Fishing News for rivers Spey, Avon, Dee and Findhorn - 2001
Update: 20 March 2001. The new season started with great optimism with reports of fresh fish running the Spey, Dee and Findhorn systems. There has been concern, however, as the sad news of the Foot and Mouth disease epidemic, has had implications for those with an interest in outdoor pursuits. We are pleased to say that most Highland Salmon angling continues, but with full compliance from anglers with respect to strict disinfection procedures at strategic points of access to the beat. We encourage all anglers to continue to fully conform with such requests where asked to do so.
Update: 27 March 2001. The Scottish Executive has now declared that the Scottish countryside north of the Forth-Clyde divide to be provisionally Foot and Mouth disease free. A substantial area of National Trust and Forestry Commission land together with many country estates and Historic Scotland properties have re-opened. This is excellent news allround but particularly for those with a love of the great outdoors. This also means that Salmon angling should not be restricted and although disinfection precautions will still apply, full access to fishing beats should be possible.
Update: 20 April 2001. We have reports of a promising start to the Spring fishing on the Spey, Dee and Findhorn systems. The middle and lower Dee has had an excellent start to the season with prolific runs of sea liced Springers. Park, for example have had excellent fishing in April with 27 fish for the first and 41 fish for the second week of the month. Fish up to 24 lbs have been taken and all have been returned. The Spey is also showing a steady run with fresh fish being taken right through to the upper reaches (Kinchurdy 2, Kincardine 2 and Grantown Association 7 fish). The Findhorn is also showing a good early run. There are lots of fish running through to Darnaway and early reports of fish attempting to leave the deep waters of the gorge for the upper reaches. Forres Association fishes steadily with 11 fish for the season so far. The prospects are good and the real Spring fishing is only just starting.
Update: 25 April 2001. We are delighted to see the initiative taken
by Inver House Distillers, who run Speyburn Distillery. They are offering
a bottle of 10 year old Speyburn single malt to any angler who catches,
tags and releases a spring Salmon whilst fishing the Brae Water Trust
or Gordon Lennox Estate waters of the Spey. An angler catching and releasing
a fish already tagged is entitled to a miniature of the malt. This action
is much to be commended and should encourage release of more Spring Salmon
back into the Spey system.
Update: 8 May 2001.The season is now well under way and it appears that Spring fishing so far has been well above average. The Spey system is seeing a good run of fish. Although good numbers of fish are being contacted, many seem intent on running hard to higher reaches. Despite the early restrictions due to Foot and Mouth, catches are at or above average for the time of year. There are some big fish around too, with 2 Salmon of 21lbs at Kinchurdy, a fish of 24lbs at Craigellachie and 26lbs at Grantown.The Avon season at Ballindalloch started with a sealiced 10lb fish caught and returned by Mike Leach on the 25th April. Rick Warren from Bangor, Maine, USA caught and returned an 11lb fish (his first Scottish Salmon) two days later. The next 3 fish taken over the subsequent 7 days were all returned. The Dee continues to fish spectacularly (a term we have not used so frequently in Scotland of late) with 124 fish at Park for April and all were returned to the water. The Findhorn is now in need of water, but the middle reaches continue to produce fish. Fresh fish have been seen up at Tomatin so the thermal barrier of the gorge and it's falls have been overcome. Movement of fish to the higher reaches should not be a problem if the current warm weather continues and river levels are augmented by snowmelt from the Monadliaths.
Update: 21 May 2001.The Spring Salmon fishing season so far has certainly been well above average on the Spey, Dee and Findhorn systems. Good numbers of fish are present but many seem intent on running hard with good catches on some beats but relatively little sport on others. The Spey is now fishing steadily. Castle Grant, for example had 9 and 16 fish for beats 1 and 2, respectively, last week. Arndilly had 16 fish by mid week. Many of these fish were sea-liced and taken on floating lines and small flies! The Dee continues to fish steadily on the middle and lower river and sport is picking up in the higher reaches (Balmoral 15 fish last week). As the water warms it's fine streams provide great sport to the sub surface fly.The Findhorn now needs rain water, being less influenced by snow melt than the rivers draining the Cairngorms. Grilse are making an appearance though in the lower reaches and spring fish are now in the upper river having moved up through the gorge. A sea liced springer was taken at Coignafearn last week. This bears testament to the running powers of these fish once the water warms beyond 50 degrees F.
