Afternoon everyone
As we enter June and the early part of summer I think it is safe to say we are glad to see the end of May.
We have gone through an unprecedented period of dry weather and I am not alone in saying it was good to see a change last weekend with the arrival of more unsettled weather. This has been of huge benefit to everyone, not just the anglers but the gardeners, farmers with the welcome arrival of the wet stuff, namely rain in patches throughout the week.
The garden and country side I am sure are already reacting the the rain, as the fields of crops seem greener and have sprouted further in this years growth cycle. The down side to all of this is more grass to cut and the weeds will have a super time taking hold in gardens and borders.
The rain did bring a lift in river levels which brought a huge sigh of relief up and down the country, and it is good to see that Aberlour Angling Club able to resume fishing on 29th and even more welcome news was the recommencement of fishing on the Findhorn from tomorrow the 2nd.
Ok lets have a look and see how the river has fared during the week following the change in conditions.
Starting up the river, Simon Crozier reports that Abernethy water had a good week with 3 salmon to 15lbs and a dozen seatrout to 6lbs.
Stopping off at Castle Grant to get Simon’s report from his own beats he is happy to advise that in the search for a pull I am writing this report from Loch Insch one of Scotland’s premier trout fisheries (David Murray told me to write that)
The week started well and hopes were high with a fine fish of 9 lbs from Congash for long standing Tennant Danni Assolari, he also lost one in the Dipper on the same day, Jim Mcglaughlan had a fine seatrout of 8 lbs also from Congash.
Despite this promising start the rest of the week was tough, plenty fish were seen but despite a few encounters only one other seatrout came to hand, with the river up and news of a few downstream we look forward to next week.
Paddling down the river I stop in at Archie Baillie at Knockando who reports that they had a fish on both Monday and Tuesday, followed up with a seatrout on Thursday evening but despite the changing river conditions that was the action for the week.
Things were quiet of the fish front as we continue our journey down the river to Wester Elchies where Malcolm Newbould was delighted to report that they got one to stick last week. Anthony Rockley was the lucky rod with a fish from the Brock.
Down at Easter Elchies, Orn Sigurhansson reports a solid week at Easter Elchies. We were delighted to welcome the Harman Party to Easter Elchies this week. Spirits were high from the outset, and the week got off to a flying start with a fish landed in the Fiddich Mouth within minutes of lines going out on Monday morning.
Tuesday brought cold, blustery winds from the north, which made for challenging conditions and a blank day. However, fortunes turned mid-week, with Richard Harman landing a lovely fish from the Red Craig on Wednesday evening.
After four days of determined effort, Christian was rewarded with a cracking fresh fish from the Fiddich Mouth on Thursday. Friday brought another lift in water, and Fiona McCaig took full advantage, landing a well-rested fish from the Red Craig.
Saturday proved to be the highlight of the week, with settled conditions and steady water levels contributing to our best day. Four fish were landed from Lower Dips, Upper Dips, and the Fiddich. A further 3 fish were landed from Inverfiddich during the week. A total of 11 salmon for the week, a good late May week on Speyside.
What a great week by the team and good to see the beat reach double figures.
My next call is with Euan Reid at Arndilly who advises that thankfully, the change in the jet stream and not wanting to wish bad weather on everyone, ourselves included, the bit of rain that arrived during the week has been welcomed by most. We have had small rises of water, nothing major but a step in the right direction.
This week, we had Giles Brand and his team, including his wife Suzie and sons Will and George.
We had 3 first fish this week, the first one falling to Nick Bower on Tuesday, 9lb from the Cobble Pot left at -6″
David Bate had a sea trout from the Arns and Sir George Hollingbery had a salmon and a sea trout from Back of the Bog in the evening, all Wednesday fish.
Thursday was our best day of the week, Sir George, 9lb from Back of the Bog and Richard Hollingbery, 8lb from the right bank of the neck of Cobble Pot. The other 2 were first ever Salmon. George Brand had a 6lb fish from the tail of Long Pool and Angus Naylor had an 8lb fish from Back of the Bog.
Tim Rhymer had a lovely fresh 12lb fish from Cobble Pot on Saturday with the water way up to -3″!
Well done to Will Brand for landing Tim’s fish on Tuesday and particularly unlucky to Ben Rhymer for not landing his first ever, having been close to 2.
As I continue down the river the sense of relief at the arrival of the rain and the top ups during the week have brought to each and every beat is well felt and I am sure the ghillies were heading to their respective beats on Monday morning with a bit of a spring in their step, not big springs but enough to be somewhat more optimistic of the week ahead of them.
Robbie Stronach at Rothes and Aikenway advises that they had just the two for the week. Caleb Sutton got one from Carnegie and Hilary Gostelow-Drury got one from Geantree. Well done to you both.
At Delfur, Mark Melville reports of another decent week here at Delfur.
It was nice to have Neil Cameron and team hit it right for a change! A few wee rises throughout the week with mixed weather everyday certainly helped the catches.
Like last week we caught fish every day and had our best week of the season yet again. Thom Macleod was top rod with 6 fish including a fine 16lber and he also enjoyed his best ever day with 3 fine spring fish on Thursday.
John Grant was close behind and as always a consistent fisher with his own tied flies.
Neil and Bob Edwards both contributed well to the catch.
Bob saving the blank day Saturday after a couple of inches rise which carried a bit of dirt which seemed to put them off here.
The nature show here all week was spectacular with Roe buck fighting, Osprey fishing and lots of fledged and newly hatched birds to be seen.
The rises of water thankfully have helped move on the smolts that were stuck in the river.
It should be another good week ahead and hopefully the fresh water will shift some fish up river for the beats above.
My next stop off point is Orton to see Andy Gunn who was delighted to see the rain and reports on their week as follows:_
“Finally we have had some rain!
From minus 5” on our gauge a week past Friday up to plus 4” on the last day of May, not much but better than nothing.
Monday morning went off with a bang when Iain Roxborough hooked and landed a 10lb fish from Cooperee. Tuesday started very brightly when Jamie Roxborough brought to the net a fresh fish of 9lb from the Junction and Robert Burton landed an 8lb silver bar from Cooperee.
Olivia Roxborough missed out on her 1st ever Salmon when the hook detached itself from a good sized fish in the Junction.
Iain Roxborough fishing Cooperee on Wednesday morning had a brief encounter with another fish and all quiet until Friday when Claire Thompson produced a spanking 15lb sea liced fish from the Junction before lunch, her 1st ever Springer.
Gordon Castle/Brae Water is my next stop where David Buley confirms of much better conditions this week with additional water almost every day. There have been more fish seen daily, but they don’t seem to be stopping. I can’t blame them as they’ve been waiting a while for this water. We’ve had the same number of fish as we’ve had inches of water this week. Seven fish landed, and quite a few lost. The coming weeks forecast looks favourable, so fingers crossed, we continue to bump into a few more!!
My final stop off point is Fochabers Angling Association where Andy Milne reports that they finished their week with 3 fish to report this week Sandy, one of 8lbs from the Snorkel pool for Jack Reid on Wednesday and a 13 pounder, followed by an 11lber on Thursday for Kevin Stewart from the same pool. A few more were hooked but didn’t stick. We think the wee rises in river level may have made some of the fish that were holding move on upstream.
The week ahead seems to be mixed again on the weather front ans hopefully we will continue to seem some more rain and the ocassional life in the river to keep things ticking over.
Tight lines if you are out and about
Sandy
