Summer spectacular

[tyneandrew]

I remember Sandy Leverton writing in the editorial of T&S in 1998 which was titled 'summer spectacular'. He described the spring fishing as a non event and then a tremendous run of summer salmon and grilse.

The Dee catch this week is quite exceptional, and it seemed to gain in momentum as the week progressed peaking on Saturday.
I look forward to seeing how things shape up next week on the Dee and, also, surely the Tay is going to pick up significantly very soon. The grilse runs seem to be alot later at the moment, but it is coming to that time of the year where we are waiting for catches to rise. Its only round the corner for most rivers - lets hope they come in big numbers like 1998.

[colliedog]

Hi TA,

The Tay grilse run is certainly late by the standard of years past but pretty consistent with the last 2 or 3 seasons. Looking at my fishing diary, the peak of the fishing for me the last 3 seasons has been very late July and the first 2 weeks of August.

Does this match others experiences?

CD

[tyneandrew]

The July catch for the Tay is still 500 fish down on last year.

Are we going to see a big surge this next week?

[jkboy]

Hi colliedog,

The last week in July (especially the last Friday night) and early August has also been the best time for me the last couple of years. This is based on fishing the Ericht and Isla, where I used to get some june grilse, but not since 2005.

Still waiting on the first one this year, although I did lose one 2 weeks back and my dad got one on Thursday from the Ericht.

[sinkingtip]

colliedog said:

Hi TA,

The Tay grilse run is certainly late by the standard of years past but pretty consistent with the last 2 or 3 seasons. Looking at my fishing diary, the peak of the fishing for me the last 3 seasons has been very late July and the first 2 weeks of August.

Does this match others experiences?

CD

CD is quite right about the recent 3 year norm regarding Tay.

Anyone who can remember last seasons bizarre water colouration from the landslide somewhere up the Tilt would be aware that the peak of the grisle run was just prior to this (2nd week in August). The Angus Esks also have been 'late' in recent seasons but being, IMHO, basically spate rivers you can understand it - not so this year !!

Tay has had the water (and how) but not the fish - that's the worrying factor.
Here's hoping.

[darrenuk]

Well that sound true on the Carron in Sutherland where I fish. Been a terrible spring on the Dounie Beat but the Ghillie phoned yesterday and told me they have broken the weeks catch record last week, 31 fish for the week one person to report in on fishing late saturday evening so could be more, and he said they lost more that they caught as fish where coming short all the time.

Darren

[tyneandrew]

darrenuk said:

Well that sound true on the Carron in Sutherland where I fish. Been a terrible spring on the Dounie Beat but the Ghillie phoned yesterday and told me they have broken the weeks catch record last week, 31 fish for the week one person to report in on fishing late saturday evening so could be more, and he said they lost more that they caught as fish where coming short all the time.

Darren

Good news Darren - do you mean a record 'weeks catch for the season' so far or record for 'that particular week' in comparison to previous years?

[darrenuk]

It was the record catch in a week ever. It has been a terrible year there this year but that week has doubled the beat total for the year, spring run was none exsistant.

Darren

[tyneandrew]

It is encouraging then

[zephead]

TA

agree its great that fish are showing up-and a relief to get amongst them at last on Saturday.

As for Leventon and non-events its usually his self righteous Peter and Jane journalism that I find is the noin-event.

TJC tells me today he's been among 'em at Lower Birmingham.

Regards

ZH

[tyneandrew]

Report from the Lochy:

My tentative (some may say rash) prediction at the end of last month’s report that the season on the Lochy would ‘come good yet’ proved (thankfully) to be on the money. While July started off very quiet and a continuation of the poor spring and early summer, by the middle of the month sport had exploded into life.
While the grilse certainly kept us waiting again, they made up for their lateness with their sheer numbers. By the third week of July fish were very numerous and were taking up lies in all of the main pools. Shoals of grilse were entering the river every day on the tides and were being slowed down in the main beats by the recently installed residents. The combination of this and some decent water heights throughout the period led to some of the best summer grilse fishing the river has seen for several years.
The best week produced over 80 fish from the private beats and tidal water. Some notable scores included the Mann party who had 33 fresh-run sea-liced fish for the week, a spectacular week’s sport which saw them land 28 grilse for 3 days fishing – Garrabouie Flats and Middle Camisky were particularly high scorers, and the Cascade did much of the damage. Lochy regular Allan Sefton was rewarded after enduring a slow spring week earlier in the year by taking 21 grilse for his summer week, Allan himself doing particularly well taking 6 to his own rod one day in the Camisky pools.
The signs are that the good grilse run is continuing in to August as well – before sitting down to scribble this report, I spoke to members of Iain Will’s party who had already had 19 sea-liced fish for the first two days of this week.
The grilse this season are perfectly formed, averaging around 6 lb, and we are seeing none of the thin grilse that were being reported from around the country last year. It is of very notable credit to all Lochy anglers that even with these much improved numbers, returning fish is still seen as a priority and only the occasional fish was taken for the pot under the catch and release regulations in force on the river.
Rather than list any more totals, there were some very notable individual catches that must be reported in amongst all this frenetic sport.
The first was the capture (and release) of a truly stunning fish by Inverlochy Angling Club member Paul Machugh. On Friday 6th July Paul hooked what he immediately realised was a very large fish on one of his home tied red and silver tubes in the White Water of the Tailrace beat. The fish took him for a merry dance over the course of the next hour (at one point it even tried taking on the BA smelter’s huge impassable outflow) and then it wrapped the line around midflow rock no less than three times. Eventually though a fabulous deep-bellied cock salmon, fresh as paint, came to the net which was estimated from its length at 36 lb before being safely slipped back into the stream. A fish of a lifetime, that’s for sure.
Paul is no stranger to big Lochy salmon and last season he had a 27 lb fish – ‘this one dwarfed that though’, he told me as he will still shaking with adrenalin several hours later.
The same angler also had fish of 24 lb and 13 lb from the same beat a few days later – it seemed that the Tailrace was the place to be this month for the bigger salmon. Club angler Sandy Walker also had a lovely fresh fish of 22 lb which he eventually landed after a gruelling fight that took him down the whole length of the beat.
Finally though, the prize for a ‘first fish’ had a very obvious winner this month. The biggest smile I saw on the river in July belonged to 7 year old Jake Jackson. He had just landed the first salmon of his fishing career - a lovely 5 lb silver grilse from the Jetty on Beat One. Well done to him – he showed me the next day just how well he can cast, especially for one so young, and with a line like that I am sure this will be the first fish of a great many in the years that lie ahead.

Jon Gibb

[jock]

That was the prediction when I was there in Spring. They expected this year to be a good year for Grilse, although I think they did have their doubts, as across Scotland all rivers were down on numbers. Glad it has turned out good for them. Jon Gibb and his team are doing their best for the river. I suppose in some ways they have an advantage, in that they contol the whole river and don't have all the disadvantages of too many cooks.