Hello all
Another week slips under the radar as we edge further into the new season.
A cracking afternoon here in Elgin, the sun is shining and there is a warmth to it also. The week gone by was reasonable on Speyside but a few of the nights saw temperatures dip below zero but I think we can live with that.
You will all be aware of the collapse of the Spey Viaduct down at the mouth of the river and the ongoing discussions around what should be done with it. The local authority are currently looking to remove the fallen sections, with a view that they will not be replaced. The Viaduct is an iconic structure on the river and its removal/non replacement will have an affect on locals as this was used heavily as a medium for crossing the river when out cycling or indeed for a walk. We will need to wait and see what happens.
Life continues to develop in the garden as things continue to warm up, albeit slowly. There is a tremendous show of buds on the white lilac in our back garden and it will be great to see this on display in the coming months. before we know it we will be thinking of what can go in the greenhouse this season alongside the usual tomatoes.
Duncan again was in the Upper Spey catchment this week and sent me the following images the top one looking west to Laggan and the Dam, the lower picture is the Spey at Garva bridge which is 7miles from the source of the river.
Our generous sponsors of the weekly report, Loop Tackle have put up an Evotech G5 reel, in any size for the winner. This is a great reel and is well liked in the angling community with many rods using the current or indeed an earlier version of the reel.
It is not just fishing tackle, clothing etc that our sponsors undertake, they do some cracking films which are available to view online via YouTube but here is link to their channel where you can view some spectacular fishing in some if the worlds finest locations. Enjoy
Ok lets have a look at the fishing this week to see how everyone has fared
We will journey up the river this week from mouth to as far up as I have a report.
At Gordon Castle/Brae Water, Lewis Webb reports that First week March brought a welcome change, with a bit of warmth from the sun finally on our backs — a sure sign that spring is beginning to show itself. There’s a real feel of the season turning now, with springers starting to appear in the water.
Big tides this week seem to have encouraged a few fish into the river, and fish have been seen most days. We opened our account for the year on Wednesday when Bryan Herbert landed two fish (15lbs and a fish in range 8-10lbs). Connor followed that up on Thursday with another brace ( both 8-10lb range), keeping the momentum going.
Friday brought a small rise in water, and we rounded off the week nicely with another fish in the net to finish things off.
A promising start to the season, with encouraging signs that more fish should be on their way.
At Orton another three fish were added to the season tally. The lucky rods being John Stamp. David Kirwan-Jones and Eddy Anderson – well done.
Popping in to see Mark Melville at Delfur who updates me that they had good conditions all week with some stunning spring weather.
The water was up and down a wee bit with the diurnal snowmelt. Water temperatures stayed nice and cold hovering around the 40f which certainly seemed to help the lower beats this week.
John Grant caught our first of the week from Beaufort on Tuesday afternoon on his trusty Willie Gunn tube.
Brian Shaw did his annual visit to Delfur on Thursday and managed not one but two spring fish, one from Collie in the morning and another from the Hollenbush in the afternoon.
We had another fish on Friday for Gavin Harrower which was his first ever Spey salmon.
A good early spring week and nice to see the beats below us doing well too.
Quite a few fish have been seal and dolphin marked this year so far.
Catching up with Euan Reid at Arndilly who advises that this week we had Henrik Larsen and his team of hardworking Danes. We only managed 1 fish, Thøger Thøgersen with an 8lb fish from the Bulwark, hut side on Thursday. There were several other fish plus a number of Kelts seen through the week. I think we were a bit unlucky really but that’s fishing. The Danish guys put in a good shift and really enjoyed having the sun on their backs after a long cold Scandinavian winter.
Up at Easter Elchies, Orn Sigurhansson reports a week of frosty starts, plenty of sunshine and another fresh fish. We were very pleased to welcome the Tisdale fishing party again this week to Easter Elchies. With the frosty starts, the water level dropped back as the week developed. Great to add to our tally of fresh fish, with Craig Alexander landing a cracking 8lb Spey springer from Red Craigs.
As I head up river, Richard Whyte at Macallan gave the following update Fishing effort on the Macallan water has been fairly light this past week, with a small number of anglers on the beat, all of whom were novices. One salmon was hooked on Tuesday on Greenbank, but unfortunately came off after a short encounter. A few kelts have also been caught during the week.
River conditions have generally been favourable and, with spring progressing, we remain hopeful of seeing more fish moving through the system in the coming weeks.
Not a lot of action as we head upstream with the odd kelt still being encountered until we reach Kinermony who are off the mark reports David Brand. David reports that father and son combo of Peter and Clive Murray both landed fish.
No further action is confirmed above Kinermony but we are still early in the season.
As a result of the reported catches this week I am delighted to announce that this weeks prize goes to Bryan Herbert for landing a cracking 15lber (Ian Stronach advises it was a solid deep spring fish) and followed it up with a smaller fish – well done Bryan.
The prize winner category will remain fluid for the time being.
Forecast for the week ahead looks to be reasonably good with temperatures hovering about 10-11 degrees for the most part so we can only hope to see a few more fish across the beats.
Tight lines
Sandy
