Fishing News for rivers Spey, Avon, Dee and Findhorn - Season 2004

Latest Report

Fishing News Update, November 11th, 2004

The months of October through November see most salmon anglers heading to the Borders for the autumn run on the Rivers, Tweed, Nith and Annan. The heavy rains of summer which brought us so much sport in the Highlands have never really let up for a moment, so therefore the fishing this Autumn has been a bit hit and miss on these rivers.

I was on upper Tweed for three days from October 28th - 30th with a party of friends and thought we had struck it lucky when we arrived to see the river falling and clearing on the Wednesday afternoon. The gauge was just over two feet and good clarity, perfect! On the 28th, I managed to hook and lose a fresh salmon of about 8lbs followed by a cracking fresh sea trout of around 5lbs. My friend Ali Norman, who was fishing opposite me hooked and landed two salmon for his day, 8lb and 12lb. It was all looking so promising for the next two days and with my friends Nick Armstead and Mike Leach coming to join me. I was feeling optimistic, then the heavens opened once more and the river was in full flood and dirty the next day. We waited and watched as the river finally steadied on the gauge, but still very coloured. It rained and rained, all night!

By Saturday morning the river was back up to over four feet! We fished hard all day as the river fell away very quickly and began to clear. It was a lovely mild day and the sun was shining on us by mid afternoon. Sun and autumn colours are spectacular at this time of year, with glorious shades of gold and oranges reflected all around. (insert photo) By late afternoon we were starting to see fish show on most pools. As the water clarity improved, we really did feel more optimistic and it was no surprise when Nick called to say that Alan Olivier from South Africa had caught his first salmon, a bright silver fish of just over 5lbs. Considering this was only his second day casting with a 15 foot Spey rod, he had every right to feel satisfied. Fishing off the left bank he was really throwing a great single Spey cast and with great effect.

It is a little difficult to get used to these shorter days right now, but my mind is now set on a new season at Park on the River Dee on February 1st. Here, I will be joined with my regular group of friends to kick-start the 2005 season. I love fishing these early spring months from February through April. It can be a little challenging at times, but the days are longer and the rewards are great. To see one of those early bars of silver as they turn onto the fly is indeed the greatest thrill. I am already getting well booked up for the new season on rivers Dee, Spey and Findhorn. However, I do have some really great opportunities and some first class salmon fishing on all of these rivers in the Highlands, so if you are interested, please contact me at ian@speycaster.net.

One of the newest additions to my fishing schedule for 2005 is the most attractive Findhorn beat at Altyre. The beat is situated just downstream of the Poolie Falls at Sluie and runs for some three miles adjoining the Forres AA water at Red Craig. It is a truly delightful stretch of fly water, running through stunning sandstone outcrops and offering fishing for four rods. The beat is split into upper and lower sections, changing over at lunchtime. The upper beat being virtually double bank fishing. We started catching our first salmon here in early March last season, with April through May being prime spring run. The grilse and summer salmon fishing here begins at the end of June with runs of grilse and salmon showing here in big numbers through July to September. We have exclusive access to some prime weeks here from March through to September. Fishing packages may be taken in either three or six day breaks.

Please contact me: ian@speycaster.net for details of guided fishing packages at Altyre either with Lodge accommodation at Dallas or Hotel /Guest House accommodation in the nearby town of Forres.

Fishing Update Report, October 3rd, 2004

The 2004 season finally comes to a close in this part of the Highlands of Scotland and just like it started in early February; it went out with a bang. These past few weeks have been very busy for me and very productive for my fishing guests on the Findhorn and Dee Rivers.

On his first visit to Scotland, Clyde Olson from the U.S.A., a very keen Speycaster, was really delighted to hook into his first Atlantic salmon from the Durris Stream at Park on the River Dee on September 16th. Unfortunately the river rose after heavy rain to 31 inches and was quite dirty and the fishing became a little slower over the next couple of days.

Up on the Findhorn at Glenferness it was pretty well much the same story as the river rose by some five feet over the period of 20th-21st September and very dirty. However by the 22nd it was falling and clearing and conditions were really pretty perfect as Lady Judy Grant and her daughter Victoria hooked and landed four salmon and grilse; a 12lb, 10lb, 6lb and 5lb, all on a purple Cascade # 6 from The Lady’s Pool and all within an hour. Judy then landed another 5lb fish from Secret Spot in the afternoon; a total of five for the day!

The following three days were again excellent for John Butcher, John and Alexander Wraight who landed a total of thirteen salmon and grilse between them from the Glenferness beats. The largest salmon being 15lb to John Butcher from The Garden Pool on the 23rd September. The fishing on all middle and lower Findhorn beats has been brilliant with record numbers of salmon and grilse landed including the excellent Forres Angling Association water. I understand that the Glenferness beats have landed over 480 salmon/grilse for the season which is another fantastic result and the Findhorn river overall must have enjoyed a record season.

The last three days of the season were spent at Park on the Dee with my good friends Willie Mair and Par Palm from Sweden. Conditions here were really very settled with only a little rain and very little wind! The river was clear and running at 10-9 inches on the Park gauge. I don’t think that I have ever seen so many fish in these pools, including many very fresh fish which were clearly running hard and fast. It was a truly impressive sight to sometimes see three to four salmon in the air at one time. We managed to land a total of ten salmon between us with many others hooked and lost.