Update: 24 June 2001.As all rivers are badly needing rain it is not surprising that the fishing has become a little stale recently. There are early reports of good numbers of Grilse and summer Salmon in the estuaries, however. Apart from the odd few fish making excursions into lower beats, very few fresh Salmon have been encountered further upstream. There are always exceptions thoughAfter fishing a low river on the Tomatin House water on the Findhorn recently, Peter Duncan and guests were encouraged to fish late into the evening after light rain freshened the water. They took bright fish of 10 and 11 lbs in the Colonels pool within 10 minutes of each other. It pays to fish early and late and to go over the pools again when there is any change in the water, no matter how slight.
There has been no significant rainfall though, since March and now that the snowmelt has dwindled all highland rivers are showing their bones. If we do get a summer spate or two the fishing could be spectacular.
Update: 23 July 2001.Well, the rains came and the fishing has been spectacular. The week beginning the 9th July saw significant rainfall throughout Scotland, the rivers rose and the fish came. The Dee has been phenomenal. On the 16th July with 10 inches on the gauge Park and Durris had 5 salmon, 10 grilse and 5 sea trout for the day. By Friday 20th the total was 23 salmon to 20lbs, 24 grilse and 5 seatrout. The twenty pounder was dripping with sea lice! Carlogie had 50 fish to 4 rods and Banchory Lodge Hotel had 100 grilse for the same week. Do remember that all these fish were returned.
The Spey and Avon has also seen the benefit of water and excellent runs of fish. The fishing at Brae has been remarkable with 120 fish on one day alone, the 14th July! Fishing has been good at Delfur, Arndilly and Tulchan. At Grantown Association 31 salmon, 8 grilse and 98 sea trout were taken for the week beginning the 16th July. The night sea trout fishing at Kinchurdy has been first class with 28 fish to 6.5 lbs for the same week. Sadly, despite excellent catches on most beats of the Spey many fish are still being killed. Perhaps there are lessons to be learned from the Dee policies on fish conservation, particularly in good years such as this where an excellent spawning stock is already building.
The Findhorn has certainly not missed out, either with respect to water or fish. Glenferness had 38 fish and Cawdor 30 fish for the same week. Somewhat surprising is that the upper Findhorn at Tomatin is still awaiting major sport. Don’t worry, it is only a matter of time!
If any readers are interested Ian can usually find fishing at short notice on the Spey, Dee and Findhorn systems. Many beats still have available days for the coming weeks, so do get in touch if floating lines, small flies and summer salmon appeal!
Ian Neale Salmon Fishing Week, Ponoi River, Kola, Russia. August 4th-10th, 2001.
The reports of Ponoi fishing this summer have been incredible with great numbers of Summer run salmon being caught throughout June-July. Despite low water levels the fish keep running, low water never bothers Ponoi fish, they just keep coming! Anticipation was high for my group as news filtered through at Helsinki of another bumper week before us! We were also looking forward to meeting the first of the Fall run salmon on this next week. These are truly the hardest fighting Atlantic salmon anywhere in the World, so plenty of backing and strong leaders are required to handle these aggressive fish!
Weather conditions were perfect as our helicopter touched down at the Ryabaga camp on August 4th, not too hot, not too cold and hardly a mosquito to be seen! We were a party of 7 and another group of American friends bringing the total to 13 rods. The river looked in excellent condition running clear with a water temperature of 58 F. Traditonally, this is when the first of The Fall run arrive and sure enough we took our first bright Autumn fish off Tomba and Clough Creek beats on August 6th. These were fresh hen fish of around the 10 to 14 pounds; beautiful, short, deep and full of muscle! Fishing conditions remained perfect being mild and overcast. Most anglers were fishing small tubes or size 6-8 doubles on floating lines using 14-15 foot double handed Spey rods. Some fish were also tempted up on skated dry fly and Bomber! The fishing remained consistently good all week, although it slowed a little after heavy rain upstream brought the river up with some colour on our last 2 days.
