| Ness anglers
putting back a lot of fish to conserve river stocks
THE penultimate week of the River Ness’s
salmon season produced 29 over its five beats, which is certainly an improvement
than of late.
However, the stocks of salmon in the river
at this time of year are not particularly abundant and is highlighted by
the high percentage of catches being returned in order to help preserve
in-river stocks.
Monday saw the only action on the club
water, with Donnie MacKay taking a clean-run salmon of 9lb from the Maclntyre
and Martin Nelson returning a fish of 6lb which came to his fly on the
Red Braes.
The Ness-side anglers enjoyed a better
week with 11 being successfully landed, four of which were returned and
two retained for egg stripping later in the year.
On Monday Nigel Kaka landed a brace at
6.5lb and 4.5lb from the Run and Bay on a three inch black/gold Devon.
The smaller fish was sea-liced.
Tuesday saw David Hall with one of 5lb
from Above Bay on a three inch black/gold Devon and Donald MacLachlan one
of 4lb on a Toby in the Gauge Pool.
On Wednesday Tom Anderson landed a 9lb
salmon in Above Bay on a size 8 red Ally’s Shrimp and Donald MacLachlan
one at 5.75lb on a Toby in the same pool.
David Hall was in action again in Thursday
when he caught a fine salmon of 13lb on a three inch brown/gold Devon in
the Gauge Pool.
Alan Baikie took one of 7.5lb on a red/gold
Devon from the same spot.
Head ghillie Scott MacKenzie landed a
grilse of 4.5lb in the Gauge Pool and lost a very large salmon of around
25lb, which came out of the water a couple of times before the nylon parted.
The cast had been badly abraded on a rock
during the encounter resulting in the unfortunate loss of this specimen
Ness salmon.
Donald MacLaughlan finished off the week
catching a brace of 4.5lb and 5lb on Friday, with both coming to a Devon
in Above Bay.
Nothing could tempt the salmon at Ness
Castle and unfortunately they remained blank.
FIVE were landed on the
Laggan Beat, with Graham
MacKenzie taking two of them on a Silver
Stoat at 5lb and 6lb.
Tom Goddard had one of 12lb on a Tosh.
W Flemming and Ian MacDonald both grassed
salmon of 9lb on Ally’s Shrimp flies. |
DOCHFOUR anglers accounted
for 11, with six being returned to the river.
Mike Hasson landed a brace of 9.5lb each
from Culbuie and Two Stones on a Toby.
Sandy Paterson also grassed a brace of
20lb and 7lb on a size 12 Ally’s at Burmnouth and Bill Stark landed a brace
at 11.5lb and 9lb to a Devon in Two Stones and Culbuie.
Mike Chattaway accounted for a salmon
of 11lb on a Toby in Two Stones and Peter MacKinnon one of 18lb fly fishing
Burnmouth. Peter’s father Alasdair had the best rod, taking fish of 11lb
and 5lb from Culbuie and one of 8lb from the Tail of the Island. All came
to a size 10 red Shrimp Fly.
NOT many rods were out on the Alness last
week, although the river was running at a fine height.
John MacGow had a fresh-run 7.5lb cock
salmon from the above the Sluice on Beat 3 and also landed a sea-trout
of 2lb which he duly returned.
I released a small grilse that came to
the fly on Beat 3.
THE Thurso River was in superb condition
for the last two days of the season, which finished on Tuesday October
5.
A total of 55 were caught, bringing their
October total to 87 for the last four days of the season.
Unfortunately lack of water caused a delay
in salmon entering the river until it was almost too late, but it’s better
late than never.
The season’s total of 655 was not at all
bad but does reflect the lack of grilse in the summer which would have
greatly enhanced the salmon count.
However there is a very healthy stock
of fish now in the river which bodes well for the future and one can only
hope for a successful spawning.
On closing day the river’s ghillies, ably
assisted by June Walker, enjoyed a get together on Beat 3 and in rotation
accounted for 16 salmon which were duly released.
June’s was top rod with four; Duggie Reid,
James MacDonald, Pete Murchison, Jim MacEwan, Steelie Smith and Jake Waters
all had a brace apiece. Jake Waters landed the day’s best at 19lb, the
river’s best of the season.
Hugo Ross of Wick’s Tackle Shop fished
Beat 2 with Ronnie Plowman and they shared four on the day.
Nigel Griffiths was struggling a bit on
Beat 4 up until 3pm when he landed a salmon at the tail of Comlifoot Pool
and by 4.30pm he added another six from the same spot to his total.
Joe Robson, a lifelong friend of mine
from Fort William, fished the river for the first time on closing day and
on his first run down the first pool of the day, Jamie MacPherson’s on
Beat 9, Joe grassed a 14lb salmon. That’s the way to do it, Joe. |
 THE
River Nairn closed on Thursday, October 7 with fresh salmon still entering
the river.
Hugh Fraser landed a tide-bright fish
of 5lb, fly fishing the Cawdor area on the very last day of the season.
About 20 were caught in the final four
days, with Davie Meddle having a brace of 15lb and 5lb, the first one being
returned.
Colin Fraser, David Carson and Alasdair
MacLeod all returned fish of around 5lb in weight.
Tony Hartwell released three of the four
he caught on fly in the Cawdor area.
All in all, it’s been a good year on the
Nairn, as it reacted well to the few spates that came its way.
ACCURATE catch returns are a statutory
requirement and must be submitted to the Scottish Office by all salmon
fisheries and in that context are very important.
Please ensure that your personal catch
return is submitted on time, even if it is a nil return. In many cases
the submission
of catch returns are a requirement for
continued membership in many clubs.
THE Treasurer of Inverness Angling Club
now requires any outstanding raffle tickets and monies to be returned by
the end of the month. The club wishes to thank the membership for their
continued efforts to raise funds.
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