Afternoon everyone
Another week slips by as we near the point of leaving March and arriving in April.
Its not too bad a day, comparing it with the last two it is a vast improvement. we have sun and very little wind today, unlike the last two days which saw a return to cooler temperatures as conditions on the river bank, were at time miserable.
The countryside is continuing to change colour as crops are planted and the warmer weather brings on the grass and summer crops start to emerge. The lovely green shoots with soon be attracting the attentions of birds and deer which will no doubt do a bit of damage. the biggest damage maybe done by pigeons who can do a lot harm in a short space of time.
Lambs are starting to appear in fields, not in big numbers but slowly and surely flocks will start to grow as we get into lambing season.
Last week saw some really changeable conditions on the river with wind and rain pretty prevalent at times. I had the pleasure of spending the last two days with some of the 18 rods who attended the River Spey Anglers Association Ladies Fishing weekend, kindly hosted by Gordon Castle and Brae Water. We had participants of all ages and indeed from different areas of the country, with the furthest travelled being from Newcastle. It was very unfortunate that the weather conspired against the ladies over the two days with very difficult fishing conditions which would have tested the best of any competent angler. Unfortunately we could not find a fish for anyone but fish were seen which was a bonus.
Ok lets head onto the river and see what was happening elsewhere.
At Gordon Castle/Brae Water David Buley reports that the first half of the week saw nice weather, low water but unfortunately we didn’t land a fish. The second half was very different, very windy and some horrible showers of rain. Thursday two lovely fish were caught. Friday we welcomed the RSAA’s ladies day. We’d like to give a big shout out to everyone who attended and also all helpers that made it a great day for all involved. Unfortunately, the river was rising all day, and the winds were tough, no fish were caught.
Next upstream is Orton where Andy Gunn advises of Another busy week here on Orton with a mix of old and new guests.
Richard Pulleyn fished the House Pool on Monday morning and lost a decent fish at the net before fishing Cairnty on Tuesday morning where he proceeded to land a 15lb beauty. Mark Dean also got on the score sheet in Cairnty with a 6lb sparkler. Four more fish were hooked and lost.
It’s been encouraging to see so many fish about for March and with a falling river this week we’ll hopefully have a good start to April.
Continuing up the river my next stop is to see Mark Melville at Delfur who reports that the rain all day Sunday put the river up for Monday though not a bad colour.
A lightly fished week at Delfur gave us two fish for our new party. The first was caught in Beaufort on Tuesday, no Monday fish this week! John Taylor was the angler with a fine 10lb spring fish from the far side.
We had nothing else all week until Saturday afternoon when host Ron Taylor caught an 8lbr from Beaufort after a rapid rise of water on Friday with strong winds.
We saw fish showing in most pools which seemed to be running hard.
Rothes and Aikenway is the next port of call where Robbie Stronach advises that they managed a solitary fish for the week, with Grant Turle being the successful rod in Burnmouth.
Stopping in at Arndilly, Euan Reid reports that they welcome Nick and Lisa Smith, and Nick got us cracking on with an 8.5lb fish from the long pool at 11 am on Monday. On Tuesday, Luke Axel-Berg had a 9lb fish from the bulwark, and on Wednesday, Olli Ward had a similar fish from Reids at 6″ and 4″ respectively.
Alex Smith lost a fish in the long pool at the net on Wednesday, so we were delighted that the one on Thursday held on, 12lb from Cobble Pot, opposite the path.
Heavy rain in the upper catchment put the river up the best part of 2 feet, and we didn’t get a fish on Friday. The river held a good height for Saturday at 2ft 9 and we had 2, Jim Browne with a 10.5lb fish from the left side of Piles and Lucy Bardwell with a 10lb fish from the right bank of Jocks Tail.
Only 1 of the fish was sea liced.
At Easter Elchies Orn Sigurhansson reports a week of mixed weather conditions. Pockets of fish running throughout the week. Highlight of the week, a cracking 12lb springer from Upper Dips.
Craigellachie have been picking away according the ghillie Dougie Ross, with 7 in the book for last week. Dougie is busy at present with the construction of a new hut for the beat.
New ghillie at Macallan, Richard Whyte got his first week in the job off to a good start with a fish for on of the visiting rods. Richard has been hard at work settling in to the new role and is looking forward to getting on with the job at hand- namely reporting catches to me. No seriously I wish him all the very best and will eb staying on touch to see how things go.
Up the river at Aberlour Angling Club, the visitors were on the scoresheet with a couple of fish. The lucky captors being Howard Dixon with a 12lb fish and Chris Boyle. Well done gents.
Kinermony got off the mark according to David Brand with Ian Henderson landing a nice fish in the Boat Pool.
Knockando had another couple of fish reports Archie Baillie, with Edin Whyte getting his second fish of the season in as many angling days at Knockando and Jim Bennet landing his first ever Spey salmon, congratulations to you both.
My final stops this week are Grantown where they finished with a couple of 10lbers and Abernethy who got off the mark with a belter in the Nethy Pool for Chris Jeffers.
Next week sees a change in the conditions with warmer temperatures set to feature again so with not a lot of rain in the forecast and a falling/clearing river we should hopefully see some action spread across the beats.
Tight lines to those out and about
Sandy
