Afternoon all
Its been a funny old weekend here in Elgin and I do not think we are getting summer weather yet.
I think the best way to describe the weather we have seen on late is mixed with some horrible heavy showers, bright sunshine and fluctuating termperatures, all of which when combined can make fishing somewhat challengin and if you add in the wind, well it would test the best of anglers at certain times.
I noticed when I was out with the dog the other night that local farmers have been planting spring beans. I saw this crop growing a few years ago and had to do some research as it was never getting harvested only to find that it is treated as a green fertilizer and it puts nitrogen back into the soil. The tatties are also well on in the fields, it does suprise me how quickly wee green tattie shaws can look like a forest within the space of a few days, in fact I topped up the bags I am growing tatties in on my patio last night to cover the shaws, only to see tham having sprouted a further couple of inches overnight to be protruding yet again.
Duncan Ferguson of the Board advises that the bailiffs are being kept bust with their patrols of the coast and rivers and survey work, along with some electrofishing for sampling withh startr agin this week.
Once again we will have a prize for this weeks winner and delighted to advise that yet again Loop Tackle are putting up one of their new Trak rods as the prize. The winner can chose the Trak rod of their choice and I will announce my choice of winner at the end of the report.
Ok lets head onto the river to see how things fared last week.
Starting up at Grantown, where the association water managed to add three fish to 15lbs to their tally and Abernethy had 6 fish for their week up to 18lbs in weight.
At Castle Grant, Simon Crozier reports that it was a week of mixed weather at Castle Grant .
We had nice water all week, we started off on Monday with a fish of 9 lb for Kevin Ellis from Pollowick, Tuesday brought 4 to the net with another for Kevin from Greenbank, Sean Tighe had a fish from Pollowick in the evening. Bob Edward’s had a fine fish from the Wash Pot and Alistair Pearson rounded off the day with a fish from the Croyrace.
Wednesday saw another fish for Sean Tighe this time from Pollowick Sluggan.
Sean finished his hat trick with a cracker of around 13lb from Pollowick.
Saturday saw another 2 come to the net with a fine fish from the Croy race of 9lb for Chris Davies.
A few seatrout also came to the net across the beats.
We look forward to next week.
Heading doon the water my next stop is with Andrew Hall at Lower Pitchroy who reports that it was another steady week at lower Pitchroy with fish caught each day. The fishing conditions was variable with the over head conditions near perfect and steady showers of rain. Unfortunately not enough to give us a lift but it slowed the drop. The air temperatures were up and down all week making the water feel warmer than air quite often.
The week started slow and quiet but gained a slow momentum as the week progressed and we finished with 8 salmon and 4 sea trout for our efforts. Biggest salmon was 15lb and some bigger ones lost.
At Knockando, Archie Baillie advises that this week was a difficult week for us with the guests working hard for the fish we caught. Monday evening gave us a 4lb sea trout from the Draw of Vrennan. On Tuesday the Long Pool gave up a very fresh 11lber. A coloured 11lb fish from Draw of Vrennan and a fresh 12lber from the Long Pool saw us through Wednesday. We ended our catches on Thursday with a 12lb fish from the Neck of Vrennan.
A few older fish starting to be encountered as they take up residency in the pools throughout the river.
Continuing dowstream to Carron and to Neil Borthwick who reports that Unfortunately another week of low water & few fish on Carron. Mark Taylor and friends had the fishing this week and it was Mark who got the ball rolling with a lovely fish out of the Carron Pool on Tuesday evening.
However apart from a couple of other pulls from fish that was it for our week. Really disappointing for June and worryingly a real lack of fish holding in our beat. We move on though and hope next week brings more luck.
Delagyle is my next port of call where David Smillie gives me the weekly update for the beat. David advises that a fish of 10lbs caught by Robin Galespie from Dal breck was their only addition to the annual total.
Continuing downstream to Wester Elchies where Malcolm Newbould reports that they finished off with 4 fish for their week.
Across the river at Aberlour Angling Club, Kenny Davies reports that they finished with 5 for the week. The captors being Colin Tait with 2 fish, Gerry Welsh and Charlie Christie one a piece and a visiitng angker finished the week of with a 14lber.