Thursday 30 th September was an amazing day especially for me as I hooked and landed my personal best for the season. This was a large cock fish of some 21-22lb and taken on a Sunray Shadow from Bakebare pool. It exploded at the fly, as I stripped it back across the fast streaming water, and made some spectacular runs and leaps down the pool. Luckily my friend Nick Armstead was there to assist with netting and photographing before releasing this monster back to go and make more baby Leviathan’s! Later on in the afternoon, Nick too was rewarded with a fine bright salmon of 12lb from the Cellar pool. Willie Mair landed a big bright fish of 15-16 lb from Durris Stream on a tube fly courtesy of Par Palm. Par also landed another fish of 8lb from the Bridge pool on beat six. This has been a really wonderful season for Park on the River Dee with a total of over seven hundred (700) salmon/grilse being landed from these beats.

I shall be heading off to the borders for a few days on Tweed later this month, which I hear is also enjoying some excellent autumn sport on the middle and upper beats. In the meantime, I am already preparing my fishing schedules for next season on the beats of the Findhorn, Spey and Dee Rivers. The season starts on February 1st on the Dee and February 11th for the Spey and Findhorn. Please do contact me for any information regarding Speycasting tuition and guiding on any of these rivers. I can also offer fully catered Lodge parties for groups of 4-10 at any of my regular Lodge/Fishing venues. I have access to some great new private beats on all three rivers. If anyone would like that special trip of a lifetime, I still have spaces for my annual trip to Russia, fishing for Atlantic salmon on the Ponoi River. This is the week commencing August 6th, 2005. Please contact me: ian@speycaster.net for details and costs.

I would like to end this report by saying a special thank you to all of my regular and new clients who have been fishing with me this year on our wonderful Highland rivers. We have indeed been blessed with near perfect conditions and fantastic runs of salmon, grilse and sea trout throughout the season, which have given us such great sport. I would also just like to say that this season has indeed given Scottish salmon fishing a great lift and that it appears all our conservation measures that are in place are now really beginning to pay off. Also the removal of many North Atlantic drift nets and offshore nets are allowing our precious salmon stocks to survive and give us all such sport and enjoyment. Salmo Salar is indeed a great survivor and the future is now looking so very good. I am already looking forward to the new season and meeting up with old friends at Park on February 1st, 2005. Not too long!!

Lastly a special thanks to all of the ghillies who I have been working alongside on all three rivers. All of these guys are very special and have been such a great help to me and my clients.

I always enjoy hearing from readers from all over the World through this great Internet connection, so if you have any questions please do keep the emails coming.

Good luck and very best wishes.

Ian - ian@speycaster.net

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Fishing News Update, September 12th, 2004

First of all, apologies for the lack of fishing reports over these last few weeks, but since returning from Russia it has been a really busy time for me and my fishing guests. I have been up on the Findhorn beats for the last three weeks and fishing conditions from mid-August have been superb with plentiful supplies of rainfall to keep the river flowing and in good ply until this last week when we were thrown into some kind of mini heat wave!

The week commencing August 19th I was on Logie guiding Lady Grant and Terry Seal from London. This was Terry’s first ever salmon fishing trip; however, he soon mastered the art of Spey casting and was able to cover all the pools with ease, even in high water. On the Monday morning the river was just over two feet on the Garden Pool marker, but with good clarity, prospects looked very good. After hooking and losing a fish in the Garden Pool, Judy soon hooked and landed another bright grilse of 5 lbs. It was certainly exciting to see so many fish in the river and in particular the large numbers of fresh grilse, which are still running. The river was up and down almost every day as further rain fell high up in the mountains above. This seemed to put the fish off the take during a couple of days, but my guests ended the week with fourteen salmon/grilse hooked and landed a respectable six, including a really cracking sea liced salmon to Lady Grant’s rod from Craigiehall Pool. I hear that the Forres AA were also having some great sport below us over the same period.

The following week, commencing August 30th, I was a few miles upstream at Glenferness with my regular guests staying at The Wooden House over the next two weeks. Sunday 29th was yet another wet day and even wetter overnight. My six rods enjoyed a great morning of sport, landing eight salmon/grilse before lunch and before the river rose by over three feet, leaving the afternoon rather washed off! By Tuesday morning the river was still high, but clear and the fishing was incredible. David Craig and David Clark caught a remarkable eight fish between them from Princess and Boat Pool before lunch and we ended the day with a total of sixteen fish. The week continued in fine form as the water slowly fell away with my guests enjoying a week to remember. By Saturday 4th, these six rods had hooked a total of fifty-seven (57) fish and landed a superb forty-six (46) salmon/grilse. The other two rods fishing Glenferness had also enjoyed a week of nineteen (19) fish between them. This is an amazing week of sport by any standards and yet again this magnificent Highland river has given all of us such tremendous fishing.

Unfortunately, the following week commencing September 5th was not as productive due to this rather unexpected tropical period! The river fell away and became very clear and with air temperatures soaring into the mid 70’s F., the fishing was slow. However, there is no shortage of fish and still fresh salmon/grilse are running. Prospects for this coming week look very good as we seem to be returning to more favourable conditions, wetter and windy by all accounts as the remnants of Hurricane Frances pay us a visit! We actually had some rain overnight and the Findhorn was rising again this morning.

