Tay - Kercock

[kercock]

We managed to get 15 this past week,so they are definately there at times in the day. The people who fished on in the evening caught nothing,which was surprising. Several guests spoke about coming out early,but none of them did. Like the previous week,all catches were made between,say 10am and 4pm given that it was very hot and mostly bright and water temp.at 66F first thing, and the vast majority in the AM period,so don'be too late !

[kercock]

This past week we had eighteen including a blank day due to the huge amount of weed coming down,not a lot I admit but doing very well for a middle Tay beat and better than some Lower Tay beats, Water Temps dropped slightly to 65F and the fly did better towards the end of the week,better quality grilse too,more in the four to five lbs size and fatterfor sure than previously.more grilse being caught in the evening too.Of the early birds, none have had a touch

[tyneandrew]

May well be paying a visit to Kercock in the first week of September with Old School Tris. Looking at the catch returns it is usually one of the more productive fishing months.

Does anyone have any experience of autumn on Kercock, and what to expect? I note the price jumps up, so surely the quality of fishing does ;D

[kercock]

'Taint nessesarilly so, as the song goes (never mind the spelling,I was singin') It would be quite difficult to better this months catches so far.All bar one caught by guests,I was lucky to land one on thursday evening(after a days work,and the guests had gone,before any one fires up about ghillies fishing !). It would be good to add more of the members who have fished on Kercock this season ,and a grand bunch of lads they have been too.
You can be sure of a friendly welcome and we will put you in the fishy bits. We don't do the "you fish there and you fish there and I'LL just have a cast round there stuff" We are too busy doing the best we can with we have. Shop around,thats the way to do it . Nothing available until the 28 th I see.

[kercock]

'Taint nessesarilly so, as the song goes (never mind the spelling,I was singin') It would be quite difficult to better this months catches so far.All bar one caught by guests,I was lucky to land one on thursday evening(after a days work,and the guests had gone,before any one fires up about ghillies fishing !). It would be good to add more of the members who have fished on Kercock this season ,and a grand bunch of lads they have been too.
You can be sure of a friendly welcome and we will put you in the fishy bits. We don't do the "you fish there and you fish there and I'LL just have a cast round there stuff" We are too busy doing the best we can with we have. Shop around,thats the way to do it . Nothing available until the 28 th I see.

[iainjay]

i can vouch for the friendly welcome.have met some really nice folk there.and most of all they are very helpful with advice for a novice like myself.

cheers

[johnmac]

Aye.... he's a good lad is our Dennis a more helpful man you couldn't wish to meet!

[macd]

I support that John and Graham.

Had a super day with dennis and dennis- 2 for one. Great crack and no bad language

Ross

[zeolite]

macd said:

I support that John and Graham.

Had a super day with dennis and dennis- 2 for one. Great crack and no bad language

Ross

Thank goodness for smilies and I agree that Dennis is a star.

[Fruin]

Have to agree with all of the above comments. Just a pity that screaming bairns, work, and a tight wallet are stopping all my fun at the moment

[Fruin]

12 fish today Dennis . You'll sleep well tonight

[kercock]

Thanks for the above lads,I just try to do what a ghillie is meant to do,I don't catch fish for guests,guests are there to catch fish, ghillies are there to help them achieve that.
Gary,14 in fact, 2 on the fly in the evening what amazes me is that we have around120 fish so far this month,that is more than some seasons in the past !!!! albeit,on lower kercock.. Of course the more people fishing the beats the more fish should be caught with,if needed a wee tweak here and there with the techniques being used.. Dennis A is a star player,doubt if we could have got a better man for the joband a cracker to "work! alongside.

[tyneandrew]

Dennis (thats my surname btw!), what size fish are you typically picking up on Kercock at the moment, any bigger fish about? Thanks.

[kercock]

Certainly there are bigger fish around,but its the smaller ones that are being caught with us. Yesterdays 4 fish were about 4 4 5 and 6lbs slightly bigger than last weeks average. The bigger fish which have been hooked have been lost,one guest had one at 15lbs last week but that was it. The low water conditions make it difficult for the bigger fish to come upriver. The bigger fish are being caught further downstream on the "posh" beats mainly on worm with the exception being islamouth which is fly only.

[stoater]

Wow, in these times I didn't really imagine that "posh beats" and "mainly on the worm" went together.
Now, I am certainly no purist and will happily use a spinner if needed to save a long drive home if the River's big. Just intrigued that it's still natural bait that seems the most productive method, at the moment, on such a mighty River- even more so as the water's been low.
Kercock, you seem to be experiencing a great summer, well done! Can you hazard a guess as to why this is so? Are there just more Fish running Tay this year? I've never fished your River, I would dearly love to and it's getting towards when my better half asks me to write my Xmas list......

[kercock]

I think our "success" is due to the combination of low water over a long periods combined with the fact that guestwise we are busier(because of earlier success!) than ever before. Since my boss aquired upper kercock last year we now have two and a quarter miles of water,both banks,six rods on each beat,more rods,more fish. The added fact that in general the smaller rivers in scotland have been seriously low,new faces are coming from other areas to fish the Tay,fishers who seriously know what they are about. The old story of success breeding success really added to that is people realise we are not in the business of, dare I say, ripping people off and giving them decent value for their money and are coming back. Big name beats are complacent in my opinion,the impression I get is that they think they are doing you a favour by letting you on in the first place ! Their employees are there to keep the catch rate up and expect you to give them big tips for the priveledge(up on the soapbox again)of seeing them catch fish.
(Back down again) There does seem to be more fish around in the last few years though,last year on lower kercock we had our best season ever,this month for both beats, at present we are on 127 so far and a few days to go yet.. Along side of that is the worrying increase this year of very small emaciated grilse, bleeding at the vent ,very thin,This seems to be countrywide,the reason for it all,I really do not know. There are people very much more qualified than I may tell you.I cannot.

[stoater]

Thanks for a good reply Kercock, makes sense to me. I too returned a 1.5lb grilse on Tweed recently, worrying, something's up.
But the better sized Fish will with us just now.....I hope

[kercock]

The river rose15" by Friday morning and the quality was much better ,the grilse being a bit heavier and much better to look at. Since Friday we have had 32 caught but only two were salmon! 15 and 20lbs app. and they were fairly obviously springers which had been lying around somewhere and moving with the runs of grilse, they went back into the river to hopefully run furtheras did a lot of the grilse .

[kercock]

Water up three feet,lots of fish seen in the AM ,one sea trout for the whole day. Reality is back with a bang,still,today is another day,I spoke to Jim Tritton of Kinnaird last night,they had a total of seventeen yesterday, ;Dsounded like quite a party in the background too

[kercock]

Seven yesterday, two and a half feet on the gauge ,my new boss and his factor both had a fish, but the real big bonus was that a young lad from Noth Devon caught a ten lb salmon on his first ever attempt at it,having lost one around the same size earlier. ,,,,,,,,, braw.