I had quite high expectations for last week. River conditions were relatively stable and good for this time of year, weather was settled and warmer than had been, tides were building and salmon were running…….all good signs – right?
River height – 1ft10 – 2ft (+/- 2in) – snow-melt rises most days.
Water Temps – 42-44F or 6-7C
Air temps – up to 14C some days
Sadly the salmon gods weren’t really listening.
The week started off a little slow. Only 4 springers reported by Thursday and just an odd one being seen. The river felt quiet. However, Friday and Saturday saw a significant pick-up. New fish started to arrive and some lower river beats caught some lovely sealiced springers – 8 to be precise. March fishing can often be fickle like this – periods of inactivity followed by some fast and furious action. That’s typically why hours spent on the river usually equates to more springers landed – effort = reward.
Catch Summary –
Upper River – 1 fish reported – Abernethy AC – again very little rod pressure but good to see salmon are in the upper beats
Middle River – 3 fish reported – Kinermony, Wester Elchies, Knockando (Phones Beat)
Lower River – 8 fish reported – Rothes, Arndilly
Average size was similar to previous weeks – around the 7-8lb mark. Biggest fish was 13.5lbs.
Just to reiterate – many beats remain un-fished or have few rods each day.
Our rogues gallery this week….Ronnie Fraser(Wester Elchies), Ryan Clark (Arndilly), Roddie Stronach with Brian Shaw’s fish(Rothes) – Brian (our SFB biologist) also landed Knockando’s first of the season, Mark Melville – Delfur’s Head Ghillie (Arndilly)
Looking ahead to this coming week –
Weather looks fairly settled during first half of the week but getting progressively colder. This should mean water levels stay fairly stable and may even fall away as the colder weather halts the snow melt.
Rod Availability is plentiful and with colder conditions coming, the bottom beats (Gordon castle) maybe a good option to intercept a sealiced springer. As ever, please continue to adhere current travel restrictions when booking your days.
Tightlines as always….
