Scottish Highlands fishing reports July 8th 2000

"Week ending Saturday July 8th 2000"

THE River Ness showed a marked improvement last week as signs of the arrival of summer salmon and grilse were borne out by the catches.
Dochfour rods enjoyed a
grand week with 23 salmon/grilse on the bank, bringing the river’s tally for the week to 26.
Dr Young had the top rod with 12. The best of these weighed in at 18lb and took an Ally’s Shrimps at the Weir.
Gordon Fleetwood had four, taking three of them on fly.
His best at 14lb also came from the Weir Pool.
Ian MacDonald had a brace with his best at 17lb from the Tail of the Island on a Toby.
Bill Fleming also grassed a couple with the gauge dropping from minus two inches to minus six inches by the end of the week.
The size of some of those Ness salmon does reinforce my argument for good quality nylon of suitable breaking strain even in very low conditions.
Robin MacLeod, who has been the head ghillie on the Dochfour beat for the past 20 years, retired at the end of last month.
Grant Sutherland from Inverness has been appointed to the post.
Robin was so much part of the Dochfour scene that his invaluable presence will be missed by the many anglers who fish its waters.
On a personal note, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Robin for all his help and assistance with Tight Lines over the years and also his wealth of knowledge and experience that he was always willing to share.
I wish him a long and happy retirement.

THE Inverness Angling Club water produced its second of the season to Brian King.
The sea-liced hen fish of about 12lb was onto the backing line on four occasions with impressive runs.
This fine salmon was released at the net, having initially taken a size 8 Hairy Mary.
Brian had also tied the fly that caught the first fish of the year on the town water last week.
Like the first one, it was caught in the Silver Wells Pool from the right bank.

Summer grilse runs enable River Ness to record an impressive total of 26 fish

NESS Castle also produced a salmon of 7.5lb for Lewis Croy, who was fishing a size 8 Garry Dog in the Black Stream on Tuesday evening.
Young angler Donald MacPherson landed a brace of finnock and three good brown trout.
But unfortunately he lost the grilse that he had hooked.
One was also the tally on the Laggan Beat but what a cracker.
Weighing in at 17lb, it was caught by Admiral Michael Livsey while fishing an Executioner.
Changing to a Munro Killer, he also landed an excellent seatrout of 3.5lbs.

THE Averon at Alness was dropping back on Monday but was still at a very fishable height.
Sandy Esson took full advantage of the situation and accounted for three fish.
He took a salmon of about 7lb on Friday June 23, with grilse at 4. 75lb and 5.25lb on Monday 26, all on worm up on Beat 1.
On the same Monday, I took a fine sea trout of 2.5lb on an
orange/silver Shrimp fly, also from that beat.

THE Thurso with only four inches on the gauge toiled until it turned colder on Tuesday/Wednesday and the river temperature dropped dramatically.
From being in the seventies, it fell to a very comfortable (for the salmon) 57 degrees Fahrenheit.
This induced fresh fish to come into the river and 31 of them were landed.
June Walker’s was top rod with seven for her week, taking four on Beat 3 and three on Beat 12. Two were salmon and the rest grilse.
Local angler John Bojda had a
fine brace of 10lb and 8lb on
Beat 12, while Pradip Datta took
a bonnie 3lb grilse, also on Beat 12.
Surprisingly, river superintendent Eddie McCarthy tells me that there are still a number of kelts in the river which are taking flies quite readily.
When they will leave the river is anyone’s guess.

THE Helmsdale River really burst into life last week with 120 fish, mainly grilse, being caught.
There were also about 30 taken from the association water.
The river was running at seven inches on Monday but then it droppied back to a compensation level of about four inches by the end of the week.
As well as those on the bank, an almost unbelievable number were lost. As part of a survey being carried out by the fishery board, all retained fish must be weighed, measured and scale sampled.

THE Halladale also enjoyed a good week’s sport as it dropped back from nine inches to about
three inches. In spite of that, five of the 30 of caught were on Saturday, with the river sitting at just three inches.
Toby Ward had seven to his own rod, returning six.
Angus Ross also caught six on his two days on the river, returning five of them.
Mike Deller from Australia had his first ever salmon on the Craggie Beat. Weighing in at 5lb, it was the first fish that he had ever caught in the Northern Hemisphere. Unfortunately, he lost two other salmon.
On Monday 3rd eleven salmon/grilse came off the Kyle river of Sutherland at Bonar, with six being returned.

BEAULY Angling Club’s Millennium Project has now been completed, including the mass clear-up of the Tomich and Cnoc na Rath burns.
This has been designed to encourage the sea trout to use them once again, as in the past they have been prolific spawning areas.
A big thank you is extended by Frank Durdle and all at the club to those who gave of their time and efforts in completing the project.

ONCE again, the Beauly Angling Club’s senior and junior competitions were held at Loch Tarvie on June 28 and 29.
A great time was had by all of the 22 senior competitors. They landed a total of 12 trout throughout the evening, even though the east wind made some difficult fishing.
The heaviest trout was caught by Alan Cameron at a creditable 6lb 12 oz.
In the junior competition, 10 hardy fishers enjoyed a great night on the bait loch, where they caught a fantastic total of 16 fish.
The winner, with a fish of 1lb 7oz, was 12 year old Mark Mackenzie from Ruilick by
Beauly.
Thanks to Gerry and Sheila Breau at Loch Tarvie for their kind hospitality.
The first fish caught on the club water on June 26 was an 8lb summer salmon by Jim Armitage on Beat 2.
This was closely followed by Frank Durdle on June 27 with a 5lb 8oz grilse off Beat 1.
Both of these were caught on an Orange Ally’s.
Fish number three was also caught that same evening, again on Beat 1, by Ian Cruden and weighed in at 4lb 5oz.
Fishers are reminded that it is illegal to fish on Beauly Angling Club waters without a valid permit. And it is also illegal for anglers to have spinning gear or to use bait, as the water is fly only.

These reports are written and compiled byKenny Macdonald and published every Thursday by,
the Highland News Group, Henderson Road, Inverness IV1 1SP,
in the Highland News, the North Star and the Lochaber News.

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