Fishing News for Rivers Dee, Findhorn, Spey, and Avon - Season 2008

Latest Report

Fishing News Update, 18th October, 2008

For the last three days of the season, I was back on Park Estate, North Bank with the Alan Olivier party, regular clients who were fishing four rods. After another spell of unsettled weather over the weekend, the river was reading 14" on the Park gauge, falling and clear. It was a glorious autumnal day, cloudy with sunny spells, and feeling very mild.

Unfortunately, Alan Olivier had been held up on business in South Africa and had invited Nick Armstead to fish his rod until he arrived later in the day. In the morning, Nick had drawn Beat 5 and headed down to Bakebare Pool, which was just stuffed full of fish. He had a really superb morning of sport with four fish, including two sea-liced fish of 4 lbs. apiece, a salmon of 8 lbs. and his biggest salmon of the season, a slightly coloured cock fish of 21 lbs. and all fish were hooked on the Red Frances. I was delighted to see Stuart Bird from South Africa, hook and land two salmon of 10 lbs. and 8 lbs. in the Castleton Pool, also on the Red Frances. After lunch, the day became sunnier and the fishing became decidedly slower. However, I was delighted to see Alan Olivier, who had arrived slightly after lunch, hook and land a magnificent fresh salmon of around 8 lbs. in the Upper Kirks Pool on a size 8 Cascade.

On Tuesday, October 14th, the river had fallen slightly to 12" and the weather was once again mild, still and overcast. In the morning, Stuart Bird hooked and landed another two salmon of 16 lbs. and 11 lbs. in the Cellar on a Red Frances. After lunch, Stuart managed to hook and land yet another two salmon of 10 lbs. and 8 lbs. in Park Inn on Beat 1, yet again on the deadly Red Frances! Meanwhile, down on Beat 5, Jon Jonic was having great sport and hooked another three salmon of 8 lbs. and two fresh sea-liced grilse of 4 and 5 lbs. respectively; both of these hooked and landed on a Red Frances on a sink tip line.

By Wednesday, October 15th, the river was reading 11" on the Park gauge and the water temperature was 44°F. It was, yet again, another fine autumn day, feeling a little colder and cloudy with sunny spells.Before lunch, Alan Olivier had a fabulous morning, hooking and landing three salmon; one of some 25 lbs. in the Durris Stream and two of 12 lbs. and 4 lbs. in the Cellar all on the Red Frances. We were delighted to see Gerry Barnes, a newcomer to salmon fishing, hook and land his first salmon which was a cracking fresh fish of around 12 lbs. in Bakebare Pool. Stuart Bird managed to hook and land another two grilse of 4 lbs. apiece in Upper and Lower Kirks Pool. The afternoon became, once again, very bright and sunny, yet again, putting the fish down. However, on virtually his last cast, Stuart Bird hooked and landed a cracking big salmon of some 18 lbs. in Bakebare Pool and yes, it was on the Red Frances! It was a fabulous three days and a wonderful way to end this fantastic season of salmon fishing in this part of the Highlands.

During these last few weeks of the season, the River Dee District Salmon Fishery Board has launched a new radio tagging project. With the help of the salmon anglers, twenty salmon, twelve hens and eight cocks have been caught and a radio tag has been installed into the stomach cavity of each fish. Each fish also had a plastic floy tag injected just below the dorsal fin with a number for identification purposes.

The purpose of the project is to monitor the movements of these salmon over the up and coming winter months and through the spawning season. These fish range in sizes from 4 lbs. to just over 20 lbs. in weight and are a mixture of fresh and stale salmon. When I spoke with the biologists from the Dee Fishery Board, Dr. Lorraine Hawkins and Adrian Hudson, on October 15th, they were delighted to report that all twenty fish were doing well, and so far, none of these fish had ranged very far up stream since they were tagged. However, there was one exception, the smallest 4 lb. grilse had moved up as far as Banchory Bridge already. They did ask me to mention that if by chance any of these fish are caught as kelts next season, would the angler please not remove the floy tag, but please take a note of the number and report the details to the ghillie on the beat.

Well, that is about all there is to report for this season and I hope that everyone has enjoyed some great sport during the 2008 season. I would like to thank all of my regular clients for their support and look forward to meeting you all again in the new 2009 season.

We are now taking enquiries and bookings for the 2009 season and should you be interested in booking up some excellent guided fishing on prime beats of the Rivers Dee (Aberdeenshire), Findhorn, and Spey, please contact Ian@speycaster.net for further information.

On the River Dee, we have availabilities for some prime Spring fishing on Park Estate for one to two rods in March, 2009. We have availability for up to four rods on Park Estate for May 18th-20th, 2009. We also have two rods available for week commencing August 24th, 2009.

On the River Findhorn....

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We have some additional dates available for some Spring fishing on Altyre on the lower beat only for two rods. The dates are March 16th-18th and April 16th-18th, 2009.

We are able to offer fishing on the Daltullich/Dounduff Beats for May 25th-27th, 2009 for up to two rods.

We have two rods available on the Banchor Beat, River Findhorn from May 28th-30th, 2009 and also June 29th-July 1st, 2009.

We are offering a prime Spring week with fishing for two to three rods on Drynachan, Cawdor Estate on the River Findhorn for week commencing June 8th-13th, 2009. This is one of the best middle Findhorn beats and in 2008, Drynachan recorded some 661 salmon/grilse for the season.

We have fishing available on Altyre Estate, River Findhorn for the week commencing June 22nd-27th, 2009. We also have availability from July 9th-11th, 2009 for up to two rods. There are two rods available from July 20th-25th and four rods are available from August 3rd-5th, 2009.

We have availability on Drynachan, River Findhorn from July 13th-18th, 2009 for two rods. We have fishing available on Glenferness Estate and Drynachan, River Findhorn for up to four rods for week commencing July 27th-August 1st, 2009 with accommodation available in the Wooden House on Glenferness Estate.

If you feel like taking the trip of a lifetime, then we also have availabilities for catching those magnificent Fall run salmon on one of our annual trips to the Ryabaga Camp on the Ponoi River, Kola Penninsula in August or September, 2009.

For the person who has everything, you may like to take advantage of purchasing a bespoke gift voucher. These are available for any fishing opportunities, as well as, for any occasion. Please contact Ian@speycaster.net for further information on dates and prices.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update, 17th October, 2008

As I reported in my last update, there was a change of weather with some heavy rainfall over the weekend of the 4th/5th October. Consequently, this brought a rise of about some 2½' and by Monday, October 6th, the gauge on Park North was reading 14" falling and a little peaty in colour.

I was guiding the Peter Rippin and Nick Meesham party, who where fishing both the North and South Bank for the first three days of that week. I was feeling really optimistic with the change of conditions and hopeful that we would now start to find one or two fresh Autumn fish over these next few days. The weather was settled with some cloud cover and sunshine to warm the cool Autumn day.

I took Peter Rippin, John Horlock, Iain Kirk, and Rick Lamb over to the South Bank. Peter had drawn Beat 4/5 and I really thought that Bakebare would offer a good chance of a fish in these conditions. Sure enough, within the first ten minutes of fishing, he got a good solid pull off a fish and after a good long tussle, he landed an absolute, spanking fresh salmon of around 11 lbs. just covered in long tailed sea-lice. It was a magnificent deep salmon and reminded me of one of those cracking early Springers. A little while after, he was rewarded with another dark cock fish of around 14 lbs., also in Bakebare. Later on in the morning, Peter hooked another fish of around 6 lbs. in the Durris Stream. John Horlock hooked and lost a salmon and then hooked another sea-liced grilse of around 4 lbs. in the Greenbanks Pool. Rick Lamb hooked and landed yet another sea-liced salmon of 10 lbs. in the Long Pool and Iain Kirk hooked another fish of around 18 lbs. in Cooper's Pool.

Meanwhile, over on the North Bank, Nick Meesham hooked and landed a salmon of around 10 lbs. in the Lower Kirks. Another member of the party, Matt, having recently broken his collar bone, had nearly decided to pull out of the trip. However, he decided that since he was unable to manage casting a double handed rod that he would fish with his single handed 10' rod. He hooked and landed a very respectable 8 lb. salmon in the Cellar Pool by mid-morning. Shortly before lunch, he hooked into another fish in the Cellar Pool, which fought long and hard as he battled away with his ten footer. The fish was clearly looking like something of a monster as it soon decided to leave the Cellar with Matt and Keith Cromar in pursuit as it took off down into the Durris Stream. After some forty-five minutes, this huge fresh cock fish was finally netted and estimated to be around some 23 lbs. in weight. It was one of those classic fabulous deep Autumn run salmon, and to hook and land this on a single-handed rod with only one good arm functioning, took some doing! Matt and the rest of his friends were all clearly delighted and finally retired to the hut for a well earned dram over lunch.

After lunch, Peter Rippin hooked and landed two grilse of 4 and 5lbs. in Park Inn. John Horlock managed to land a 10 lb. fish in Durris Stream and another sea-liced salmon of around 10 lbs. in Bakebare. On the North Bank, Jon Thor, from Iceland, hooked and landed a fresh 15 lb. salmon in the Bridge Pool and Nick Meesham landed a 10 lb. salmon in Bakebare. John Browning hooked and landed his first ever Atlantic salmon, which turned out to be a cracking little sea-liced grilse of about 5 lbs. from the Durris Stream. Matt (the one armed bandit), managed to hook and land yet another two salmon, one fresh fish of around 16 lbs., and another sea-liced grilse of 4 lbs. both hooked and landed in the Kirks Pool on Beat 2. This gave us a staggering total of 18 salmon/grilse for the day. At least half of these were fresh or sea-liced fish of which everyone was delighted to see.

By Tuesday, October 8th, the river was falling and reading 11" on the Park gauge and looking a little clearer. However, the forecast was not good and more heavy rain began to fall throughout the day. In the morning, Peter Rippin, fishing on North Bank, hooked and landed a salmon of around 12 lbs. in the Upper Kirks and a 6 lb. fish from the Long Pool. John Horlock hooked and landed two fish of around 9 lbs. and 4 lbs. in the Cellar. On South Bank, I was guiding Nick Meesham, who hooked and landed two fresh fish of around 7 lbs. and 4 lbs. in Bakebare. A little later on, he hooked number three, a fish of around 12 lbs. in the Durris Stream. Jon Thor hooked and landed another salmon of around 8 lbs. in Cooper's Pool just before lunch. In the afternoon, Peter fishing on the North Bank hooked a salmon of around 10 lbs. in Bakebare and another fish of around 10 lbs. hooked in the Cellar. Jon Horlock hooked a salmon of 10 lbs. in Castleton. Just before the light faded, Rick Lamb hooked and landed another sea-liced salmon of around 8 lbs. in the Durris Stream. Over on the South Bank, Nick Meesham hooked and landed a 12 lb. salmon from the Durris Stream giving them a total of thirteen salmon and grilse for the day.

By Wednesday, October 8th and after further heavy rain overnight, the river was already reading 46" on the Park gauge and rising steadily through the day to 61" by mid-afternoon and becoming very dirty. However, in the morning, Jon Thor fishing North Bank, hooked and landed a salmon of around 8 lbs. in the Durris Stream and John Browning also hooked and landed a salmon of around 8 lbs. in the Lower Kirks just before lunch. Despite the weather changing for the better and feeling decidedly warmer by lunchtime, the fishing opportunities were over for the day and it was time for everyone to pack up and head for home. However, they ended their three days with a very respectable 33 salmon and grilse. All of these fish had been hooked on a variety of flies which included Snelda, Red Frances, Cascade, Monkey and Sunray Shadow. All of these patterns fished on sink tip or intermediate lines. I think what was particularly significant is to have seen such a fabulous run of these fresh Autumn salmon coming at this time and hopefully makes the two week season extension justifiable. I shall be updating the last three days of the season over the coming weekend with yet more good news to follow.

>>To view images from our growing online photo library which covers the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update, 9th October, 2008

It was Monday, September 22nd, we were back on the Altyre Estate, River Findhorn with the John Woolgar party. The river was still looking in good order and reading 10" on the Forres gauge and falling. Unfortunately, the weather conditions were totally against us and strangely it remained hot, sunny, and was dry all day! However, we saw fish in all of the pools, but none of these could be tempted to take a fly.

On Tuesday, September 23rd, the river was falling back further and reading 8" on the Forres gauge. It was cloudy and overcast and feeling much cooler and prospects felt a little better. Dick Warby hooked and landed a fresh 4 lb. grilse in the neck of Roehillock pool on a size 8 Cascade. A little later on in the afternoon, Julian Woolgar hooked and landed a cracking fresh 6 lb. fish in the Snozzle Rock Stream on a size 10 Shrimp Fly.

