Would the Grilse turn up in any numbers this year?   This was the question on everyone’s lips during August.   And the short answer was – No!   Ok, when the river rose on the 15th, some Grilse arrived, but nothing like the numbers needed to provide good fishing throughout the full length of the river.   Of the fish that did arrive, some were even smaller than those seen over the past few seasons.   One Grilse, caught on number 3 beat of the Brae Water, although perfectly formed, didn’t even make a pound in weight!   To the un-trained eye, this could easily have been mistaken for a Finnock. 

Staying on Beat 3, Ghillie, Mr Ian Tennant is continuing with his own experiment into how many fish are recaptured.   For 8 years Ian has marked, by way of fin-clipping a number of fish just to see how many fish are recaptured and where.   With a scissors, he cuts a small “V” on the fleshy part of the pectoral fin.   The mark is so small it will cause the fish no harm what so ever, but will be easily seen if the fish is recaptured.   The information provided by this will undoubtedly be welcomed by all interested parties and will add to the study carried out by the Spey Fishery Board a number of years back.   Ian is currently compiling the information, which I have to say makes very interesting reading.   

Over a four month period, one fish was recaptured three times on the same beat. Ian has also kept very accurate records of weather, river heights and fly patterns over the same period, all of which, when added to the times of fish recaptures, make for very interesting reading.   I have to add, it would be great to see the marking of fish, possibly using a spot of coloured dye, extended throughout the river, as this would finally end the uncertainty of just where and how many fish are recaptured, obviously leading to a much better understanding of how our fishery works. 

Although the river remained fairly low until around the middle of the month, it had no bearing on the fact that very few sea liced fish were being caught in the upper beats, this was purely down to a very poor run.   Rods fishing Castle Grant had to rely on catching fish already present in the pools, with only a sprinkling of fresh fish reaching this far up-stream.   The same could be said all the way down as far as Carron.   It would seem the strong runs of fresh fish seen in the river at this time over the past few years have simply vanished.   

Diminishing runs of Grilse has led to a lot of talk amongst Ghillies, as well as anglers, of the possibility of a “Smolt releasing experiment”!   Highly controversial, this has been talked about for many years, but for reasons far to complex and long for this column, has always been rejected by the scientific community as well as the Spey Fishery Board. Anglers and Ghillies point to the fact that Icelandic rivers using this form of re-stocking, this year, have provided anglers with record catches of both Grilse and Salmon.   Anyway, the Jury remains out on this, but anyone wishing to read Tony Chattaway’s in depth file on both sides of the argument, can find it here.  The Chattaway Files (The letters have been scanned, and cannot be released as PDF)

Even with a poor run of fish, the River Spey will always provide anglers with a chance of a fish. 
After the second significant rise of the month, rods fishing Castle Grant enjoyed some great sport on the 24th, with a combined catch of almost 40 fish for the day.   Although many of these were older fish, a sprinkling of fresh fish, mainly Grilse, were also present in the catch. It must also be pointed out that all older fish, as well as a high percentage of fresh grilse were returned to the river unharmed.

Rods fishing Delfur also had some good sport throughout August, with some very nice fish indeed.   Historically, this part of the river has always been most productive and even in what has been a fairly mediocre year has provided guests with weeks of between 30 and 50 fish. Great fishing by any standard on what must be the best Fly-fishing beat in the country!

The same can be said of the Brae and Gordon Castle water at this time of the year, and it is probably the best chance of catching a high percentage of fresh fish during August.  This year has been no exception, albeit, like every other beat, there have not been the numbers of fish to keep a sustained level of catches.   Typical of this was the Gordon Lennox party, who, with their young team of anglers, managed 17 one day, then nothing the next.  The party finished up with 40 fish for the week which reflects exactly what most Ghillies have been saying all year. There are simply not enough fish in the river! 

Here on the Spey, the season finishes at the end of September and although there is no fishing in the winter months, I will keep readers up-dated with news from the river.   Given that fishing has been so good in places such as Iceland, I have a feeling there will be plenty to debate during the coming few months!!

As a foot note – In the days prior to sending this report, we have experienced the biggest flood since 1970.   This will undoubtedly leave a huge amount of change in pools throughout the river, and, can be very dangerous for anglers who feel they know the water.   I would ask anglers to exercise extreme caution as the bed of the river is very unstable after such an event. 

I will have more information on the flood in next months report.

Ian Gordon
Speycaster