First time Ponoi angler Michael Baugham from Amersham, Bucks, will remember his day on August 6th, taking a large cock fish of 28 pounds off Alexeevski beat. This was a big over-wintered salmon from the previous Fall, which when fresh must have weighed around 35 pounds. This is also the biggest salmon off the Ponoi this season, so far. Greg Palmer, fishing with father Brian, took another large fish of 26 pounds off Hallway beat on 7th August, having taken a 20 pounder the day before! Ronnie (The rod) Sneddon from Clackmannanshire caught his biggest ever salmon of 21 pounds off Kolmac beat, guided by the delightful Melissa Wardell from New Zealand on 7th August. His personal record stood for just 3 days until he took a 22 pounder from Alexeevski. Not to be outdone David Lightowler from Ripon, Yorkshire, caught a 20 pound beauty with Boris off Tomba on the 9th. Tremendous fishing!
It was a truly fantastic week with a total of 175 salmon to the Ian Neale group, giving an average of 25 fish per rod with 6 fish over 20 pounds. The total for the whole group of 13 rods was 272 salmon for the week. Thanks go to all the Ponoi staff and guides for making us all so welcome and doing everything possible to ensure our every need was taken care of.
Anyone who may be interested in joining one of my fishing groups for next year, please contact me at ian@speycaster.net
Update: 2 Sep 2001. Most highland rivers were subject to repeated spates throughout the months of July and August. This was excellent for attracting runs of summer fish but their behaviour was far from predictable. Despite this the fishing has continued to be good on the Dee in particular: slightly less so on the Findhorn and Spey. The Aberdeenshire Dee has fished superbly throughout this season. Sea liced fish have been taken every week and they continue to come. The summer fishing is often neglected and again this has been the case but anglers who have put in the time have been amply rewarded. Figures at Park for July show 37 salmon, 57 grilse and 18 sea trout. The best fish was 24 lbs and one angler fished four days and had ten salmon and eleven grilse! The fishing further upstream at Kincardine O’Neil and Dess has also been excellent particularly for anglers fishing early and late. The catches on Dess Borrowstone and Kincardine O’Neil, to the end of August, are 100% up on last year. A reflection on the excellent Dee fishing this year is that many beats are already fully booked for next season.
The Spey fishing has in general been a little slower. Some fresh fish are being taken on the middle and lower beats but sport has been erratic. A good number of new fish, however, are now beginning to congregate in the estuary and move into the Gordon Castle and Brae waters. Remember, these beats can produce liced salmon up to the last day of the season. The Avon has a good stock of salmon and the fishing has been steady. Good numbers of grilse have moved in from the Spey and have provided good sport in the streamy pools. Geoff Hinds from Essex, guided by Ian Neale on the Ballindalloch water, caught 3 fish (all bright) at 4, 7 and 7lbs for his week at the end of August. These were his first Atlantic Salmon and he was pleased to christen his Bruce and Walker 12'6" Powerlite. The tally would have been greater but for a significant dirty spate on the last 2 days.
Sky Television Tightlines ProgramIan was invited to participate in a production of a special feature on Speycasting for Sky's Tightlines fishing program hosted by Bruno Brookes. Ian spent a day filming on the Park Estates beat of the River Dee in early September 2001. He explains and demonstrates the single and double Spey cast, with the odd snake roll thrown in! After losing one fish he managed to hook and land a bright cock fish of 8 pounds from the Cellar pool on a size 10 Silver Stoat. This will be televised at 7pm on Sky Sports 3 Thursday, 27th Sept 2001. Try and remember to tune in.
