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| River Spey Report September 2009 |
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September 09 will be remembered for the spate which enveloped us on the evening of the 3rd. Rods fishing, particularly the lower half of the river, woke up to a spate, the size of which had not been seen here since 1970, and this was to have, I believe, a significant influence on what then happened over the rest of the month. At its height the river, at Fochabers got to around 14 feet above normal, but, and thankfully, this was not the case further up-stream where 9 – 10 feet would have been more the norm. Although 5 inches of rain fell in the Fochabers, Keith and Dufftown area over a 24 hour period, Aviemore and beyond had a little under half of this, which meant the river had more volume downstream of Craigellachie. This said, it was still an almighty spate with one or two beats loosing boats, oars and landing nets. Fortunately no life was lost as can so easily happen during and after such events. So how did this affect the river during the remainder of the season? By Monday the river had returned to a fishable height, but very few fish were seen anywhere at this time. It seemed as if any fish in the river had simply disappeared! However, as the week progressed they begun turning up in the same pools as they had been in prior to the flood and anglers, particularly those fishing below Aberlour, were again catching fish in reasonable numbers. Husband and wife, Mr and Mrs Dan & Louise Ball, having fished hard all week on Brae Beat 2, finally broke their duck, each of them catching their first ever fish on the Rock Pool. What was more amazing was that both had their first fish within half an hour of each other. Mrs Ball with a fine sea liced 11 pounder on a size 10 Cascade, whist Mr Ball’s, a 5lb fish, was caught on a 10 gold Ally’s. The couple left the river highly delighted at the end of which had been a strange weeks fishing. The fish of the month must go to Devon man, Mr Peter Sylvester. Having fished all day on Craigellachie, he decided to carry on for one more hour after 5pm, singling out the Bridge Pool to concentrate his efforts. This proved to be a very good call, as having not long started he felt his sink tip line tighten as a good fish took fancy to his small orange tube. Having fished the river here for many years, Peter had a good idea he was into a sizable fish, but not until the fish run out of the pool UP into the pool above did he realise he had hold of something special. After around 25 minutes and, by this time, with an audience of a dozen or so people on the bridge, he finally beached the fish, which was a lovely fresh cock fish of 44 inches long, 28 inches in girth, and estimated at around 35lbs. With two hooks of the treble almost straightened he considered himself very lucky indeed to land the fish. Peter returned the fish to a round of applause from the bridge, a few of which were somewhat bewildered by this practice. As far as I am aware this is the largest fish caught on the Spey this season, and to release such a specimen without thought is also worthy of praise, well done Peter. As the month progressed, fish which had all but vanished after the spate, were again bouncing around pools with regularity associated with the time of year, in fact lower beats such as Castle and Brae Water were now positively heaving with fresh fish, but could they be caught? The answer to this, in the main, was no. As was the case throughout most of the river, the fish had decided enough was enough and went right off the take. No one really knows why this is, because not every year can be different, but it seems, not only on the Spey, but throughout Scotland, in September, this was the case. I would add it has been a few years since I have seen so many fresh fish in some pools, particularly on the Lower Castle Water, but the vast majority arrived in late September, leaving the question – Why is the season so short? Given the fact so many fish are now running the river later in the season, should we, as has been done on the Dee, have the season extended to its historic date of 15th of October? As always with fishing, there will be pros and cons to this, from an economic standpoint, it would be a "no brainer", whilst on the other hand one could say, by the 30th of September we have played around with them long enough. As a footnote – The closing date for the river, historically, was always the 15th October, changing to the 30th September in the early 1940s when the main run came, not as seems to be the case now, in the autumn, but in the spring. I would also like to lend some support to members of The River Spey Anglers Association, who have been looking in great detail, into the subject of restocking the river. To anyone working on the river, 2009 will be remembered as a difficult season. OK, there were some good weeks, but there was also cause for concern. Official figures have not yet been released, but my guess will be that around 8500 Salmon and Grilse will have been declared. Details of the final figures will be available through these columns in due course. Finally, members of the RSAA will make a presentation of their very interesting findings at an open meeting which will take place on 10th November at the Fleming Hall, Aberlour at 7.00pm.
Ian Gordon |
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