Afternoon everyone
Sun is shining, its warm in the garden, not the words a ghillie or rod wants to hear as they prepare for the upcoming week on the river.
The farmers are loving this weather though, harvest nearly complete, straw baled and stacked and it will soon be time to start with the tatties, although early crops will have already been lifted. However it is not all good in the farming world as I have seen water recently getting applied to a field of carrots. Luckily enough these fields are well inland and the water is coming from storage ponds but given the precarious state of our rivers these ponds may run dry and farmers will not be allowed to abstract from the rivers.
There is no substantial rain the in the forecast for the foreseeable and I would not be surprised if we see further SEPA alerts about water scarcity in the coming days.
At this time we all need to be responsible about our water usage and that applies to all, including our agricultural sector.
After last weeks report of the discovery of pink salmon redds in the lower Fiddich, the river was checked via scuba divers for evidence of further invasion.
Anyway lets see how the river fared last week. Weather conditions were a bit more favourable with some cloud in the mix but the crucial ingredient was missing- water. Thigs did start to get towards the end of the week and it looks as if the start of the next will be in the same vein.
Starting down the river at Fochabers Angling Association, Andy Milne advises that it was a quiet week again for us with only 1 salmon and 4 grilse reported.
Coming up river to Gordon Castle/Brae Water, ghillie David Buley reports of another week of very low water. The overhead conditions were much better than last week, so we managed to land a few more fish. Fresh grilse and the odd salmon seen moving through most days. There is no proper rain forecast for the foreseeable, which is less than ideal, but we’ll keep on plugging away. Just less than 40 fish landed this week.
Andy Gunn at Orton reports that they did ok for the week with low water as is the usual this year made life tricky but we picked away every day and ended up in double figures of fish landed and easily the same again that didn’t make it to the net.
David Howie Scott got the ball rolling on Monday with a Grilse from the Turn, Richard Summers landed a few for his 3 days the best being a 12lb hen fish from Cooperee.
On Thursday the conditions improved somewhat and we hooked 7 fish but landed only 1, young Tony Balding with a Grilse from the Turn.
On Friday a personal best was achieved for your Rory Downie with a cracking 21lb fish from Cooperee.
The switch was flicked again on Saturday when we managed to land half a dozen fish, the best was by Fred Cosar, a 1st ever Scottish Salmon for him, 16lb from Cooperee.
Angus Forsyth had a double with fish of 6 & 7lbs also from Cooperee. Willows & The Turn also produced fish on Saturday.
Continuing up the river my next stop is Delfur where Mark Melville confirms it was a tale of two halves this week with the warm water early in the week making catching fish a wee bit tricky.
From Thursday onwards the water started to cool down and then we had some good sport catching into the 20s.
Just 1 fresh fish but a good one at 14lbs for Dane Douetil who was also top rod. Toni Douetil did well and caught a few grilse for her week.
Abbi Henry and bump had a fine 10 lb fish from Bridge which was very special.
Dom Henry did well again and caught a handful of grilse and a fish to his rod.
Grace Douetil caught a few matching her sister Abbi with a 10lbr from Sourden.
Orla Constant caught a bigger fish as per usual than her husband Dennis,who could have had 4 on Saturday. He was very happy in the end to land the last one he hooked on Saturday afternoon and avoid the Fish of Shame trophy once again!
Pat and Ian Reed both had one each on Saturday morning with Pat catching the bigger by a good few pounds from Big Haddie.
Let’s hope we get a good dose of the rain that’s forecast as the river needs a good clear out and a nice freshen up.
Up at Rothes and Aikenway, Robbie Stronach confirms that they finished their week with just one for us this week. The captor being Mark Dornan with one from Geantree.
Next stop is Arndilly and Euan Reid who reports that they welcomed David and Danny Dobbs and their families to Arndilly this week. The last time I saw them was when I was still at Gordon Castle and none of us had children, we now have 10 between us!
Given the low water conditions our expectations of catches were relatively low but through perseverance and the added sprinkle of luck, which we all need in this game, we did well, finishing on 16.
After a blank Monday, we had 4 on Tuesday. David Dobbs had our first, 5lb from the neck of Back of the Bog, left side followed by Ginny Webb with a 12lb fish from the Cobble Pot, right bank. Ollie Murphy and Alex Gurnee had our evening fish, 5lb and 3lb from Cobble left.
Wednesday saw three fish in the book, a grilse for John Geary from Long Pool, 12.5lb fish for Ginny again from Cobble Pot left bank this time and Ollie with an evening grilse from the same place.
David Dobbs and Alex Gurnee had Thursday’s fish, 7lb from Back of the Bog and 4lb from Cobble left.
On Friday David and Ollie had a grilse each from opposite sides of Cobble Pot.
We finished with a flourish with 5 on Saturday. Bill Connolly got us started with a lovely 9lb hen fish from the right side of Cobble Pot, quickly followed with a grilse for Ollie from Back of the Bog. David had 2 grilse from Jocks Tail and Long Pool and Ollie finished the scoring with a lovely 11lb fish from Back of the Bog.
The water is low, -9″ by yesterday but the cool weather helped this week.
It was lovely to see so many of the children keen to have a go, and always wanting more when we stopped them. That is where the future lies.
Up to Easter Elchies next where Orn Sigurhansson reports a steady week, with pockets of fish caught. Combination of salmon, summer salmon, grilse and sea trout this week. Total of 11 salmon and a number of sea trout.
Things are quiet between here and Wester Elchies where Malcolm Newbould reports 3 this week. Angus Rutherford had 1 on Wednesday. Peter and Ruth Hosker’s party finished their three days strongly with 2 on Saturday.
Angus was delighted to land his fish as it is the first of 16 hooked this season that he has landed, well doen for breaking that unlucky streak.
Up to Carron next where ghillie Ian Borthwick advises that they finished their week with8 fish in the book. Dick Wise with 3, Henry Gundill with 2, Angus Weir with 2 and Henry Spence with a single fish which was sea-liced.
I have been informed that this will be Ian Borthwick’s last season at Carron as he hangs up his ghillies hat following 44 years on the beat. A well deserved retirement in heading his way at the end of the season, with him being replaced by his son Neal.
I was sent the following note from Henry Spence following their week at Carron and Laggan :-
“We have just had our last week at Carron with Ian Borthwick, he’s looked after parties of my family every year of his 44 seasons as the Carron ghillie and has netted salmon for 4 generations of “ Spence’s”… 3 of which are represented in the picture below…we are delighted to hear his son Neal is taking over. Henry”
Wishing Ian a very happy retirement when it comes.
My port of call this week is to see Archie Baillie at Knockando who advises that they ended the week with 8 salmon 2 grilse and 3 sea trout. Ally Smith and Tommy Black who both made the trip from Lewis to fish the Spey for the first time both managed to catch their first salmon from the river. Well worth the long journey.
The week ahead looks as if there will be warmth, sun and cloud with possibly the odd shower thrown into the mix so we will see what happens as the month of August comes to a close.
Tight lines if you are on the water somewhere
Sandy
