Archive for May, 2013

Late sea trout?

Friday, May 31st, 2013

These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. While I may digress at times to write about other places, these are not the views of any other organisation, nor are they designed to promote the interests of any individual or organisation other than Finavon Castle Water and factors affecting the fishery. Tony Andrews

In a year when daffodils are still in bloom at the end of May and the ash and oak trees are only just coming into leaf, not to mention the continuing cold sea temperatures, I would be very surprised if the sea trout migration into the South Esk were normal in any way at all.

Beeches Pool (Castle Beat) from the Aqueduct

Beeches Pool on Castle Beat in a normal year at sea trout time (late June/early July)

I am therefore surprised that some of our biologists, netsmen and fishery managers are expressing concern at the non-appearance in coastal nets of sea trout. While it is certainly true that sea trout in the last five years seem not to have appeared in the abundance of the 1980s and 1990s, there is little evidence on the east coast that they have yet fallen below conservation levels. Sea trout abundance is notoriously cyclical and rod catch statistics generally fickle and unreliable, dependent as they are on prevailing weather conditions.

A few sea trout have already entered the South Esk, and a handful have been caught. At Finavon we have seen perhaps half a dozen in the main holding pools, but as yet there are no signs of shoals in the usual places (e.g. Willows).

If I reflect on sea trout main run timings of 30 years ago, my game book shows that fresh sea trout started to appear at Finavon in good numbers in about the third week of June, with the run peaking in the first week of July.

I will hazard a guess that we will get that sort of pattern in the 2013 season. Sea liced sea trout at Finavon on 1 July!

In many ways I prefer a gap between the end of the MSW salmon spring run and the arrival of the sea trout, followed by any grilse that are able to circumnavigate Usan Fishery nets (usually about 10%).

That gap was usually 2/3 weeks, and gave time for the hardy culture of spring salmon fishing to give way to the slightly crazy and uncomfortable culture of night fishing for sea trout – well, a culture that the uninitiated public might find rather strange, with images of grown men wading around in the river all night while their saner compatriots are abed.

But to those of us who have had the initiation it is a different story: could there be anything more alluring and exciting than the long pull of a four pound sea trout out of the darkness at one o’clock in the morning? If you haven’t done it you should.

TA 30/5

The Finavon Whisp

Thursday, May 30th, 2013

These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. While I may digress at times to write about other places, these are not the views of any other organisation, nor are they designed to promote the interests of any individual or organisation other than Finavon Castle Water and factors affecting the fishery. Tony Andrews

People who follow these blogs may remember that about 3 years ago I devised a salmon fly specifically for fishing the clear waters of the South Esk in medium or low water conditions. The fly is tied on silver or gold salar double hooks and is characterised by its very light dressing.

I first fished the South Esk in the late 1960s on the Kintrockat Beat above Stannochy Bridge near Brechin, which in those days was owned by the late Hon John (Jock) Leslie. In fact he owned a longer stretch of the river than comprises the Kintrockat Beat today. The Dam was the most prominent feature of the beat in that it held back a large area of water above it. Huge shoals of sea trout collected in that pool any time from mid May onwards. Thanks to the kindness of Jock Leslie I fished that pool regularly for sea trout at night, and salmon during the day (always after a spate) during the years 1971 to 1980. His advice on fishing the South Esk was “to fish small and slight” and I have paid heed to that advice ever since.

Finavon Whisp 3

Hence the Finavon Whisp (above). Body a bed of silk and varnished-in silver or gold tinsel (I like flat silver overwound with ribbed gold or wire) Dyed squirrel hair of selected shades tied sparsely 360 degrees around the shank with a strand or two of ‘flash’, and well beyond (100%) the bend. Cheeks with small jungle cock cape hackle bases tied in closely to the squirrel hair ‘wing’ at the head. Very simple & effective. It’s all you need.

I make no claim to be any sort of expert when it comes to tying up a nice looking salmon fly, but I think I may have an idea of what works in the South Esk when it comes to attracting summer and autumn salmon and grilse. This fly works by persuading fish to take when the water is clearing after a spate or in the clearwater conditions of a ‘steady’ river, I think for a number of reasons:

  • An impression rather than a statement. An illusion that evokes territorial behaviour, curiosity or remembered hunger responses
  • A delicate, light fly that lands in a quiet stream or in a shallow riffle with a minimal splash, and can be fished close to the surface or deep.
  • A fly that is easily cast on light tackle and can be fished accurately with leaders of 6lbs to 10lbs
  • A fly for a small stream that invites minor tactics (as GEM Skues might have said)
  • A fly that is adaptable, simple to tie, cheap and does not require any special skill to make.
  • A fly for all seasons!