By Wednesday, September 24th, the river was still falling and reading 6" on the Forres gauge. The weather remained cloudy, overcast and cool. David Turtle hooked and lost a fish in the tail of Meads Garden Pool. Young Eric Woolgar hooked his first ever Atlantic salmon in Pallamore Pool, but unfortunately, after a good long fight, this lovely silver fish dropped off just as his father, John, was about to land it for him. However, it has given him the taste of salmon fishing and is already looking forward to his return next year.

It was Thursday, September 25th, and I was back on Park Estate, River Dee with other regular clients, Andrew Kavanaugh and Brian Davey from the Emerald Isle. The river was reading 11" on the Park North gauge and with good clarity. The day started cloudy and overcast, but becoming warmer and brighter as the day progressed. The first three days of the week had produced some excellent sport at Park and I was hopeful of success today. However, for some reason, the fishing was very slow on all beats and only three fish were caught throughout the day to other rods.

On Friday, September 26th, the river was holding steady at 10 inches and the weather was sunny, dry and calm; a perfect Autumn day. My good friend, Nick Armstead, from Gamefish in Edinburgh, hooked and landed an 8 lb. salmon from Upper Kirks on a size 10 Cascade. Just before lunch, I.N. hooked and landed another salmon of around 8 lbs. in Greenbanks Pool on a small 1½" Sunray Shadow. In the afternoon, Nick hooked and landed another fish of around 10 lbs. in Bakebare Pool on a Sunray Shadow. I introduced Brian Davey to the art of successful Sunray Shadow salmon fishing and he was soon rewarded with a fabulous sea-liced salmon of around 12 lbs. hooked in the Bridge Pool on Beat 6 later in the afternoon. When I went down to collect him just before 6:00 p.m., he was still having great fun enticing several fish to take a look at the Sunray, but alas, no more takers.

By Saturday, September 27th, the river was holding steady at 9" on the Park gauge. Andrew Kavanaugh hooked and lost a good fish early on in Greenbanks and then at last hooked and landed a fish of around 10 lbs. also in Greenbanks; and yet again, lured to the deadly Sunray Shadow. Nick Armstead also hooked a fresh 8 lb. salmon in the Upper Kirks Pool on a size 10 Cascade. After lunch, Andrew Kavanaugh hooked and landed a lively 4 lb. grilse in the Bridge Pool on a size 10 Cascade. Later on in the afternoon, Nick Armstead managed to hook and land a lovely fresh salmon of around 8 lbs. in the Greenbanks Pool on a Black Francis tube fly. It had been a really super week for all rods fishing on Park Estate and ending the week with a total of 56 salmon and grilse.

It was Monday, September 29th, we were at Park, South Bank. It was a day of sunshine and showers, but feeling decidedly cooler. The river was reading 8" on the Park gauge and falling slowly. All of the pools seemed to be stuffed full of fish, but with very few fresh fish showing. We got the feeling that it would need a rise in water levels to bring in a run of autumn salmon. I.N. hooked and landed a 6 lb. fish from Woodside and a little later on a 4 lb. grilse from Bakebare, both on a Sunray Shadow. Here again, Bakebare was absolutely full of fish from top to bottom, but mainly darker resident fish.

On Tuesday, September 30th, the river was 7½", reading on the gauge, steady and clear. The seasonal weather was feeling decidedly cooler with sunny spells and strong winds picking up. In the morning, I.N. hooked a grilse of around 5 lbs. in Bulwarks Pool up on Beat 1 on a Sunray Shadow. After lunch, fishing on Beat 2, I.N. hooked and landed another two salmon of 12 lbs. and 9 lbs., both hooked in Long Pool on a 1½" Sunray Shadow. My friend, Peter Marshall from Aberdeen, was also rewarded with two fish of 4 lbs. and 7 lbs. hooked in Greenbanks Pool later on in the evening.

Normally, September 30th would have seen the season on the Dee come to a close. However, the Dee Fishery Board have been granted an experimental two weeks extension of the season over the next three years. It is hoped that if salmon runs are showing up later in the year that over the course of the next three years a permanent extension may be considered.

So by Wednesday, October 1st and the river was holding steady at 7". The day was feeling decidedly much cooler, cloudy and at last with the onset of heavy rain showers. It was a frustrating day with many fish showing and I.N. managed to hook and lose four salmon through the day. However, after lunch, hooked and landed a large dark cock fish of around 18 lbs. in the Durris Stream on a Sunray Shadow and later landed another small 4 lb. grilse hooked on a ½" Brass Monkey. Guest, John Fraser from Aberdeen, hooked a 17 lb. salmon from the Durris Stream in the morning and then another 10 lb. salmon from Bakebare later in the afternoon.

By the end of the week, Park Estate had recorded another 60 salmon/grilse with 2 fish of between 30 - 31 lbs. which were hooked and released. It was a little disappointing to note that there were not many fresh fish reported. However, with a definite change in the weather by the end of the week, I really felt that if we got a rise in water levels over the weekend, then surely we would start to see a good run of fresh autumn salmon appearing. I have been be fishing again at Park for three days of the week commencing October 6th and I shall be updating the Fishing News page very shortly with all happenings at Park from then until the end of the season on October 15th.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update, 2nd October, 2008

For the week commencing August 25th, I was back on Glenferness Estate, River Findhorn with regular clients John and Trisha Rolph for three days. The river was still running at a very respectable height, reading at 5" at Shenachie and 12" on the Forres gauge. After several hours of very heavy rain early in the morning, the weather became warmer and sunny for the remainder of the day. I was feeling very confident as we walked up to the head of Levrattich beat and saw Lang Tail Pool in perfect order. Within minutes, Trisha Rolph hooked and lost a big fish after her leader broke at the head of the pool. However, it wasn't long before she soon hooked and this time landed a lovely fresh salmon of around 7 lbs. in the tail of the pool on a size 6 Orjok double on a sink tip line. Unfortunately for John Rolph, it wasn't his day as he hooked and lost three fish a little further down river in the Doctor's Stream.

On Tuesday, August 26th, the river had risen after further rain and reading 6" on the Shenachie gauge. It was a cooler day overcast and with more heavy showers. Once again it was Trisha Rolph who took an early lead, by hooking and landing a hard fighting cock fish of around 9 lbs. in the Lady's Pool, Mini Daltra on a size 8 double Cascade. Sadly, John hooked and lost yet another fish in the tail of the Lady's Pool.

By Wednesday August 27th, and the river was reading 7" on the Shenachie gauge and started rising another 2 to 3 inches by mid-afternoon. It was yet another day of sunshine and showers, but feeling much warmer. At last, John Rolph was rewarded with a really lovely fresh grilse of around 5 lbs. from the Doctor's Stream, Levrattich Beat on a size 8 Orjok double. I.N. also hooked and landed a salmon of around 10 lbs. in Lang Tail on a size 6 Orjok and another 4 lbs. grilse from the Chain Pool on a small Sunray Shadow 1" tube.

For the week commencing September 1st, I was back on Glenferness Estate with another regular client, Robert Booth from Cambridge. After further heavy rain over the weekend, the river was running 13" on the Shenachie gauge. I was feeling extremely optimistic that this could be a real "red letter" day, but when we arrived, the water was looking somewhat dirtier than what I had expected. We saw big numbers of fish running in all pools, but they were very reluctant to take through the morning. However, by the afternoon there were signs of the water clearing a little bit and Robert was rewarded with an 8 lb. salmon in the Church Bridge Pool on a 1" Willie Gunn brass tube. I. N. hooked and landed a bright fish of around 6 lbs. in the Levrattich Pool on a ¾" brass Orjok tube. Very soon after, Robert hooked and lost another fish in the tail of Levrattich Pool. By Tuesday, September 2nd, the river had fallen, reading 5" at Shenachie. The day was cloudy with heavy showers, but feeling quite warm in the sunshine. Once again, we were seeing good numbers of fish, especially in the Chain Pool on Levrattich Beat and indeed, we both pulled fish in the pool, but didn't connect. After lunch, Robert hooked and landed another grilse of around 5 lbs. in the Churchyard Pool on a size 6 Cascade double. A little later on, he hooked another bright grilse of around 4 lbs. in the Lang Tail Pool on a size 6 Cascade.

By Wednesday, September 3rd, the river had fallen away to 3" at Shenachie and the weather was feeling decidedly cooler and with heavy showers throughout the day. The fishing was a little slower and there seemed to be fewer fish showing in the pools. However, Robert managed to hook and land another grilse of around 3 lbs. in the tail of the Chain Pool on a size 6 Cascade.

By Thursday, September 4, the river had risen, yet again and reading 9" on the Shenachie gauge. Today, I was joined by Patrick and Sally Crosthwaite, who had booked the day to ginger up on their casting before heading north to the Carron. The day had been planned and arranged as an early Christmas gift to each other. Little did they realize what was in store for them for the day ahead! The weather was a mixture of sunshine and showers and the water conditions were absolutely "spot on"! Patrick and Sally both hooked and landed a grilse each of around 3 to 4 lbs. in the Chain Pool with I.N. also hooking and landing a salmon of around 10 lbs., also in the Chain Pool just before lunch.

In the afternoon, I took Sally up to the Lang Tail on Levrattich Beat where she hooked and landed three fish of 5 lbs., 8 lbs., and 12 lbs. and lost one other fish, all hooked in the tail of the Lang Tail Pool on a size 8 Orjok double. Patrick, having lost a fish in Levrattich Pool, came up to join us in Lang Tail where he soon hooked and landed yet another grilse of around 3 lbs., yet again in the tail of the pool; and yet again on a size 8 Orjok.

Later on in the afternoon, I took them both back down to the Chain Pool where Patrick and Sally both hooked another grilse each of around 3 to 4 lbs. It had been indeed, a "red letter" day with a total of 12 salmon/grilse hooked and 9 fish landed. They were both so very delighted with their day, 'Christmas comes early' and have already planned their return trip for 2009 with a group of friends.

By Monday, September 8th, I was on Altyre Estate, River Findhorn with Tim Ingram and Chris and Jennie Guest. The river was still in good order, reading 12" on the Forres gauge. The day began cloudy with a feeling of autumn in the air, but becoming much brighter and sunnier as the day progressed. Tim Ingram hooked and landed a magnificent, deep sea-liced salmon of around 19 lbs. in the Roan Pool on a size 6 Cascade variant. It was a simply stunning deep fish, reminding me very much of one of those wonderful Ponoi fall run salmon. Unfortunately, Chris Guest hooked and lost his first salmon right by our feet in the Pallamore Pool after a good long fight.

By Wednesday, September 10th, the river was holding steady at 7" on the Forres gauge and rising to 12 inches by 2:00 p.m. However, despite seeing fish in all pools, Tim only managed to land a small grilse in the Roan Pool on a Cascade.

It really has been the most amazing summer for salmon fishing in this part of the Highlands and I am sure that the final Findhorn results will be breaking all records for this season. Obviously, the extreme wet weather has, once again, been instrumental in offering all of our clients such perfect fishing conditions, week in/week out.

I had the opportunity to be fishing on Glenferness Estate, River Findhorn on Wednesday, September 17th. The river was reading 16 inches on the Shenachie gauge and falling. The day was once again, cloudy, overcast and decidedly cooler as I walked down to the Mini Daltra Beat just after lunch. The river looked in perfect order and within a few minutes, I hooked and landed a cracking little silver grilse of around 4 lbs. from the Maharajah Pool on a small 1/2 inch small Orjok brass tube. I then walked up to the Island Pool, which is one of my favourite all time high water pools. Through two separate wades down the pool, I managed to hook, land, and release another seven salmon ranging from around 6 lbs. and up to 17 lbs. in weight; all on the Orjok tube and fished on a 10 ft. poly leader fast sink tip line. It was an amazing experience to hook so many fish in a relatively short period of time and clearly demonstrates what fabulous sport this wonderful Highland river can produce on its day. I shall be updating the Fishing News Update page within the next couple of weeks with the latest events of the last few remaining weeks of the season.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update, 16th September, 2008

For the week commencing August 11th, we were back on the Altyre Estate, River Findhorn with the Michael Samuel Party. The river was holding steady at 8 inches on the Forres gauge and clearing. It was a warm day, overcast and with some heavy occasional showers.

Altyre is always a great beat for introducing novice anglers and offers excellent scope for learning to Spey cast easily. I was, therefore, delighted when Quentin Davies and Felix Tusa both caught their first ever Atlantic salmon. Quentin's fish, a 5 lb. grilse from Pallamore on a size 8 Cascade and Felix's fish, a slightly smaller grilse from the tail of Roehillock pool on a size 8 Silver Stoat.