It seems that the Spey and Dee have been enjoying some fantastic fishing over these last three weeks as well, despite some very high river levels at times. Park had an amazing sixty-two (62) salmon/grilse this last week; including two dark cock fish at around the 26 lb. mark and several sea liced salmon in the mid to high teens of pounds! Fifty of these fish were caught from Thursday to Saturday. What an amazing week of sport for those lucky anglers. I also hear that many of the lower to middle Spey beats have also been enjoying some excellent fishing with a good number of multi sea winter salmon and grilse being caught on many beats. It has really been a wonderful season for all of the three main rivers in this part of the Highlands. I can hardly believe that the season has only two weeks left before the season draws to a close. I am really busy over these next two weeks with my fishing guests and will be fishing on both the Findhorn at Glenferness and Park on the Dee, which, I hope to be able to report on at the end of this month.

I shall be busy with bookings and re-bookings for the 2005 season throughout the closed season and if anyone would like to join me for Spey casting instruction and guiding on either Spey, Dee or Findhorn in 2005 please do contact me for details and prices: ian@speycaster.net

Ian Neale Fishing Party, Ponoi River, Kola Peninsula - Week commencing 7th August, 2004

My party of sixteen anglers enjoyed yet another brilliant week of salmon fishing at the Ryabaga Camp on the Ponoi in early August. This week is always full of anticipation for the long awaited Autumn or Fall run salmon, which had already started to run the week before.

On our arrival, August 7th, the Kola Peninsula set in somewhat of a heat wave with temperatures in the mid 80’sF and water temperature on home pool was a soaring 75°F. However, heat waves rarely last long in the Arctic Circle and by Sunday morning it was indeed a relief to hear the sound of a gentle rain falling on our tent and a much cooler air temperature outside, as predicted by the lovely weather people. Indeed, this was the scene for the rest of the week, perfect fishing conditions for all!

The welcome rain also gave a small rise to the river level over the next few days without becoming dirty. Fresh Ponoi salmon will always run in low or high water conditions and run they did. On Sunday 8th and despite strong winds and high water temperatures we still caught a very respectable fifty (50) salmon. Graham Bruce-Gardner started off the week with a cracking sea liced 10 lb. salmon taken on Lower Tomba. As air temperatures tumbled to 55° F and water temperature had dramatically fallen back to 56° F, the fishing conditions just got better and better with our best days catch on Tuesday 10th of one hundred eight (108) salmon.

There was a real feel of autumn in the camp as the temperatures fell away and the little birch leaves were turning to yellow. All beats from Kolmac to Tomba produced good numbers of salmon to all rods even though a couple of days were dogged by strong upstream winds. However, for most of the time, conditions were really ideal and every evening sixteen happy faces all telling stories of their captures and losses throughout the day. There were several fish taken between the 18 and 20 lb. mark throughout the week.

Just about everyone in my team caught fresh run salmon as well as summer run fish. Graham Bruce-Gardner and David Clark enjoyed a great day of sport with Max (head guide) down on Lower Tomba beat on Thursday 12th landing eleven fish including three (3) sea fresh fall run salmon between 9 and 12 lbs. Graham also encountered a very large fish believed to be 18 lb. plus, which simply took off down the rapids with his Rio fly line and most of his gel spun backing before a crack and all was gone! Despite a lengthy search, the fish and the fly line were nowhere to be seen and most probably still headed towards the Barents Sea!

On our last day, August 13th, conditions really were superb as Ronnie Sneddon and I motored speedily in our jet boat upstream towards Kolmac with my good friend Misha Timoshenko as our guide. It was a slow start with just one fish by 12:00 noon to both rods. But then, we found them and by close of play at 6 p.m. we had landed a total of twenty-two salmon between us with Ronnie accounting for twelve including a magnificent bar of silver weighing fourteen pounds. What a wonderful end to a fantastic week. The total number of salmon landed for the week was an incredible five hundred (500) fish.

I am now taking bookings for 2005 fishing on the Ponoi River, week commencing August 6th, if anyone is interested in joining me for a salmon fishing experience of a lifetime. Please do contact me for further details.

I am also preparing my spring fishing availabilities for 2005 on the Spey, Dee and Findhorn Rivers. Please contact me: ian@speycaster.net for details.

Sunday 1st August, 2004.

Well, the last 2 weeks have been lacking in rainfall (despite the optimistic forecasts) and fishing has generally been slowing down.

I'm now off to the Ponoi guiding a group of 14 keen anglers - and when I'm back mid-August I'll be updating the site with details of our fishing adventures along with an update on how the Spey, Findhorn and Dee have been fishing in my absence. Let's hope that we've had some decent rain and that we can all look forward to some excellent autumn fishing!

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Fishing News Update, July 18th, 2004.

The week beginning July 12th was another wonderful wet week-end of heavy rainfall in this part of the Highlands, which gave all rivers a good top up of water to encourage more salmon and grilse to run. On The Findhorn, the week got off to a very good start on both the middle private beats and the Forres AA water. John Kendrick from Forres had a very eventful Monday fishing with a friend of his and caught a grilse and a sea trout from Altyre and later in the day went down to the Forres AA and caught another 3 grilse from the Bridge and Roadside pools. At least we now seem to be seeing a large head of grilse running into the river. However, another top up of water wouldn’t go amiss right now and I hope those lovely weather people get it right again, heavy rain forecast for the middle part of the week!