Slipping down the river to Macallan where Richard Whyte advises that the beat was lightly fished this week, making for a week of contrasting fortunes. We welcomed the Nino Da Silva party from Singapore during the first half of the week and were delighted to see Nino land his first Scottish salmon, a lovely fresh fish of around 10lb from Upper Slabs.
Later in the week, we were pleased to host Rick Stein and his sons at The Macallan. They brought great enthusiasm and humour to the river and were excellent company throughout their stay. Despite an exciting encounter, a salmon unfortunately eluded the net.
Saturday evening brought further success when we landed a fish of around 8lb from Upper Slabs, ending the week on a positive note.
Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable week marked by excellent company, plenty of laughter and outstanding food. With fish continuing to show and conditions remaining favourable, we look forward to the week ahead.
At Easter Elchies Orn Sigurhansson reports a really fun week at Easter Elchies with fish landed throughout the week. We were very pleased to welcome the McAllister fishing party again this week. Week started with water on -1 on the gauge, rising to 3 on Tuesday and back to -5 today.
First fish of the week was landed by Easter Elchies newcomer Chris Jeffers. Some great fishing throughout the week, with the first 3 days Brian McAllister landing 5 and Colin Lowson 2. Second half of the week, Colin Sommerville with another 5 fish and Hendy with 3, Susie Russell with a cracking 15lb and Les Tyson with 2. Some late night salmon and sea trout landed. Final total 20 salmon and a number of sea trout. A really good June week on Speyside.
The next port of call on my journey down the river is Arndilly and Euan Reid to see how they fared during the week. Euan advises that this week we again had Richard Hollingbery and his fun loving team. We had a midweek swap and for both the first and second half teams, Arndilly is their happy place.
We had 4 in the first half and 8 in the second.
Joffy Grant got us started on Monday with a 6lb fish with long tailed lice from the hut side of Bulwark followed by an 11lb fish from the boat in Jocks Tail for Pandora Stormonth-Darling. We only had 1 on Tuesday, Richard Hollingbery, 7lb from the Bulwark at last light.
As some guests had to leave early Richard Hollingbery had the ghillies having a cast on Wednesday afternoon and Mike struck again with a bonny 10lb fish from the left side of the Back of the Bog. This was the first time Mike had waded the left bank and I’m not sure he’s looking forward to the next time, but all was successfully completed with an audience on the other side adding pressure, well done Mike.
With the new team arriving for Thursday full of hope we got to 12.15pm and were still blank but by 1 we had 4. Typical salmon fishing. Jim Stephens had a 14.5lb fish from Back of the Bog and a 10.5lb fish from Bulwark and Rupert Flury had a 10lb fish from the left bank of Back of the Bog.
The big success though was Dom Welby who caught his first ever Salmon after more than 20 years of trying, a lovely 9lb fish from the tail of the long pool.
On Friday we had a salmon, a grilse and a sea trout. Rupert started it with a 3lb sea trout from the Arns, Victoria Henthorn had a 12lb salmon of the Cobble Pot path and Hugh Fitzwilliam-Ley had our first grilse from the tail of the Long Pool.
Fitz struck again on Saturday morning from the Piles boat, 9.5lb and in the evening Ian Cox had a 10lb fish just below the hippo stone in Long Pool, having contacted one there in the afternoon. The one in the afternoon was bigger and angry and if it had hung on would have given us the run around for a while.
So a great fun week for everyone with a decent total and the first sign of grilse for us.
Rothes and Aikenway is next of the stop off points, where Robbie Stronach advises that they had another good week with 16 landed. On Monday two fish were landed, Kevin Smyth got one from Jamieson and Mark Hunter got one from Geantree. Tuesday was a two fish day too with Mark Hunter and Kevin Smyth landing one each from Creeky. On Wednesday Penny Steel got one from Geantree and Sir Hugh Bennett got one from Creeky.
Thursday was a five fish bonanza with Jamie Hawksfield landing three fish one from Sycamore, Creeky and Jamieson respectively, Robert Chambers got one from Jamieson and Kevin Smyth got one from Geantree.
Friday saw Sir Hugh Bennett landing two from Geantree and Jamie Hawksfield got one from Jamieson. Saturday finished with Kevin Smyth getting one from Carnegie and Robert Chambers Lnading one from Creeky.
