting the week, and it was the first half that had the best of it. We had 13 for the first half and 6 for the second.
Christian and Jess both had fish, and the biggest of the week was 13.5lb for John Corfield from the Arns.
Similar to last week, we had a number of newcomers to salmon fishing, and we had 7 first fish this week.
The first fish fell to Ed Andrews, Merlin Lyndsay, Cosmo Lyndsay, Josh Ware, Tom Meek, Jake Studholme, and Sam Watson. Well done all. Notable losses were for Iona, Izzy and Rory.
The water is getting low, and in the bright conditions, things became more difficult this week. That said, we had 3 and lost a few yesterday afternoon.
Another lovely week with good people and lots of fun.
Upstream of Arndilly lies Easter Elchies where Orn Sigurhannson reports a week of fresh grilse and salmon landed throughout the week. We were very pleased to welcome back the MacDonald fishing party to Easter Elchies. The week got off to a great start with 5 salmon and grilse landed on Monday morning. We lost most of Tuesday with bright sunshine. Thursday was our best day, with 8 landed for the day. In the annual John Coutts Cup, the Robertson Junior team had the edge over the Smith team from Yorkshire. Final total 19 salmon and grilse. A really enjoyable summer week.
Next to update me on the weeks activities is Dougie Ross at Craigellachie who advises of a quiet week for us with anglers and fish. We got a handful but they fairly switched off with the higher temperatures.
Aberlour Angling Club had three fish for their week, the captors being Neil Borthwick, Shane Fraser and Jim Seivwright.
Across the river at Wester Elchies , Malcolm Newbould advises of a better week with around a dozen fish in the book. The highlight of then week was Young Magnus Campbell (9) who landed a grilse from the Boat Pool. Magnus is the 4th generation of Fleetwoods to land a salmon at Wester Elchies. There cannot be many families who can claim that. Below is a picture of Magnus with his prize.
Kinermony ghillie David Brand reports a quiet week for them with just 1 salmon and 2 grisle this week Steven Kellet, Dave Kellet, and Ellie Kellet getting her first ever fish on her last cast on Saturday evening at 21 45 well done. Ghillies Hour can be a saviour for a week if you are trying to avoid the blank.
Up at Delagyle, David Smillie advises that they finished up with 5 this week. Bobby Hall landed three fish, a grilse and two salmon (10lbs and a sealiced 15 pounder). R Galbraith had a salmon of 10lbs, and Sandy Datta had small fish of approx 5lbs.
Continuing our upstream trip we call into see Ian Borthwick at Carron who reports 1 salmon and 3 grilse for their week.
Across the river at Laggan, Max Mckinstries reports 7 fish landed for their week.
Archie Baillie at Knockando Home Beat reports Really good week for us this week with David Tisdale, Des Dunlop, Les Tyson and myself chipping in with an odd one putting 13 salmon to 23lb (a mix of old and new fish, and 30 grilse ranging from 3lb to 5lb (the majority being fresh) in the book. Les Tyson getting the best of the bunch with his 23lber. Good to see a good number of grilse around but disappointingly no sign of any sea trout.
It is worrying that there seems to be a definite lack of seatrout being caught this year compared to even last year. It may be that they are sneaking their way up river and avoiding the rods who are out or could be a lack of numbers in the river. As I have said before they are elusive creatures at the best of times and trying to understand them and the atlantic salmon is a science all of its own.
Our penultimate stop this week is Castle Grant where Simon Crozier reports that last week saw good numbers of grilse passing through our beats and some good sport was had by our rods at times. A special mention goes out to the Ewer party fishing Beat 2, Adrian and his late father, Henry, first fished the beat 49 yrs ago. Last week saw 3 generations fishing with Adrian, his sons Ali and Cameron and grand kids Roddy, Ferguson, Findlay and Felicity all having a go. Great to see, the highlight of the week was undoubtedly young Ferguson (8 yrs old ) who landed his first grilse, magic. Monday started with 4 grilse caught, all clean grilse, one from Dunbar, 2 from Polchraine and one from Manse, with a few more encounters. Tuesday was a day of lost fish but a fine 6lb seatrout came from Greenbank. The grilse continued to run and the catches although steady rather than spectacular continued, notable catches were an older fish of 11lb for Allan Differ from Pollowick , 2 grilse for Chris Davies on Friday from Dunbar and the Pollowick Sluggan. Friday also saw two fine grilse from the Washpot and 1 from Polchraine. We hope for the grilse to keep coming and good sport to come.
Our final port of call is Kinchurdy where Simon advises a week finishing with3 salmon, 10,14 and 6lbs resectively and 2 seatrout biggest 6lb.
It was easy to see the weather during the week played a big part in the catches, along with the low water conditions which have prevailed all week.
The forecast for the week ahead is for a more mixed weather picture with rain in the forecast for some parts of it so we might see a freshen up of conditions.
Tight lines to all those out on the respective rivers and other fisheries.
Sandy