Over the next few days, the river remained fairly steady and falling, just a couple of inches, but there seemed to be suddenly fewer fish to be seen. However, on Friday, August 15th, the river was 7 inches and raining heavily for most of the day. I was guiding Daniel Reynolds and we were definitely seeing more fish running, especially in Roehillock and Pallamore Pools. By mid-afternoon, Dan hooked a sea-liced grilse in the Roehillock on a Sunray Shadow. A little later on, he hooked another 4 lb. grilse in the Soldier's Hole; and then hooked a third 4 lb. grilse in the Rock Stream both of these on a size 8 Cascade.

By Saturday, August 16th, the river was rising to 1' 6" by mid-morning, but still with good clarity. This rising water started to bring in more runs of fish seen in Roan, Pallamore, and Roehillock Pools. Benjamin Samuel hooked and lost a fish off the big rock in the tail of the Roehillock Pool just before lunch. After lunch, Mike Glass hooked and lost a fish in Soldier's Hole and then soon after, he hooked a sea-liced 4 lb. grilse in the Roan Pool. A little later on, he hooked and landed a 2 lb. sea trout in the tail of Pallamore Island.

For the week commencing August 18th and we were back on Park, South Bank, River Dee. The river was reading 7 inches on the South Bank gauge. The weather was feeling decidedly summery throughout the morning, but clouding over with the onset of heavy rain by late afternoon. Despite seeing large numbers of fresh grilse and summer salmon, fishing was a little slow and it was Clive Williamson from Edinburgh who hooked and landed a 5 lb. grilse in the Bulwarks on a size 12 Cascade just before lunch.

By Tuesday, August 19th after the heavy overnight rain, the river was showing 16 inches on the gauge and by mid-afternoon had risen to 48 inches and very dirty. However, my good friend, Don Milne, from Aberdeen managed to hook and land a 5 lb. grilse from the tail of Bakebare Pool on a Collie Dog just before lunch. By late afternoon, the river had become unfishable and it was time for an early bath.

By Wednesday, August 20th, the river was at last starting to fall away from 30 inches in the morning to 24 inches by late afternoon and looking very dark and peaty. I.N. hooked and landed a fish of around 10 lbs. in the Bulwarks just before lunch fishing a sink tip line and a size 6 Double Orjok. In late afternoon, I.N. hooked and landed another slightly coloured fish of around 10 lbs. in Bakebare, again on a size 6 Orjok double hook.

By Thursday, August 21st, the river had at last fallen back to 18 inches, but with the onset of further rain on and off all day, the river had began to rise a little, showing 21 inches by the end of the day.

Ian Vann from Edinburgh, hooked and landed a 5 lb. sea-liced grilse in Greenbanks on a size 8 Cascade followed shortly after by another fish of 7 lbs., again from Greenbanks on a size 8 Cascade. A little further downstream, I.N. hooked another fish of around 7 lbs. in the Durris Stream on a size 6 Orjok fished on a sink tip line. Just before lunch and with the rain lashing down, I.N. briefly hooked and lost a good fish in the Long Pool followed by another good pull from a large fish. After a good long fight and with Lady B coming to the rescue, we were able to net and release a really cracking fresh salmon of around 17-18 lbs. This fish, again hooked on a size 6 Orjok fished on a 5 ft. Poly Leader fast sink tip.

By late afternoon and the rain still pouring down, I.N. hooked another salmon of around 14 lbs. in the tail of Bakebare, yet again on the size 6 Orjok Double. With the river rising at around 5:30 p.m. and feeling decidedly damp, it was time to head back to our lodgings for a well deserved dram. It had been a great day!

By Friday, August 22nd, the river was reading 31 inches on the Park South gauge and was beginning to fall and clear, but still with a dark peaty stain. The weather was still overcast and with occasional heavy showers. I.N. hooked and landed a 7 lb. fish in the Cellar Pool on a Sunray Shadow just before lunch. Later on in the afternoon, I.N. hooked and landed another 12 lb. bright salmon in Bakebare Pool, again on a 1½ inch Sunray Shadow.

I was delighted to see my friend, Colin MacDonald, from Dallas hook and release his first Dee salmon, a 5 lb. grilse in the Jetties Pool on a 1 inch Dee Fox Tube fly. It had been a somewhat testing five days with the yo-yoing water levels each day, however, considering these conditions, we were all delighted with the quality of the fishing.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update, 30th August, 2008

For the week commencing July 28th, I was back up river with the Paul Barnard family party fishing on Drynachan and Glenferness Beats. The weather conditions remained very hot and dry and the river level was reading just one inch on the Shenachie gauge and five inches on the Forres gauge. Despite the low water conditions, it was at least heartening to know that there were runs of grilse making their way upstream and had been seen in good numbers on the Glenferness and Lethen beats. Sandy Robb, who was assisting me with the guiding on Mini Daltra, hooked and lost a grilse in the Island Stream in the afternoon. However, fishing further upstream on the Drynachan Ballachrochin beat, it appeared to be a little quieter. We got the feeling that the grilse hadn't yet arrived, but surely it would only be a day or two before they appeared. The weather pattern continued to remain dry and very hot over the next couple of days and fishing was somewhat slower than one would have hoped. The hot weather conditions certainly suited the youngsters in the Barnard's party and long afternoon swims were indeed welcomed.

By Wednesday, July 30th, the weather conditions seemed to change a little and we began to feel a little more optimistic that we may get some rain and hopefully a rise in river levels to bring the runs of fish through the beats. Indeed, even on Wednesday afternoon we began to see runs of fresh grilse coming up through the Dalbuie Beat on Drynachan.

Thursday, July 31st, the river was still reading one inch on the Shenachie gauge and the weather was showing signs of a change at last. I had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before someone was rewarded with a fish from Levrattich, as Sandy Robb had seen good numbers of fish here everyday. It was Paul Barnard, himself, who managed to catch the first fish of the week on the Levrattich Beat at Glenferness. It was a cracking sea-liced grilse of 5 lbs. hooked and landed in the middle Streenoch and taken on a small Sunray Shadow tube fly.

On Friday, August 1st, we were at last experiencing some heavy rainfalls spreading in from the west. Although river levels remained at one inch on the Shenachie gauge, we were certainly beginning to see many more fish up on the Daless Beat on Drynachan. Paul Barnard's guest, Alison Petrie, hooked and lost a good fish in the Daless Pool just before lunch. Then we moved a little further upstream where she hooked and landed a 3 lb. grilse in the Quillichan Ford Pool on a small one inch plastic Sunray Shadow Tube. A little later, it was Paul's turn to hook and land another 5 lb. grilse in the Daless Pool and yet again hooked and landed on a one inch Sunray Shadow Tube. At last, things were looking up and with the onset of the heavy rain, we were all hopeful of a better fishing day to end our week on the Saturday.

By Saturday, August 2nd, the river had actually risen overnight to over seven inches on the Shenachie gauge and falling, but very peaty. Unfortunately the fishing didn't realise our expectations, despite seeing good numbers of fish running on all beats, however, Paul Barnard managed to catch another 6 lb. grilse in the Levrattich Pool on Levrattich Beat at Glenferness. The fish was caught on a full floating line and a size 8 Cascade Double.

For the week commencing August 4th, I was back on Altyre guiding clients, Paul and Peter Forshaw. Over the weekend, the river had fallen away and was reading three inches on the Forres gauge. However, with the river reading nine inches at Shenachie that morning, I was fairly certain that the levels would rise later in the day. The weather remained cloudy with showers and feeling much cooler than of late. Sure enough by mid-morning, the river had risen by over one foot and conditions really looked ideal. However, all beats remained quiet with only a few fish seen in Roehillock, Pallamore, and Roan Pools. Water levels remained at a good fishing level over the next few days and it wasn't until Wednesday, August 6th, that we began to see good numbers of fresh fish running off the extremely high tides. I took Peter Forshaw up to the Soldier's Hole where he soon hooked and lost a grilse. Then a little later in the morning, he was finally rewarded with a super fresh 4 lb. grilse caught in the Pallamore Pool on a size 10 Copper Ally's Shrimp. I had taken Paul Forshaw down to the Scur Pool where we had a lot of fun rising fish on a one inch Sunray Shadow. In a very short time, he had risen four fish and also briefly hooked and lost another. Whilst we were there, we had seen big numbers of salmon and grilse showing throughout the pool and I just got the feeling that the fishing was about to turn around over the next few days…. And turn around, it certainly did.

By Thursday, August 7th, I was joined by regular clients, Jim Bishop and Des Dunlop, who had enjoyed a brilliant few days with me in the Spring. The river had risen yet again after further rainfalls and was reading eleven inches at Shenachie and six inches on the Forres gauge. The weather was feeling much fresher and cooler with good cloud cover. By late morning, the river was rising once again and indeed, Des and I just managed to get off the ledge in the Soldier's Hole just in time, as the river started to rise at an alarming rate. By the time we walked back down to the hut on Roehillock, we were just in time to see Jim Bishop hook and land an absolutely cracking sea-liced salmon of around 15 lbs. It was one of those classic deep Findhorn summer salmon hooked on a size 6 Cascade fished on a sink tip line. Within ten minutes of hooking and releasing the fish, the river had risen over two feet becoming dirty and unfishable.

By Friday, August 8th, the river was reading 1'7" on the Forres gauge, falling and clearing. The weather remained cloudy and cool with occasional showers and conditions for fishing just don't really get any better than this. I took both Des and Jim down to the Roan Pool which was looking in superb order. Des Dunlop hooked and landed two large summer salmon. One of around 15 lbs. and another around 10 lbs., both on a size 6 Purple Cascade fished on a 5' poly-leader sink tip. A little later on and just before lunch, Jim Bishop hooked a 4 lb. grilse in Pallamore Island on a size 6 Cascade. The boys were clearly delighted with the morning's fishings. Just after lunch, I.N. caught a lovely deep sea-liced salmon of around 9 lbs. in the Roehillock Pool; this again on a size 6 Purple Cascade. A little later on in the afternoon, Jim Bishop hooked another grilse in the Soldier's Hole; this one on a size 6 Orjok Double. By now it was clear that there was a huge run of salmon and grilse on the move and we were seeing fish in all pools from top to bottom. Later on in the evening, Jim Bishop managed to hook another salmon of around 8 lbs. in the Roan Pool; this one on a one inch Sunray Shadow Tube. We had all enjoyed a Red Letter Day with a total of six salmon/grilse and two sea trout landed. We had also hooked, pulled, and tweaked many other fish throughout the day.

By Saturday, August 9th, the river had fallen and was reading nine inches on the Forres gauge and the weather had changed with heavy rain falling all morning. Des Dunlop hooked and lost another grilse in Soldier's Hole; and shortly after lost another in Pallamore. Jim Bishop managed to get another sea-liced grilse of around 4 lbs. in the neck of the Roehillock Pool on a Sunray Shadow. A little later on, I.N. hooked and landed a stunning deep 5 lb. grilse covered in sea-lice in the Soldier's Hole; this also on a small one inch Sunray Shadow. It had been a really magnificent four days of sport with a total of ten salmon/grilse to finish the week.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update, 10th August, 2008

First of all, I apologise for the delay in updating the Fishing News Page, but it has been somewhat hectic of late, especially with the arrival of our new Labrador puppy, Tulla. Through the last full week of June the weather forecasters were spot on with their predictions of heavy rain throughout Northeast Scotland. After a relatively dry period it was heartening to see our rivers come back to life and offer some tremendous sport especially on the Middle Findhorn Beats. June can often be a transitional period between the end of the Spring run and the beginning of the Summer run in early July. However, it seems that this year, the Spring run continued in strength whenever water conditions allowed. I was fortunate enough to take advantage of a perfect day up on Glenferness for Thursday, June 26th with the river level reading 11" at Shennachie and 2' 3" on the Forres gauge; just perfect conditions for fishing on Mini Daltra Beat. I enjoyed some tremendous sport throughout the day and hooked and released four cracking late Spring salmon between 7 lbs - 12 lbs. All of these fish were indeed, bright clean salmon and all hooked on my favourite size 6 double Orjok. It had been a great week for all of the Glenferness rods with a grand total of 38 salmon recorded from the beats.

