River Alness
To say the weather in October was unsettled was a bit of an understatement. There were relentless low pressure systems piling in from the Atlantic producing heavy rain and strong winds over much of Scotland. This was especially the case during the second half of the month, when water levels were high on most Scottish rivers. My wife and I normally fish the lower River Tay at the end of October. However, this year after looking at the weather forecast, we thought it would be better to look for fishing elsewhere. The Tay was in flood at the beginning of the week and with more heavy rain forecast over Perthshire, conditions were unlikely to improve. From studying the weather forecast it seemed that the Highlands were going to miss the bulk of the heavy rain. Most of the rivers in the Highlands were closed by the middle of October, so where could we go?
For four years in succession, myself and a group of friends would fish the River Alness for a week at the end of October. We would stay in a cottage on the estate and it became a bit of an annual pilgrimage, which we all looked forward to. We were successful most years catching decent numbers of fish and some of these were fresh. Our most productive week saw the party land over fifty salmon between six rods. Most years we would catch over thirty fish for the week. The Alness produced fish consistently and the river was rarely unfishable.
The Alness is a typical Highland river. If the water is too high in the morning, by afternoon it usually drops enough to be fishable. Another advantage of the Alness is that the water rarely gets coloured. There is a big loch at the top of the system which acts as a filter and this ensures the water is usually no more than peat stained. In low water conditions fishing can also be good. Usually by October there is a good head of fish in all the pools and it’s just about being stealthy in your approach, often just using a trout rod and small flies. River levels can be controlled to a certain extent by the dam at the top of the system. If there is adequate water in the loch, the fishery manager can always release some compensation water into the river, which can help the fishing in very low water conditions.
The Novar Estate has six beats on the River Alness which span over six miles of the river. Each beat can accommodate up to four rods and many of the beats have huts on them. There is a good variety of pools on each beat which vary greatly in character. This means irrespective of the water height, there is always good fishing to be had on each beat. The vehicular access is excellent on most of the beats as a track runs alongside the river. The Novar Estate runs a simple rotation system which allows you to fish all the beats over a week long period, as you change beat at the end of each day. This means that you fish different water and experience some truly stunning Highland scenery.
I decided to give my good friend and fishery manger of the Novar Fishing’s Roger Dowsett a ring. Roger said that like everywhere this year catches had been poor. However, over the last week with good water levels a decent number of fish were being caught each day. Roger kindly said that he would be able to arrange two days fishing and accommodation in one of the estate cottages for my wife and I. This was ideal as it would also give my wife a chance to catch her first salmon on the fly, in her maiden season fly fishing. She had only started fly fishing for salmon in the summer, spending endless hours practicing her Spey casting on the River Tay. On a number of occasions she had come close. In August she lost two salmon on the fly on the River Spey, one after a fight which lasted over twenty minutes. This would probably be her last chance of catching her first fly caught salmon this season. So there was no pressure then!
I spoke to my wife about the chance of fishing the Alness and she was very excited by the prospect . She had heard a lot about our times on the river from my friends, but had not fished it herself. She was looking forward to having some time away, fishing a new river and hopefully landing her first salmon on the fly.
My wife had never fished a small Highland river before. Most of her fishing over the past five years had been on rivers like the Tay, Tweed and Spey, which were much bigger in comparison to the small and intimate River Alness. In the car on our way up to the Alness my wife started asking endless questions about fishing on small rivers. This is good I might here you say as it shows that she is keen to learn, but that’s because you have never sat in a car with her! Question after question came, even turning the music up did not seem to have the desired effect. After lying that I needed a toilet stop just to get some peace, I was left with no option. We had over a hundred miles to travel, so I limited her to five questions, until the end of the journey. Unfortunately she used all her questions within the first mile and a half!
Larch cottage
It was around lunch time when we drove into the regal Novar Estate grounds. Our cottage was on the estate itself and within the grounds was also the grand main house. A long drive stretched out before us. While driving through the estate grounds we saw numerous Sika Deer and a buzzard. We crossed over a small burn and to the right of us stood Larch Cottage. The cottage was fantastic, with massive beds, cosy living room, good sized kitchen and large modern bathrooms. It was all that anyone could need and more when on a fishing a holiday. My good friend George had been fishing the river and was due to fish with my wife and I the following day. So after quickly unpacking the car we decided to drive down to the river to see how he was getting on.
George was fishing on beat four, which has one of the most spectacular pools that I have ever fished, located on it, Ravens Rock. The Ravens Rock pool has a sheer cliff face on the far bank which rises very steeply. The first time I fished the pool, looking at the opposite bank made me feel a bit dizzy! I had told my wife about the pool and when she saw it with her own eyes she could scarcely believe its dramatic nature. George was fishing the Ministers pool. It was good to hear that he had caught two fish for the day. With no more rain forecast, conditions were looking good for the morning.
