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May is the month when the spring runs usually
arrive and this year was no exception. The
month opened with the daffodils, cowslips
and trees bursting into life and ended with
bluebells. The first cuckoo was heard at the
beginning of the month and by the end young
otters were seen in the pools. Spring had
arrived at last. The water was a little high
at the beginning of the month, but was soon
at a perfect height and stayed that way.
On the sixth John Young took a 12lb
salmon from the Point with a yellow-belly
devon and Mr Wren had a 9lber from
the same pool on a Willie Gunn.
Jon Mitchell of Normark had a 12lber
from the Point on the seventh with the fish
returned.
The Nils-Erik Tornquist Party had six
fish for the week on fly and worm from the Point
Beat.
Bob
McIntyre had fish of 9lb and 13lb ob the
15th and 17th. Both fell to upstream gold mepp
no.2. This is a method which has been rarely
practiced on this bit of water, so nice to know
that it still works.
Grant Wright the Under-chef
from the golf course decided to try his hand
at fishing for the first time one evening.
He had only been there 5 minutes when he hooked
and landed a salmon of 18lb on an orange rappala
in the Chinese Pool. The fish had a few sea
lice on the head so had probably run up within
the last 48 hours. Having been stuck on the
bottom a couple of times he thought it had
happened again until the rock started moving
upstream! Some people have all the luck. Grant
used to run the rafting on the river. Having
experienced his first fish he commented that
he now understood how anglers felt about rafters!
John and Elizabeth Money-Kyrle fished
hard all week with only trout in the bag.
Their persistence was rewarded with a sea-liced
14 1/2 lb salmon taken from the Point on a
green and gold toby. John was using light
tackle and played the fish for over half an
hour (assisted by Elizabeth) and did well
to get the fish in. This was John's first
salmon so well done to both.
Les Petty from the Kenmore Club took
up fly fishing only this year. Fishing the
Battery with an Ally's shrimp he hooked into
a good fish. Unfortunately he was only using
10lb test line. This is a fast pool and Les
struggled to keep the fish under control.
His patience after 45 minutes was rewarded
with a sea-liced fish of 16 1/2 pounds.
Even better his boss Richard
was there .. now he knows that Les really
does catch fish!
All the fish taken and seen during the month
were fresh and clean as daisies. High to medium
water conditions have suited the upper beats
this season with many fish running high into
the system. Fair numbers have now taken up
residence in the pools and can be seen jumping
about. Last year was awful for our beats (34
fish against a five year average of 100+).
With close to thirty salmon grassed this season
it looks like things are on the up again.
This should not stop our efforts to assist
the salmon as it is still a long way from
the halcyon days when the estate did not even
bother to record fish under 20lb many hundreds
of which were taken in a season
The last 3 days of the month saw some massive
hatches of sedges with huge clouds making their
way upstream. A few small trout have now started
to rise to the adults but as yet most activity
has been sub-surface with small gold heads and
pheasant tails accounting for most trout. A
beautifully marked fish of 2lb was taken from
the Castle
pool. One trout angler hooked a salmon on a
pheasant tail nymph and 6lb test, but lost it
after half an hour! We now look forward to the
yellow sally hatches which should be upon us
in the next few weeks.
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