Mark Melville at Delfur is next to be put under the spotlight to see how they fared during the week. Mark reports that it was a another decent Monday that gave us four fish to start our week off.
Team leader Robert Jolly had a cracking 15lbr from Broom, Andy Britton caught a nice 14lb fish from Sourden and Peter Baxendale landing two for the day, the first an older fish from the Bridge and a nice fresh fish from Beaufort in the afternoon.
The height was good again sitting at -15” with a temperature of 58f and a nice colour.
The weather was decent for fishing most of the week and the water temperature stayed nice and steady.
Tuesday was a quiet day as we found the river up 3” and carrying dirt again which put the fish off.
Wednesday we were back into them with Teresa Jolly catching the largest at 15lb from Big Haddie, followed by Robert with an 11lb fish from Beaufort. Andy Britton had a fine sea liced fish from Big Haddie.
We carried on into Thursday with some more sport and it didn’t take new arrival Richard Bannister long to catch his first of the day. This was a cracking mid teen fish from Beaufort, he had another from Broom in the afternoon. Teresa Jolly also had a couple from Twa Stanes and Beaufort. Robert Jolly landed another fish from Sourden.
Friday we welcomed Mark Camacho back to the beat with his usual great craic and enthusiasm!
Mark had an epic fight straight away with a fish from Hollenbush which drowned the line and wrapped itself around a submerged rock on the far side of the current!
The force of the heavy stream on the rod and backing had them both singing a high pitched tune!
With a lot of patience,blood, sweat and thankfully no tears, we managed to get the line off!
Thinking the fish had surely broken,we were both surprised to see the line tighten up. The fight continued for a few more minutes before I managed to slip the net under a nice double figure fish.
The same morning Richard Bannister caught the biggest fish of the week at 17lbs from Sourden.
Saturday morning was surprisingly quiet but we made up for it in the afternoon with a few more fish landed. Richard Bannister did it again with another good fish from Beaufort. Robert Jolly landed another one from Big Haddie in the late afternoon. Mark Camacho finished the week with another good fish,this time from the Ripples of Broom.
All in all a good weeks fishing finishing just short of 20.
With a decent looking forecast for next week,let’s hope the number of fish continues to build as the season moves on into mid summer.
Next to give me an update is Andy Gunn at Orton. Andy reports that they were delighted to welcome back the Waring party for another year at Orton. Following last season’s success, when the group landed 20 fish, expectations were high once again.
The week got off to a promising start on Monday when Stuart Waring landed a fine 12lb salmon from Greenbank before lunch.
On Tuesday, Paul Still fishing Cooperee, beached a fresh-run 12lb fish.
Wednesday saw Graham Ellis land the biggest fish of the week, a superb 16lb salmon from Wee Pool.
Thursday proved to be our most productive day. Colin Hollis landed fish of 12lb and 13lb from Greenbank, while Bill Cooper brought a 10lb silver bar to the net in Cairnty.
Strong winds on Saturday made conditions challenging, but Colin Hollis once again found success, landing a sea-liced 10lb fish from Cairnty. He also lost what appeared to be a very good fish shortly afterwards.
Overall, the party finished the week with 7 salmon landed and 5 lost.
My final stop off is with Lewis Webb at Gordon Castle/Brae water who reports that it was a great mix of quality and quantity this week. We finished just short of 30 for the week the majority of these were multi sea winter fish of 10-16lb and we landed our first grilse of the season on Saturday. Star of the show has to be Dr Sandy Scott, former chair of the Spey Fishery Board who finished the week with 9 fish, 5 of which were landed on Saturday alone. Some going that.
My ramblings will be missing for the next two weeks as I am away chasing silver tourists oln the River Ewe for a week. Very much looking forward to my 23rd season on the Ewe and with some cracking fish already landed the anticipation of the party is palpable.
The report will be the very capabale hands of Sam Jarman.
Finally this weeks winner of the Loop Trak rod of their choice is Dr Sandy Scott for his unbelievable week. Well done Sandy and I will be in touch.
Next week looks like will be a moxed one, with a dry start but some rain to follow late on.
Tight lines if you are out and about
Sandy
