Yes, I know its been a very, very long time, suffice it to say illness and injuries have taken their toll over the past year.

Before I start my usual spiel, above is a picture of my old friend David Low who died recently and was laid to rest yesterday in Musselburgh at St Michaels's Church.

David was an old dear friend who had led what may be termed a colourful life, but above all else, he was a fisherman par excellence !. This picture shows him last year on Arienas with a nice fish taken by his favourite method 0 the Dap. No modern methods for David either - the rod was over 60 years old, the floss about the same, and the flies were like tube flies with a tiny treble attached.

More importantly, David will be remembered for his fishing on the Spey - and he could name every pool, every fish he caught, and what fly he used !. He was ill for some time, and after talking about it over a few drams I invited him as a guest. He could ruffle a few feathers, and yes, he probably did. He did however thoroughly enjoy himself, and his wife Risa even got into a nice fish, unfortunately only to lose it at the net. - but that's another story as my friend Mr Williams can confirm !

Anyway David - you will be sadly missed, and as promised I will tie up the pattern we discussed and name it after you - only for use on the Spey of course.

Otherwise, FISHMORVERN is back to fighting fit and getting ready for the new season. Also following popular request, esp from fishers from Devon and East Anglia look out for regular reports.

RODS AVAILABLE RIVER SPEY 1 TO 6 JUNE

Urgent message to all you Salmon Fishers out there. Due to illness a couple of regulars have called off.There are therefore :-

2 Full rods available for the whole week.

It may be possible to do this on a daily basis, and if you are nice enough ( blond, buxom, can cook and preferrably female (sic) !!!! ), Accommodation may be available in our Cottage as part of the deal.

Cost of the fishing is £360 for week, or maybe £60 per day. As above, Accommodation can be thrown in.

If Interested, send mail to fishmorvern@aol.com or call me on :-

0774 3894199
01967421690

Not a lot to report from God's Country. Weather has been dreadful, water still very cold, and unfortunately not a lot of fish. ( In truth, not a lot of fishers, but maybe, like me everyone is tightening their belts ! )

Stalking wise, plenty of Deer about, and at the moment, we are concentrating on the Roe Bucks. - 6 so far, and hopefully a lot more to come.

"Camrach" now in the water after a major engine overhaul - off after Cod and Pollack this afternoon !!

We're Off !!

16 march, and the trout season has started !

It was cold, wet, windy, and none too pleasant. Despite this Brian and I set off for Arienas for an afternoon on the first day. Water was very cold and fish were likely to be deep. Interestingly enough though, in sheltered bays away from the wind, there were significant hatches of Olives.

Brian put on a weighted Montana, whilst I, ever the optimist stuck with a traditional team of flies - though unusually for Arienas, on the small side - 14's and 16's.

Much flogging of the water later, Brian got into a fairly big fish which was lying deep in about 20ft of water. A bend of the rod, tightening of line followed by slackening of the line and a few curses, and the fish was off.

I had the chest waders on ( and about 15 layers underneath ) and was inching my way slowly down the bays on the south side of the loch. One or two touches kept the interest going, but with cold hands, and a new leak in the waders, was starting to get uncomfortable.

You know the old saying - "just a couple more casts" - well that's the way it was ( honest ). Anyway, with cold hands and shrinking bollocks, I was ready to call it a day when at last a fish. Definitely not the biggest, and once I got it in, definitely not the fattest. nevertheless, a welcome wee brownie of about 1lb, on a size 16 Greenwell Spider. - returned of course - we don't keep anything under 2lb here !

Some other news, one of my friends, a master craftsman, has started to make cane fly rods. These are state of the art, and for the purists a must. He will be making one up to my specifications, and I'll then post some pictures etc. Anyone interested in what will be a work of art, please let me know.

Off to the smoke on other business today, and when I get back time to get the boat sorted out and back in the water.

Oh - and I need a new camera !

