N Esk

[hornet]

I was out fishing the N Esk today at Stracathro with a good mate and his missus who is learning salmon fishing.

The weather was awful with gusting swirling winds and lashing rain all day. The river was showing 6 inches on the gauge and as usual fish showing. So knowing there was fish in the river it was exciting getting geared up.

I got started and went down the junction pool. There was some clonkers jumping clean out the water infront of me, to the side of me and you guessed it over my line. >: . Hate when they take the piss.

After covering the whole beat and trying all our various flies, lines and kitchen sinks we did not connect with anything apart from his missus catching a broonie. So the pressure was on as you can imagine .

Virtually deciding on the last cast i change onto an intermediate line and tied on a 1 inch temple dog tube that i usually fish in the spring. A couple of casts to adjust to the weight difference on my single hander and off we go down the junction pool again. Fish still showing at the lower junction and I'm thinking of the last chance saloon when bang and I'm into a fish. A quick shout for the net and a change of angler.

I quickly handed over the rod to Bab's so she could play and hopefully land her first ever Salmon. After a good 20min fight on my Greyflex m2 11ft she was over the moon when i netted it. 12lbs , not a clean fish but a fish all the same. We had to chap it as it was bleeding.

So what looked like a blank on a frustrating day ended up finishing with all three of us going away happy. Salmon fishing, Amazing

Hornet

[ibrox]

Nice one Hornet and well done Bab's great stuff

[Sloggi]

Good to hear there are fish about in the N Esk.

Nice beat Stracathro although it needs water to fish well. Fish are often very frustrating in the Junction Pool - I guess they're waiting to run the W Water.

Often the Edzell beat has better takers - especially the excellent Lyn Martin Pool (one of my all-time favourites) which always seems to have a taker just below the head of the pool. Likewise, in high water, the Snek is the place to be

[hornet]

Not fished the Edzell beat yet but know a couple of blokes who have and they have said the same so maybe one of the days i'll book a day ticket.


Hornet

[Sloggi]

hornet said:

Not fished the Edzell beat yet but know a couple of blokes who have and they have said the same so maybe one of the days i'll book a day ticket.


Hornet

It's cheaper and has two beats of very different character. I find the top beat can be very frustrating - often stuffed with fish right below your feet but very tough to catch.

[donnieW]

I've never fished it from the right bank but have always thought that it looks much better from the left bank anyway - plus it's cheaper. Sloggi, you're right about the frustration on the upper beat! I've seen the big Gannochy pool absolutely stuffed with salmon and big seatrout but they won't look at anything. Having said that, when the water is up it can be fantastic. Shame they don't allow night fishing for the seatrout.

[Sloggi]

donniewhiteford said:

I've never fished it from the right bank but have always thought that it looks much better from the left bank anyway - plus it's cheaper. Sloggi, you're right about the frustration on the upper beat! I've seen the big Gannochy pool absolutely stuffed with salmon and big seatrout but they won't look at anything. Having said that, when the water is up it can be fantastic. Shame they don't allow night fishing for the seatrout.

If the water is high enough to spin, then the BG is incredible - had 8 there one day a couple of years ago. Coble can be frustrating but interesting. Often either the guy I'm fishing with or I will sit on the high bank and watch the fish ignore all flies Other days, with a bit of water/colour, the fish just keep taking. Personally, the lower beat is the safest place to find a taker.

[hornet]

Went fishing today rather than going to the game fair. The weather was unreal. Toasting at 07.30am not a cloud in the sky, no wind, just blazing sun.

I turned up ready for pissing rain and wind. The weather at the minute seems to be all over the place.

Anyway tackled up and got going. Never saw any fish early on at the Junction so decided to move onto the Otter pool which at the front of the pool is pretty deep and slow.

After a couple of casts a very slow draw and ya beauty i was into a fish. At first it seemed pretty lifeless then wham it exploded. I was up and down the river twice with my DHder bent over big time. After 20mins i was still battling this fish from a deep pool. I then managed to get it turned and was close to seeing it as the leader was in view. A flash of a big fish then all goes slack followed by the loudest shouting match ever. Checked the hook which was ok, i think i just gave it to much and should maybe have played it a bit more.

Was easy over the 15lb mark as i have had a few between 12lb and 13lb and none felt like this lump.

Went back to the hut for a break and cuppa then headed down to the lower end of the beat. Never seen or touched any fish apart from par. Thousands of them jumping about.

Went back up to the junction and changed over lines from a sink tip to my intermediate as the heavens had opened and i was now fishing in heavy rain.

Some fish started showing at the lower junction so i also changed over flies and put on one of Sloggis silver stoats ;D as one of the fish that was jumping was a sea trout. Made my way down the pool and bang, what a hit, i was into the sea trout. Thinking about what happened earlier i decided to give a little only to see this trout torpedo and cartwheel out of the water three times before it came to the net. A nice silver three pounder.