CLUNE LODGE PARTY, RIVER FINDHORN, TOMATIN, SEPTEMBER 10 to 16 2001
We could not have wished for better conditions after heavy rain over the weekend of 8-9th September brought the river into fine form. It brought up a big run of fish from the lower and middle reaches of the river to the Tomatin beats. Despite the very high and peaty water on Monday 10th, the salmon were clearly in a taking mood! The first fish came to Steve Lingard at 5lb on floating line and size 8 Ally shrimp variant from the Glenkirk beat. Ros Clarke and Rod Boswell also took a fish at 9 and 10lbs off this beat on the first morning. Keith Clarke took a 9lb fish at Freeburn and Alan Sneddon fishing Old Clune also got a 5lb fish before lunch time. After lunch Graham Bruce-Gardner caught his first Atlantic salmon on fly from Fox Earth on Freeburn, a strong 5lb cock. What a happy man he was! Steve Pollock and Peter James caught a further three fish on Glenkirk, including two good fish at 15 and 17 lbs! So, after a great start to the week, a total of 12 fish for the day were landed and all were safely returned to the water!
On the 11th, Peter Grimwade had a nice fish at 7lbs after having played and lost a big one in the Sycamore Run on Dell. Over the next couple of days the water began to fall away but a total of 21 fish had been caught by Wednesday evening. On Thursday it began to pour once again and by 5 pm the river was starting to roar with a wall of water coming downstream fast, raising the level up by some 3 feet in minutes! Not surprisingly, only 3 fish were taken that day. However, the total was 24 including some bright ones with every one released. The best was yet to come!!
On Friday 14th the river was once again in perfect order and the fish were back on the take, big time! At last, after a slow start to the week, Ronnie ‘the rod’ Sneddon found his usual form when he landed 3 salmon in the day. By the end of the day we had landed 23 fish, including a fish each for Mike and Ian (12 and 15lbs) sharing a rod on Glenkirk, after Ros Clarke had a break in the afternoon. Graham Bruce-Gardner was clearly getting the hang of things now when he landed and returned a huge ‘whale’ of 20lbs from the Long Pool on Old Clune!Conditions remained perfect for our last day and another 15 salmon were landed on the Saturday. A grand total of 61 salmon were taken for the week. Every single fish was hooked and carefully released, except for one that was hooked deep and bleeding and therefore had to be killed. The Findhorn looks set for a good spawning season, thus ensuring the future stocks of this great river. Fish were caught on a variety of flies size 6 to 10 mostly presented on sink tip and intermediate lines. However, Steve Lingard caught all his 11 fish, the most to one rod for the week, on a full floater. Steve Pollock, had a lot of fun and showed great expertise, fishing a single hander, dibbling two single hook flies in the popples and streams.
The much coveted Findhorn Challenge went to Graham Bruce-Gardner, after not only catching his first fish on fly, but in also landing the biggest of the week. Well done Graham.
Thanks to all my guests for their great support throughout the season and particularly with respect to this new venture at Clune. The week was a great success and in anticipation a second week, fishing the Findhorn from Clune, has been reserved for September next year. See the Lodge Parties and Holidays page for details. IAN NEALE.
Update: 30 Sep 2001.Dr 'Bob' Gieringer, from Anchorage in Alaska, traveled a long way to spend the last five days of the season fishing the Ballindalloch water on the Avon. He was keen to have some Spey casting tuition but was soon into the action when he hooked a lively fish in the Haugh pool on beat two, on the first day. The fish had other ideas, however, and a long distance release was duly recorded! On the thursday, Sept 27th, fishing the same pool, he hooked another fish on a size 8 Ally's shrimp. A cracking good hen fish of 14lbs was landed, photographed and safely returned.
Despite seeing plenty of fish on all beats, they were rather difficult to tempt. Half hearted pulls and tweaks at the fly were numerous so each day was filled with anticipation. Dr 'Bob', however, enjoyed his visit to Scotland and was delighted with his few days on the Rivers Avon and Spey. His Spey casting improved steadily through the week following constant guidance from Ian. We look forward to the good company of Dr 'Bob' back in the highlands next year.