By early July, river levels had fallen away and I was back on Altyre Estate for the week commencing July 7th with regular clients, John Clark, Mike and Oliver Greaves and Stuart Gibbs. The river was reading just 1" on the Forres gauge, but with the prospect of heavy rain to come, I was hopeful that we would start to see the first of the summer run moving into the river. We had seen fish moving in the Roehillock Pool and Pallamore Pool on the upper beat and I was truly delighted when Mike Greaves hooked and landed his first ever Atlantic salmon in Roehillock. It was a lovely clean 7 lb. fish, hooked on a size 10 Ally Shrimp on a full floating line. All of the party were delighted that Mike had broken his duck at last and a bottle of Moet was enjoyed that evening by one and all. As the week progressed, and the rain began to fall, the river had risen over 1'by Wednesday, July 9th; however, there was little sign of any fish running. The weather continued unsettled for the rest of the week and the river continued to rise to a perfect 2' 2" on Saturday, July 12th, but still we saw very few fish running through. However, the higher water conditions were certainly suiting the Middle Beats at Lethen and Glenferness where sport continued to be quite superb. Lethen recorded an astonishing 58 salmon for their week. I suspect many of the fish being caught were older resident salmon getting stirred up by these high water levels.

On week commencing July 14th, I was on the Drynachan Beats on Cawdor Estate with one of my regular clients, Stuart Moberley. After more heavy rain over the weekend, river levels were looking superb and reading 7" on the Shenachie gauge. Fishing conditions were looking excellent at the start of the day and I was delighted when Stuart soon hooked his first fish, which was a slightly coloured hen fish of around 12 lbs. from the Dalbuie Pool and landed on a size 6 Purple Cascade fished on a sink tip line. The day became progressively sunnier and hotter and despite the perfect water levels and despite seeing fish in most pools, no other fish were hooked.

By Tuesday, July 15th the water had fallen back to 3" on the Shenachie gauge and we were fishing way up on the stunning Ballachrochin and Shenachie Beat. The weather had changed once again, becoming overcast, drizzly, windy and quite chilly for the middle of July. We saw fish in both the Quillichan and Oxen Pools and I briefly hooked and lost a fish in the Oxen Pool.

It was Wednesday, July 16th, and we were fishing on Daless Beat. The river was steady at 3" and clearing and the weather remained cloudy, showery, and cool. Despite seeing fish in Bridge, Quillichan Ford and Daless Pools, the day remained blank.

On Thursday, July 17th and with the river holding at 3", I was joined by my good friends Mike and Evie Glass. The weather had changed once again and was feeling decidedly warmer, but still fairly overcast. We were fishing back on Dalbuie Beat and it wasn't long before Mike hooked and landed a lovely fresh 6 lb. salmon in the Red Stream Pool. The fish was hooked on a Collie Dog after it had come for the fly five times before finally taking a hold. He also rose another fish in the tail of the pool, but with no success. Later in the day, he pulled another fish in the Deer Ford Stream, yet again on a 1" Collie Dog.

By Saturday, July 19th and after some heavy rain, the river was back up to 5" in the morning when I arrived with Colin MacDonald from Dallas. It was a day of heavy rain showers, windy, and feeling decidedly cooler. Just before lunch I managed to hook and land a very hard fighting hen fish of around 8 lbs. in the Quillichan Ford Pool, hooked on the 1" Sunray Shadow. After lunch, we moved down river to the Bridge Pool, where we saw good numbers of fish showing throughout the pool. Within a short time, Colin got a good pull off a fish and shortly afterwards, hooked and lost another fish further down the pool. Unfortunately, just around 4:00 p.m. the river began to rise by some 2' and becoming quite dirty. We were forced to abandon the river and head for home for an early dram!

The week commencing Monday, July 21stand the river had fallen back and was reading 1' 8" on the Forres gauge. This normally would have been a perfect height, but the weather had suddenly become very bright and hot. I was guiding the Susan Hahn party, who are regular summer visitors on Altyre. It was not long before David Hahn soon hooked a lively sea-liced grilse in Pallamore on a size 8 Cascade and with this early success, we were all feeling very optimistic. We saw other fish showing in Pallamore, Roan, Roehillock, and Soldiers Hole. David Hahn scored again a little later on with a cracking 2 lb. sea trout in the Roan Pool on the lower beat. Unfortunately, as the day progressed, the heat wave took its grip on the day and by the afternoon all of the pools had become very quiet with no more fish seen.

On Tuesday, July 22nd and the river had fallen further away to 11", which is still an absolutely ideal fishing height for both upper and lower beats here on Altyre. It was, yet again, another scorcher and I took Susan Hahn's daughter, Katie, to the Pallamore Island Pool, where we could take advantage of the morning shade. At just fourteen years old, she is developing into an excellent Speycaster and I wasn't surprised when she hooked her first ever salmon, which unfortunately through the hooks after a long tussle. Within a couple of minutes, she hooked another fish, which was just a brief encounter. Katie never said a word, but I could feel her disappointment at losing her fish. We saw fish running in Pallamore, Roan, and Roehillock, but sadly, as the heat of the day again took hold, there were no more offers forthcoming.

By Wednesday, July 23rd and with the river level falling away and reading just 7" on the Forres gauge, the weather seemed to be getting even hotter and it was really no surprise that very few fish were seen throughout the rest of the day.

On Thursday, July 24th and the river had fallen away to just 4" on the Forres gauge. Even with these conditions, we were all delighted to see that Duncan Moore, who had just arrived, hooked and landed a small grilse in Pallamore. As the heat wave continued and the river fell away, at least both youngsters and adults were able to enjoy the benefit of using the big Roehillock Pool for afternoon swims. Unfortunately, as the river continued to fall over the next few days and with high pressure anchored over Scotland with heat wave conditions prevailing, no more fish were hooked. We did see occasional pods of grilse running hard and fast and therefore, I was feeling somewhat hopeful that my next group of clients might be a little more successful over the following week a little further upstream on the Glenferness and Drynachan beats. I shall be updating the Fishing News page again over the next few days.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update, 22nd June, 2008

As we moved into early June, the weather remained fairly settled. However, there were some odd days of persistent rainfall which made very little impact on the water levels on our rivers in this part of the Highlands.

On Monday, June 9th, I was fishing up on Drynachan Beats of the Cawdor Estate. The river levels were down to zero inches on both Shenachie and Forres gauges. The weather forecasters were yet again predicting rainfall and I was feeling a little optimistic that maybe, just maybe, this week we would see some improvement on river conditions. I knew full well that many of the beats, including Banchor, Lethen, Glenferness, and Logie beats were indeed, full of Spring salmon, just waiting to move upstream. The weather today was certainly feeling much cooler, cloudy with some sunny spells and the wind was howling.

Lady Barbara and I arrived up on the Dalbuie Beat that morning and I was keen to just take a look at the pools and check out conditions as to where our best bet might be. As we surveyed our beat, we watched Oyster Catchers and Sand Pipers carefully guarding their young chicks endeavouring to draw attention away from their tiny offspring. We then spotted a male Osprey quartering high above the tail of the Dalbuie Pool looking for an opportunity of an easy kill. We followed the bird as it made its way upstream in search of prey. Suddenly, from a high position, the magnificent bird folded his wings and made an unsuccessful lunge at a fish in the tail of the Red Stream Pool. It was a magnificent sight, despite the fact that our Osprey had failed this time!

Having viewed all pools, I have to say, the options were indeed pretty limited in these conditions, but the cloud cover and wind would definitely offer an advantage of catching a fish. I decided to tackle up with my 11'. Thomas & Thomas seven weight with a Lee Wulff Triangle Taper #7 full floating line. Fishing in these low water conditions, one has to be a little craftier than usual. Light tackle is important to cover the streams and pools without any disturbance to avoid spooking, easily spooked salmon in these lower water levels. I was trying to decide what fly to use and had opted for a small ¾" Silver Stoat plastic tube fished on the hitched style. In low water, these wee tubes can be skated over the surface with great effect often resulting in a savage take from a salmon.

I was still tackling up when Lady B spotted a silver fish splash in the Red Stream just above the hut. Just the sighting of a fish in these conditions, is always encouraging; and so I made way very carefully above the stream and started to cast. I had barely made more than three or four casts covering the streaming white water, when suddenly a nose appeared and took the fly aggressively and I had hooked my first fish of the week. It was a really lively fresh salmon which cart wheeled across the pool and fought hard on my light tackle. After a good scrap, I was able to beach the 8 lb. silver fish near the tail of the pool, photograph it and quickly release it. The sense of achievement in catching a fish in these conditions is really rewarding and our spirits were lifted.

As we enjoyed our lunch, in the hut on Dalbuie, we had noticed several fish showing below us in the Pool Verastie. This is a classic deep holding pool and was indeed, holding a good number of salmon both fresh and staler fish. After lunch, I made my way down to the pool, trying to cover it from the right hand bank. I got the feeling I needed to be covering this pool from the other side, as I felt I was on top of the fish here. I decided to leave the pool and rest it until later in the day and would approach it from the left hand bank before we set off on our way for home.

Just after 4:30 p.m. and with the wind easing down a little, I made my way back down to the pool. I tried the wee skated tube in the faster headstream but to no effect. Fish were still showing in good numbers further down the pool and I opted for a change of fly to fish the slower water. I put on a small size 10 Aros double and started to move through the pool just inching the fly back slowly. Working my way down the pool carefully, I suddenly got a fantastic solid pull off a fish and little did I realise what I had hooked to start with. The bid fish took off down the pool at the rate of knots and I was able to bring him back up before he took off again. It was an amazing fight on this light tackle and after a good long tussle, I was able to beach the fish and release it carefully back into the pool. It was a slightly coloured cock fish of around 16 lbs. to 17 lbs. and swam away none the worse for its adventure. All in all, it had been a great start to the week and we decided to head off home happy with two fish for the day.

By Tuesday, June 10th and the river remained zero inches. Yet again there was forecast of rain in the Highlands and indeed, it was another windy and cooler day with heavy rain showers throughout the day. We were up on the Ballachcrochin and Shenachie Beats which are the upper most stretches of the Drynachan fishings and indeed, are the most stunning in terms of sheer scenic beauty. However, many of these pools, I feel are better suited to higher water conditions and despite giving all pools coverage with the fly, we didn't move any fish. I was just hoping that these rain showers would develop into heavier rainfall and give us the much needed lift in river levels. Unfortunately, it was not to be and yet again, the rainfall just disappeared into the ground.

On Wednesday, June 11th, we were on the Dalless Beat and the river was still zero inches on all gauges. In the morning, we concentrated on the Dalless and Quillichan Pools, but only saw a couple of fish in the Dalless Pool. Later on in the afternoon, we moved on down to the Bridge Pool and I decided to try the wee ¾" skated tube again in the very neck of the pool. Once again, the wee tube proved its worth and within a couple of minutes, I saw an explosive take and I was into another hard fighting salmon of around 7 lbs. It had been another cloudy and showery day and I was again hopeful of a small lift in water levels.

By Thursday, June 12th the river had at last risen by a full 1" and even this small rise gave more life to the streams and pools. Unfortunately, we saw few fish on the Dalbuie Beat and no offers were forthcoming. It may well have been that this little rise may well have unsettled the fish and were therefore, somewhat reluctant to take a fly. We then decided to call it a day and head for home.

By Saturday, June 14th and after further heavy showers, the river was holding steady at 1" on the Shenachie gauge. I was fishing on the Dalless Beat with Colin MacDonald from Dallas. The weather was still very unsettled with spells of heavy rain and hail, making it feel decidedly colder. We saw fish showing in both Dalless and Bridge Pools, but sadly we were unable to find any takers.

It is hard to believe that we are already past Midsummer's Day, and as we move into late June, we are at last experiencing further unsettled weather and heavier rain falling through today, June 21st. Although the bulk of the main Spring run is over, if we get higher river levels, then this should start to move these older resident fish through all of the beats. As these fish begin to move on upstream, this should give the anglers a good chance of improved fishing conditions through this coming week. We are also in a transitional part of the season and we should soon start to expect a run of grilse and summer salmon appearing in all of our rivers.

I hear already that a number of grilse have been caught on the Forres AA water of the Findhorn. I have also heard that the Laird on Altyre Estate, Sir Alastair Gordon Cumming, caught a cracking sea-liced salmon of 7 lbs. in the neck of the Roehillock on Saturday, June 21st. It might just be that we are going to see another good summer run of fish, especially if water levels continue to improve over this next week or so. The weather forecasts predicts further unsettled weather with further heavy rain to come over this next week. I have a very busy summer/autumn ahead and shall be reporting and updating the fishing news page later in July with all of the latest information.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing New Update, 15th June, 2008

After my last update at the end of April, anticipation of a big run of fish was high, especially after such great catches had been recorded on the Darnaway and Altyre beats situated below the Poolie Falls at Sluie. I had heard through a reliable source that the Spring run had at last started to ascend the Falls after a warm spell on Friday, April 25th. By all accounts, it was the biggest run of salmon seen for many years. The water temperature had been hovering on the 42 degree F mark for several days and we knew that it was only a matter of time before the fish went upstream. I think that the middle beats of the Findhorn were expecting a big charge of fish, however, it was not to be and the fish seemed reluctant to run at any hard pace. I suspect it was most probably due to the very cold snow melt and combined with high water conditions that were holding the fish to a slower move.

