Archive for the ‘Salmon’ Category

This was Meant to be a Dry Season!

Friday, August 28th, 2009

This was meant to be a dry season, according to long range forecasts. It has turned out to be the complete opposite! We have had steady rain throughout August and, as I write this towards the end of the month, the total catches for the season are Salmon pushing towards 60 and sea trout just under 100. A feature of 2009 has been the number of large fish showing in the pools. In July and August five salmon of over 20lbs were hooked and lost, one of them at the net in the presence of Moray Macfarlane, who couldn’t stretch his hand around the massive wrist of the tail! I can vouch for this trend in big fish because last night (27/8) I was fishing the Willows at dusk when an absolute monster of a fish leapt clean out of the water in Upper Boat Pool. It was about 30 yards away and I estimate it as quite a bit more than 20lbs. The fish I caught a few minutes later was a nice clean grilse of 6lbs. When it took my fly (a size 6 Finavon Whisp) there was a heart-stopping moment as the line tightened when I thought I was into the big fish. Never mind: a salmon is a fish no matter how much it weighs!

Prospects for the last two months of the season (closes on 31st October) are promising, especially if we continue to see big salmon. The river is in perfect condition and, although we are seeing only a few fish (I saw 6 in 2 hours fishing last night) my guess is that the river is well stocked. The nets come off on 31st August, so there will be nothing to prevent new fish entering the river. We still have a few days left in September, and fewer still in October.

Anna Zharkov from Moscow Fishing Red Brae

Anna Zharkov from Moscow Fishing Red Brae

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The River is in Excellent Ply

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Water conditions have been perfect over the last week and we have caught some nice two sea-winter salmon, with Andrew Bett catching and releasing a 17lbs fresh fish in Marcus House Pool. After the excitements of the previous week when Simon Walter lost two double figures salmon in Boat Pool and Tollmuir Pool (We think both were closer to 20lbs than 10lbs) we ended up on the last day of July with a respectable 45 salmon for the season to date. If we get water and fish the catches should rise quickly from now until the close of the season at the end of October. As far as sea trout are concerned we have had 79 for the season so far and there are no shoals of sea trout or fresh run fish to brighten things up. At the rate things are going I think we may struggle to reach our five-year average for sea trout this season.

As I write this update on 3 August the River is in excellent ply and big fish are running through but not in any great numbers. The grilse have not yet appeared but with more rain forecast I expect this to change in the next few days.

Gennady Zharkov, Chairman of Russian Salmon Fund, Fishing Red Brae Pool

Gennady Zharkov, Chairman of Russian Salmon Fund, Fishing Red Brae Pool

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We are Ready to Welcome in the Summer and Autumn Salmon and Grilse

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

It is great to see sea trout in the river in better numbers than for some years. Cortachy, about 6 miles upstream of Finavon, has been catching lots of sea trout, and every one of them of course passed through Finavon’s pools. But high water has meant that the big shoals have moved upriver. At Inshewan (3 miles upriver) Colin Gibb tells me that there are also good numbers of fish, both salmon and sea trout.

We are now awaiting the arrival of the grilse, hoping that the nets don’t take too many of them before good numbers can get upriver. We are still catching the odd salmon and, with a mid July total of 33 salmon and 64 sea trout we are ready to welcome in the summer and autumn salmon and grilse.

We were told by the BBC that this was going to be a long hot summer. So far it has  been a cool rather damp one. If the water continues to flow at a good level into August and September we can expect to see good numbers of fish. Here’s hoping!

Deep Wading Upper Boat Pool

Deep Wading Upper Boat Pool

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Last Week Saw 10 Salmon and 2 Sea Trout Caught at Finavon

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

Last week saw 10 salmon and 2 sea trout caught at Finavon. As is normal before the end of May, Milton Beat fished best, but fish were seen and caught on all four beats. The sea trout were in exceptionally good condition, and we had three salmon over 10lbs.

