Good afternoon
Well the last week of August is now behind us as we enter the 4 and a bit run in to the end of this season.
I think it is safe to say that many a ghillie and possibly rod will be very glad when the end arrives this year on what has been a peculiar season for a number of reasons but the weather has played a huge part in this years outcomes.
It has ben another fine day in Elgin, the sun is out but it looks like it wont be out this week all the time as we will see spells of rain as the week unfolds, hopefully bringing abit more life to the river. We did see a small rise at the end of the week following the rain that fell in the catchment and fingers crossed this may waken things up a wee bit.
This weeks report is tinged with sadness as the angling world on Speyside lost a stalwart this week. I was sad to hear of the passing of Grant Mortimer, aged 79 at his home. Our deepest condolences go out to his family at this sad time.
Grant was known to many, both local and visitor through his presence in Grantown with both involvement with local angling association where he had been on the scene for 60 odd years, with the last 20+ as Chairman taking over from the late Tom Hawkins. Grant spent most of his time behind the scenes dealing with the finances and general running of the club. I knew him from my time on the Spey Fishery Board as Grant was also the Co-opted member from the Angling Association.
Grant would also have been know to many near and far as the man with the shop- Mortimers in Grantown on Spey. He was the second generation owner, taking over from his father George and moving tot he present shop location in 1991, with the shop having been in the town for the past 50 years.
Grant was a native, born and bred in Grantown and will be sorley missed by all.
Right lets see how things have been this year.
Working our way down river, my first port of call is Simon Crozier at Castle Grant who reports of a week of mixed weather and mixed fortunes at Castle Grant this week.
We are seeing fish in good numbers across the beats but they are proving difficult as is often the case in these conditions. However with a bit of luck and perseverance we managed to persuade a few to the net, with a few lost as well as landed.
Will Orson had 3 for his efforts, 2 grilse and a lump of a cock fish of around 15/16lbs which he got in Greenbank.
Joe Carrington had a fine autumn hen of 9lbs from Pollowick .
Di Orson had a wee grilse on Saturday again from Pollowick .
A few silver fish are still pushing up river which is good to see at this time of the season.
Connor Macgregor had his first salmon, a grilse from Polchraine after losing 3! Jamie Jones had his grilse from the Wash Pot and John Turner finished our week with a grilse from Polchraine.
With the weather set to change we hope for more sport to come next week
Also in the Castle Grant area, Kevin Shanks advises that he has just spent a week at Kinchurdy fishing with 22 seatrout to bolbs, along with 6-8 other from other beats, all in all a good week.
Slipping down the river, Ian Borthwick at Carron reports a single fish for their week to the rod of Neil Borthwick.
At Delagyle, David Smillie reports Two small grilse from Dal Breck and a seatrout from the Top Pots. Lot of fish in the beat but totally switched off.
Kinermony also had success according to David Brand with Peter Kyte tempting a s ingle fish.
Across the river at Wester Elchies, Malcolm Newbould reports that they finished their week with 1 salmon and 2 sea trout. The little rise didn’t seem to make any difference.
Continuing down river to Easter Elchies where Orn Sigurhansson reports another week of low water and bright conditions. A multi fishing party week. Tough conditions all week. With the bright weather, afternoons were spent golfing at Rothes GC and 5pm beers at The Fiddichside. Plenty of fish in the pools and a few caught. With the changing weather next week, hopefully this freshens things up.
At Arndilly, Euan Reid advises that this week we welcomed Brian Lovering and his team to Arndilly. This week last year we had water and fish and caught good numbers. This year we had no water, fish, but struggled. We had a number of contacts and close encounters but none of which were properly in the net until Johnny Caswell saved the week with a fish from the back of the bog on Saturday, just before lunch.
It was disappointing particularly because last week got more productive as the week went on but this week we began with sunny days which didn’t help. That said, we know Delfur did well this week so my excuse is probably just that!
Anyway, my thanks go to Brian and his team for working hard in pretty tough conditions.
Next on my journey is Rothes and Aitkenway where Robbie Stronach that they finsihed with 2 for the week. James Bladon’s got one from geantree and Nick Pleydell-Bouverie got one from Creeky.
Mark Melville at Delfur reports that it was another decent week of fishing here at Delfur with the river staying low all week and getting to its lowest point of the year by Friday.
We did have a 7” rise late Friday night which carried a slight tinge of colour on Saturday. This should help the river freshen up a wee bit for the coming week ahead.
As of this afternoon there are a few small rises throughout the catchment which can only help.
We started the week well with 7 on Monday morning in the bright sunshine including 2 fresh grilse. Tuesday was our quietest day with 2 landed as the water temperature rose after the heat of Monday. After that we had steady catches the rest of the week as it cooled down again.
We finished just short of 30 fish was good going for John Braithwaite and party.
Everyone had some sport with some nice double figure fish being caught along with the usual grilse.
At Orton, Andy Gunn reports that it was a week of single figure fish each day until Saturday when 5 were tempted after the small rise in levels.
Heading further down the river I call in to see David Buley at Gordon Castle/Brae Water who reports that it’s another week done! Not so many left to go now. Again, we’ve had to put up with drought water levels this week, making things a lot more difficult than they should be. We did manage to pick away, landing fish every day. On Saturday we saw a 5″ rise but although we saw plenty not much happened, except for one (George Styles) who caught three in one hour at last knockings on Saturday. Finished the week landing 24 fish biggest 22lb.
As an addendum to David’s report I received an update from the captor of the big fish, Sean Tighe who advises that fish was landed after a 30minute scrap in the Flats, was 101cm long and weighed as above. SGeorge styles who was not having much luck and he cut off the Executioner (size 6) that had landed the big fish, tied it onto George’s rod and he went onto land three fish, mentioned above by David. The three fish weighed 10,11 and 8lbs respectively. Is that not fishing.
My final stop this week is Fochabers Angling Association where Andy Milne reports that they finished their week with 4 salmon and 16 grilse reported, most of them fresh too by the looks of it.
Well the week ahead looks mixed weather wise so lets see what it brings. I am out on the river at the end of the week so hoping for some sport.
Tight lines
Sandy
