Waterside and Ferrar

[tyneandrew]

woburn said:

I'm getting slightly excited about my week on Crathie in April. 5 at W & F this early in the season is very good news.

Sam

Hopefully there are plenty to come behind the current one's

[tyneandrew]

fishingd0 said:

I see 5 were caught on waterside and Ferrar yesterday. Looking at the catches for the Dee this week, it looks as if the "good old days" may be on there way back!

Does anyone recall what the 'good old days' were actually like?

Please correct me if i'm wrong anywhere here. The spring catch on the Dee up to end of May is about 2,000 fish for the 5yr average.

What was it like in the 60's, 70's before the collapse compared against this total.

4k, 5k???

Also, are rod catches on the Dee or Spey available for the past 50 years or so?

[fishingd0]

Dee catches

1963 - 13.008
1964 - 10.666
1965 - 9.263

1976 - 7.215
1977 - 7.805
1978 - 11.123

Between the two eras shown, the catches dipped to the mid 5000 mark.
We consider 5000 a year to be a good year nowadays.

Catches are on the way back, but there is still a long way to go before we get back to the "good old days".

[charlieh]

Of course, the other thing to bear in mind about figures for the 'good old days' is the number of rods fishing.

I don't know about the Dee, but so many other rivers have seen a considerable increase in rod numbers. Does anyone know how many rods Park, for example, took in the 1950s?

[tyneandrew]

Thanks for that info guys, makes interesting reading.

The river still offers very good fishing but as we can see could be more than twice as good. Imagine that

[tyneandrew]

Ok, since the river started to drain in catches from the 80's what would be your top 3 reasons why?

Most important one first...

here's mine:

1.

[tyneandrew]

sorry pressed the wrong button there.....

1. netting in river mouth?
2. agriculture (spawning ground problems)
3. smolt mortality from commercial sea fisherman

[fishingd0]

• Drift netting
  
• Habitat problems, forestry etc
  
• Estuary netting and culling all rod caught fish
  

,

[knoxy]

Would think that habitat must be the number one problem alongside mortality at sea (could that be a sign of food shortages at sea?)

[tyneandrew]

I think it has definitely been a combination of factors rather than an isolated single problem. Hopefully, over time, lessons can be learnt from successful rivers management and be passed on to help other struggling rivers.

Some very interesting information there speyvalley, enjoyable reading. Lets hope things keep in improving, not only on the Dee but all our rivers...

[tyneandrew]

I could share a few night caps with you James, you clearly know a lot about the Dee as do others on the forum. When we had the storm in early January 2005 the Tyne was in a spate of biblical proportions, as was the Eden which flooded Carlisle very badly. I have often wondered about the impact that these have upon the spawning from the winter months. Some people believe they can be devastating whilst others argue that nature finds it way.

I suppose a burning question about these huge floods is have they not always occurred periodically over time? And is their damaging influences not just part of the cycle that salmon have evolved in. Surely if one flood damaged a significant number of redds then the repercussions would be very noticable in 4 or 5 seasons from then. Did this not happen on the Tweed?

That was some opening day, so does that mean the Dee is going down hill now!

So many issues to ponder.....

[tyneandrew]

Good to here Graham thought that was the case.

Has a fish counter ever been seriously considered on the Dee?

Personally im unsure if they are really worth it or not?

[tyneandrew]

That seems to be two of the big problems on a few rivers:

£

bi-passing in high water

[williegunn]

28lb taken from the Brae today, or so I hear on the grapevine

[robmason]

williegunn said:

28lb taken from the Brae today, or so I hear on the grapevine

Taken? as in killed?

[tyneandrew]

That sounds like a belter Malcolm, i imagine the lower levels are suiting the fishing down there?

Is it now fact or still on the grapevine?

[fishingd0]

Malcolm

I see "another" fish was taken at Wester Elchies yesterday, were you the lucky angler?

[fishingd0]

Anything doing there. I know my bosses wife had a 12lb fish off it on Tuesday.

[williegunn]

robmason said:

Taken? as in killed?

Yes or so I hear, the tomtoms are in overdrive.

[kercock]

Fishcounters on spate rivers like here on the Ericht truthfully give an almost cryptic clue as to the real numbers of salmon travelling upstream,the 'counter on the Ericht is beside a weir and at the top of a fish ladder, however in a bit of a spate,the fish go right over the weir and of course are not counted. One year the 'counter read about14,500 fish but the guesstimated real total by one of the river bailiffs was "probably in excess of 20,000 ". The best you can expect from a fishcounter is that the total will be the minimum number of salmon which have gone up the river. Our head bailiff is of the opinion the fishcouner numbers are counted as being "classified information "incase the poachers get to hear of it ! I think it should be put on the fishtay website myself to encourage anglers to fish the upper reaches of the river. Then again I reckon that all catches should be on the website,by law, so as the ripairian hipper men can be weeded out and ,with the levy being paid for ALL fish caught the rivers we will have more money invested in improvements by the fisheries boards. Basically these non - levy paying ripairian owner are doing us out of our dues as I see it. What do you guys think.?