Welcome to this week’s report.
The rain last weekend produced a small but welcome rise in water levels for anglers arriving at the river on Monday morning.
Catches reflected the conditions with the majority of fish being landed early in the week, the beats between Rothes and Craigellachie seeing the best of the action.
Sadly the catches on the river around Aberlour so far this season are way down on what might be expected,even taking the dificult fishing conditions into account. One has to wonder whether work on a new pipeline for the distillery in the town is causing enough disturbance in the persistent low water for the fish to turn back. Or just run right on past under cover of darkness until they find quieter resting places.
As the week progressed the water levels dropped away and the thermometer went in the opposite direction, touching 28 degrees in Aviemore on Friday and Saturday. Water temperatures pushed worryingly close to 20 degrees on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the conditions, some fine salmon and seatrout were brought to the net. Ghilles have commented that a good percentage of the salmon they have landed this year are in excellent condition. Deep, broad-shouldered fish that have put up a strong fight.
It is also encouraging to hear of more seatrout also being reported by beats up and down the river, and some specimen fish too. I have heard of one around the 8lb mark and one of 5lb being landed on the middle river by an angler fishing on into the small hours. He also caught a salmon. A decent evening’s sport by any standards.
Let’s get a more detailed look at the catches for the week, starting on the lower river, with Andy Milne reporting from the Association water at Fochabers:
“Eight salmon, two grilse and a 6lb sea trout for us this week. Nothing on Friday or Saturday.”
Delfur Ghillie Alex Robertson with a fish from the Fochabers Association Water
Moving upstream, Lewis Webb, Ghillie on the Middle Brae beat delivers this week’s news from Gordon Castle:
“Another week of two halves that followed the same pattern as last week. We caught the majority of our fish in the first few days.
With the sun breaking through on Thursday followed by the heat on Friday and Saturday saw the catches slow down.
Our guests persevered and adjusted angling times to avoid the heat and bright sun. The warming water temperatures did however provide some nice swimming conditions…even if it wasn’t an intended dip!”
One from the Ewe Pool, Upper Brae
Silver in the sunshine
Another from the Upper Brae
A happy angler
And Away!
Not hanging around!
The fishers at Orton defied the challenging conditions with several personal milestones achieved, reports Andy Gunn:
“Monday morning brought us a mini flood with 3.5 inches on our gauge, so we had high expectations!
They were met when Bob Barbiaux landed his biggest ever salmon, a 15lb fish from the top of Cooperee and whilst Bob was in mid fight Kate Baker hooked and landed a fish in Cairnty which turned out to be her personal best at 19lbs!
On Tuesday Bob was in again, this time a 10lb fish from the Turn.
Wednesday morning Billy Schwier landed a fresh 7lb fish from Cooperee and Kate Baker got her 2nd, a nice 13lber also from Cooperee. Bill Baker decided to get in on the act with a fresh 8lber from Junction.
On Thursday morning Bill landed a cracking 13lb fish from the Junction then went on to land his 3rd fish, this time a 9lber from the House Pool.
On Friday & Saturday conditions were pretty grim but Janie Barbiaux managed to land a nice Grilse from the Willows in mid afternoon.”
Bob Barbiaux with his 15lb personal best.
Kate Baker with her biggest fish – a cracker at 19lbs!
Bob with his second fish
Kate Baker with her second, a 15 lber from Cooperee
Billy Schwier in Cooperee
Bill baker’s first fish from Junction
Bill’s second, also from Junction
Bill with number 3, this one from the House Pool
Janie Barbiaux with a fine grilse from The Willows
“The wee rise last weekend didn’t do much for us, though it was good to hear a few beats around us and well upstream benefitted from it,” writes Mark Melville, Head Ghillie at Delfur.
We started off with high expectations for Olivier Devictor’s party on Monday morning, only to be met with a blank day!
Tuesday morning Michael Watts caught a nice 10lb fish from the Hollenbush.
