| Duo take seven
out of ten on Moriston
ON THE Ness system, the Oich, Garry and
Moriston rivers once again saw springers on the bank last week.
The Moriston’ s total for the week was
10, with Denny MacKay and Donnie Urquhart sharing seven between them.
On Monday Denny grassed a brace of 9.5lb
and 12lb on a Toby and Rapala respectively.
Bill Malcolm took one of 10lb on a black/red
Devon.
Martin Smith also landed one at 10lb on
a two inch Willie Gunn and Donnie an 8.5lb fish on a yellow Ally’s.
Tuesday’s only salmon at 9lb was taken
on a Rapala by Denny.
Wednesday saw two at 7lb and 6.5lb, grassed
by Donnie on a Yellow Belly.
He was back in action on Thursday with
a solid 12lb salmon on a three inch Devon.
The week’s final fish came off on Saturday
to Norrie Wilson fishing a Toby.
Two of the week’s salmon were again seal
marked.
Melvin Smith of Inverness took the week’s
first from the Oich’s Glendoe Beat last Thursday.
A cracker at 12lb and sea-liced, it fancied
a size 2 Munro Killer in Canada.
Neil Fraser, also from Inverness, caught
their second and final salmon on Saturday, spinning a 2.5 inch black/orange
Devon in the Estuary.
On the Garry, Colonel Meirs was back in
action with a fine 12lb salmon taken on a Red Devon in the Estuary Beat.
Invergarry Hotel’s assistant manager Craig
Lightbody accounted for their second and final fish of the week in the
same pool.
At 7lb, it came to a green/gold Toby. |
THE only action of note on
the River Ness was on the Club water where Barry Mitchell contacted a rainbow
trout weighing in at a very healthy 6lb. It took a yellow Ally’s in the
Maclntyre Pool.
This rainbow had been in the wild for
some time as it was fully finned and in excellent condition and gave Barry
a bit of sport for a few minutes before finally showing itself.
Jimmy Graham returned a well mended kelt
at Charlie’s Seat and it did require a second glance because, as we
know, mistakes can be made with those
silver fish, so if in any doubt at all, return it.
MOVING north, the Kyle of Sutherland rivers
were very low and only the odd salmon was caught over the week.
On the Lower Brora (north side) Archie
Stirling took the only fish of the week at 8.5lb from the Style Pool on
a two inch Willie Gunn tube.
On the same side, a very experienced angler
lost a fish at his feet as he was beaching it.
What was remarkable was that it was in
fact a sea-liced spring salmon but weighed no more than about 3lb.
An unusually small fish for a springer,
it’s a pity that some scales weren’t left as they would have made interesting
reading. On the south side, Phil Gilbert took a 7lb salmon from Ford on
a Willie Gunn tube fly. The river was fairly low with only two inches showing
on the gauge for most of the week. But it did suffer a bit from a flash
flood on Thursday/Friday. |
 THE
Helmsdale, with 20 the week before last, had a slow week with only half
a dozen or so on the grass. It was pretty low at five inches and a flash
flood on the hills on Thursday night coloured it for the remainder of the
week.
The Saturday before last (18th) saw the
Association’s first salmon of the year being caught. Donald MacKay caught
this lovely 12lb salmon in the Flat Pool.
On Thursday, before the flash flood, Donnie
Etheridge got their second at 8lb from the same pool.
AN EAST wind all week did not help the
Thurso anglers but eight were caught, which is reasonable under the circumstances.
John Boyda caught his first of the season
on Beat 4 and it weighed in at 11lb.
John Brown netted a fine brace at 9lb
and 10lb from Beats 2 and 13.
STONEYFIELD Lochs held its first competition
of the season on Sunday. Twenty-four anglers fished in pairs and 56 rainbows
were weighed in and 40 released, a good day all round.
In first place were Paddy MacRae and Bert
Loades from Dornie with eight fish for 19lb
9oz, with Bert’s best at 7lb 12oz.
In second spot were Michael Egan (Delnie)
and Angus Craik (Evanton) with eight fish for 19lb 8oz, only an ounce less.
Michael’s best rainbow weighed in at 8lb
15oz, which was the competition’s best. |
