Last cast - 2015 reflections
As the curtain has now been drawn on the 2015 Scottish salmon fishing season, we thought it would be nice to reflect on the angling year that has just passed before us. It has been a strange season with some rivers doing well with catches up on recent years and others faring a little worse. As ever the weather played its part. Some anglers prospered having timed their fishing trip just right, while others were left crying to into their soup! We keep a fishing diary, which is completed through the course of the season and thought it would be interesting to reflect on our personal experiences over the past twelve months.
Through the course of the year, we fished far and wide across the country. From the tranquil Thurso river in the Highlands, to the graceful River Tweed in the Borders. We even had a week’s salmon fishing on the breath-taking Island of Islay. In total, we fished sixty-rod days and managed to land forty-one salmon and two sea trout. We had a good year but maybe not as prolific as some. The highlights of our season included an opening day salmon, which turned out to be the first caught in the UK and also when my father landed his first salmon in ten years on the Thurso river. To make this moment even more special, the fish was caught on his 75th birthday.
Spring 2015
Our season started when we fished on opening day on the River Tay. The 15th of January proved not to be one for the faint hearted! We were fishing the Dalmarnock beat and had a fantastic party of friends with us. The weather was atrocious with storm force winds and frequent snow showers. If this was not enough to contend with, the river was also rising fast. Most of us were happy just to sit in the hut after the opening ceremony, but Head Ghillie Colin Mcfadyen was having none of it. He felt that there was a decent chance of catching a fish, as the water was reasonably clear.
The opening day cereomony on the Dalmarnock beat
So off we all went to have a cast. My wife and I were fishing the top half of the beat with a friend. The water was so high that we had to wade through the car park. The snow was falling horizontally in the gale force winds. With the river rising fast, I was just about to throw in the towel, when my wife shouted that she had hooked a fish. Initially, we thought it was a kelt as you would do so early in the season. The mood changed considerably after the fish broke the surface. After a long tussle, a fresh eight-pound springer was landed and returned. This turned out be the first salmon in 2015 caught in the UK. My wife was over the moon and I did not stop hearing about this for the rest of the season. In fact, I am still hearing about it now!
The first salmon caught in the UK in 2015
The water remained high on the Tay through the course of January and apart from catching a few kelts on the Newytle beat there was not much else to report.
We did not fish in February as we went on holiday to warmer climes. We did however enjoy some good saltwater fly-fishing. The highlight of the trip was catching a fifty-pound carp on the fly rod. By the end of the holiday, we were both getting salmon fishing withdrawal symptoms!
A fifty pound Siamese Carp caught in warmer climes
The day after we got back from holiday, I decided to battle the jet lag and do a spot of harling on the Dalmarnock beat again. Two days prior I had been fishing in thirty-seven degrees heat and now the temperature was barely above freezing. Perseverance paid off when just before lunch I caught a cracking seventeen-pound springer from the boat. I had now drawn level with my wife, so all was good, but she still kept reminding me of her opening day fish!
A Dalmarnock spring cracker!
Later in March, we decided to fish the Birse beat on the River Dee. We had a great time on a beat that I fished regularly a few years ago. We managed to get the rod bent with a few kelts, which was good fun. Towards the end of March, we made our first trip of the season down to the River Tweed. The picturesque Rutherford beat was the venue just upstream from Kelso. My wife did it again, landing a nice seven-pound springer and losing another. These were the only two fish hooked on the beat that day.
A nice fish from the Rutherford beat
The weather started to improve in April and we both fancied fishing on the River Spey. We booked to fish one of our favourite beats on the river, Delagyle. My wife managed to land a cracking eighteen-pound sea liced springer. So by April my wife had managed to catch a springer from three out of Scotland's "big four" rivers, which was pretty good going. We fished at Delagyle for another few days through the course of the spring and then I got lucky, managing to land a nice sea liced fish of around nine pounds. My wife was quick to point out that her Spey salmon earlier that month was twice the size!
My wife's springer from Delagyle
May saw one of the main highlights of our fishing year unfold. We had gone up to see my parents in the Highlands to celebrate my father’s 75th birthday. We had booked to fish the Thurso river and were on beat ten. Both my wife and I fished the beat all morning without even a pull. My father turned up at midday, proceeded to enjoy a leisurely lunch and then within three casts catch a lovely seven-pound springer. As you can imagine, he was over the moon. It was the first salmon he had caught in ten years and to top it off, he had done this on his 75th birthday.
A birthday salmon
We finished our spring season at the end of May when we made our annual trip to the Lower Birgham beat on the River Tweed. We have had a lot of success on this beat in the past. The water was on the low side but there were still a few fish showing in the pools. We fished hard for two days but did not manage to get a pull. It was great fun to catch up with our good friends Tom and Ryan, the ghillies on the beat. The highlight of our spring was of course my wife catching her opening day fish but what would the summer months have in store for us?