On Monday, April 28th, I was back up on Glenferness, Coulmony and Logie Beats with my regular group of ten rods staying at Dallas Lodge on the Dallas Estate. River conditions were really looking quite perfect with the Forres gauge reading 1'9" and with excellent clarity. The water temperature was just topping 44 degrees F. As I already mentioned, anticipation was high and my guests were all keen to get started. However, fishing was quiet on all beats with only one sighting of a fresh fish seen by Peter James in the Logie Pool on Coulmony Estate. After the previous warm spell, the weather conditions took a turn for the worse and with the onset of heavy rain falling for most of the day.

Therefore, by Tuesday, April 29th, the river had risen to 2'9" and looking very dark and peat stained. The weather was a mixture of sunshine and heavy rain by the afternoon, once again. During the morning, Colin Brook had seen and pulled a fish in the Dead Man's Pool up on Altnahara on Glenferness Estate and apart from that, no other fish were seen or pulled.

By Wednesday, April 30th, the river had risen once again, reading 3'4" on the Forres gauge falling and clearing with water temperature reading at 42 degrees F. The weather was yet again feeling fresher with a steady rainfall until the late afternoon. Optimism was by now running a little higher as we had heard of two fish caught on the Logie Home Beat on the previous day. In the morning, my good friend, Mike Leach had seen a fish and had also got a pull of another fish in the tail of the Skerries Pool on Logie, Relugas Beat. It was, at least, encouraging to know that the fish were on the way and surely it was only a matter of time before we connected with a fish. Indeed, it was Colin Brook who hooked and released a cracking fresh Salmon of around 16 lbs. right in the tail of the Logie Pool on Coulmony Estate. The fish was caught on a green and yellow 1" brass tube fished on a poly leader, 10' fast sink tip. Spirits in the lodge were running high and it was indeed heartening to know the fish were now at last on the move, albeit somewhat slowly!

By Thursday, May 1st, the river had fallen back and reading 2' 5" on the Forres gauge. The day was a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers. I was down on Mini Daltra on Glenferness with Bob MacDonald and Peter Angus. All of the classic high water pools looked in superb order and it was Peter Angus who hooked and lost a cracking fish in the Island Pool. A little further down river, Alan Sneddon hooked and landed a fresh fish of around 10 lbs. in the tail of the Slate Pool on Logie Relugas Beat. Alan was fishing a sink tip line with a small Templedog bottle brass tube. Later on after lunch, it was David Clark who hooked and landed another fresh salmon of 10 lbs. from the Maharajah Pool on Mini Daltra, Glenferness. A little further downstream and Ronnie Sneddon hooked and landed another fish of around 10 lbs. from Lower Cairnglass on Coulmony Estate. This one also on a Templedog bottle brass tube, fished on a sink tip line. At last, the fish were beginning to spread out through all of our beats and these high water conditions would surely encourage more fish to run.

By Friday, May 2nd, the river was showing 2' 6" and falling on the Forres gauge. The weather was once again a mixture of heavy showers with a little sunshine breaking through later on in the afternoon, making it feel a little warmer. I think we were all really surprised that very few fish had been seen in the morning. Later on in the afternoon, Graham Bruce Gardner hooked and landed a cracking sea-liced fish of around 9 lbs. in the Junction Pool on Logie, Relugas Beat. Graham was fishing an intermediate sink tip and a size 8 double cascade. A little later on, Peter James hooked and lost a very big fish in the tail of the Skerries Pool on the Logie, Relugas Beat. Fishing further upstream and it was the turn of my friend, Mike Leach, to hook and land another bar of silver of around 8 lbs. fishing the Lang tail Pool on Levrattich Beat on Glenferness Estate.

On Saturday, May 3rd, the river had fallen back to 2' on the Forres gauge. In the morning, David Clark hooked and lost a fish in the Fish Pool on Relugas Beat at Logie. He rested the pool for some ten minutes and went back in and this time hooked and managed to land another fish of 10 lbs. on a yellow and orange bottle brass tube on a sink tip line. Despite the excellent conditions on all of the beats, the rest of the day remained blank and very few fish had even been seen.

Meanwhile, back down on the Altyre Estate, John Grant's party of rods managed to hook and land another four fish, including a large salmon of around 15 lbs. for Nick Harding from the Pallamore Pool. It was still encouraging to know that fish were still being caught and seen on the lower beats below the Poolie Falls at Sluie. This was an indicator that the fish were still in no hurry to run upstream as the cold snow melt water continued to run off from the hills above.

However, by Monday, May 5th, the weather suddenly took a drastic change as high pressure dominated the North of Scotland. We were suddenly thrown into a mini heat wave with wall to wall sunshine and the water temperature rocketing up to 50 degrees F. The water level was still reading 2' on the Forres gauge with perfect clarity and I was just hoping that the prolonged sunshine would at least keep river levels topped up with additional snow melt. It was a very frustrating day having such good water conditions, but seeing so few fish. This week I was joined by my good friends from the Emerald Isle, who had indeed brought us good luck last year with the onset of rainfall after the extreme dry weather in April, 2007. Later on in the afternoon, Brendon O'Connor hooked and lost a good fish taking advantage of the shade in the Island Pool on Mini Daltra, Glenferness Estate.

By Tuesday, May 6th, the river had fallen quite drastically and was reading just 1' at Forres and 8" at Shenachie. My hopes of further snow melt seemed to have been dashed and it was clear that there was little more melt to come off the hills. It was yet again going to be another hot day with hardly a cloud in the sky. However, Brendon O'Connor hooked and released a lovely salmon of around 9 lbs. in the neck of the Island Pool on Mini Daltra, Glenferness. The fish was hooked on a size 6 black sheep, fished on a fast sink tip poly leader. Later on in the afternoon, the newcomer to the group, Brian Stevens, hooked and lost a good fish in the Upper Streenoch Pool on Levrattich Beat, Glenferness. Here again, it was a case of waiting for the sun to dip and take advantage of the shaded pools on the beat. So near and yet so far!

By Wednesday, May 7th, the river had actually risen by 2" and reading1' 2" on the Forres gauge. Again, the day was yet another heat wave and very few fish seen an all beats.

By Thursday, May 8th, the river was falling away and by now reading just 9" on the Forres gauge and another day of cloudless skies was in store. Later on in the afternoon, Malachy O'Callaghan managed to pull a fish in the Lang tail on Levrattich Beat, but it didn't take hold.

By Friday, May 9th and the river was still falling away to 6" on the Forres gauge and 8" at Shenachie. Yet again, it was another day of scorching conditions. In the morning, Malachy managed to pull another fish in the Churchyard Pool on the Church Beat at Glenferness. Later on in the afternoon, it was Toby Strauss who hooked and landed a cracking fresh salmon of 11 lbs. in the Churchyard Pool on the Church Beat at Glenferness, ably assisted by Guide, Sandy Robb. The fish was hooked on a Sandy's Special tube fly on a full floating line. Toby also pulled another two fish in the same pool a little while afterwards.

By Saturday, May 10th, the river was still holding at 6" and the weather was beginning to look a little more unsettled, becoming cloudy and cooler with rain showers. In the morning, Ashley Matthews hooked and landed another big salmon of around 12 lbs. in the Upper Streenoch Pool on Levrattich Beat, Glenferness Estate. The fish gave a mighty scrap and was eventually landed and released in the Lower Streenoch Pool. It was hooked on a size 6 Orjok double on a floating line. It had been a tough week for the Irish boys in such heat wave conditions, but considering these conditions, they did well to catch any fish whatsoever and I look forward to seeing them back at Dallas Lodge in 2009.

The week commencing May 12th saw the heat wave conditions prevail with water levels falling away daily. However, I was on the Daltullich Beat above Logie instructing newcomer, Neil Sortwell to the art of speycasting. The river was just 2" at Shenachie and 5" on the Forres gauge. The weather had become decidedly cooler and cloudier with a little drizzle later on in the day. We had been fishing mainly in the Scum Pool and I was delighted with Neil's progress as he began to master the art of speycasting. I was naturally delighted when, with little joint effort, Neil was able to hook and play his first ever Atlantic salmon. It gave some great sport before being photographed and released and was a lovely silver fish of around 10 lbs. hooked on a size 8 Orjok double and full floating line.

By Monday, May 19th, I was back on Park Estate on the River Dee fishing with Chris and Jenny Guest, Nick Armstead and his friend Jonesy. The river was running at a respectable 11" on the Park gauge. The weather was bright and sunny with a cold east wind blowing upstream. Nick soon hooked and landed a lovely sea-liced grilse of around 5 lbs. in the House Pool on a Sunray Shadow. Jonesy hooked and lost another fish up in Greenbanks just before lunch.

By Tuesday, May 20th, the river had fallen back to 10" and I was joined by my good friends Don Milne and Geoffrey Mitchell from Edinburgh. In the morning, Don Milne hooked and landed a lovely sea trout of about 2 lbs. in the Long Pool on a Sunray Shadow. Later on in the afternoon, it was Geoffrey Mitchell's turn to hook a sea trout of about 2 ½ lbs. in the Bulwarks Pool; this one, taken on a small Brass Monkey.

By Wednesday, May 21st, the river level was reading 9" on the Park gauge and the weather remained a mixture of cloud and sunshine, still with the cold easterly wind. Today, I was joined by Peter Marshall from Aberdeen and Mike and Evie Glass from Phones Estate, Newtonmore. I was delighted to see Peter hook and land his first Spring salmon of the season. This was a cracking sea-liced fish of around 15 lbs. and hooked on a Sunray Shadow in the Greenbanks Pool.

By Thursday, May 22nd, I was back on the Findhorn River with the Wendy Dawson party, who were staying at Dallas Lodge. The river by now was looking lower than ever reading 1" at Shenachie and 3" on the Forres gauge and still no forecast of any rain to come. However, it was indeed encouraging to know that fresh fish were still running despite these low water conditions and the pools on Lethen, Glenferness, and Logie beats were all stuffed full of fresh fish. Indeed, Wendy Dawson had hooked and released a sea-liced salmon of around 14 lbs. from the Garden Pool on Logie Estate two days earlier. I took Simon Garbutt down through the Gorge on the Altnahara Beat on Glenferness Estate. He was unlucky to hook and lose a good fish in the Deadman's Pool just before lunch. We had indeed seen good numbers of fish in most of the pools in the beat. Later on in the afternoon, Claire Dawson hooked and landed a fish of around 7 lbs. from the Scum Pool on the Daltullich Beat. This was followed shortly by another fish of some 14 lbs. hooked by Simon Garbutt, this one again, from the Scum Pool on the Daltullich Beat above Logie.

By Friday, May 23rd, the river was holding steady with the weather feeling much cooler and with plenty of cloud cover offered better prospects for fishing. I was instructing Wendy Dawson's good friend Joyce in speycasting when she hooked and lost a very big fish in the Scum Pool on the Daltullich Beat. It was really a case of inexperience on her part, as this was the first time she had ever even hooked a salmon. A little later and Wendy Dawson, herself, hooked and landed a salmon of around 7 lbs. again from the Scum Pool on the Daltullich Beat; taken on a full floating line and a size 8 Cascade double. Fishing a little further downstream on the Logie Home Beat, Simon Garbutt hooked and landed another fresh fish of around 8 lbs. from the Cave Pool.

On Saturday, May 24th and the river still steady, Malcolm Maxted, hooked and landed a salmon of 8 lbs. on a size 8 Cascade double and a full floating line in the Brahan Pool on the Daltullich Beat on Relugas, Logie Estate. I took Malcolm onto the Altnahara Beat at Glenferness after lunch. With the hot afternoon sun beating down, water clarity was perfect and we could see numbers of fish in all pools all the way down to Deadman's. Sight fishing in our rivers is generally something we are not used to, but we had seen a large fish lying in the tail of the Chair Pool. I was able to lie on the bank keeping an eye on the fish and guiding Malcolm to cast over the salmon. It was very exciting to see the fish come and take a nudge at the fly on a couple of occasions. However, the fish soon got bored with our antics and disappeared upstream into the depths of the pool and not to return! Despite the low water conditions, it was encouraging to have at least caught some salmon and to know that the fish were still running up river every day.