NORMAL SERVICE IS NOW RESUMED

Hello Campers

What can I say - health problems ( again ), Credit crunch, ( teach me to put all my savings in one basket !! ), poaching, and worse of all, a very, very poor season on the River Aline - all this have meant that I have not been at the keyboard for some considerable time. That said, its the start of the new season, and I am definitely back.

First - a review of last season - in a few words, the Spey was excellent and after talking to Willie the Ghillie recently, can only get better this year. The Aline - moderately crap I am afraid. The sum total of salmon landed was about 16, and if there were any sea trout of note landed, I did not hear about them. The lochs however were a different story - Arienas continues to produce some very , very big brownies ( biggest last year 12 lb ), and the hill lochs all fished very well throughout the season.

In Detail.

You will have read about the June week on the Spey which was one of my best ever. The week in July was not quite as spectacular, but good nevertheless. The party at various stages throughout the week consisted of myself, my son Cammy, Mr Williams from Welsh wales, my mate Sandy the inventor of the Sandy Special, James Turner who appears to be running the Bank of Scotland all on his own ( must find out how much of a bonus he got ! ), and for the first three days, Scott, Joe and Bob from Geordie land. 6 fish were landed in the week - not a great return, but then the temperatures were in the 80's and the river was very low. A couple of sea trout were also landed, and Bob and Joe got their first Spey salmon.

Cameron started his schooling in Spey casting, and here he is above with a nice wee grilse about 5lb that I took on a size 14 Tosh !! Oh - and the school - restricted to only 2 this year as I was somewhat immobile, but both left with a good level of expertise in Spey casting and salmon fly fishing.

As for the River Aline, what can I say - no rain from April through to August meant that none of the usual early big sea trout appeared - though the seals at the mouth were having a field day. A similar situation for the salmon - what ones there were before any rain just couldn't get up, and if it wasn't the seals, the low oxygen in the water killed quite a few off. The odd one was picked up here and there ( and sadly retained by some of the Estate guests ). Until October however the Fishmorvern total was Zilch !!

The last week in the season changed matters however as I got the chance to wet a line myself, and to our great pleasure, Cameron got his first salmon on the fly - nothing spectacular, but his smile said it all.

Yes, I know, not the cleanest of fish, but after the time it took him to land it it was all but a goner in any case - one for the smoker that we all enjoyed.

The lochs meanwhile provided most of my sport, and myself, Cameron and my mate Brian spent many an evening drifting down the south side of Arienas. Some flat calms put the fish off on occasion, but when the wind got up, the sport was excellent with either the Clan chief on the top, or the old favourite the silver invicta on the point taking the majority of the fish. We also had a couple of evenings on Doire na marst near the end of the season, and again, sport was great. My total for the season stood at about 35, all brownies, the biggest being about 7lb when I was out with another good friend Chris.

The end of the season saw us concentrating on the stalking - firstly a week by John the son in law and I with the chainsaws clearing the rides and finding clearings that we never knew existed, and then on to the Stags, followed by the hinds. A few guests got good beasts, but John and I got most of them. Total till the end of the hinds in Mid Feb was 5 stags and 13 hinds - funnily enough very few roes (4) , but I am sure they will be there somewhere. We also built a new larder, and have developed about 210 different ways of cooking and serving venison !!! Bad storms over the winter have brought down quite a few trees, so it will be out with the saws again soon, and then trying to find those elusive roes.

Now for this year :-

Only one rod left on the Spey - 1st week in June if anyone's interested.

I have decided not top take the lease on the River Aline this year for a variety of reasons - rods will still however be available through FISHMORVERN as I will book them as and when required.

I am still available as Ghillie or tutor and will still run fly fishing courses on the Aline and on the lochs.

I will be leasing rods on the lochs so service there as normal.

CAMRACH is being overhauled as we speak and will be back in the water for sea fishing by Easter

Stalking will hopefully be expanding this year, and I have put out feelers to get the shooting rights on more local land.

