The Days
The days are getting a lot longer with shorter hours of darkness. You can look at this time of year as one angler put it to me as “changeover”. The spring run is coming to an end, so not long until the grisle and sea trout fishing begins in earnest. Sea trout have been seen in our rivers for a while now and the grisle are slowly starting to arrive, so a changeover is happening within our rivers. Last week was very quiet on both the North and the South Esk, with both sitting at about 6 inches on the gauge, which is a good fishing height. Even though very little was caught and landed a fair few fish have been lost which means there are plenty fish are in the river, they have just lost interest in our flies. One fish that is making conversation now is the Pink Salmon, which by all accounts is going to make a big appearance this year. Please have a look at the link below, the Esk DSFB will be putting more information up on our social media within the coming weeks. Another fish that appeared at Balmakewan N.E was a Rainbow Trout caught on a sunray shadow. No one is too sure where it came from or if it is just the one or there are more in the river? The rainbow was knocked on the head and the contents of its stomach examined it contained nothing but stonefly nymphs, thankfully no fry or parr. Some good news from both rivers is that it has been a very good smolt run, there was a little concern that after the big floods that in November 2022 that alot of the young parr and fry would have been washed out. Happily this was not the case, with some smolts still making their way out to sea. Let’s hope that this will be good news in the following years.
https://fms.scot/pink-salmon-in-scotland/
Note: If any of the angling clubs or anyone else that has anything to report on the North or South Esk please get in touch via email with your catches and stories. The more we can show what is being caught on our rivers paints a good picture.
Thank you.
Week Ahead
So, grilse sea trout and low water with hopefully the odd spate thrown in, means single handers full floaters and long leaders with small flies. The water is now very clear and getting lower, so rather than stomp up and down the river take your time, watch that the sun is not at your back, and be aware of your surroundings. Black flies always work well in the clearer water, choose one the has a little colour or flash if the water comes up. Also never be afraid to fish too small; a fly we are all surprised sometimes by the size of fish we catch on a tiny fly.
Tight Lines.
North Esk.
Gallery. 1 Sea Trout 3lbs
Balmakewan. 1 Sea Trout 2lbs
Pert. 4 Salmon largest 15lbs, 1 Sea Trout 2.5lbs
Total 4 Salmon, 3 Sea Trout
South Esk
No Returns
Grand Total. Salmon 2 Sea Trout 1
Photographs (top to bottom)
Stracathro N.E The confluence of the West Water and the North Esk.
Pink Salmon. (Not caught from our rivers)
Rainbow Trout from Balmakewan.
Lastly I should say thank you to the ghillies and guests who send the photographs to me, with out them the report would not be complete and certainly not as colourful!!