Summer 2015
Loch Faskally on the Tay system started to fish well in early June after decent numbers of fish had passed through the fish ladder at Pitlochry. We fished for two days on the loch in June, trolling. We saw plenty of fish but they proved difficult to tempt. This was quite surprising as we have consistently caught fish from the loch in May and June in recent seasons. We did get the rod bent once but this turned out to be a six-pound brown trout, which was caught on a black and gold rapala.
We finally got on to the score sheet in June on the lovely Kercock beat on the River Tay. We managed a grilse apiece, both caught from the Cottage stream pool. The fish were in great condition and it was nice to see grilse in the river so early in the season. The Kercock beat would prove to be very kind to us over the remainder of the season.
Towards the end of June, we fished the Kercock beat once again and managed a nice fish from the Lower Gean Tree pool. This fish was a fresh grilse and put up a good fight.
The beginning of July saw rain over the central belt and many rivers welcomed the rise in water. This seemed to encourage more fish to run into many of the river systems. We had another good day on the Kercock beat finishing with three salmon. One of the fish was a lovely clean summer salmon weighing in at eleven pounds.
A nice fish from the Kercock beat
The middle of July was quite quiet for us. We predominantly fished the River Tay but struggled to get the rods bent. Things fortunately changed on the last day of the month, when we caught another two nice fish from the Kercock beat. I managed to land a beautiful eighteen pounder from the Cottage Stream pool on the fly. Not to be outdone, my wife quickly followed this up with a fresh thirteen pounder from the Croys pool. It was nice to end what had been a tough July on a high.
Early August saw us head down to the borders again to fish the River Tweed at Lower Birgham. It was a hot sunny day and not ideal salmon fishing conditions. The water was low and we struggled in spite of seeing a few fish. Later in the month, we were back on the River Tay fishing the Kercock beat once again. We managed to catch six salmon in our two days fishing. One of the fish was only four pounds but was hooked on the fly in fast water above the Cottage Stream pool. It gave me a spine tingling fight. It used the strong current to its advantage and led me a merry dance for a good twenty minutes. Upon landing the fish, you could see why it fought so hard, as it was smothered in long tail sea lice and as fresh as paint.
A famous dram from Islay!
Mid-August saw us head over to the stunning Island of Islay for a week’s holiday. We had booked to fish on the small but intimate River Laggan. We were very lucky with conditions as the day after we arrived it rained heavily. The following day the river was in spate and conditions were perfect. We managed two fish for the week both caught on trout rods. I think the week’s tally had more to do with our fishing effort rather than anything else. The midges were bad and the whisky was good and that is never a good combination for productive week’s salmon fishing! Islay was truly breath-taking and in our opinion well worth a visit.
Autumn 2015
September started with a bang for us on the River Spey. We were fishing the Delagyle beat early in the month. For once the weather gods were in our favour. Three days prior to our fishing it had rained heavily over Speyside. Subsequently the river came up almost two feet. This was the first decent rise the river had experienced for over two months. The river was in perfect condition on the day of our fishing. While building up our rods, we had lost count of the number of fish jumping. My wife managed to land a cracking twenty-five pounder as well as two other fish. I also managed three fish for the day, so honours were even. However, we must have lost well in excess of ten salmon between us, including one very large fish, which we did not see after a fight of over twenty minutes. It was a great way to end our Spey season on a fantastic beat and with a day that neither of us will ever forget.
A nice Spey salmon
In mid-September we were back on the River Tay again, this time fishing the Dalmarnock beat. The river was low and desperately needed a lift in water. We were fishing the Clackentaggert pool and had some quick action. I managed to catch a nice fresh grilse on the fly within ten minutes of starting in the morning. My wife was not far behind landing a cracking fifteen-pound cock fish in all its full autumn colours. This fish gave a great fight and would not give up. It made three excellent runs stripping line from the fly reel at will. The look of panic on my wife’s face was quite a sight! She had definitely won the cigar for the day, as her fish was twice the size of mine!
An aggressive cock fish caught from the Dalmarnock beat
Later in the month, we paid another visit to the Dalmarnock beat. We saw plenty of fish through the course of the day but they seemed to be reluctant takers. Eventually, I managed to land an eight-pound coloured cock fish after trying almost every fly and lure in my box. I felt this was well earned.
Early October saw us back on the Kercock beat again. By this time, the beat was full of fish. Some of the fish showing in the pools were well into the teens of pounds and bigger. We fished hard through the course of the day and finished with three salmon. The frustrating thing was that we had also lost three fish as well. Realistically catching three salmon on any fishing day is a good return.
