2007, May, Trout and Salmon River Spey Report, Speycaster.

River Spey Report May 2007

With April being one of the poorest for many years, everyone hoped for the run of fish to become stronger during May, unfortunately this did not materialise.

Many reasons have been offered as to why this should be, but the long and short of it is – there were just so few fish, and I may add that every river in Scotland has suffered in a similar way. As the month went on visiting anglers, or at least those fishing the lower and middle beats, became more and more dejected, prompting some to pack up and go home mid way through their week. So what has been the problem? Why, given that the past few years have been reasonable, have the spring fish not returned in any number. Well as most people are aware salmon have many hurdles to cross during their long migration and even in the “old days” of plenty, some years there was just one hurdle too many and only small numbers of fish made it back, in my opinion, this is one such year. Remembering the condition of last years Grilse and the fact they got off to a very poor start in the ocean could partly explain why this year’s spring fish, which would have entered the ocean at the same time, are now themselves thin on the ground.

Fishing on the river has generally been hit and miss, sporadic to say the least! It would seem because of the very light run, the right place at the right time is even more relevant! Stories of rods catching nothing for the week then catching 3 in one morning have been commonplace. One such angler was Mr Hendry Lax, who having fished various beats for 12 days hit it lucky on the 13th. As I described last month, persistence is necessary when fish are thin on the ground. Fishing at Knockando, Mr Lax finally hooked and landed three fish on his final morning. Further up-river the Tulchan and Castle Grant beats seem to have seen the best of the fishing. Fishing Castle Grant No 2 Beat, Mr Adrian Ewer’s party had lots of action on their first morning, hooking 10 but landing only three, however, one of these fell to the rod of his son James and tipped the scales at 18.5lbs, another fine specimen adding to the increased number of big fish.

Further up-stream it would seem that fish were now holding up in the Kinchurdy water, particularly the main Kinchurdy pool, this fairly slow long deep pool often gets the reputation as being one of the river’s best Sea Trout pools, but I must add that on its day, it can produce some very good Salmon.

Grantown Association water has also faired relatively well during May with some reasonable weeks, one of which saw 20 fish along with a sprinkling of Sea Trout. The years tally on this water, although slightly down on last year, will now be above 80 fish for the season.

At the opposite end of the river, where all Brae Beats have struggled, the Fochabers Association Water has fished relatively well, the highlight of the season so far being week 18 where Mr Tony Smith accounted for three, and club members catching a further four on the Saturday. As one would expect, all these were sea liced and in very good condition. The normally very good lower middle part, again relatively speaking, seems to have suffered more than the rest of the river, with most beats being down by 50% or more on last year.
Having seen the river low and cold for almost the whole month, June has begun with a high spate. 36 hours of rain on May 30th saw the river rise 6 feet and already there are signs that things may be about to improve.

July Prospects

Traditionally July is seen as being the best month for Grilse but the past few years have seen those fish arrive slightly later with August being better during 2005/06.

Having had a fairly light spring year it usually follows that the Grilse are better, If one run is strong then the other is poor, only on exceptional years do the two cross. As long as water levels hold up I would think by the time this goes to print we will be seeing numbers of Grilse much improved to that seen over recent years. I would also guess that we will not have the same numbers of thin Grilse. Time will tell!!!

Ian Gordon
Speycaster

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