The Dee continues to be producing fantastic numbers of fish over these last two weeks including grilse and large summer salmon many in the teens of pounds. I was fishing at Park just over a week ago on the 8th of July with one of my long standing regulars, Ronnie Sneddon. The river was at a good level, showing 19 inches on the Park gauge and running decidedly peat stained. It was also great to see another old friend of mine, David Bain, former head ghillie at Park, who was fishing with a friend of his for the day. David caught a magnificent sea liced 17 pounder from Redwell pool in the morning and his friend Alistair took another of 8lb from Durris Stream.

Just before lunch, Ronnie landed a lovely 12 pounder from the Lower Kirks on a #8 purple Cascade. Ronnie hooked and lost another two big fish from the Cellar after lunch. Not to be completely outdone, I then hooked into another big sea liced 17 pounder from Redwell pool; this was also on the #8 purple cascade double. Interestingly it was this very pool that the record 52 pounder was taken by Moses Ewen on the 12th of October in 1918. Park ended this last week with an amazing 25 grilse, 12 salmon and 3 sea trout. The largest fish of the week being a mere 20 lbs!

Just upstream at Lower Crathes they landed 27 salmon and grilse. It appears that it is the lower and middle beats that seem to be fairing better at the moment, however, these fish will soon move upstream and so who knows what this week will bring. The combination of very big Spring tides of over 4 metres and more rainfall could just keep these wonderful summer fish moving in off every tide.

The Spey was still fishing extremely well on many of the lower beats for the week commencing July 5th and the grilse seemed to be in evidence. However, this last week has been a little slower by all accounts and with the slightly warmer conditions these fresh fish have been running and stopping in the middle beats where sport has been more consistent. It does seem, however, that the sea trout runs this year have been a little disappointing on most beats.

It seems incredible that we are already half way through July and my team of 14 rods are gearing up for our annual visit to the Ponoi River in Russia very soon. Then, before we know it the fishing season will be coming to a close at the end of September. August and September can be excellent, given some rainfall and I am feeling very optimistic about these coming months. I am fairly well booked up, but there are still a few opportunities available for fishing on the Spey, Dee and Findhorn, so if anyone would like information on fishing dates and availabilities please contact me as always: ian@speycaster.net

FISHING NEWS UPDATE, 4TH JULY 2004.

It looks like those lovely weather people got it spot on this time. The week commencing June 21st certainly was WET, WET, WET. Two days of torrential rain on 23rd and 24th and all 3 rivers were a wash out until Friday 25th. The Findhorn was up over 8 ft and was quite a sight. The Spey and Dee were also up by 4-5 feet on the 24th June. Even the little Lossie which runs close to my cottage burst its' banks here in Dallas and Elgin was on flood alert!

The fishing over the next couple of days was generally very good. I managed a cracking 14 pounder from the Lady's pool on Glenferness, Findhorn, on the Friday evening, even though the river was still over 3 feet. By the end of the week most of these middle Findhorn beats were seeing excellent sport and still catching big multi sea winter fish in good numbers. I was up on Glenferness again on Monday 28th and managed to take another 3 fish, a really lovely fresh grilse of 5lbs and two larger salmon of 10 and 11 lbs. The latter being a large fresh hen fish from the tail of Maharajah pool. On the following Wednesday, we landed another two fish of 8 and 10lbs from Mini Daltra beat. We were all awaiting a run of grilse throughout the following days, but it seems that they are not showing in any great numbers yet from any of the middle beats. Sandy McLachlan tells me that the fishing on the Forres AA has been really improving this last week with good numbers of grilse running off every high tide. A local angler hooked and landed three on Friday; 7 lb., 5 lb., and 4 lbs. respectively. George Monroe took another 5 lb grilse from the dump on Saturday. I understand that there were several other fish taken earlier in the week and as the river is rising again today, fishing prospects on the Findhorn look excellent.

Over on the Dee the fishing has really been excellent with great numbers of summer salmon, grilse and sea trout being seen and caught, especially around the Banchory area. After the big water on the 24th the fishing was fantastic at Park. Last Monday and Tuesday there were 8 salmon/grilse landed. One of the rods fishing on Tuesday hooked a total of 17 fish and only managed to land 3! These could well be very fresh fish running and just taking short. The next few days it went very quiet until Saturday. The river was up and down all week long after spells of rain, showers and thunderstorms. The level was back down to 8 inches at Park by last Saturday.

Further upstream at Invery and Upper Crathes it was very much the same story. Jim Turnbull tells me that the week ending 26th of June was very brisk with a total of some 34 salmon, grilse and sea trout, including two monster salmon of 20 and 25 pounds, both very fresh. This last week saw a total of 23 fish taken and reports of plenty of fish being seen. Crathes and W. Durris landed a total of 16 salmon/grilse for the week.

Meanwhile the Spey is still enjoying good sport with salmon and grilse runs moving through most beats, although it is a bit mixed from beat to beat. Willie Mair and Alec Robertson from Portsoy had a really fantastic day last Wednesday fishing on the Brae water No.5 beat. They hooked a total of 10 salmon between them and landed 8, six salmon and two grilse, all of them sea liced. The best salmon caught by Alec weighing 14 1/2 lbs. Six of these fish were all taken from the Dipple pool, mainly on Cascade's. Most of the lower beats are all enjoying a mixture of success although, here again it looks as though there are still no big numbers of grilse to be seen as yet. I also hear that after the big flood of the 24th June that Aberlour town water had a staggering day of over 40 fish landed being a mix of salmon, grilse and sea trout.

