Wednesday 3rd May, River Tummel

This is the last day on the Lower Tummel beat before returning home to Altrincham with Ian.

When I had told my Swedish friend, Anders, that I was going to the Tummel and staying in Pitlochry he asked me to purchase a bottle of Finest Single Malt whiskey from the Edradour distillery. I had asked Ian if he would take a detour after breakfast before going to the beat. After settling the hotel bill, with John the proprietor of the hotel, Ian and I went into Pitlochry to purchase supplies for lunch (Brie, Ham, Tomato and bread for toasties). The Distillery opened at 10.00 am so we drove up the hill at the side of the hotel and followed the signs until we reached our destination. The drive up is stunning and if you are ever in the area a visit is well worth the effort.

 The whiskey I purchased for Anders was a Port Cask Matured 13 year old Single Malt. The selection of single malts in the range is vast.

After purchasing the whiskey we returned to the hut on the beat and tackled up for a final crack at landing a salmon. The other two where already fishing the Rock pool and Greenbank so Ian and I went to the top of the long Killiechangie Run pool. The river was at the lowest water level  that I have seen in the years we have fished on the Tummel. The weather was stunning  with not a cloud in the sky and bright sunshine with the temperature in the afternoon at 18 c. With the increase in the strength of the wind this is not the best conditions for salmon fishing and although we spotted a number of fish not one came to the fly. We met back at the hut for lunch and Ian performed miracles with the toaster on his camping stoves to produce gourmet sandwiches and cups of tea.      Geoff packed up at 15.00 pm as he had a 7.5 hour drive home and Phil left a 16.00 pm to meet his wife at the hotel as they would be driving down to Manchester. Ian and I fished on till 17.30 pm and then met Dave and John at the hut. They had motored from Yorkshire and would be staying at the Birchwood along with Jim who was to arrive later that evening. We informed them of the likely fish lies that we had spotted over our three days and after loading all the gear back in the pickup we said our goodbyes and set off for our five hour trip back to Altrincham. Although no fish had been caught we had all enjoyed the trip and tested lots of tackle and flies and we will be back next season for more punishment (all laugh).

Ian’s Kitchen will take orders via his phone but he has told me not to give his number out as there are to many strange fishermen about.

  The Rock Pool.

Greenbank Pool

 

Next trip is to the Derbyshire River Wye for two days trout fishing on the Cressbrook and Litton water. A bit of stealth required on this trip.

I had an email from Dave about the fishing on the second half of the week, Thursday/Saturday, and they had had a similar experience to our three days. Beautiful cloudless skies, temperatures reaching 20 c and strong gusting winds. Unfortunately no salmon for our week this year.