Good afternoon all
I do not need to say very much about the weather this week other than I have not experienced heat like this is many years. It has been so unbearable and the end of the week in the office was something else.
The Sun worshippers will be loving this but many others, myself included will nit be enjoying this one little bit.
The plants in the garden are struggling a bit, which is no surprise and its too warm to get the lawnmower out to cut my postage stamp of a lawn. The extended dry spell is great for haymaking but not for those who may still have a second cut of silage to take. The fields of tatties on my way to work are all in flower just now so no doubt harvesting of these shall start shortly. Barley and wheat continues to ripen and give it a few weeks and we may see early harvesting or not- depends on what the weather wants to do.
It is fairly obvious that the weather has had a effect of the fishing, with wall to wall sunshine for the latter part of the week which will has dictated early starts and late finishes for those who wished to have a crack at the silver tourists. It is good to see the arrival of the grilse and hopefully this run will continue for the coming days.
Lets see how everyone fared last week in the conditions encountered.
Andy Milne at Fochabers AA was delighted to report that about 30 fish for us this week, half of them on Monday when there seemed to be a tremendous rush of fish. The Brew family had a great week with 19 between them. Kevin Stewart got 3 on Monday with a few other members including myself catching one.
Next stop is David Buley at Gordon Castle/Brae Water who advises that the week started well, with fish being caught throughout the beats, both grilse and salmon. More fish were being seen, and good numbers of fish moving through, especially in the evenings. With the weather heating up and getting brighter towards the last end of the week, that’s where it got very different. Nothing landed on Friday or Saturday, but there’s little wonder given the conditions.
Heading up the river, I call into see Andy Gunn at Orton who is not doing the report of their week but the host, David Dobbs has provided me with the following detail of their week at Orton.
“Despite the hot weather we had another good week at Orton. That rise in water at the start of the week encouraged fish to run and good numbers of grilse were about with the odd salmon amongst them.
Monday started with 3 fish, and at least 7 lost. Tuesday was our best day with 10, Wednesday was hot resulting in just one grilse, while Thursday produced 7.
After that the heat killed sport except for the odd fish before breakfast. We couldn’t fish after breakfast in the sweltering heat, but that didn’t curtail the fun with Cairnty providing the perfect spot for the numerous swimmers in the party. Regardless we finished with 24 fish landed and many more lost. And amazingly the children accounted for half our catch which is just brilliant to see.
There were many highlights including 2 first fish for cousins Louis (10) and Jamie (also 10) Dobbs. Both from the Junction Pool and both within 15 minutes. What a great spell of fishing, if only it was always that easy for youngsters to break their duck. Geoffrey Dobbs (13) was on the score sheet again this year with a beautiful fresh 12 pounder from Cooperie (after quite the battle, well done Mark) and Daniel Dobbs had the best fish of the week, a sparkling 15 pounder from the Willows. Paddy Corcoran excelled in the heat by getting up in the early hours on Friday and Saturday (while others slept) and was rewarded with 4 fish from the Turn. A superb effort Paddy. Ollie Dobbs fished well again this year with 5 fish, one of 12 pounds from Cairnty. David had a few good fish throughout the week while a new addition to the party, Ryan O’Loughlin had his first Spey salmon, a 9 pounder from the Turn. Even Ger Roe managed a grilse in his fleeting 24 hour visit. Sophie Dobbs (16) hooked 4 fish and managed to land one from Cairnty.
Mornings were by far the most productive this week with late evenings a dead loss due to the high water temperature. Hopefully the rain forecast for early next week will cool everything down and more sport will be had.”
Onto Delfur where Mark Melville reports that it was a tough week here at Delfur though we didn’t have a blank day!
Monday started off with a nice bit of fresh water and lots of expectations.
We disappointingly only managed one grilse from Sourden caught by Amanda Flint on her first visit here.Tuesday was another good fishing day and we caught 3 including a superb 6lb grilse in perfect condition. The rest of the week got more difficult as the weather warmed up rapidly.
By the end of the week the water was more suitable for swimming rather than fishing!
It’s still very hot today but the forecast looks better with clouds and a splash of rain most days to help the river and the fish.
Slipping up stream to Rothes and Aikenway to where Robbie Stronach reports on their week by confirming that they finished with 4 for the week . Christopher Oughtred had one from Bluestone and another from Jamieson. Jane Wright got one from Town Road and Mrs A Bladon got one from Junction – a good effort given the conditions the rods were faced with.