Fishing up on the Kinchurdy beat last week was the Nick Armstead gang who always take this week mainly for the sea trout fishing. This year they landed only 9 sea trout, but caught 5 salmon during the day. Conditions for night fishing this season as I mentioned in an earlier report have been generally too cold. Also, the repeated rainfalls over these last few months have not been conducive to sea trout fishing, but good for salmon anglers! Nick who runs Gamefish tackle in Edinburgh had fun with one particular salmon in the Kinchurdy pool. He teased up a salmon twice by stripping a Sunray Shadow over the fish without a take. He then changed onto a size 12 Red Francis and took a cracking fresh silver fish of 12 lbs. That's clever fishing! Contact: Gamefish Ltd, 6a Howe Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6TD. Tel:0131 220 6465 or email: info@gamefishltd.co.uk

It looks like another week of unsettled weather ahead as we move into early July. So the prospects for angling here in the Highlands looks excellent with no sign of a heat wave to be seen!

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FISHING NEWS UPDATE, 20th JUNE 2004.

From the end of May through June can often be a transitional period where the Spring run slows down and we are awaiting the arrival of the grilse and summer salmon. It can often be very dry, which will hold fish back in the estuaries as well. However, the weather has been generally rather unsettled with periods of rain and heavy showers keeping river levels topped up over this period and reports for the early part of June are still very encouraging.

I was guiding on Kincardine, River Spey on June 1st and it poured down with rain all day. There were already sea trout showing in good numbers. Then up on Glenferness on the Findhorn next day, conditions were perfect with the river up over 18 inches. The fishing was on fire with two fresh salmon weighing around 12 lb and another two salmon lost to my own rod.

Most of the beats on the Dee continued to see runs of Spring fish moving into the river. Park had some really great sport over this period with the best two fish landed of 27 and 24 lb. Not only were they catching salmon, but sea trout were clearly very abundant and some grilse were beginning to be caught as well. The week ending June 12th saw 19 sea trout taken from Park.

The fishing on the Spey also continued to be excellent with many of the lower and middle beats taking good numbers of Spring salmon. I hear that Wester Elchies ended up this last week with 21 salmon. It appears that beats right up to Kinchurdy and Kincardine have been getting their fair share of salmon and sea trout, although overnight conditions for sea trout fishing have generally been on the cool side! I also heard that a monster salmon of 25 lbs plus was lost over a week ago up on the Kinchurdy beat. A cracker of 17 lbs was seen landed on the Abernethy Angling Association water just yesterday, Saturday 19th June. Sandy McLachlan tells me that there were 5 grilse taken off the Forres AA water last week, which bodes well.

As I write this report, both the Spey and Findhorn are running very high after lashings of rain over the last two days and according to the forecast, “We ain’t seen nothin’ yet”!

The Findhorn has risen by over 5 feet and a little dirty, but the grilse will surely take advantage of this water and move into the rivers in big numbers over the next week or so. I think that the prospects for salmon fishing remain excellent over this coming week. What a contrast to this time last year! It appears that the Spring salmon runs of 2004 have been at record levels and hopefully the Summer and Autumn runs will continue to improve whilst the weather remains so wonderfully unsettled!

Please contact me at ian@speycaster.net for further details of guided fishing trips through July to September.

Previous Reports

FISHING NEWS UPDATE, 30th MAY, 2004.

Well it's heartening to report that the Spring run is still in great shape on all rivers; Dee, Spey and Findhorn. Earlier this week, I was back at Park on the River Dee for three days with the William Kinread party. Conditions on Monday were really very good with the water level reading 9 inches on the Park gauge and water clarity perfect. William enjoyed some great sport whilst fishing Durris stream through the late evening, hooking some 3 fish from 9-00 to 10-30 p.m. Unfortunately, he lost two of these, but did land a magnificent cock fish of 12lbs; this being his biggest salmon so far. I arrived just in time to return the fish and get this picture of William looking like the cat who caught the cream! The fish was caught on a size 10 Jeannie on floating line. Tuesday morning William's brother, Jonathan, who was also taking a cast in Durris Stream, hooked and landed another sea liced fish of 12 lb; this was also on a size 10 Jeannie. Later on head ghillie, Keith hooked and landed a cracking sea liced sea trout from the House Pool. My very good friend Willie Mair also enjoyed some great sport with 3 salmon for his 3 days. The water level fell very slowly over the week, ending up at 5 inches on Saturday. However, with the prospect of some needed rain, fishing could well pick up again over this next week.

Park ended up the week with 6 salmon and 3 sea trout. It's very encouraging to see these big multi-sea winter salmon still running off every tide in these conditions. A little further upstream at Lower Crathes they caught 6 salmon and 10 sea trout for the week. Jim Turnbull ended his week on some 13 sea trout and 5 salmon at Upper Crathes and Invery.

