Hello everybody
I think it is safe to say we are glad that raw chilly week is now behind us, It felt like snow at low levels on more that one occasion throughout the week and glad we did not get any, however I have seen pictures from the A9 at Drummochter this afternoon and they have lying snow. March can be a fickle month.
The cold weather does not seem to have affected the garden as things continue to come to life after their winter shut down, do not think it will be long before I see the white blossom on our minature cherry tree in the garden. the birds are continuing to visit the feeders we have out as they build up towards this season nesting time.
Today marks the start of the 2026 Trout Fishing Season so would like to say tightlines to all our avid trout anglers who may well have been out for a wee cast today or getting set up for tomorrow.
As part of the opening of the season, Duncan Ferguson was up at Newtonmore today to open the season for the local trout anglers. Looks like there was good turnout as Duncan delivered his speech and gave the river it’s dram.
Once again Loop Tackle have donated a superb prize for this weeks winner. A Loop Evotech G5 reel, any model is up for grabs for the winner. These reels are good looking, hard working pieces of kit being used by a lot of anglers throughout the world. I will announce the victor once we have seen how the fishing has gone
Right lets see how the fishing has been on the river.
Up at Tulchan, who do not report any activity during the week, a fresh fish was taken on D Beat by Chris Blake. Chris can confirm it was rather cold on the river during the week with a lack off feeling in his fingers when he landed the fish. More fish may have been landed on the Tulchan beats but I do not have the information.
Things seem to have been pretty quiet for a lot of the beats during the week and the rise on Thursday, resulting in high coloured water on Friday did not help but neither did it hinder anglers. Spring fishers are a hardy breed.
A few kelts are still being caught up and down the river but not sure if the big water will have pushed a good number down towards the sea so we will see in the coming few weeks.
A few short reports received from some of the ghllies are as follows
At Macallan, Richard Whyte advises that it was a quiet week with them with the water still on the big side but this looks as if it will hopefully carry a bene fit into the week ahead.
At Easter Elchies, it was a quiet week with a few kelts. Coloured water on Friday settling down to 24 on the gauge on Saturday. Looking good for the fishers next week.
Stopping in by Euan Reid at Arndilly to get his weekly craic, Euan reports that surprisingly nothing to report on Arndilly this week except plenty of good angling effort and good fun from Johnny Webster and his team. The rising water on Thursday and coloured water didn’t help but that said we had some lovely heights for the beat but it wasn’t our turn. I’m delighted to hear of the fish that the lower beats are catching, they’ll get here soon.
Slipping down to Rothes and Aikenway where Robbie Stronach reports of 2 fish for the week. Jimmy Simpson got a 7lb fish from Burnmouth . Graeme Ritchie got a 10 1/2 lb fish from Junction. Well done gents.
At Delfur, Mark Melville advises that they got off to a good start on Monday with a small fish for Kevin James from Broom. Nice to catch another fish from a different pool yet again.
I’m afraid that was it for our week with the big dirty rise arriving Thursday late morning.
Saturday was looking good as she settled back down and cleared. We were unlucky as the beats above and below us all managed fish.
Tomorrow is looking good, let’s hope there’s a nice wee run of spring fish for everyone to enjoy.
My next stop is at Orton to see how their week went with Andy Gunn. Orton hosted the River Spey Anglers Association Spring ladies day on Friday but following the change in river conditions overnight Thursday it made Friday a challenging day for the ladies but I am sure they had their usual ball. Fish were caught during the week, with four spring fish added to the seasons tally for Orton. On Monday, Allan Crook had a 7lb fish from the Glide and on Tuesday Robbie Milne landed a similar sized fish from the House Pool. Thursday saw the next success for Ian Calvert with a nice 8lber from Cairnty, before Martin Nelson rounded off the week with another 7lb fish from the House Pool, this was his first Spey Springer.
My final stop in is at Gordon Castle/Brae Water where Lewis Webb reports A quiet week with not many rods out for the first half of the week and the rise in water making a nuisance of itself on Thursday and Friday.
We did however finish the week with some silver to Tom Shelley landing a bar of silver on Saturday. We’re still picking away a few kelts, even after the rise that we would have thought might have moved the majority on.
However, alarmingly as a result of the conditions at the end of the week the ghillies were on high alert due to the presence of some interesting characters on the river bank, especially when the river coloured up. You can never take your eye off the ball and all instances like these should be reported as soon as possible.
The weather of for the week ahead seems to be a few degrees warmer which is a good thing as I venture out for the first time this season, will need to go and look the fishing stuff out and see if I can remember what to do.
Finally I would like to announce that this weeks winner for the biggest first Spey Springer goes to Tom Shelley for his fine 9lb fish- well done Tom. I will be in touch once I have contact details for you.
Tight lines for the week ahead.
Sandy