Arndilly ghillie, Euan Reid advises that this week, we had another of our regular teams who are all friends of ours, having spent so many great times together. This week, it was Simon Browne and his family.
Having lost 5 on Monday morning, we were delighted to put the net under a 5lb grilse for Charlie Browne in the Piles after lunch. Simon lost a fish opposite while Charlie was playing his.
Congratulations from all at Arndilly to Holly Browne and Paddy Peake, who got married recently and couldn’t make it this year but their replacement this year, David Clarke got off to a good start with 2 on Monday evening from Back of the Bog, 13.5lb and 10.5lb.
On Tuesday, it appears we had an influx of fish and grilse because we had 6, and we were catching them in places we haven’t been getting them recently.
Charlie Browne had a lovely sea liced 8lb fish from Gilmour, followed by David Clarke with a grilse from just below the culvert in the Long Pool. Simon Browne completed our morning with a grilse at the top of Reids in certainly no more than 3ft of water, typical grilse.
George Browne had a 7lb fish from the left side of Piles, Jim Browne, 5.5lb from the Back of the Bog, and George had another in Back of the Bog in the evening, this time 9lb.
As the sun came out, it became more difficult but on Friday, Charlie managed a 5lb grilse early on from the left bank of Cobble Pot and Bill Tyser had a 4lb grilse on the opposite side in the evening.
David Clarke had our final fish of the week in the Cobble Pot on Friday under the blistering sun at midday, 4.5lb sea liced.
We were sorry not to find a fish for Lucy and James, and Georgia very nearly cracked it on Saturday evening, but after a decent fight, it went its own way unscathed. Next time!
Something I’ve not seen before. Lizards aren’t common here, we see 2 or 3 a year, but this one swam across the cobble pot on Friday. Surprised a sea trout, which were showing, didn’t fancy it!
Pushing on against the current to Easter Elchies, where Orn Sigurhansson reports another week of low water and the grilse have arrived in good numbers. With the continued low water, we are focusing on our streamy pools. Red Craigs in particular fishing well. We were pleased that Mike Murdoch joined us this week. Early morning and evening fishing the best fishing times in the current conditions and we caught grilse throughout the beat. Great start to the week with the next generation amongst the fish on Monday, with both Eleanor and James landing a fish. 30 salmon and grilse landed for the week, including 8 from Inverfiddich. A great grilse week on Speyside.
On to Wester Elchies where Malcolm Newbould advises that they added a salmon 2 grilse and a seatrout to the season tally. They welcomed a new keen party who got up early before the heat started and it shows that these are the times to be fishing in these conditions.
At Kinermony, David Brand advises that their guests, Steve and David Kellet, managed to get a grisle each and a seatrout, but unlucky for them they lost a lot of fish, no doubt fresh grilse who enjoy winding the angler sup by letting go of the metalwork!!
Up to Delagyle where David Smillie who reports that proprietor David Astor landed their only fish of the week, a grilse.
My next stop on the river journey is Archie Baillie at Knockando who gives the same picture as other beats in that success was to be had in the first half of the week. Two coloured salmon, 3 fresh grilse and a coloured sea trout. As the temperatures started to rise as the week went on, the river temp with me at one point reached 22.2c we blanked the second half.
My final port of call is with Simon Crozier who kindly gives me an update on Castle Grant, Abernethy Water and Grantown Water.
At Castle Grant he reports that it was another week where seatrout were the highlight of the week . A few salmon and grilse came to hand across the beats but the big seatrout continued to appear with best a 10lb beauty from Greenbank for Michael Airey .
This week saw us host a fishing week in memory of the late head Ghillie Lionel Main. Seven young students from all over the country spent the week learning all aspects of fishing, ghillieing, including fly tying and all varieties of spey casting.
All the boys had a great time and learned many new skills they can take forward with them .
It was great to have them here and Lionel’s would certainly have been impressed by their casting skills and enthusiasm to learn.
All involved left with a qualification and some new skills .
Well done to all involved.
Well after a week of record temperatures , next week looks to be a bit cooler with the odd splat of rain in the forecast. we could do with a wee drop of fresh water to keep the fish interested.
Tight lines to those out and about
Sandy