It got chapped as the old man wanted it for the table. I took some pics so now i need to do the photo bucket thing and get them on.

Off to the game fair tomorrow.

Cheers

Hornet

[salmonking]

Well done hornet,,,welcome to the catching fish club ;D

[sinkingtip]

Congratulations Hornet. Will PM you shortly re. organising a night time South Esk sortie for later in the week - just need to check what the forecast is going to be. Nights have been very cold this past wee whiley - freak hail storm FF's sake last Wednesday and this is supposed to be summer . The water has been up and down like the proverbial hoors draars but there are a few fish about. Had a nice 6lb s/t in amongst some run of the mill sizes last week so we should get a bit of sport.
Yours aye
STip

[Sloggi]

Good to hear of your success Hornet

Does anything ever get caught below the Otter Pool? I wonder what percentage of Stracathro fish is taken from the Junction & Otter Pools.

The pool right at the bottom (opposite Pert) looks good but appears to have silted up - pity they don't empty it out.

[colliedog]

Sloggi,

Have wondered the same myself. Couple of aquaintences had a big day on the beat in Mar-07 - most of the fish were taken downstream of the Otter - not sure of the pool name but fished from the right bank. The bottom pool which I think Stracathro fishes the right bank opposite Inglesmaldie in the left is reputed to be useful.

Have only had limited experience of the beat but my impression was that there was extremely little space for the 4 rods that it fishes - maybe ok in 1'6" but in low water there only seemed to be the junction and the otter - everything else downstream was very thin. If I'm paying £80/day I'm looking for some daylight between myself and my neeb

Any comments from anyone more familiar with the beat?

CD

[hornet]

If the water is around 1ft on the marker then the whole beat can fish. Lower than this then i stick mainly to the otter and the junction.

Below the Otter is the Island Pool then the Cruik and lairds Run. (Maybe round the other way ). The Upper and Lower Dam can be just as good as the Junction. The Upper Dam is where i hooked my first ever salmon. The next day i hooked two springers from the Otter.

The Otter fishes well because they have to run some pretty fast white water which means it's an excellent deep holding pool. My favourite bit of the Otter is from the croy down to the white water. Fish tend to lie around the big boulders and take a breather.

I don't know beyond the Lower Dam as i thought it was a private beat and have never ventured beyond the big stone on the rhs.

Cheers,

Hornet

[Sloggi]

As the Dee was running high (again), I had a day on the Edzell beat of the N Esk. The water was highish and very dark.

Fished the lower beat during the morning and returned one coloured fish from the Snek Pool. There were a number of fish splashing about in the long canal-like stretch. Lyn Martin was running pretty fast. Unfortunately, my photographer (partner) was shopping - she didn't appear until lunchtime so no photos of lower beat

The upper beat is situated in the gorge. The Big Gannochy is a good holding pool although I only saw one fish.

Big Gannochy:





Moved down to the Coble Pool which is a streamy run followed by some deep water filled with large rocks. Good holding water. Below that is Greenbank which is slow and deep - holds fish most of the year.

Coble:





Had two fish here, but neither were very fresh.



The two fish in Coble were on a size 5 Ness C (silver hook) while the morning fish was on an Orange PBP with orange Eumer cone.

Overall, a good beat for high/low water. Greenbank, Snek, and Big Gannochy good in high water. Lyn Martin fishes in high or low water, while Coble is a very productive pool at most levels.

[elwyman]

Well done Sloggi, and a great report.

Looks like really nice fly water.

How's the wading? Seems to be a lot of slabby rock on the river bed.

[salmonking]

Here ,here,,,nice enough fish that.

[macd]

nice work sloggi, water looks lovely.

what happend to the french revolution red bunnet ;D

[greenalert]

Ross, you beat me to it Still a bit of red there though!!!

Looks a different man

Well done Sloggi

Me & my mate will have a trip down there in the next couple of weeks hopefully

[Sloggi]

Elwyman - wading is not really required. If you do wade, be careful as the slabs of rock can end very suddenly Most of the water is fine for the fly - what I like best is it's a good beat to fish when the Dee and Don are too high and the price is reasonable.

Macd & Greenalert - Alas it was too warm for the red hat

[hornet]

Hi Sloggi,

Nice pics and report. I was just below you at Stracathro with the old man.

Could only fish the Junction and the Otter. Never touched anything even though there was some fish showing when we decided to pack up. I was on a roll with your flies too .

I had a works golf outing at Afford so it was an early start otherwise i would have fished on late. The fishing proved to be good in the evening as i have a report of one good Salmon and sea trout caught and another salmon lost .

The water level was just under three foot on the gauge and resembled a bottle of dog . When we left it was sitting steady at 2 ft and starting to clear.

What fish did show all looked clean and fresh.

Cheers

Hornet