Kick Sampling and a trip to the Spey

The meet up on beat 2 of the River Birkin on Saturday 4th August was a good chance for a chat with some of the members and I think this should be a more frequent event. Terry had brought tea and coffee and after a drink and catch up a kick sampling session was organised by Peter. The first was below the bridge on beat two and the second on Mobberley Brook. Peters knowledge of the invertebrates was very informative and Angus spotting a grilse was the highlight of the day.

The Riverfly Partnership specify 8 species for monitoring purposes. Not content with this Peter has identified a whole load of other species. He’s given Terry a list which is far too long to post here because it totals 35 different species including 10 variety of Mayfly. Not included are the Shrimps, worms and leeches, another 12! Hopefully this is a sign of improvement in the water quality of the river.

River Spey 19th August.

I left home on Sunday morning about 11.00am for the drive up to the River Spey for three days fishing on the Knockando home beat. I was meeting three mates at the Aberlour Hotel and after a couple of beers in the bar we had dinner in the hotel dining room and caught up on news and gossip.          Not just women.

After breakfast we drove the 6 miles to the Knockando beat and met up with Archie Baillie the beat Ghillie and changed into waders and set up rods. The river was showing -4 inches on the gauge and the catch rate on all the northern rivers was very low with high water temperatures and low water levels.

I set up my 13ft Vision GT4 Catapult rod and used a Lamson Guru reel loaded with a Rio AFS 8/9# shooting head and 9ft tapered leader with 5ft of 15lb tippet. The fly I tied on was my version of a Knockando Shrimp tied on a salmon single and one of a number of flies i have tied on salmon singles.

Archie took me to a pool on the Phones beat that we had for the morning session and I started in the neck of fast water. I lost my hook on the second cast and replaced it with a Ally’s Shrimp tied on a salmon single and three cast later I hooked into a salmon. My friend came up to help land the fish as the terrain was very rocky and not easy to steer the fish to the bank. A few minutes later the fish was landed and after a photo the fish was released.

After lunch in the cabin we decided to head back to the hotel and meet later for dinner at an Indian restaurant. The idea was to then go back to the river and fish into the late evening for sea trout. I had set up one of my favourite single handed rods, a Hardy Ultralight Plus 10ft 7#, and a WF7 floating line.  I fished the bottom beat and took the boat across the river and fished with the two handed rods for salmon and as the light faded we rowed back to fish the large pool for sea trout. I had tied on a Mallard and Claret size 10 double on the point and a Stoats Tail size 14 single on the dropper and as the light faded fish began splashing. Between 9.15 and 11.30 pm we both had pull after pull and on three occasions the sea trout held on a bit longer only to let go after a few seconds.

Tuesday was a repeat of the Monday with little action in the day and after a chip shop meal we returned to the river to try for sea trout again. Two fished the bottom beat  and I fished the Long Pool by the hut and the pool below. We concentrated on the flat water as this was the more active areas and as the light faded the sea trout began to show. Around 10.15 pm I had a 10 minute period of plucks and takes and resulted in taking one Sea Trout (Finnock). My mate had on a better fish of about 3 lb which came off at the net and then as if someone had turn off a switch all went quiet.

Wednesday was our last day on the beat and after a very uneventful morning we met at the cabin for lunch of bacon butties and a mug of coffee. I decided to leave early in the afternoon as I had a 7 hour drive home and after saying my goodbyes to Archie and the others I left at 2.30 pm. The drive home took 8 hours due to hold ups approaching Glasgow and a closure diversion on the M6 that took the traffic through Preston before rejoining the motorway lower down.

Although the fishing was hard due to the lack of water the company made up for it and at least I caught 1 salmon and a sea trout.

Next trip is back up to the highlands for a weeks fishing and I will take my trout gear in case of a lack of water. The good news is that it has been raining and the forecast is for more and the rivers have had a marked rise in level. Fingers crossed for a good session  at last.

Phones beat Pouches pool with the salmon being caught at the top.

More to follow.