As we moved into the week commencing May 26th, it was beginning to look a little more unsettled weather wise and I was feeling a bit more optimistic that we might get a some rain over the next few days. The river was still showing 1" at Shenachie and 2" on the Forres gauge and the weather was indeed feeling a little cooler and more overcast that morning. I was joined by Benoit Giraud from Normandy and Olivier Lauzanne (www.planetflyfishing.com), from Paris. I had arranged three days fishing for them on the Daltullich/Dounduff Beats just above Logie and another three days fishing on the Banchor Beat above Dulsie Bridge on the Findhorn River. Having been guiding on Daltullich/Dounduff Beats the previous weeks, I knew which pools to concentrate on and took them both down to the Scum Pool on Daltullich.

We had seen fish moving in the stream and within a very short time it was Benoit Giraud who caught the first fish which was a lovely silver fresh salmon of about 9 lbs. taken on a full floating line and size 8 double cascade. Benoit and Olivier were both delighted with this early result. We then worked our way down stream to the Daltullich Bridge Pool and this time it was Olivier Lauzanne who hooked into another cracking silver fish of around 12 lbs. again on a full floating line and size 8 double cascade. One of the great advantages of these two beats is that even on bright, hot days all of these pools remain shaded until afternoon. Therefore, as the overcast skies gave way to bright sunshine, I suggested it would be a good time for them to leave the river and find a good golf course nearby. They both returned later to fish into the evening and at a little after 9:00 p.m. Benoit hooked another salmon of 9 lbs. in the Scum Pool. This one hooked on a size 8 double Munro Killer and full floating line. Three cracking fresh salmon in one day in such low water conditions is an excellent result and they were both clearly delighted with their first day on the River Findhorn.

On May 27th, we were fishing the lower Dounduff Beat, but despite seeing fish in the Pool of Peck, Dounduff and Randolph's Leap my French friends were unable to tempt one of these fish.

On Wednesday, May 28th, and the river was still holding steady 1" at Shenachie and 2" at Forres. In the morning, Benoit was unlucky not to connect with a fish in the Daltullich Bridge Pool. After lunch, we decided to take a drive up river as I was keen to show them the Banchor Beat and Pools. By now, the weather had at long last changed and with a good persistent rain falling, it seemed to be a good opportunity to show them the beat. We went down along the beat and soon bumped into regular rods, Steve Hume and his friend Paul. Steve and Paul have fished this beat for many years in all heights and conditions therefore, it was good to get some inside information from them as to what was happening. They had already hooked and landed two fresh fish, including a cracking sea-liced salmon of about 9 lbs. to Paul's rod. As we chatted away in the pouring rain, I think we were all feeling quite positive about the next few days and were hoping that this would at least raise the water levels and encourage more of these fish to run. It was very obvious whilst we took the opportunity to survey the beat, that there were good numbers of fish in all of the Banchor pools.

Later on that evening, Benoit and Olivier returned to fish on the Daltullich Beat where Benoit hooked and landed yet another 9 lbs. salmon from the Scum Pool, yet again, on his favourite, size 8 double Munro Killer.

When I awoke on Thursday, May 29th, I was quite amazed to see that the river levels had not moved and were still reading 1" at Shenachie and 2" at Forres. I can only assume that as it had been so dry for the best part of four weeks that this rainfall simply disappeared into the ground. Unfortunately, despite seeing fish in Banchor, neither Olivier nor Benoit managed to get an offer that day.

However, on Friday, May 30th, and with good cloud cover and cooler conditions, it was feeling a much better fishing day. In the morning, Olivier hooked and landed two large salmon of around 12 lbs. and 13 lbs. and Benoit also caught another fish of around 8 lbs. All three fish were hooked in the Throat of Cow Pool and all on floating lines, quietly stripping a variety of flies including Cascade, Allys, and Templedogs. They had seen many fish showing in the pool throughout the morning and were delighted with their mornings catch.

By Saturday, May 31st, the weather had returned to its seasonal flavour of hot, humid and dry. The boys fished the beat hard in the morning and returned in the evening, but sadly no more fish were hooked. However, I know they were really delighted to have come over and fished this magnificent Highland river, which had once again produced some excellent results in such difficult conditions.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing New Update, 26th April, 2008

Since my last update we have seen a good steady build up of the Spring run over these last four weeks. The winter weather returned with a vengeance and we have experienced some extremely cold days and nights with significant heavy snowfall. This heavy snow has come at a perfect time and has given us excellent river levels over these last weeks, as the snow has been melting away slowly. Even up until last week, the snow conditions have apparently extended the ski season up in the Cairngorms and I heard that Aviemore was offering some of the best skiing in Europe! Hard to believe for mid April, however, this is excellent news for our Spring salmon fishing in this part of the Highlands.

For the week commencing March 24th, I was back on Altyre Estate on the River Findhorn with regular clients, Paul Whitehouse and Daryl Ewer. On Monday, March 24th, the river was running at a perfect 1' 3" clear with perfect clarity and falling. Unfortunately, the weather was far from perfect with driving snowfall and strong northerly winds giving a Baltic wind chill factor. It was, to put it mildly, a depressingly cold day with no sign of a fish and by 3:00 p.m. rod rings, reels, and fly lines were all frozen. Therefore, it was time to abandon the fishing and head for the bar. By Tuesday, March 25th, conditions were looking much better with the river at 1' 1", steady and clear with the temperature reading 36° F. The weather was feeling decidedly better with sunny spells, but still a cold north westerly breeze. In the morning, Paul hooked and lost a fish of around 12 lbs. in the Roan Pool. Then after lunch, Paul hooked another strong fish in the Roan Pool, which was around 10 lbs. and sea-liced. This fish was taken on a size 6 double Orjok, fished on a sink tip line. It was one of those classic deep Findhorn Springers and both Paul and Daryl were delighted. By Wednesday, March 26th, the river had barely fallen and was reading at 1' steady and clear on the Forres gauge. The weather was feeling a little milder with a little breeze and feeling quite pleasant. In the morning, Daryl Ewer hooked another lovely sea-liced fish of around 9 lbs. on a size 6 cascade, again from the Roan Pool.

On Thursday, March 27th, I was joined by more regulars, Peter Grimwade, Colin Brook, John Clark and Mike Greaves. The river was still holding at 1' with excellent clarity and water temperature still at 36° F. The weather was feeling settled, sunny and almost Spring like. In the morning, it was the turn of Peter Grimwade to hook a fish of around 7 lbs. in the Roan Pool fishing an intermediate line and a Ronnie Jungle Bunny size 8 double. No more fish were caught, although, we did see fish running in Roan and Soldier's Hole. By Friday, March 28th, the weather had turned once again with heavy rain, windy and feeling very cold in the morning. However, the river level was still at 1', rising to 1' 2" by lunchtime. We saw fish in Soldier's Hole, Roehillock, and Roan Pools, but could not get a fish to take hold of our flies. By Saturday, March 29th, the river had risen and was reading 2' on the Forres gauge, falling and clearing. The water had also risen slightly to 38° F. The weather was feeling a little milder, cloudy and breezy. It was just after 5:00 p.m., when Colin Brook hooked a lovely fish of around 8 lbs. in the Roehillock Pool on a bottle brass, black and yellow tube fish on a sink tip line. Despite the difficult conditions, we were delighted with the final result and all fish were safely released.

For the week commencing March 31st, I was back on Park Estate, South bank, fishing with my client, Tim Ingram from Guildford in England. The river was running quite high with snow melt at 28 inches and falling on the Park South gauge. The water temperature was reading 40° F and the water was looking a little peat stained.

By Tuesday, April 1st, the river had fallen back to 23 inches, but after the warmer conditions on the previous day, we soon saw the river start to rise with yet more snow melt from the Cairngorms and Grampians. Again, the weather was feeling much milder and the water conditions, despite getting higher, looked good. I took Tim down to Beat 5 and it was not long before he had hooked his first ever Atlantic salmon in Bakebare Pool. It was a lovely fish of around 7 lbs. covered in long tailed sea-lice and taken on a sunray shadow on a small aluminium tube. The water continued to rise and consequently, we saw very few fish for the rest of the day, as the conditions worsened. By Wednesday, April 2nd, the river had peaked at 38 inches and began to fall slowly throughout the day. Tim pulled a couple of fish in the morning in the Upper Kirks and again we saw very few fish showing. By Thursday, April 3rd, the river had fallen back to 23 inches and was beginning to clear with the water temperature was reading 40° F. In fact, the weather suddenly took a turn for the better and by lunchtime, we were experiencing something of a mini heat wave with air temperatures peaking at around 17° C. After the appalling cold conditions of the last weeks, it actually felt quite pleasant to be fishing in shirt sleeves! This heat wave, however, was very short lived and by the following day, April 4th, we were back to full blown winter conditions. We had moved further north and were fishing on lower Pitchroy at Knockando Estate on the River Spey. Here again, the river was running a little on the high side at 2' and rising and we did not see a fish all day. By Saturday, April 5th, the weather was even worse with blizzard conditions and a bitterly cold northerly wind blowing upstream. Having endured these miserable conditions, Tim was rewarded with only one kelt from the Pollarder Pool after lunch on a sunray shadow.

For the week commencing April 7th, I was once again back on Altyre Estate on the River Findhorn with the Bill Chard and Phil Jones party. The river was running at 1' 11" and clear when we arrived, however, the weather was once again appalling with heavy rain, sleet and hail stones, which continued well into the afternoon. By 4:00 p.m. the river had risen by several feet and was running very dirty and really hopeless for fishing. By Tuesday, April 8th, the river was reading 2' 7" on the Forres gauge and looking considerably clearer. There were certainly a run of fish and we were seeing fish showing in Pallamore Island and Pallamore Pool. Unfortunately, the weather was yet again, a deluge of heavy rain throughout the day and was once again rising by late afternoon. However, Phil Jones managed to hook and release a fish of about 6 lbs. down in the tail of the Roan Pool on an Orjok brass ¾ inch tube on a sink tip line. By Wednesday, April 9th, the river had risen once again, reading 3' 4", but falling and clearing. The weather in the morning was at least mainly dry and sunny, but with some heavy showers after lunch. Yet again, we were seeing a good number of fish in Pallamore Island, but sadly, they could not entice a fish to take the fly.

By Thursday, April 10th, I was joined by another regular client, Lady Grant, from London. The river was 2' 9" falling and clearing through the day. Water conditions were looking perfect and at around 4:00 p.m., Judy hooked and landed a cracking sea-liced salmon of around 9 lbs. in the tail of Pallamore Pool on a ¾ brass Orjok tube and sink tip line. On Friday, April 11, the water level had dropped by a couple of inches to 2' 7" and looking in perfect order, once again. Even the weather was looking better, bright and sunny and really very Spring like with a cool north westerly breeze. In the late afternoon, Judy hooked and played a very big fish in the neck of Pallamore Island for some fifteen minutes before the hooks finally pulled out! By Saturday, April 12th, the river was remaining steady at 2' 6" and superb clarity with the water temperature reading 40° F. The weather had turned decidedly colder with a stiff north easterly wind. It was a day of sunny spells and heavy rain showers. Throughout the day, we had seen very few fish and by late afternoon, Judy feeling somewhat chilled, decided to call it a day.

However, I decided to fish on into the evening and asked my friend, Colin MacDonald, from Dallas to come and join me for a couple of hours. I put Colin into the top of the Pallamore Pool and I think that it was on his third cast, he got a good solid pull and hooked into his first ever Spring salmon. It was one of those classic deep Findhorn Springers of around 12 lbs. and just dripping with long tail sea-lice. He caught the fish on a brass temple dog tube on a sink tip line. Colin was absolutely delighted with his magnificent fish. We then decided to finish off the evening down on the Roan Pool where I.N. hooked another lovely sea-liced Springer of around 9 lbs. fishing a ¾ inch brass Orjok tube on a poly leader fast sink tip. So after a somewhat disappointing and slow start to the week we at least ended the week on a high note and I just had the feeling that this might well be the start of a big run of Spring salmon! Little did I know what was waiting for us through the following week!

From April 14th through April 16th, I was back on Park Estate, North Bank with a team of guests. For the same three days my good friend, Don Milne, had also invited a team of guests to fish on Altyre Estate, River Findhorn. Unfortunately, Don was away on business in the Yemen and was unable to join his friends for what was about to turn out to be an amazing three days of fishing.