Oh, and something new - I have just acquired access to land south of Edinburgh, and with a nephew will be putting some pheasants down.

That's all for now folks, and whilst I must apologise for the long delay in updating matters, FISHMORVERN is still very much alive and we look forward to seeing friends old and new in the forthcoming year.

With my very best wishes to all

Rain at Last !!

After what seemed like an eternity - well actually nearly 9 weeks, the rains have arrived in Morvern. The river is not quite in full spate, but as seen at the tail of the Middle Pool above, plenty of water to allow the fish to make their way up from the sea.

With this in mind, Sat evening seemed a good bet. Conditions were nearly perfect, but there was an East wind which tends to keep fish down. The water was still a bit warm, but at least it was not as hot as a bath as it sometimes is.

I hit the bank at about 2030, and as usual headed for the points on the South side of the loch, where the sea trout and salmon seem to like the sandy bays. Very quiet for the first hour though I did catch a couple of wee fish which I reckon were smolt, oh and a beautifully marked little Brownie.

As the sun dipped below the hills, and it got gloomier ( never really gets dark here at this time of year ) some activity , but fairly far out. As the evening progressed however you could almost track the fish as they headed inshore. - the occasional leap, but more often than not, a big "V" as the fish came in just below the surface.

On the top went a "stimulator", on the middle a black pennel, and on the point a silver stoat. The wind got up, and it was time to start stripping in fast to make the top fly work - and work it did as within 30 mins I had sea trout of 3 and 5lb. Hunger and tiredness got the better of me about 11pm, and time to go home.

This morning I walked along the bottom of the river with the dogs, just at high tide. I'm pleased to say that within the space of half an hour I counted about 2o fish going upstream from the sea pool. With luck this should now be happening with every tide, and after the desert recent conditions, we should at last be able to get some sport.

Things have also been busy with the sea fishing, and 2 parties last week filled the fish boxes with mackerel. More fun though was the booking I took at short notice from a father and son staying at Ardtornish. Plenty of mackerel again, but as we drifted over the slate wreck near Ardness Point, they started to get into the big Pollack. Young Mikey did best, and here he is with what he says is his biggest ever - estimated at about 6/7 lb.

Today I'm going out to the boat to give it a good clean - a bit like a crime scene at the moment after all these fish - tonight, the big pool at Claggan beckons I think - still to land my first salmon this year from the river !

Spey Delights

Yes folks, the one doing the rather elegant pose holding a lovely fresh run salmon is yours truly and faithful pup Tara. ( Oh - about the mop - I'm going through a Bohemian period at the moment so am somewhat more hirsute than normal ) I am just back home after what has been my best ever week on the Spey, fishing with friends Kevin & Colin Franks, Peter MacGregor, Tom Fergusson, and for 2 days, Tom's son in law Gordon.

Spey weeks are always fun whether I'm holding the Salmon School, or as in this week, just fishin' and chillin' out with mates. With little opportunity to get on my local River, I was perhaps looking forward to it more than ever. This year however I decided to change the habits of a lifetime, and do the following :-

• Fish as many hours of daylight as I was physically able to ( getting old after all )
• Just put up one rod as opposed to my usual 2 each with different lines
• stick to a floater with either an inter or sink tip
• most revolutionary esp for me - use just one fly all week - in this case, a fly designed by my good mate Sandy from Aberdeen - the Sandy Special !

On arrival the River was about 8 below the summer zero mark. 4 fish had been caught the previous week, and with little rain forecast, we should have been fishing a slowly falling river. Apart from a few hours rain on the Tuesday, which brought the river up an inch or so, that is indeed how it worked out over the week.

Monday therefore brought great expectations. Alas however, all I seemed to be catching was smolt, though in amongst these I did get a sea trout of about 2lbs. Apart from that however - zilch ! Things did not improve, and indeed got worse as in the evening I got into a big fish ( honest !! ) on the Lower Slabs, fought it for 15 mins and was "broken" after it set of on what looked like a fairly gentle run - after a few blue words, inspection of the 15lb nylon showed some fraying, and I can only surmise that I had caught the bank at least once as I casted from the rocks on this pool. Needless to say for the rest of the week, I was inspecting the nylon with great frequency.