As I write this bulletin on the 24th of May, the river is running down after a long period of high water. Restrictions on killing sea trout and salmon end on the 31st of May, but we will be asking our rods to continue returning fish until the end of June. This is because of the widespread concern about spring salmon stocks and the continuing low numbers of sea trout.

Prospects for the coming week, beginning on 25th May are good, and it will be interesting to see if the sea trout continue to show in Finavon’s pools. If we get more water we should also see more late-running spring salmon.

Beeches Pool from the Aqueduct - Milton Beat

Beeches Pool from the Aqueduct - Milton Beat

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May Should Provide Good Sport

Friday, May 8th, 2009

After a flurry of activity in April the spring run of two-sea-winter salmon has slowed down, although we are still seeing the occasional fish, including some sea trout.

After seeing three very large salmon (probably three-sea-winter fish) at Haughs (Bogardo Beat) in mid April, we caught a very small salmon (not a grilse) which at just under 4lbs indicates that perhaps something is not right in the marine environment. Since then we have seen more normal size fish entering the river and, as I write this bulletin on the 8th of May, the river is well up but a little more coloured than it should be for the best chance of catching a spring salmon. If the weather settles, and the river can then drop back and clear, we should see some action.

Prospects for the coming week, beginning on 11th May are good, but everything now depends on whether the spring run of salmon is late. If it is, then the rest of May should provide good sport. The South Esk is of course 100% catch-and-release to the end of May, which is to be extended to 30th June on a voluntary basis.

Fishing the Red Brae

Fishing the Red Brae

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Big Salmon at Finavon

Friday, April 24th, 2009

After a spate early in the month Finavon continued to produce good quality two-sea-winter salmon until last week, when water levels dropped back and the sun came out. Bright conditions, low river levels and crystal clear water enabled us to see, for the first time this year, how the winter spates had changed our pools. The River is in great order with lots of young salmon and sea trout, good fly and invertebrate life and fish in all the pools. The catch to date is seven salmon and one sea trout.

Yesterday David Parratt, Andrew Howard and I were lying on the top of the Haughs Aqueduct peering vertically down into about four and a half feet of clear water at the head of Haughs pool. We could see every stone on the bed of the river in the bright sunlight. We could also see three salmon lying quietly in a lie beside a large boulder immediately below us. We were not more than thirty feet away from these fish, so we were able to assess their size with some accuracy. and compare each other’s estimates. The smallest of the three salmon was about 14lbs, a really nice spring salmon anyone would be proud to catch and release. The fish lying next to it was much bigger, a longer, deeper fish with tremendous breadth to its shoulder and upper body. We thought this would weigh between 18 and 22 lbs.

About six feet below these two impressive salmon was a very large fish, which we all agreed was somewhere between 30 and 35lbs. With its huge, spade-like tail,  massive head and overall length of about four feet (48”) we took a long time to reach our conclusion, but because there was no refraction from our position directly above the fish, there was no distortion of its size. What we saw therefore was what the fish was. In all the 25 years of my ownership of the Finavon water I have never seen such a big salmon. And to see it at such close quarters and to note every detail on its body was a great experience.

Someone may catch this huge fish, but I hope not. I like to think this is a female that will go on to lay her eggs, probably in  November or December, in a high tributary of the South Esk to ensure that another generation of big fish return to our river.

Haughs Pool Downstream of the Aqueduct

Haughs Pool Downstream of the Aqueduct

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Spring Salmon have now Arrived at Finavon

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Spring Salmon have now arrived at Finavon. In the first days of April we landed three silver fish of 7lbs, 12lbs and 15lbs.

There are also a good number of fresh salmon showing in the main pools.

Pools that have scored to date are Melgund – Indies Beat (12lbs), Tyndals – Milton Beat (7lbs), and Haughs – Bogardo Beat (15lbs).

It is especially encouraging that we are seeing some good sized two sea-winter fish, including one very big fish in Indies Pool – Indies Beat.

As I write this on the 8th of April there is a good spate running off after two nights of heavy rain, which should bring in more salmon.

Prospects for the rest of April look very exciting!

7lbs Fish Ready to be Released

7lbs Fish Ready to be Released

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