It appears that over on Speyside the spring run is also in full steam and the prime lower beats of Delfur and Rothes are experiencing some superb catches of salmon. I hear that on the Aberlour Town water they have already caught over 100 spring fish which is really encouraging. However, it seems a little more patchy moving into some of the middle to higher beats, with mixed success. It's also the same in the Grantown area up to Boat of Garten. However, it seems that the sea trout are just arriving.

Hugh Adcock, head ghillie on Kinchurdy, tells me that his guests caught some really nice fish last Monday night with several sea trout in the 5-6 lb category. If we get some warmer nights with no ground frost, the sea trout fishing will really turn on!

The Findhorn, as I mentioned in my last report has been absolutely superb this Spring. I was fishing on Glenferness last week with Lord Balgonie, who is the proprietor, and witnessed him catching and returning a lovely fresh fish of 8 lbs from the Altnaharra beat. I returned two days later just after some significant rainfall the day before. The river was rising slowly all day and I was rewarded with two sea liced beauties of around 10 and 8lb. Both on floating line and a size 8 special purple Cascade, which has been really deadly for me and my guests this season. At the moment, though, we could really do with some heavy rain to bring up the levels and entice more fresh fish into our rivers. Let's hope that the weather forecasters who are predicting rain this week actually get it right!

Findhorn Fishing Update for two weeks commencing April 26th

Salmon fishing conditions could not have been better for our regular two week spring fishing on the delightful middle Findhorn beats of Glenferness, Coulmany, and Logie Estates. As I have already mentioned in earlier reports, the 2004 spring run has been exceptional on all of our three main rivers. Little did we realise how good the Findhorn run was about to materialise.

During the two weeks, my guests staying at Dallas Lodge hooked over 40 salmon and landed some 28 beautiful spring fish; with three fish between 14 and 15 lbs. There were many other fish pulled and pricked over and above these figures. We were continually blessed with ideal conditions of cooler and wetter weather, thus maintaining the river at ideal fishing levels. On several occasions the river had risen over three feet, but never once did we see dirty water, always remaining clear and fishable. Another amazing factor was that over the two weeks everyone in the groups caught at least one spring salmon. I was particularly delighted to see Peter James from Hampshire get his first spring salmon of 8 lbs. from Whin Pool, Daltra. Rick Warren from Bangor, Maine, U.S.A. hooked and landed his first two Findhorn salmon of 12 lbs. from Lady's Pool and 7 lbs. from Whin Pool on Daltra.

Water temperatures varied over the two weeks often dipping to the low 40's F. However, the fish were always keen to take the fly. In general successful patterns were cascade, Ally Shrimps (yellow and orange) and Munro variants on size 6 and 8's and small tubes. Floating lines with intermediate tips worked well, although a number of fish were also taken on full floating line. (Pictures to follow)

I also understand that the Spey and Dee spring catches have been superb and I will be getting additional information on beat catches over the next few days.

Ian has available some excellent fishing for grilse and summer salmon on Altyre beats of the Findhorn and some private beats on the Dee and Spey throughout June, July, and August. I am also taking enquiries for 2005 spring salmon fishing on the Findhorn, Spey, and Dee Rivers for 1-6 people. Contact ian@speycaster.net

Fishing update: April 24th,2004

This was another good week of fishing for my guests on both the Dee and Spey, despite some atrocious conditions in the early part of the week. A 60th Birthday surprise for John Rolph from Norfolk was a real success, as he had no idea where on earth he was going as Trisha Rolph drove Northwards towards Banchory. All of his best friends were invited to this great celebration staged at the Banchory Lodge Hotel who had all arrived earlier in the day and hiding in their rooms until 7-00 p.m. John's face was a picture as we all entered the bar at 7 o'clock and greeted him with a friendly wave! Not until then did he find out that he and his guests were all fishing on Park for the next 3 days. This plan had been hatched by Trisha and myself way back in the autumn last year and what a surprise it was. Well done Trisha for arranging everything and it all went just perfectly and so the champagne bottles were brought in.

We arrived on Monday morning to find the Park guage at just on 60 inches and really dirty after heavy rain falling all day on Sunday. It was also blowing a howling gale just to add insult to injury! However it was John Colin from Norwich who saved the day at 5-00 p.m. and caught a fine sea liced fish of around 6lb from the tail of Durris Stream on a 2 inch Yellow tube fly very close to the bank. The river fell back overnight to 40 inches by the Tuesday and clearing a little. This time it was Simon Crocker who took a lovely fresh 7 lb fish from Upper Kirks on a black and yellow brass tube.

After lunch Mike Long had a real battle on with a fish which he hooked in Castleton pool as he was wading down the middle. Unfortunately as he got to the bank and scrambled ashore he slipped, dropped the rod and the fish was away! Too bad. Then Simon Crocker decided to inspect the bottom of the Cellar as he was just wading to the bank. The water temperature was around the 44 F degree mark, so swimming at this time of year should be avoided if possible! By the end of the day the water had fallen back to 34 inches and clearing. We were feeling confident that Wednesday should be getting better, but we were in for another surprise, more rain and more wind!

The river was already rising by the time we got to the hut after breakfast and rose to 42 inches by lunchtime, however the clarity was quite good. Yet again John Colin managed to hook and land a real cracker of a fish in Castleton, a bar of silver weighing 10 lbs taken on a Black and Yellow 1 inch Dee Fox tube.