Tuesday saw me on the River at 0600 to try things before the fish had the sun fully on them, and on the Green bank Pool, I am pleased to say it worked - 2 salmon, each of about 10/11 lb taken by 0700, both from what is know locally as the "White Post" ( Actually a bench on the opposite bank that has collapsed and lies at a strange angle on the bank ). 1000 saw number 3.

I suppose I could now go on to wax lyrical as they say and give a blow by blow account of the rest of the fishing. I will not however, partly as my keyboard skills mean it will take me for ever, and partly because, on reading the "cartel" of fishing authors in some magazines that will remain unnamed I shall restrain myself( yes, indeed a closed shop - have you noticed how few writers there are who seem to appear everywhere, and if any of you have tried, how nearly impossible it is to get anything published unless you are a close associate of the chosen few ? )

Anyway, suffice it to say that my total for the week was 6 salmon, and the 1 sea trout. And - the experiment was a true success. - This will now be my policy for the future. It may not work every time, but it certainly paid off last week. Not so much luck for the others unfortunately though Colin did get a nice 12lb salmon - seem to be a few gaps in my fly box though after I think at least one "raid" by persons unknown !!

Time to sign off now - the joy of being away is that I come home to 2 acres of grass that badly needs cut - all done and now I'm knackered - time for bed

PS - Tara was excellent, and behaved herself at all times (thankfully ) - she was happy to just sit on the bank whilst I waded.

Just for you doggie lovers out there, Tara is now 1 year old, and a real cracker - biddable, easy to train, quick as lightning, and follows her daddy everywhere. Just a wee bit of fine tuning to go on the training, and she should be ready for the birds this season.

Tara, myself and my mate Brian headed up to Loch Tearnait the other night. It was warm, sunny, and there was a brisk easterly breeze ( not the best ). After an initial flurry where she chased after some ducks on the horizon, on being brought back, she behaved herself and sat on the bank while I waded. ( no waders necessary up here if you are not afraid of a wee bit of cold water - you dry off on the walk down ). The fishing was a wee bit hard work until the sun dropped, and it started off as one of these days when you went through the contents of the fly box.

Eventually however a Loch Ordie on the top, and 2 black spiders below did the trick, and I landed 6. Always wanting to be in on the action however, just as I was releasing one, Tara grabbed it, and swallowed in one gulp ( not a big fish ). Suitable remonstrated, she didn't even attempt this with any of the others.

With no rain for about 6 weeks now, the River is perhaps the lowest I have ever seen it - so low in fact that I walked across it this morning and never got my feet wet. Fish are now piling up at the mouth, but thankfully Sammy Seal must be getting plenty of feeding out at sea. rain is forecast for later today and tomorrow, so with luck these fish can begin their journey upstream.

Sods law however ( well nearly ), it looks as if when the river will be full of fish, I will not be here. That said, I'm off to the Spey for a week, and really looking forward to it. Willie has told me that there are plenty of fish, and like the Tay this year, plenty of big fish. As we speak, my vice is red hot as I tie up a variety of my specials. ( yes I know - like some of you I probably have flies coming out of my ears, but you know what its like !! )

Not a lot else to report at the moment, though for the stalkers amongst you - the Roe bucks are doing nicely. The land where I shoot used to hold just a few, but after storms last winter brought down bits of fencing, there seems to have been a bit of an invasion. Omens look good also for the stags, and while out after the Bucks last week I saw again the big one that has eluded me for so long - I reckon he's a 14 pointer after the brief glimpse I have had. - I've already marked out the place above the fire for his head if I am lucky enough to get him.

That's all for now folks, and I'll be back in a week or so - hopefully with pics of lots of fish from the Spey.