Wednesday morning the fish switched on for two of our guests.with the cool and overcast conditions. Wilson Phillips catching 2 from Sourden – 12lbs and 8lbs and the only sea liced fish of the week from Big Haddie.
Johnny Gray had a fine 12lber from Twa Stanes followed by a nice fish from the Otterhole.
That sadly was it for the week. Friday and Saturday got stupidly hot for salmon angling and not surprisingly we had nothing hooked throughout the beat.
Let’s hope the cooler weather and rain forecast today and throughout the week encourages some fish and grilse to run the river.”
Johnny Gray with his fish from Twa Stanes
Michael Watts’ fish from Hollenbush
“Slipped out the hands!”
Three fish for the week with us,” writes Robbie Stronach at Rothes and Aikenway.
“Mrs Bladons got one from Bluestone Pot . Erica Munro Ferguson got one from Carnegie and I landed one from Geantree.”
Erica Munro Ferguson’s fish from Carnegie
Robbie with his fish from Geantree
Moving on upstream, Euan Reid has details of a more encouraging week at Arndilly.
“The heavy rain of just over a week ago resulted in a 4-inch rise of water which although it served us well it was, as expected, fairly short-term. The rise put us up to minus 3 inches on the gauge.
On Monday Hugh Law got us started with a grilse then a salmon from the right bank of the Arns, 4lb and 13lb. While I was waiting to net the 13lb fish, David Bonnington called to say he was into one in Gilmour which turned out to be 12lb.
Tom Abraham had a 12lb fish from the left side of the Cobble Pot and David Bonnington had a grilse from the left of Jock’s Tail. Five fish for the morning!
David Bonnington made himself less popular with his mates but more popular with the ghillies by landing two more between 5 and 6 pm off the Concrete Path, 10lb and 13lb.
First thing on Tuesday, Alistair Crawford had an 11lb fish from opposite the Concrete Path and David had another, this time a 3.5lb grilse from the Arns. Just before lunch, Brian McLean had a 13lb fish from the neck of Cobble Pot, left bank.
We had two fish on Wednesday, 9.5lb for Mr Popular, David Bonnington, again opposite the Concrete Path and Tom Abraham right on the point of the Croy on the right bank of Cobble Pot, 10.5lb.
From there it all quietened down. The heat began to build and it all began to feel less likely.
By Saturday morning with the temperature somewhere north of 26c, everyone was thinking about getting in the shade with a cold drink – but we caught two! Paul Lewis had a 4lb grilse from the left side of the neck of Back of the Bog which is not easy. He had a lie down in the water as he landed it which I thought was a nice touch!
Within minutes Brian McLean had an 11lb fish just above the Concrete Path. Another example of salmon fishing giving unexpected results through perseverance.
Thankfully the hot weather has passed for now. As I sit outside this evening, I have just had to put a jumper on as it is a bit chilly. Hopefully, this cooler weather might help us in the week ahead but we still need rain.”
David Bonnington – 9.5lb, Cobble Pot
Hugh Law – 13lbs, Arns
Paul Lewis with a bright grilse.
Brian McLean’s first fish with suspected dolphin marks.
The Ghillie stretching more than he would’ve liked to net Hugh’s fish after a hard fight in the Arns
“A good June week” for the anglers at Easter Elchies, according to Callum Ferguson.
“Despite the low water, we had good week overall, with consistent catches most days. Friday and Saturday were quieter, we landed just one fish each day. Fish were caught across the beat, with everyone enjoying multiple salmon and a few sea trout as well.
Highlights included Michael Trafford’s stunning big salmon on Thursday evening and Roger Smith’s second fish from the Upper Dips. Thursday proved to be the best day, with seven fish landed.
We finished the week with a total of nineteen salmon and seven sea trout.”
Red Craigs silver
Upper Dips
“Fish on!”- in Heathery Isle
Late night, big fish.