Just after lunch John Rolph connected with a fish in the Cellar, but it was all over too soon and the hooks came away. Unfortunately the river continued to rise all afternoon and was back to 50 inches on the guage by early evening. However the team were all delighted with their success considering the conditions and went away feeling delighted with their 3 days fishing.

Then I was on my way back home to Speyside to host and guide 5 Norwegian anglers on Rothes and Aikenway. The water here was falling away after rain in the early part of the week ,but no where near as bad. The level was just on 12 inches on the gauge and clearing. The gale force winds had followed me however, blowing very hard on our backs downstream. This party of anglers was led by Paul Mugaas who had brought along 4 of his best fishing friends including Anders Dybwad who was here to learn the art of Speycasting for the first time. The water temperature here was 48F and looking good. There was an amazing hatch of fly just before lunch and the brown trout were going crazy. So the boys decided to tackle up trout rods at lunchtime and catch some of these frenzied feeders. Lars Blomberg then spotted a salmon close in to the bank on Blustone pool. He changed his fly onto a very small shrimp pattern, size 10 and first cast hooked a 7 lb fresh salmon still on his single handed 8 foot rod and full floating line. It was really fun to watch as he played this fish which was duly photographed and return quickly. After lunch it was the turn of Vilhelm Thilsen to hook and land a fresh fish of 9 lb from the Burnmouth pool.

By Thursday the water had fallen back a little to 10 inches but much clearer. It was also milder and cloudy with little wind! Lars Blomberg went up to the Long pool with Mike Ewing and hooked a fantastic fish of 12 lbs just covered in sea lice, on his third cast of the morning, this fish on a floating line and size 8 Green Highlander. There were a couple of other fish pulled in Creachy and Burnmouth. The last day of their Scottish tour and the weather was perfect, overcast and mild and still the river was falling very slowly back to 8 inches on the guage. Ghillie Steve Younie took Lars Blomberg over to the over bank to fish Burnmouth and Bluestone in the morning. Lars was into yet another sea liced fish of 10 lbs by 10-00 a.m. again on the Green Highlander. Shortly after that he hooked and landed another of 8 lbs from the Bluestone pool. This man was on a roll! There were more fish showing on most of the pools throughout the day. Paul Mugaas and Anders Dybwad both connected with 2 other fish in the afternoon but these didn't stay on. So a total of 5 Springers for their 3 days was indeed fantastic fishing and I think that after some celebrating with one or two drams of Speyside malt my Norwegian friends will sleep soundly tonight! The photos of this last week will follow in two weeks time.

Well, that's another great Spring week over here in the Highlands and we are just about to embark on our usual two week fishing foray on the Findhorn beats. So Mike and I are going to be rather busy over these next two weeks and therefore we will not be able to update the Fishing News page until the week commencing May 10th. However there will be a full report on our adventures as always plus an overall update of the latest news on other beats around the Spey, Dee and Findhorn rivers.

Fishing News Update: April 10th, 2004

The Fishing on the Dee continues to its good fortunes as we progress into April. Not only are the runs of fresh fish bigger and better, but the sizes of these fish are also fantastic with many beats landing several 20 pound plus salmon. Keith at Park was clearly excited with his news yesterday of 23 fresh fish landed off the North bank this week with a 22 and a 20 pounder included. Lower Crathes was also doing very well with over 26 fresh fish up to Friday morning. Invery and Upper Crathes also ended the week on a good note with 15 salmon including a 20 and a 22 pounder landed. I understand that Crathes Castle also landed a 23 pound salmon. The weather has been perfect for fly fishing and water temps are holding quite steady in the low to mid 40's F. We have also had some bursts of heavy rain and snowfalls on the hills this last week, keeping good water levels maintained for fresh fish to run. The height on the Park gauge yesterday was 30 inches in the morning falling slowly to 28 inches by the evening, perfect! This is the kind of Spring fishing conditions that we all pray for

Many of the Spey beats are seeing some good sport, especially on the Lower beats. Here again, lower water temperatures and high water levels are slowing fish from running too quickly. However, I was instructing a group of 4 rods up on the Kinchurdy beat last Monday and we saw several fish moving and one of my guests even had a brief encounter with a salmon there. Here again, the water temperature was around the 41 F mark and holding at a good level at just about 1 foot. I understand that the Grantown on Spey Association have had at least 18 fresh fish by last Monday, which is good going indeed. Aberlour town water is also producing some good sport. Day tickets may be bought to fish either of these two excellent association beats. You may contact Mortimers in Grantown for further information on 01479 872684. For the Aberlour town water, contact Hamish Mitchell on 01340 871428 at JAJ Munro. James Butler called from the Spey Fishery board last week to inform me that the total catch to the end of March was 270 spring salmon with 90% released. This figure is around 70 more fish to the same period last year. This is indeed really encouraging news and bear in mind that the river has only been lightly fished until now when all of the beats will be let on a regular weekly basis.

The Findhorn has been a little quieter on the Forres AA water last week with only 1 fresh salmon caught by Donald McBain from the Red Craig pool. I hear they are catching fish on the Darnaway beats at Meads and Home beats. I was on the Altyre beat with Ronnie Sneddon this last Friday and despite some very high water conditions, I managed to hook and land a cracking 9lb Springer, covered in long tailed sea lice (photo above). With more unsettled and cooler weather ahead, it is looking good for all 3 rivers over this next week or so at least. The prospects for good grilse and sea trout fishing are looking very promising indeed. Please do contact me, ian@speycaster.net for more information on my summer fishing availabilities on Spey, Dee and Findhorn Rivers; or to book a lodge party for that special occasion.