Meanwhile, back at Park where the river was running high with snow melt and reading 41" on the Park gauge, falling and clearing throughout the day. The weather was really quite pleasant, being sunny with occasional showers, but with a very cold easterly wind blowing upstream. In the morning, my good friend, Nick Armstead, from Edinburgh hooked and lost two fresh fish in the Cellar Pool and then just before lunch he was finally rewarded with his first Spring salmon of the season. It was a really strong, deep salmon of around 16 lbs. taken on a small Brass Monkey and on an intermediate line. Later on in the afternoon, Willie Mair, hooked another big fish in the Cellar Pool, which gave some great sport and somehow managed to snap his leader and was gone. Having persuaded Willie to stay on and fish through the Cellar Pool one more time, I was then given the blame for him losing the fish as he said he would have been happily driving back home by then! Oh well, Willie, you can't win them all. By Tuesday, April 15th, the gauge at Park was reading 33" falling and clearing with the water temperature at 40° F. The weather remained settled, but still with persistent easterly wind blowing into our faces. Just after lunch, I.N. went up to Park Inn Pool and after briefly hooking and losing a fish, managed to entice another fish up in the tail of the pool on a sunray shadow. This was another cracking sea-liced salmon of around 13 lbs. John Fraser also got a fish of 8 lbs. from the Durris Stream later on in the afternoon. By this time, it appeared that there were certainly a good run of fish coming through the beat and plenty of fish showing in the Cellar Pool and Durris Stream. By Wednesday, April 16th, gauge was reading 31" falling slowly, but with better clarity. It was another fine day, but still with this biting cold easterly wind. I had invited my friends, Mike and Evie Glass up for the day and was delighted to see Evie hook and land a fabulous 10 lb. sea-liced Springer from the Durris Stream on a small Willie Gunn brass tube fly.

Whilst fishing at Park over these last three days, I had been receiving daily reports from my friend Don Milne, informing me of the most amazing run of fish that his guests were enjoying on Altyre, River Findhorn. During these three days, his guests, Paul Davidson, Glen Bainbridge, Stuart Rose and Steve Bellamy had hooked and landed some seventeen Spring salmon, including a monster fish of just over 28 lbs., which had been hooked and landed in the tail of the Pallamore Pool, by Steve Bellamy on Tuesday, April 15th.

Therefore, I was really excited to be back on Altyre for the three days of April 17th through 19th with my regular clients Andrew Shaw, Simon Lewin and Paul Humphries. By Thursday, April 17th, the river was running at 2' 6" falling and with excellent water clarity and the water temperature was reading 39° F. In the morning, we saw fish in Pallamore Island and Roehillock Pools, but could not get an offer. Andrew Shaw had unfortunately been delayed down south on business and had not joined us on the river until 3:00 p.m. I took him to Pallamore and within a short time he soon hooked into a lovely sea-liced fish of about 7 lbs. taken on a Purple Cascade 1" brass tube. We then went down to the Roan Pool where he hooked into another sea-liced salmon of around 10 lbs., this again on the Purple Cascade 1" brass tube. So having arrived late in the day and hooking two fresh Springers, Andrew was clearly delighted and headed back to the bar to celebrate his catch. By Friday, April 18th, the river was running at 2' 1" on the Forres gauge and yet again with excellent clarity. The weather was feeling just a little milder with some fine sunny spells. The morning was really very slow, although we had seen fish in the Roan Pool. After lunch, Paul Humphries hooked a lovely salmon of around 7 lbs. in the tail of the Roan Pool on a Temple Dog brass tube. Shortly afterwards, it was Simon Lewin's turn to hook and land a cracking Springer of about 12 lbs. again on a Temple Dog brass tube. Both Simon and Paul were jubilant. Further upstream on the Upper Beat, Andrew Shaw managed to hook and land another two salmon of 14 lbs. and 11 lbs. both from Pallamore Pool fishing a large 'Shaw to be Shaw' double hook variant. Just after 5:00 p.m., I.N. headed up to the Roehillock Pool and was soon rewarded with another cracking sea-liced salmon of around 13 lbs. hooked on the ¾ inch brass Orjok tube. By Saturday, April 19th, unfortunately, Simon and Paul had to make an early departure travelling South. With the river rising up to 2' 5", and yet again with perfect clarity, I took Andrew to fish Pallamore Island, which can be a great pool in these high water conditions. After a few minutes, Andrew hooked into a really large fish which gave great sport and was Andrew's biggest Spring salmon of about 18 lbs. The fish was hooked on a Purple Cascade, 1" brass tube fished on a sink tip line. Later, I.N. hooked and lost a big fish in the tail of Pallamore Pool just before lunch. After lunch, we headed off down to the Lower Beat where Andrew hooked another superb Spring fish of about 9 lbs. on a Temple Dog brass tube. Shortly after, I.N. hooked another fish of about 9 lbs. on a 1" brass Orjok tube. Our final tally for this amazing week was 27 Spring salmon up to 28 lbs. and with several others hooked and lost!!! Not only was this simply the most amazing run of fish, but I also have to say that the quality and condition of these salmon was superb. They were most definitely, the deepest and strongest fighting salmon I have ever seen on a Scottish river. We were certainly fortunate to get the water conditions just about perfect. In other words, we had good water levels, excellent clarity with cold snow melt water, which is as good as it gets on Altyre in April.

On Thursday, April 24th I was back on the lower beat with regular clients, Des Dunlop and Jim Bishop. The river was yet again, back up to 2' 7" and clear; water temperature holding on 40° F. However, the weather was feeling decidedly warmer with the wind blowing from the west. Jim Bishop hooked and landed his first ever Atlantic Salmon of around 9 lbs. in the Roan Pool on a Pot Belly Pig tube fished on a poly leader sink tip. After lunch, he hooked another of a similar size only to be lost at the net. Then later on in the evening, Jim hooked and landed number three from the tail of the Roan Pool. It was another cracking sea-liced fish of around 11 lbs. hooked on a Cascade Cone Head tube. It was indeed, a red letter day for Jim to hook three of these magnificent Spring salmon in one day! The following day, April 25th, we were back on the lower beat with the river at 2' 8" and falling steadily throughout the day. It was yet again, another sunny and mild morning with the water temperature just nudging up to 41°. By mid afternoon, the weather changed with the onset of heavy rain. After a slow morning, it was Des Dunlop's turn to hook his first Spring salmon of around 9 lbs. and covered in long tail sea lice. This was hooked on a Yellow and Orange Bottle Brass tube in the Roan Pool. A little later on, Des made it number two with another fish of around 7 lbs. hooked on a Orange Cone Head tube, once again from the Roan Pool. By Saturday, April 26th, the river was reading 3' 4" and rising on the Forres gauge.

The air temperature over these last few days have certainly been rising and I suspect it will not be too long now before these fish make a break for it and clear the Poolie Falls at Sluie. The water temperature today yesterday was reading just around 41° F and, therefore, I think it will not be too long before this run of fish are being caught on the Middle Beats of the Findhorn. I shall be moving up river for these next three weeks, fishing Glenferness, Coulmony and the Logie Beats. Even now, there is still ample snow on the hills above us and I see that the weather forecasts is becoming milder and unsettled. I think, therefore, that my clients arriving over these next few weeks could well enjoy continued great sport and the prospects are looking outstanding. I shall be updating the 'Fishing News Page', as always, in a few weeks time.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update - 23rd March, 2008

I am delighted to report that the early Spring run seems to be building on the rivers Dee, Findhorn, and Spey since my last update earlier this month. I was guiding over on Park Estate on the Dee with regular client, Robert Booth from Cambridge. He was fishing with me for three days from March 3rd - March 5th. River and water conditions were really ideal with the water height at 24" on the Park gauge and water temperature at 38° F with perfect clarity. Even the weather took a turn for the better, remaining settled, sunny, bright and cold. We certainly saw some good numbers of fresh fish running, but unfortunately were not able to touch one, apart from a couple of kelts. By Tuesday, March 4th, the river was still falling at 19" and after the bitterly cold night before, the water temperature had fallen back to 36° F, which is absolutely ideal for us at Park at this time of the year. It was feeling decidedly colder with sunny spells and snow showers in the morning. Fishing down through Redwell Pool and just below the Ash Tree, Robert got a pull off a fish, which took off like a rocket. After a good battle, I was able to net a cracking 8 lb. sea-liced salmon taken on a one inch Black and Yellow Brass Tube on a sink tip line. Robert was over the moon with his first fish of the year! By Wednesday, March 5th, the river was still falling back at 16" on the Park gauge. However, the weather took a turn for the worse today, becoming colder and a strong north westerly wind blowing downstream making casting conditions very difficult. Yet again we saw good numbers of fresh fish running and apart from one large well mended kelt from the Long Pool, we were not able to touch a fresh fish.

On March 6th, I was fishing with Paul Barnard from Edinburgh. The river was reading 15" on the Park gauge and water temperature was 38° F. It was a perfect fishing day, cloudy, mild and more or less windless. I was fishing at Park Inn in the morning and at a little after 10:30 a.m. with Keith Cromar standing right beside me, I hooked and landed a lovely fresh Spring salmon of around 7 lbs., hooked on a Sun Ray Shadow. By the afternoon, conditions were changing a little and becoming a little breezier and the river was started rising to 27" by late afternoon, which must have been the effect of snow melting up in the mountains above us. However, I managed to hook three kelts in the House Pool and lost another big fish in the Cellar, which I was fairly convinced, was a fresh fish.

By Friday, March 7th and the river was still reading 27" on the gauge and falling. The water clarity, however, was still perfect, but the weather conditions were far from perfect with the onset of gale force winds coming from the northwest. I was fishing with my good friend, Nick Armstead from Gamefish in Edinburgh. Despite the appalling weather conditions, I managed to hook and land another lovely sea-liced silver fish from the House Pool, once again taken on a Sun Ray Shadow. Shortly after lunch, Nick, fishing the Lower Kirks, also hooked into another large fresh fish, which took off down the pool and threw the hooks before he could get the fish under control. By 5:00 p.m., the river was beginning to rise again, showing 30" on the gauge.

By Saturday, March 8th, the river had fallen back to 24" still with excellent clarity, but with a higher water temperature up to 40° F. It was yet again, feeling bitterly cold with strong winds blowing. I was joined by Jonathan Sutton from Edinburgh. Just before 11:00 a.m., whilst fishing just below the Ash Tree, on the Redwell Pool, I got a good solid pull of a fish, which turned out to be another cracking sea-liced fish of around 12 lbs. It put up a tremendous battle before being netted by Keith Cromar and again hooked on the deadly Sun Ray Shadow! Just before lunch, it was Jonathan's turn to hook another sea-liced salmon of around 10 lbs. in the tail of the Cellar Pool on a Sun Ray Shadow. Later on in the afternoon at around 5:00 p.m., Jonathan managed to make it a double with another salmon of around 9 lbs., yet again, taken on a Sun Ray Shadow and in the Cellar Pool. In terms of Spring salmon fishing, it had indeed been a 'Red Letter Day' with a total of 7 salmon recorded for Park Estate for the day. We had also seen far more, fresh fish showing throughout the day and one got the feeling that the Spring run was just starting to build in numbers.

I was back on Park Estate from March 10th-12th with Jonathan Asquith from London. It was a difficult few days with inclement weather conditions on Monday 10th with heavy rains and gale force winds making casting very hard work. The river level was at 24" and water temperature of 36° F. By Tuesday March 11th, we were amazed to see that the river had not gone into a massive flood and was indeed reading 42" on the gauge, but with some colour in it. Weather wise, it was a far better day with some fine sunny spells still cold but with no wind. Jonathan was unlucky to lose two fish on the Durris Stream in the morning and the fish were not cooperating throughout the day. We were certainly seeing far fewer fish than we had compared to the week before. By Wednesday, March 12th, the river had fallen back to 32" and beginning to clear. However, we were again back with the gale force winds and bitterly cold conditions. Yet again, fishing was again much slower with very few fish seen. After lunch, Jonathan hooked and lost yet another fish in the House Pool just before his departure back to London. I felt a little frustrated for him as he is certainly a very fine Speycaster and I think that the conditions with the yo-yoing water levels had contributed to this slowdown. However, Jonathan had clearly been delighted with his three days at Park and hopefully will be returning another time in more favourable conditions.

Meanwhile, on the River Findhorn, the Spring run has certainly been gaining momentum. I have heard of at least nine Spring salmon hooked and landed on the Forres Angling Association Water. This includes a monster fish estimated to be 22 lbs. or more hooked and released in the Red Craig Pool by my very good friend, Dr. David Sneddon from Forres. I also hear that the Darnaway Upper Home Beat recorded seven Spring fish for the week commencing March 3rd. I have also heard that the week commencing March 10th had got off to a very good start with at least three fish being caught on the Home Beat by Tuesday, March 11th.

