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.