Fishing News Update: April 4th, 2004

Just after Per Palm from Sweden had landed at Inverness airport on Monday, 29th March, we soon received news by text from Willie Mair at Crathes announcing the first salmon of the week. It was a cracking sea liced fish of 9 lbs taken on one of Per's deadly cone head Humus tube flies from the Auld Kiln pool. We arrived at Crathes shortly before lunch, to what was turning out to be a mini heat wave. However, it soon clouded over and became cooler as the day progressed. The river level was showing 12 inches on Brian Sims' gauge and had warmed up to 45 degrees F. All in all, it was looking promising for the week ahead.

The next morning was mild and overcast, as we arrived at Park and it looked like a great fishing day ahead, as we watched numbers of fish showing in the pools. Per had some great action during the morning fishing the House Pool, with 5 salmon risen, 2 hooked and lost and 1 very well conditioned kelt. One of the fish lost in the Cellar was a fresh fish clearly in the high teens of pounds. All of this action was down to a stripped 2-inch aluminium Sunray Shadow tube, fished on a floating line and a Poly sink tip leader! After lunch, we were joined by another regular guest, Alec Robertson, who was soon into action hooking and landing a sea liced salmon of 15 pounds from Park Inn, yet, again, on the Sunray Shadow tube fly.

I went up to Crathes with Willie and Per to fish on the upper beat. Here again, the boys had plenty of action with some 8 kelts landed and many others pulled, hooked and lost. As we fished on into the evening a run of fish came into the beat and stopped. This time it was the turn of Per to catch his first ever Scottish Atlantic Spring salmon, a beauty of 9 lbs taken from the Floating Banks pool, yet again on the deadly Sunray Shadow. With all of my team having hooked one Springer each by Tuesday, it was time to celebrate with a well earned dram!

Wednesday, 31st March was yet another great fishing day with a strong South Easterly blowing up the river. The river seemed to be holding steady at 10 inches on the gauge at Crathes. Alec and I were on Park for the morning, fishing beats 1 & 2. Alec back on Park Inn hooked and was broken by a very large fish and obviously fresh. I managed to hook 2 kelts, lost 2 fish, and pulled several others, fishing on the Long pool and Upper Kirks. Here again, all the action being with the stripped Sunray Shadow. Down on the House pool, the other boys hooked and landed 4 Springers before lunch while fishing with large tadpole tubes. Willie and Per were back on the Upper beat of Crathes where Willie lost a fresh fish right at his feet or a long distance release as we call it in the business! Per landed 4 kelts. After lunch we switched beats once again, with Alec and I fishing on the Lower Crathes beat. It was really blowing; a howling gale into our faces, but Alec was indeed on form. He hooked and landed 2 spring salmon from Burn pool and Kashentroch both around the 10-11 lb mark. I was eventually rewarded with an absolute cracking fresh fish of 10 lbs from Birkenbaud pool later on in the afternoon. All 3 of these fish were taken on the Per Palm specials once again. Quite incredibly Willie and Per were blank for the afternoon down on Park and hardly a sign of a fish to be seen, an amazing turn around of fortunes there.

So ending our three days on the Dee we were now off to fish two Spey beats over the next 3 days. Another cold and very windy day for us on Delfur on Thursday April 1st. Some would say, fools indeed, fishing against these elements! Anyway, it was the turn of Malcolm Newbould to hook and land his first Spring salmon off Delfur this season, which was around the 12 lb mark and taken from the Collie pool. It was heartening to see Malcolm land a fish as he is rarely able to get out and fish these days; and spends much of his time tending his beloved roses and petunias in his allotment in Banff! Apart from that the only other fish to be caught were all remaining kelts. Our other 2 days were taken further upstream on Ian Gordon's beat at Lower Pitchroy. It is really a very attractive and secluded beat; but, we were sadly robbed of any fish catching opportunities despite seeing fresh fish on both days, which seemed intent on running hard upstream. The river was a good height at 8 inches on Friday, but heavy rain upstream brought the level up over a foot overnight and by Saturday morning was 1 foot 6 inches on the gauge, but still very clear. Yet again the wind blew a howler at us in the morning but eased by late afternoon, becoming warm and pleasant. However, conditions for fishing were just about perfect for Mike and his friends, who had booked to fish for the Saturday, just over a mile downstream from us on the Knockando beat; and...

Well, the conditions were perfect with a clear falling river, water temp of 45 deg F and lovely mild spring conditions. We were fishing intermediate tips and large long winged doubles. We were ably assisted by gillie Magnus Oates who used the boat at times to position us to cover some of the streams and glides. We had a superb days fishing with 5 springers between us, all of a similar size around 8 pounds. At the end of the day we shared a dram by the river. We celebrated not just the quality of fishing but more importantly the health of the spring Salmon in the Spey system in 2004.

Anyone who is interested in finding out more about Per Palm salmon flies should log on to his website www.ppsalmonflies.com or for further information on his very unique and special designs of all types of salmon fly, you may also email him at info@ppsalmonflies.com

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