On Thursday, March 13th, I was celebrating my birthday back on the delightful Altyre Beat with Ian Vann, Bill Hannan, Don Milne; and Ian Gordon, who joined us on the Saturday. River conditions were really perfect with the level at 2' 1" and falling on the Fish Findhorn Forres gauge. Water temperature was 36° F and perfect water clarity. Weather conditions were also excellent feeling somewhat milder and with no wind. Don Milne lost a good fish, which took him down to his backing in the Meads Garden Pool on a Willie Gunn Tube Fly just before lunch. After a fine picnic lunch, enjoyed in the warm Spring sunshine, I took Bill Hannan down to the Roan Pool on the Lower Beat. The river had fallen a little further through the morning and by the afternoon the pool looked in excellent ply. I was feeling really confident about hooking a fish here, especially having seen a fish show shortly after we arrived.

Fishing a type three sink tip and a 3/4 inch Orjok tube, Bill got a sharp pull off a fish right in the 'hot' spot. I instructed him to take another cast into the same lie and just as the fly began to swing, he was rewarded with a strong steady pull and his reel screamed. The fish turned out to be a lovely deep Spring salmon of around 8 lbs., which was photographed and quickly released. Bill and I were both quite jubilant at our success. A little further upstream on the Upper Beat and it was Don Milne's turn to hook a fish. He hooked into what turned out to be a very large salmon in the tail of Pallamore Pool, which put up a great battle and took him out of the pool, down through the rapids and was eventually beached and safely released in the Pallamore Island Pool. His fish was estimated to be somewhere in the region of 17-18 lbs. taken on an Intermediate Line and a Small 1" Willie Gunn Brass Tube. This had indeed been a great start to the three days and I was feeling very optimistic for the Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, however, the next couple of days proved to be fishless, despite seeing several fresh fish showing, mainly in the Roan Pool. I had the opportunity to briefly go and cast a fly in the Roan Pool yesterday, March 22nd. Water levels were again superb and I had only been there some ten minutes when I got a pull from a fish, which unfortunately threw the hooks after a few minutes. I never saw the fish, but it certainly felt to be of a good size. The weather forecast for the week ahead remains unsettled, cold and with more snow showers promised over the next few days. These cold water conditions will be perfect for fishing for my clients on Altyre over these upcoming weeks. The salmon will be reluctant to move over the Poolie Falls at Sluie just above Altyre until water temperatures reach at least 42° F. The last few days have seen some really quite heavy snowfalls in this part of Northeast Scotland and this will act as a good reservoir supply of snowfall water over the forthcoming next few weeks. I shall, of course, be updating the Fishing News Page within a few weeks with all the latest information.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update - 1st March, 2008

Since my first report of opening day on the River Dee, it was quite an amazing first week with some 76 Spring salmon recorded for the Fish Dee beats. It was also interesting to note so many large fish being caught during these first few weeks, including a fish estimated to be some 42 lbs. hooked and released on the lower Blackhall Beat. It has also been an amazing month for variations of weather with snow, rain, gales and hail. Unfortunately, during the last few days of the first week of February, we saw a sudden mild spell, which induced a very heavy snow melt flood taking away our much needed snow from the mountains.

By Saturday, February 8th, the river rose considerably and the level hit 73" on the Park Estate gauge with the gauge eventually disappearing as the river continued to rise. My good friend, Nick Armstead, was fishing there with a group of friends. It was just as the light was fading, when Jonathon Sutton from Edinburgh decided it was time to have a last cast in the Cellar Pool. Fishing off the bank and a very short cast with a sink tip line, Jonathon got a pull off a fish. Whilst all of the others came rushing out of the hut shouting "Kelt!, kelt!, kelt!", the fish turned out to be a cracking sea-liced Spring salmon of 10 lbs. Well done, Jonathon, a great effort indeed, in such amazing circumstances. I do not think I ever remember hearing of a fish caught here at this height of water.

As the weeks progressed through February, the fishing generally became a little slower, as often happens at this time of year. I was fishing back at Park with a group of friends for the weekend of 22nd and 23rd. Water conditions were really excellent with the river level at around 31" falling to 24". The moon was full and the big tides seemed to be in our favour. Unfortunately, the water temperature was just a little too high to be on our side for this time of year and reading a high 40° F. On Saturday, February 23rd, we saw a big run of fish passing through us, but they were not going to stop. It was in one way gratifying to see so many fish, yet in another, frustrating that we could not get an offer from any of these fish. Park South managed to hook a fish of 16s lb. from Greenbanks and an 8 lb. fish from Lower Kirks.

By Monday, February 25th, I was fishing on Altyre Estate, River Findhorn. The river levels were perfect at 1' 10" with excellent water clarity. I was fishing there with my friend, Colin MacDonald from Dallas. Despite the appalling gale force conditions and feeling bitterly cold, I was feeling optimistic that we might just pull a fish from somewhere. Sadly, we never saw a sign of a fish anywhere. By Tuesday, February 26th and after heavy overnight rain, the river rose three feet during the day, but still the clarity was good. Yet again, the weather conditions were appalling with gales, rain and even more gales; and yet again, no fish seen or pulled. On Wednesday, February 27th, I was joined by Nick Armstead, Paul Barnard and my friend Keith Cromar from Park. When we arrived and after yet more overnight rain, the river was reading 4 ft. 6" on the Forres gauge and looking amazingly dirty. We decided on an early lunch and retired to the comfort of the hut with the hope that the river might just fall and clear for the afternoon. By the time we went back to the river, shortly after 2:00 p.m., it had indeed fallen by a good 12" and the clarity was much better. My favourite pool, in such conditions, has to be Pallamore Island and indeed, it looked in perfect order. Whilst we were there, we saw two fresh fish head and tailing towards the tail of the pool and indeed, Keith Cromar got two pulls off the fish, but nothing hooked. I was feeling quite positive as we fished through the afternoon and into the evening that we would hook a fish, but sadly, it was not to be.

By Thursday, February 28th, the river had fallen back to 2' 2" on the Forres gauge and I was joined by my friends, Mike and Evie Glass from Phones Estate. It was a fabulous day, the best day of the week with perfect water clarity, bright sunshine, and cold, and I was so optimistic that one of us would connect with a fish. Yet again, my optimism was dashed and despite fishing hard all day and covering all of the best pools, we never saw or pulled a fish.

By Friday, February 29th, the river had fallen back again to 1' 10" on the Forres gauge. I was joined by my greatest and dearest friend, Bill Currie and his friend, Colin Bradshaw. The weather forecast had promised more rain and storm force winds. However, the morning remained reasonably sunny, but by mid afternoon, the rain and the strong winds had set in, becoming much colder. Yet again, we never saw a sign of a fish, but I just had the feeling they were not far away. Finally, on Saturday, March 1st, I awoke to see the river level reading 5' 5" on the Fish Findhorn gauge at Forres and thought that maybe the week was over. However, you never know with salmon fishing and as the old saying goes, "It ain't over, 'til the fat lady sings". I sent Colin and Bill on a sight-seeing tour of the river to view the infamous Dulsie Bridge, Randolph's Leap, and of course a wander around the wonderful Logie Steading bookshop. Bill was delighted to find a couple of copies of first editions of his own writings, including "Days and Nights of Game Fishing" and an immaculate copy of "The Guinness Guide to Game Fishing", so all in all, a morning well spent. We had arranged to meet up at the hut for a late lunch at 2:00 p.m. with the hope that the water might just fall away and clear enough for us to enjoy a cast before the afternoon light faded. I knew if there was a chance of taking a fish anywhere, it would have to be the tail of Pallamore Island and so I took both Bill and Colin down to the pool, shortly after 3:30 p.m. The water was still amazingly high and must have been around the 4' mark, but the clarity was much improved. Colin started in half way down the pool and within two or three casts fishing a sink tip line and a ¾ inch Orjok brass tube, got pull off a fish. At first, the fish did not do very much and he thought it might have been a kelt and suddenly the fish took off and he had a battle on his hands. By the time we walked down to the pool, he had already beached the fish and we were all simply delighted. It was a classic early deep Spring salmon of around 9 lbs. and at last we had broken the duck on Altyre. Ladies and gentlemen, the Spring salmon season has arrived!!

Finally, whilst chatting with Ken Walker from the Forres Tackle shop earlier today, he informed me today that three fish had also been caught off the Forres Angling Association Water this week. These were on Monday, February 25th, 14 lbs. from the Stoney Pool by George Monro; Wednesday, February 27th, 12 lbs. from the Stoney Pool by Sandy McLaughlin; and Friday, February 29th, 9 lbs. by Bill Bartlett and all fish were reportedly caught on the fly. The Findhorn Conservation Code for 2008 requests that all fish of 9 lbs. and over should be released to try and sustain our vulnerable Spring salmon stocks.

The weather forecast for the forthcoming week is for more cold and wintry weather and this will be ideal for fishing on the lower beats of the Findhorn, Dee, and Spey Rivers. I shall be updating my fishing news over the next few weeks towards the end of March. Good luck and Tightlines!

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update - 1st February, 2008

When we awoke early this morning, I think we were all slightly amazed to see how calm the weather was starting the day. Having been warned of gale force winds and blizzards, we thought we might just get away with it! However, the boys in the Met Office were spot on and by the time we reached Park Hut at around 9:00 a.m., the winds began to blow and the snow began to snow! Before we knew it, all of our worst nightmares had become a reality. The weather was in short, unbelievably cold and wet. However, we salmon fishers are an optimistic bunch and therefore, we always know that there will be a fish waiting there at some point for us.

When we arrived, the water level was reading 36" on the Park gauge with the water temperature of some 35°F and I must say that this is a really good height for fishing at Park. It was good to see my old friends and of course, Keith Cromar, Head Gillie, at Park. We soon dispersed onto our allocated beats and the arctic conditions that prevailed made fishing somewhat difficult. It seemed that even the kelts were not very eager to take a fly. However, we persevered and by lunchtime reports were not exactly encouraging. Even Lady Barbara, who is normally very keen to be wetting a fly, seemed to spend an unusual amount of time in front of the fire of the newly refurbished hut, drinking large quantities of hot coffee. I even heard her comment to Mike, and I quote, "You actually took a day off work to be here?"

After lunch and with the river beginning to rise by some 2", we were soon covering the water again. By now, the steady rain of the morning had turned to snow and the wind blew even stronger. The fish began to show more interest and it was evident that we were starting to catch more kelts on all beats and I just felt certain that someone was going to connect with a big glorious Spring salmon before very long. Sure enough, just after 3:00 p.m. as I was standing beside my great friend, Ronnie Sneddon, and as we were chatting about this and that, he hooked into a fish. At first the fish did not do very much and we were both certain that it was a kelt. But then, as we were still chatting away, the fish turned close to the surface and we could clearly see that distinctive silver flash of a beautiful fresh fish. Indeed, the fish then woke up and then all hell broke loose and after some fifteen minutes of a good strong fight, Keith netted a glorious Spring salmon of around eleven pounds and we were all delighted. The fish was hooked on one of Ronnie's home tied bottle brass black and orange Templedog tube fly.

As the afternoon wore on, the wind died down and the weather improved and I felt sure that we might just be lucky enough to get another fish before the day was out, but unfortunately there were no others hooked apart from kelts. I see from, the Fish Dee website that there were some ten fish recorded for the day, which included a huge twenty seven pound fish from Lower Blackhall. I have to say that considering the appalling weather conditions that this is a very encouraging start to the season and I know that we are all looking forward to another superb season of sport on our rivers in the northeast of Scotland.

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

Fishing News Update, 24th January, 2008

Greetings from the Northeast of Scotland and may I wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe that the new season is just one week away when I shall be opening the season with my regular group of friends over at Park Estate on the River Dee on February 1st. I am delighted to report that we have had more snow this winter than we have had for many years up to this time of year. The ski resorts are apparently reporting excellent snow levels with superb skiing conditions. If this Arctic trend continues through February and March, this bodes well for our river levels being topped up by snow melt water throughout the Spring months ahead.

I shall be reporting on our opening day event upon my return and, thereafter, regularly throughout the season as usual, so please 'Watch this Space'! May I wish everyone a successful fishing season and tightlines to you all!!

>>To view images of our growing online photo library which covers the prime beats we fish on the Rivers Findhorn, Dee, Spey, Avon, and Ponoi, please click here

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