Do try fishing the Finavon Whisp. Gows of Dundee have commissioned the famous Irish fly tyer, Paddy Bonner, of Ballymina – and whose shop overlooks the famous Ridge Pool on the River Moy – to tie this pattern in various sizes. It will be on sale from August in their Dundee shop and on line. Contact Ryan Balcombe or visit the Gows of Dundee website if you are interested www.gows-secureshop.co.uk/contact.asp

TA 30/5/2013

 

2013: a strange spring season

Saturday, May 25th, 2013

These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. While I may digress at times to write about other places, these are not the views of any other organisation, nor are they designed to promote the interests of any individual or organisation other than Finavon Castle Water and factors affecting the fishery. Tony Andrews

The last few years have seen wet starts to the Scottish ‘summer’, which has had its pros and cons as far as fly fishing for salmon and sea trout is concerned. From a conservation viewpoint, higher water levels have enabled spring salmon and sea trout to migrate in good flows to the upper catchments of river systems, putting them in place to gain easy access to spawning redds later in the year. From an angling viewpoint, and for those people who use rod catches as the primary indicator of abundance, those years have been poor for angling. Moreover, warm winter rivers encourage early running multi sea winter (MSW) salmon to move through the lower sections of rivers such as the Dee and Tay into the upper catchment, thus leaving historically famous spring beats on the lower river with few fish for the angler.

8lbs salmon from Flats on 13/5/13

South Esk spring salmon. May 2013 Finavon Castle Water.

This year – 2013 – has been much colder than recent springs. The effects of colder water temperatures can be seen clearly in, for example, rod catches on the lower River Tay and South Esk below Brechin. MSW salmon have been held back by low water temperatures, thus enabling lower angling beats to increase their catches, in contrast to recent seasons. In the case of the Tay, catches are close to double the five-year average on some beats.

One of the difficulties for fishery managers in this situation is in trying to get a handhold on the numbers of early running salmon. In the 2011 RAFTS/ASFB summary of the 2011 season Andrew Wallace pointed out that rod catches are sometimes unhelpful when attempting to assess numbers of salmon that have migrated into rivers. He cited the example of the Tweed which in 2011 had a poor October and November as far as rod-caught fish were concerned, but that there had clearly been a strong run of salmon earlier, probably as result of invitingly high, and normally unseasonal, water levels. The result of the late summer run into the Tweed was that anglers fishing in the normally prolific month of October were fishing for stale fish, many of which were reluctant to take a fly.

The antithesis is that in the spring of 2013 we have seen conditions ideal for rod fishers to maximise their catches in the context of, at best, a mediocre spring run. That mediocrity in some rivers, most notably the Aberdeenshire Dee, has resulted in below-average catches, which in the case of that most productive of spring rivers says more about the fishability of that river than about water temperatures. In other words 2013 is not demonstrating a strong run of multi sea-winter salmon, some evidence for which is the counter figures at Logie on the North Esk.

John Wood's 17lbs salmon from Beeches

John Wood’s 17lbs salmon from Beeches

17lbs salmon from FCW in April 2013

Assessments of the strength of seasonal runs of salmon is never easy when viewed from close quarters, but there is a feature of the spring 2013, pointed out by Dr David Summers who is the senior biologist on the River Tay, which is the size and condition of the MSW salmon returning to the Tay in the first four months of the season. Salmon above 15Kgs have been a rarity in recent years and it is therefore encouraging to receive news of big fish – of between 10kgs and 20kgs – being caught by rods. While one season’s catches does not foretell a trend it is fair to state that salmon in such good condition does indicate that in some parts of the ocean there is an abundance of nutritious prey species for non-maturing salmon. Fish that have stayed at sea for more than one sea winter will, for many reasons, not return in the numbers that used to be the case with grilse (one sea winter maturing salmon). It is likely that numbers of grilse returning later in the 2013 season will be low, reflecting poor feeding close to home and the continuing trend of our salmon going further away (probably somewhere west of Iceland) to feed, and therefore staying at sea longer before returning to our rivers as  MSW salmon.

The combination of good angling conditions, lower water temperatures, and a run of MSW salmon in excellent condition, may not indicate a migration of higher numbers of fish, but does imply that in poor conditions for angling we should not set too much store by rod catches, as indeed we should not when catches are good, as they have been in some places this spring. The spring of 2013 has demonstrated how complex the business of assessing stocks can be, and it will be fascinating to see what the rest of the season brings.

TA 24 May 2013