Ravens Rock
On the way back to the cottage, I could tell that my wife was excited. She couldn’t stop talking about how much she was looking forward to her two days fishing. I think what she liked was the wide array of pools on each beat and how they varied in character. As well as this, there was the stunning scenery coupled with the remote and tranquil setting. We had definitely made the right decision to come up and fish the Alness.
Once back at the cottage I began my usual ritual of tackle maintenance. I built up my wife’s 12ft and 15ft rod. On both rods I had floating lines with a fast sinking and a superfast sinking polyleader. On the terminal end I tied on gold bodied Willie Gunn and a Cascade copper tube, both around an inch in length. On my 14ft rod, I had a similar set up but with an orange Flamethrower tungsten tube. We had invited George and Roger to the cottage for dinner. It was going to be a good night… and it was!
We awoke to a dreach, dull but very mild morning. There had been some overnight rain. My wife was really excited, as she was looking forward to fishing a new river. She appeared to be confident of landing her first salmon on the fly. We were allocated beat three for the day. Beat three is a long beat, with greatly varied water. We decided that George would fish the top half of the beat in the morning and my wife and I the bottom. Beat three has my favourite pool on the river, the Stones pool. It is a lovely long pool with a fast run at the head. It fishes well at any height. In a medium height of water the current runs down the entire length of the pool quite evenly. The tail of the pool looks fantastic and can hold alot of fish. It forms a lovely V and is deep and glassy looking.
My wife fishing the Stones pool
I was desperate for my wife to catch her first fish on the fly. From our conversations in the car on the journey up, I was aware of how much it would mean to her. I knew my role over the next couple of days was to do everything in my power to help my wife catch her salmon. I therefore got her to fish down the Stones pool first. She fished it beautifully covering a number of fish that were showing. I stood by her side, giving her some tips on varying the angle of her cast. This would mean that her fly would come over the fish at different speeds and depths. We had worked our way down the entire length of the pool and my wife was now covering the tail. She had cast her fly which landed just off the far bank. As the fly swung around the line tightend and she was into a fish. It was as quick and easy as that. She had done it, now the pressure was off, or was it?
Unfortunately the fish had not read the script. It jumped out of the water as soon as it was hooked and it was a bar of silver. The fish then decided to try and get out of the pool and go down some rapids. I instructed my wife to put some side strain on the fish to try and get it to turn and come back up the pool. It did not cooperate as it went out of the pool, straight down the rapids and after a few seconds the line went slack. The opportunity was gone. My wife was heartbroken and I was gutted. I explained to her that there was nothing different that she could have done in that situation. Either the fish was going to go out of the pool or the line was going snap under the heavy side strain. This however did not console her. I could tell how disappointed she was. Were we going to get another chance?
We went further up the beat and my wife fished some other lovely pools with no success. As there was a number of fish showing in the Stones pool, we decided to fish it again, with the same fly, but my wife had no joy. My wife then decided to take a break and asked me to fish the pool. I started at the head of the pool with a similar set up to hers, but with my Flamethrower tungsten tube. After no more than half a dozen casts, the line tightened and I was into a fish. I have never felt such contrasting emotions. Firstly, I was pleased that I had hooked a fish but on the other hand, gutted that it was not my wife. After all she had fished hard all morning. The fish put up a good fight, making two surging runs to the far bank, before it was beached. It was a small coloured fish of around four pounds. We returned the fish, by which time George had arrived. He also had a successful morning, landing a fish of around eight pounds and losing another. So we had all made contact with fish that morning and two were landed.
The top of Beat three
We had lunch together, sitting on the bench at the Stones pool. George suggested that we go up to the top half of the beat as he had seen a number of fish in the pools. He wanted my wife to fish a few of the pools, under his watchful eye. I was not going to argue as George is a full time ghillie. My wife fished hard through the afternoon fishing all the pools on the upper part of the beat. The Ace pool looked particularly good. The Ace pool always seems to hold fish. Most of the fish lie at the tail of the pool. The tail looks great as it’s very deep and there is a good flow to it. As with most pools on the river, the fish in the Ace pool often lie right on the lip. My wife fished the pool down three times with no success. It was around four o’clock and with the light fading we decided to call it a day.
My wife was surprisingly upbeat on the way back to the cottage. She had really enjoyed her first day. The river was looking in great condition, we had seen fish in all the pools and more importantly we all hooked fish. That night we sat in front of the roaring fire discussing tactics. I could tell my wife was now even more desperate to get her first fish, questioning what she was doing wrong. I knew she was doing nothing wrong, all she needed to do was to cover a taking fish and have a bit of luck. I lay in bed that night wondering what else I could do to ensure that my wife had a better chance. We only had 24 hours left for my wife to catch her first salmon on the fly in her first season fly fishing. We were on beat two the following day, which had the Junction pool.