A nice October fish caught from the Kercock beat
I had one more days fishing left on the River Tay before the season ended and boy, was it memorable. I was back, fishing the Kercock beat during the last week of the season. The pools on the beat still had copious numbers of fish in them. I got off to a good start with a nice fresh fish caught from the Cottage Stream. At lunchtime, it was good to hear that a fellow angler had landed a twenty-one pounder. In the afternoon, I was fishing the Lower Gean Tree pool. I was seeing fish regularly and hooked and landed another nice clean fish of around seven pounds. Gary, the head ghillie, expertly netted the fish for me. While I was retying my lure, we both saw a huge fish in the tail of the pool. Gary suggested that we went out in the boat for half an hour and covered it by harling.
After a quick coffee, we jumped in the boat and started harling. Gary decided to use three rods. His weapons of choice were a Vision 110 on the outside rod, a Pink and Pearly Tomic on the inside rod and a two-toned black and red Tay lure, which was fished on a long line behind the boat. Fish were jumping all around the boat but were proving to be quite difficult to tempt. We had fished down most of the Gean Tree pool and had now reached the tail, where we had seen the monster. Suddenly I spotted the rod at the back of the boat bent double as if it were stuck on the bottom. I shouted to Gary and lifted the rod. It felt like a dead lead weight but this was not the bottom. Gary expertly manoeuvred the boat into the far bank. The fish behaved itself remarkably well, just following the boat like a well-trained dog. As soon as the boat hit dry land, things changed fast. The fish slowly moved into the middle of the river sitting in the strong current and began to strip line off the reel at will. It then just sat in the current and I could not move it, for what felt like an age. We both quickly realised it was a decent fish but was it the monster that we had seen earlier? I caught my first glimpse of the fish around ten minutes into the fight. A massive tail broke the surface and I started to shake. When Gary remarked the fish was “a biggie” my nerves got shred further. What’s more, when the fish came into close quarters, I could see the lure hanging perilously from its mouth. As soon as the fish got into the shallow water it made a long surging run towards the middle of the river again and sat there for what felt like an eternity. Finally, I managed to coax the fish towards the net. I thought the fish was beaten but I was wrong. The fish rolled on the surface of the water and made another run downstream. However, I managed to turn the fish and inch it back towards the boat. After a few nervous seconds, the fish was over the net and Gary made no mistake.
The Kercock 24 pounder
The fish was an absolutely cracking fresh salmon, which tipped the scales at twenty-four pounds. It was not the big fish that we both saw but neither of us were complaining! What a day it had been and a great way to end my Tay season.
As my wife had not accompanied me to Kercock, she was determined to have another cast on the Tay before the season ended. She decided to fish on the Dalmarnock beat on the last day of the season. This was quite fitting really, as this was the beat where it had all started for her ten months previously. I was unable to fish and received the dreaded phone call from her around midday. She had caught a cracking fresh autumn fish of around thirteen pounds. She was over the moon and rightly so. As fate would have it, she ended up catching the first and last salmon from the Dalmarnock beat during the 2015 season.
Final day silver from the Tay
The last week of October saw us making our annual week’s pilgrimage to the Highlands We were fishing on the River Alness and it was the lowest I had ever seen it. There had been no significant rain for two months and the fish were stale. To say that it was challenging fishing was an understatement. We saw copious amounts of fish through the course of the week. It was not until the penultimate days fishing, that we finally made contact. We both managed to catch a fish each from the Junction Pool towards the end of the day. The lack of fish did not stop us from having a fantastic week.
Unfortunately, November proved to be a bit of a washout. All the rain that should have come in September and October seemed to arrive during a two-week period in mid-November. This made many of the rivers still open almost unfishable for long periods of time.
Braving the elements on the River Tweed
My good friend Gary Harkin and I braved the elements and spent a day fishing the Haystouns beat on the Upper Tweed during the middle of the month. The water was high as expected but clear enough. There was a covering of snow on the ground and the rings on the rod were regularly freezing. If truth be told, in reality, the water was just a bit on the high side. I made my last few casts with the sun setting over the border hills, realising that the curtain was quickly falling on another season.
All in all, 2015 proved to be a decent season for many rivers across of Scotland. The general consensus among anglers seemed to be, that catches could have been even better if mother nature had been kinder through the course of the year. On a personal note, we had another enjoyable season, with many memories that we will treasure together. Unfortunately, I don’t think that I will ever stop hearing about how the first salmon in the UK in 2015 was caught. What my wife seems to forget is that I was actually present and witnessed it, so I don’t need a daily description of what happened!
The sun has now set on the 2015 season
Let’s hope next season will be a good one for all concerned. One thing is for sure in 2016, the salmon fishing battle between one husband and wife team will rage on!