Weekly fishing reports

Week Ending March 7th.

 It has been a mixed week on the river, Monday and Tuesday were relatively grue free and anglers were able to cover the pools with perhaps the odd clearing of the rings. Under foot conditions were still difficult and felt soled boots could prove “interesting”.

Wednesday proved impossible with wall to wall grue, Thursday proved only a little better with the lower river becoming fishable by late afternoon.  B y Friday temperatures had soared to 5C and the river was grue free and starting to rise. Cold overnight temperatures are keeping the rise in check and looking at the forecast this, hopefully should continue next week. On the downside the Lower River below Rothes is becoming unfishable with a lot of sediment coming in from the Rothes burn and at the pipe drain at the top of the Long Pool. If this is coming from the flood alleviation scheme hopefully the contractors will be able to control this sediment before the fishing on Lower Rothes and Delfur is ruined again. On the catch front the river was quiet, Delfur got off the mark with Michael Ritchie from Fraserburgh getting a 14lber from Sourden and Anne Cameron bettered him on Tuesday with a 17lber from Beaufort, both returned. Upstream from Rothes Stuart McKay from Craigellachie had three to his rod, again all returned. The Craigellachie beat got off the mark on Thursday when Gordon Nuttal caught a 15lber from Broom Isle, his first fish from the Spey in six years, worth the wait.

Week ending 28th February.

Well if a picture is worth a thousand words, these should save me a bit of typing.

As can be seen the river has been virtually unfishable this week, Saturday was probably the first day sane people would have tried to fish! I hear that Ernie Rodgers had an 11lb fish from Junction Pool at Rothes, stand-in gillie Mike Latey was at hand to net it.
I have not heard of any more fish caught but please correct me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Hopefully the grue and ice have now finished, after all March 1st is meteorologically the start of spring. The river remains low, summer levels, but is still very cold. I would suggest tactics of deep and slow and hope that you bump into a fresh fish.

I thought it might be useful to put up a few pictures of kelts and springers to try to help anglers tell them apart.

 Picture above is a  kelt, the tell tale signs of a soft body and the head appears too big for the body.

Below a fresh fish, certainly no doubt.

The first fish of the season was landed from Orton by Mr Alastair Dodds,  Orton gillie Andrew Hall was in attendance Alastair wins the  ‘Spey Quaich’, sponsored by Glenfarclas, a bottle of Glenfarclas 30 Years Old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky and Andrew a bottle of Glenfarclas 105 Cask Strength Highland Single Malt Scotch. The largest fish was caught by Andrew Toft from Carron with Carron gillie Ian Borthwick at his side.

Isabel Grant, Alastair Dodds, Chris Baird, and Marjorie Walker presenting a hamper.

Marjorie Walker, Andrew Toft,  Ishbel  Grant,  Ian Borthwick with their Glenfarclas whisky

Walkers Shortbread Ltd
Based in the Speyside village of Aberlour, Walkers are known around the world for their Pure Butter Shortbread. www.walkersshortbread.com

Glenfarclas Distillery
Family owned by the Grant family since 1865, Glenfarclas is known for producing a traditional Speyside style single malt, with a heavy sherry influence. www.glenfarclas.co.uk

Sharpe’s of Aberdeen  Longhill Huntly www.sharpes.net