Week Commencing 22nd August 2022

Hello everyone

As we enter the final few fishing days of August and start those of September the season is rapidly drawing to a close.

The weather is still showing favour to most of the farmers, allowing them to get the harvest in dry to save them the job of having to dry it to reduce the moisture content. Vegetable growers could do with a bit of respite with some rain, but the ghillies and anglers all over will be asking for the same from this warm sunny weather.

The colours are still very green in Speyside but I am seeing the odd tree starting to shed its leaves, possibly more to do with prevailing weather than the arrival of autumn, although the Nairn Games took place last weekend and many locals see this as the end of summer and have done so for many years.

On a different matter The Spey Foundation is to hold an inaugural Auction later this year. For those who do not know about the Foundation, it is a charity which carries out and supports important conservation and educational initiatives throughout the Spey catchment. The aim is to raise £25,000 from this auction. They have already had some donations but would welcome more donations with a face value of £100 upwards and may include fishing, accommodation, tackle, shooting, stalking or indeed anything field-sports related.

If you would like to make a donation then please contact Paul Hughes, Digital marketing and communications Manager at media@speyfisheryboard.com.

The river, as with others in Scotland, is crying our for water to see things freshened as we head toward the tail end so lets see how the beats fared.

Lets head downstream for a change this week with out first port of call, Abernethy having a quiet week with only one fish of 8lb.

At Castle Grant, Simon Crozier reports a quiet week with lots of fish moving in the pools but difficult to tempt. The fish did come on sporadically and Brian Hollidge caught his first Spey salmon a 7lber from Pollowick, Joe Carrington had a cleanish grilse from Pollowick, On Friday there was a mad half hour and Di Orson had 2 sea trout to 6lbs and an 8lb salmon again in Pollowick, she had another of 13lber from the same pool in the evening. We hope the weather is kind to us and more fish are caught.

Further downstream at Laggan, ghillie Mike Murdoch reports it was tough going with only one grilse and one seatrout added to their seasons tally.

David Brand at Kinermony reports a similar picture with only three sea trout for their week.

At Wester Elchies Malcolm Newbould reports 4 salmon/grilse for the week and one sea trout. Congratulations to Emma Stewart-Richardson on landing her first salmon in Pol Shaun.

Craigellachie still have some rods available between now and the end of the year, see their social media outlets for the dates.

At Arndilly head ghillie Euan Reid advises they had Brian Lovering and his party for the week and given that the water was -3 on our gauge on Monday morning I wasn’t expecting great things but we had 8 on Monday and 6 on Tuesday!
Alex Hunt had a 13lb fish from Bulwark left followed by 2 grilse wading the top of Jocks Tail. Sam and Jill Elkington had one each from Back of the Bog, Brian Lovering had 2, 4lb from Back of the Bog and 7.5lb from the tail of Long Pool. James Cheer had a 5lb grilse from above the sycamore tree in Long Pool. Alex had 4 on Tuesday, 14.5lb from the very top of Back of the Bog, above the bench, 4lb from Bulwark and 2 from the left side of the Warren in the afternoon. James Cheer 5.5lb, Arns right and Mark Budden 3lb from the left side of the Piles finished the scoring on Tuesday. Things turned difficult for the rest of the week, Alex and Brian had one each from opposite sides of the neck of Cobble Pot on Wednesday, Sam Elkington had our 300th of the season on Thursday. Well done Sam. Tim Curtis had 2 from Back of the Bog on Friday afternoon and Mark Budden had a Saturday fish from Cobble Pot.
Typical of the back end of the season the fish are lying in very shallow water at times and there is no predictability about what they might take, on Monday we had fish on 1.5inch tubes and fish on #14 stoats tails. Fish what you have confidence in!

Robbie Stronach at Rothes reports 9 fish for their week, with a couple reaching lower teens in weight.

At Delfur, head ghillie Mark Melville reports that they did OK with upper 20’s landed for the week. The fish went dour Wednesday /Thursday with us but switched on yesterday for a bit again.

Orton has a quieter week than of late reports Andy Gunn, with 6 landed despite good numbers being hooked but deciding not to stay on. Two guests landed their 1st ever Salmon, young Henry Robb with a Grilse from Cooperee and Chris Hodgson with a Grilse from the Junction. Well done to these anglers, a special moment when you get that first fish.

At Gordon Castle/Brae Water, David Buley confirms they finished in the 60’s for their week. Seems to feel very much like the start of autumn fishing with the majority of fish being caught are coloured, and less fresh ones showing.

Finally, Andy Milne at Fochabers Angling Association advises they finished with mid teens with a mix of fresh and coloured fish landed. Andy himself had a good spell yesterday with 3 in Cumberland’s Ford. They still have some availability for September for visiting rods so if you fancy a day on this productive water see their website/Facebook page.

The week ahead looks as if the temperatures will continue to stay up close to where they have been but there is the possibility of some rain arriving over next weekend and into the start of the following week.

Tight lines to those out and about tying their luck on the rivers or lochs and lakes.

Sandy