A June Spey beauty
Red Craigs – safely returned
Tail of Fiddich
Boat Pool in the sunshine
As mentioned above, the beats around Aberlour have been quiet.
Tim Pullen caught a seal liced fish at Kinermony.
“A few fish lost, but only a salmon and sea trout landed at Wester Elchies” writes Malcom Newbould.
Jordan Wilson was the successful angler.
Jordan with his sea trout
This week was a memorable one for Alex Pop at Carron. He caught his first salmon, then on Wednesday he caught his second!
Nick Bowles also got one on Wednesday. Thanks to ghillie Ian Borthwick for the report.
Alex with his first Atlantic salmon.
And his second! This one from Millionaires.
Nick Bowles with his Carron fish
Upstream at Knockando, Ghillie Archie Baillie welcomed back the Simmons family, regular and long-standing fishers on Speyside.
“Seven salmon from 8lb to14lb, one grilse 4.5lb and a 3lb sea trout was the total for the week. We got off to a great start with three fish on Monday. William Simmons landing two and brother Alastair landing one, as well as losing one, both in the Long Pool.
A bit quieter on Tuesday with David Holt landing the only fish of the day from the neck of Vrennon. Wednesday was quiet during the day with a 3lb sea trout being the only capture.
Things livened up on Wednesday evening when two salmon and a grilse were landed by David and Alastair. We blanked on Thursday.
On to Friday evening. Not to be outdone by her sons, mum Susan Simmons landed a strong salmon from the boat in the Long Pool.
We blanked on Saturday. as the temperatures rose,
Considering the extreme conditions the party were very happy with the way their week went.”
William Simmons with a fish from the Long Pool
A happy David Holt with his fish from the neck of Vrennon
Safely returned
Mrs Susan Simmons with a fine evening fish from the Long Pool
On up the valley to Castle Grant where we get the following news from Head Ghillie Simon Crozier:
“A small rise in the water and good overhead conditions saw us get off to a good start.
Simon Wooding had a nice double figure fish from Pollowick. Simon Grattin had a fish of a similar size again from Pollowick. To round the morning off another fish of around 8lb was taken from Craigroy .
Simon Wooding was at it again with a nice clean fish of around 9lbs from Dunbar Sluggan .
Despite a fair few enquiries no more salmon were landed, however a few seatrout – some of them good sized were caught throughout the rest of the week. The best of them a fish of around 7lb for Brian Hollidge from Pollowick .
We look forward to next week.”
Simon Wooding’s first fish from Pollowick right bank.
Simon Grattins’ fish, also from Pollowick
Two Simons, Woodings and Crozier, with a fish from Dunbar Sluggan
Simon’s second fish was a cracker.
And finally, four seatrout were reported from the Grantown Association water by bailiff Sean Grant – who like many anglers and ghillies, is very keen to see some persistant rainfall to bring some more fish further up the river.
Prospects for the week commencing 23rd June.
Thankfully, the high temperatures of Friday and Saturday have subsided, with a cool, breezy evening in Carron as I write this report. Temperatures in the mid teens and cloud cover are predicted for the rest of the week.
There is some rain in the forecast for the upper catchment, but whether this will make any difference to the water levels in the river is another matter. The ground is dry and the water table is extremely low, so we need a succession of really wet days before the rise in water that many anglers and ghillies on the middle and upper river are hoping for materialises.
As noted in a number of reports, anglers who concentrate their fishing efforts in the mornings and evenings have been rewarded. There are some big sea trout in the river this season, and chances of bumping into one will be improved by fishing on into the darkness.
As always, adapting to the conditions, perseverance and regular consultation with your ghillie will give the best chance of success.
Finally a big thankyou once again to all the ghillies and others who take the time on a Sunday to provide Sandy and I with the information to bring this report to you.
He will be back next week, refreshed from his week on the west coast.
Best of luck to anyone having a cast in the coming days.
Sam Jarman
