Good afternoon
A fine afternoon in Elgin after the week we have just expereinced.
I do not think I have seen wind like that for many, many years and whilst not spooked by it, it was quite uncomfortable. Thankfully not structural damage to the house, the greenhouse remained intact and nothing was blown out of the garden- well not that I have come across yet.
We did get to see the power of mother nature with the volume of branches and indeed trees that were blown over, some of a considerable size and I am sure a few trampolines would have gone airborne if not pinned down.
Once it had settled down the harvest was gain in full swing but the wind all week has made a mess in the fields with the bouts of straw scattered so extra manpower and costs to row this back up and get it baled. The fields of tatties have also seen the tops taken off to stop growth and blight and allow the tatties underground to grow a bit more before they are harvested.
Hopefully the wildlife in our countryside did not suffer many casualties as a result of the storm.
It is obvious that there would have been an impact on the fishing in the early part of the week so lets see how everyone fared.
Starting up the river at Castle Grant, Simon Crozier reports of a week of two halfves at Castle Grant.
After the stormy start to the week, a rise in the water gave us hope, things remained quiet until Wednesday when we got off the mark with a fish from Polchraine, after that sport was steady rather than spectacular with fish across the beats on the remaining days, a mixture of older fish and the odd cleaner grilse. The biggest was a 14lb cock fish from Pollowick for Alistair Maciver .
Down river at Knockando, Archie Bailie advises this it was not to bad a week with us considering the howling winds we had all week. We finished with 8 salmon to 16lb, 6 grilse and 6 sea trout. A special mention to Harry Giffard who at 12yrs old managed to catch his first ever fish from the Long Pool. Watched by his granddad who 63yrs earlier at the age of 12 landed his first fish 150yds upstream in Craigneiche.
Well done Harry.
As we journey down the river, Carron is my next stop where Ian Borthwick advises that they had a couple of fish for their week, with the lucky captors being Muhammed Al Faour with his first salmon in Scotland and Mark Elliot.
At Delagyle, David Smillie reports that they had two this week to Richard Pickup, a 5lb grilse from Delenne and a 11lb salmon from Gean Tree.
Down to Wester Elchies where Malcolm Newbould reports that they finished the week with seven fish added to the book for their season.
Things are quiet until we reach Easter Elchies where Orn Sigurhansson reports a week of contrasting weather and water conditions. We were very pleased to welcome again the MacDonald fishing party to Easter Elchies this week. Storm Floris put paid to Monday’s fishing. We had a good day on Tuesday, with Andy Brodie with 2 to his rod and big fish hunter Ian Gillies landing a cracking 18lb fish from Red Craigs. We had a good end of the week on Saturday night, with 3 salmon and grilse landed, 4 sea trout and 4 fish lost all in the space of 3 hours on Saturday night. Tony Mone, Mark Morrison and James Robertson all on the score sheet. A good, social week at Easter Elchies, with up to 14 for lunch each day. An enjoyable week on Speyside.
Slipping on down river my next stop is Euan Reid at Arndilly who reports that this week we had David Plumpton and his team of Arndilly fanatics.
Despite being blown to bits by Monday’s storm we had 3 fish, John Reeve and David Saunders with grilse from Back of the Bog and Long Pool and David Plumpton, 12lb from the left side of Cobble Pot. Most of our anglers didn’t fish on Monday afternoon because of the wind and we had to chainsaw ourselves home in the evening.
The water rose all day on the Tuesday from a low of -6 to get just above 0. We had 7 on Tuesday, Roly Dangerfield had 3, a grilse from Long Pool along with a grilse and a 12.5lb fish from the Bulwark. John Reeve had 2 grilse, from the tail of Long Pool and a speciality from the Mares Tail, and David Plumpton and Jack Meredith had a 12lb and a 14lb fish from the neck of Cobble Pot, right bank.
Wednesday was odd, in that we contacted lots of fish but couldn’t hold onto them until the evening when we had 5. David Plumpton with a grilse and a 8lb fish from left side of Cobble, Roly Dangerfield 14.5lb from the Cobble path and father and son Dick and Oli Bastian with a grilse each from Bulwark and Back of the Bog.
Thursday evening saw three fish landed, John Reeve, 1.5lb and 10lb in consecutive casts in the Bulwark and Jack Meredith with a grilse in the neck of the Spout, right bank.
Friday produced 5 fish a 4lb grilse for Dick, Jack Meredith has 2 along with John Reeve (single fish) from Cobble Pot and Back of the Bog and David Plumpton had a great tussle with a 20lb hen fish in the half light from the Cobble Pot Path.
We finished with 4 on Saturday, David Plumpton, 5lb Back of the Bog, Oli with a 4.5lb fish from Long Pool and Jack and John, 12 and 8 respectively from either side of Cobble Pot.
The water went from -6 to 0 and back to-6 over the course of the week and held between 56f and 58f.
Interestingly, 18 of our 27 fish this week we’re caught between 8.30pm and 10pm.
Robbie Stronach at Rothes and Aikenway is my next port of call and Robbie advises that they finished the week with 2 added to the seasons tally. Nick Bowles got one from Junction and Mark Elliot got one from Jamieson. We were seeing fish but they weren’t being obliging to grab the fly.
Calling in to Mark Melville at Delfur on my journey who reports that a wild week of constant winds with storm Floris kicking off big time on Monday made it a very challenging week!
We like all beats bailed out at lunchtime as the trees and limbs began to fall around us!
We then had a very mixed week fish wise with a good Tuesday and Wednesday catching well over 20 fish and grilse. There were some fine fresh salmon up to 18lbs in the catch which were good to see in August.
The rest of the week they decided they didn’t want to play the game but we managed not to blank each day. Saturday was a wee bit better when we caught a handful.
Popping into Orton where Andy Gunn advises that they had a reasonable week for the Faith party given the tough conditions.
Almost into double figures and a couple of good fish of note but mostly Grilse.
Down at Gordon Castle/Brae Water, Lewis Webb reports that of a tougher week of weather this week. Monday’s storm brought trees down around the fishing and wider estate so we made the decision to pull stumps at lunch time
Tuesday was our busiest day of the week with a good mix of fresh and older fish both salmon and grilse.
The remainder of the week was harder with the wind still continuing to make for challenging conditions but there were some fish for the taking.
My final port of call is with Andy Milne of Fochabers Angling Association to see how they fared given the conditions being experienced up and down the river. Andy was delighted to advise that it was not a bad week for us considering the windy conditions. There was even one caught on Monday morning before Floris really got going. I think we had about 15 in total.
I take my hat off to those who fished hard and safely during the week that was, as it certainly would not have been pleasant as some of the gusts were strong at times and certainly would put you off your feet if you were caught unawares.
The week ahead looks settled so lets see what the beats produce.
Tight lines to everyone out and about
Sandy
