These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. They 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
I spoke with Colin Gibb (Inshewan – 5 miles upstream of Finavon) yesterday about this year’s spring run. He told me that there is a good number of fish in the Esk Pool and that he had seen two fish in the Dardanelles last week. There are also a few kelts lingering in the Castle Hill and the Boat Pool.
The spring run of 2012 in context: The radio-tagged salmon are of course only a small proportion of the total number of salmon entering the South Esk. A few have already been caught by rods as far upriver as Justinhaugh, and, judging by Colin’s Inshewan report, and accounts from the Marine Scotland team of untagged fish released from the Usan nets, we can assume that there may be quite a good number of fish already in the river, with an increasing number waiting in the sea for higher water levels. We should remember that the purpose of the MSS radio tagging project is to find out where the S. Esk’s early running fish go to spawn. Counting them will come later, but that should not prevent us making every effort now to estimate abundance of stocks of both salmon and sea trout.
Latest radio tagging news: The news from our Montrose scientists is that another 8 fish were radio-tagged last week, bringing the total of tagged spring salmon to 47. Of those 47 fish, 8 have now entered the South Esk, with one of those fish dropping back into Montrose Basin. All the fish appear to be in good condition but the numbers seen in the nets in late February and early March have dropped away, so that the target of 11 rasdio-tagged fish for the week ending 31/3 was not met.
Two salmon have migrated upstream and were recorded by the receiver at Haughs of Finavon. The first of these two fish passed the Haughs of Finavon receiver on 27 March and was later recorded at Tannadice. The second salmon was recorded by the Haughs receiver on the 28th of March and is probably lying in one of Finavon’s holding pools.
What surprises me about these reports is that a significant number of spring salmon are entering and travelling a fair distance up the river, even in these dead low water levels. The fact that these fish are making it well upriver (15 to 20 miles, and maybe more) should remind us of how resilient and determined these fish are. Salmon never cease to amaze me. Who would have believed that a good run of fish could take place through the thin stickles of the river in its present condition?
No tagged fish have yet been recorded by receivers on Dee, Tay or North Esk.
TA on 2 April 2012