Week Commencing 27th August 2018.
Last week’s forecast was accurate and the rain made little difference to the river level, despite some people telling me it would. This coming week there will be some rain Thursday, hopefully enough to lift the river a little. Tides there will be no new water this week.
Catches; I have had lots of reports this week.
Ian Tennant tells me they were again close to fifty again this week, and sent me plenty of pictures of happy anglers and gillies.
Delfur were again into double figures. Mark sent me some photographs as usual.
David Wood had a family week at Arndilly and sent me the following report with pictures.
We were lucky enough to arrive for our week at Arndilly to find that a precious few inches of water had arrived overnight. This moved a few fish about and we ended our week in the mid teens, with the biggest at 20 and 23 lbs. Inevitably most of the fish were coloured, although I was lucky enough to catch a 5 lb bar of silver. The gillies, Euan, Keith and Blair were absolutely brilliant. This was our first time at Arndilly and very much a family week, with half of the team never having wet a line before. We enjoyed playing cricket on the lawn in front of the hut on one of the sunnier afternoons. We could not have been made more welcome or had more fun. The gillies were incredibly patient and helped Scarlett Robinson and Izzy Camacho (both age 12) to each catch their first salmon. Jessica England caught her first Spey salmon. The facilities on the beat were first class and like the other great Spey beats, it was an absolute privilege to fish there. Many thanks to the owners and to the gillies for making us all, but particularly beginners and children so welcome. The Delfur gillies came for a cast on Saturday evening. It was lovely to see them being entertained by their colleagues from Arndilly. We all left Speyside with memories that will last a lifetime.
Jan Rigden sent me a photo from Castle Grant and tells me he had a couple of salmon and a couple of sea trout.
Grantown Jimmy Mitchel tells me,
Our waters remain almost devoid of anglers. There seems to be a perception that the present low water will mean that there are no fish, however the very small handful who have been fishing have been catching! Three salmon have been landed this week, the largest of which was a 14 lbs fish, caught in the Dulnain Mouth Pool, on fly. Some decent rain will encourage some anglers which, in turn, will increase our catches.
Kinchurdy Kevin Shanks was at Kinchurdy again. He tells me,
Three rods had fifty-one sea trout and three salmon for a fantastic week on a great beat with a great gillie. It’s brilliant just brilliant.
Thanks Malcolm. What a great report. Fantastic Photos. Your weekly reporting is much anticipated and appreciated