The Junction pool
I was awake by six thirty the following morning. I put a fresh cast on my wife’s rod and tied on a Willie Gunn 1.5 inch copper tube. I did not want to leave anything to chance as it was now or never. It was a very mild overcast morning, so we left early and were on the river bank just before nine.
The Junction pool has one of the rivers main spawning burns running into it. It’s a lovely pool and has a fast run at the head of the pool. There is a good flow running down the entire length of the pool and it has a lovely deep glassy looking tail, where most of the fish are caught. The pool usually holds a lot of fish, but they can be often quite hard to catch. Before we had even started fishing we saw fish jumping, which was a good sign. My wife started fishing at the head of the pool while I stood with her, pointing out the likely lies. Before she had even fished half way down the pool, I was into my fly box thinking what to try next. My wife quite rightly said to me that she wanted to fish the whole pool down before she changed her fly. She did but with no success. I then chose a two inch Cascade skull head tube for her to try. This tube was lighter than the Willie Gunn that she had used first time down the pool. It would mean the fly would fish at a different depth. We went back to the head of the pool and she started fishing again. On her third cast as the line swung around in the current, it suddenly tightened. My wife lifted the rod firmly and the fish was on. Both my wife and I were shaking. The fish came to the surface immediately and was a small coloured fish of around four pounds. The fish surged to the far bank before running upstream. But all the time my wife remained in control. She kept the rod up and maintained good tension on the line. After a few head shakes close to our bank, I tailed her first fly caught salmon. My wife was over the moon, beaming from ear to ear. The fish was unhooked and after a quick photo, returned to continue its journey upstream. My wife had done it. She had caught her first salmon on the fly, in her first season fly fishing. She was delighted and rightly so. We sat on the bank savouring the moment. I was so proud of her. Soon afterwards Roger came down to see us. He was delighted with the capture. It was another first salmon caught on the Alness.
My wife's 1st salmon on the fly, small fish but big smile!
We then crossed the river and fished the lovely Long pool which is above the Junction. There were plenty of fish showing, but neither of us made any contact. We then went downstream to fish the Monks pool. There was also a lot of fishing showing in Monks, especially in the tail of the pool. My wife had only been fishing for about five minutes when her line tightened. She had hooked another fish. This time the fish decided to stay deep, but after around a minute, it took a long surging run and the line went slack. The fish had got off. But my wife was happy, she had already accomplished what she wanted to achieve. I changed my wife’s fly back to a Willie Gunn. Roger Kindly took my wife to fish the Dyke pool further downstream. Meanwhile, I fished the Meadow Flats pool. I saw a number of fish in the Meadow Flats, but failed to convince any of them into taking my fly. It was coming up for lunchtime, so I decided to see how my wife was getting on. As soon as I got to where she was fishing, Roger shouted “You’re in trouble”.
I started laughing, but quickly stopped when my wife told me what had happened. She had hooked another fish, which was giving her a good fight. Five minutes into the fight, the fish made a powerful run, towards the tail of the pool and came off. A closer inspection of the terminal tackle showed that the fly was gone and all that was left was just the nylon with a curly end. The knot that I tied, when putting the fly on had slipped. It was an elementary mistake on my part. I spent all lunchtime apologising to her. She took it well, but I think things would have been different if she had not already caught a fish!
lower Beat two
In the afternoon we fished the lower half of beat two. It is totally different in character to the upper part of the beat. The river runs through a stunning quite dramatic gorge. The pools are quite fast flowing and deep. We fished four pools and saw fish in all of them. I made contact with a fish briefly in the tail of the Glide pool, when the light had just started to fade. After we finished fishing we went down to the Aggie’s bridge pool for the end of season closing ceremony. There were many anglers there and it was nice to share this special moment with fellow anglers over nice glass single malt. I was very lucky as I had the privilege to have another cast, on the Aggie’s Bridge pool and thus be the angler to have the last cast on the Alness for the 2014 season. That evening Roger joined us at our cottage to celebrate my wife’s fish with a bottle of champagne. It was a very pleasant way to end two fantastic days on the Alness.
Aggie's Bridge pool at dusk
We had great time at the Alness. The scenery was stunning and the setting was so tranquil. We had also been very lucky with the weather. In a season, where catches have been poor over Scotland, all the pools we fished had fish lying in them .We hooked plenty of fish, but more importantly my wife caught her first salmon on the fly. She achieved what she had set out to accomplish. We have already booked our fishing for next year. My wife, well she is still smiling and I think she will be for some time to come. Her first salmon on the fly is a fish that she will never forget and the River Alness will always have a special place in her heart!