Fishing Report 16th - 21st March 2026 | Esk Rivers Hub - Fishing on the North and South Esk Rivers

A Sneak Preview of Better (Weather) Days to Come!

Although river levels remained unsettled at the beginning of the week, the arrival of high pressure brought some welcome conditions for the second half of the week, with settled, dry and sunny weather, and the warmest temperatures of the year so far. You could almost be forgiven for believing spring had arrived…. The birds are singing and the snowdrops have bowed out gracefully, leaving the daffodils to take centre stage.

The week started well with four salmon caught on Monday; including the first recorded South Esk salmon of the season! The 8 lb salmon was caught at Redbraes, Justinhaugh on a Black and Yellow Tube fly. Steven Cooper caught an 8 lb salmon in the Lynn Martin Pool (Edzell) on a Monkey. A third 8 lb salmon was caught in the Upper Dam Pool on Stracathro beat, on a Black and Yellow Tube fly. The final record for Monday was Archie Hay’s 9 lb salmon, caught on a Dee Monkey, from Minister’s Pool on Gallery.

There were no reports of fish caught on Tuesday or Wednesday this week.

On Thursday Craig McDonald landed an 8 lb salmon from the Upper Junction Pool (Stracathro) on an Alistair fly and J Murray caught a 9 lb salmon in the Boat Pool on Pert.

Friday was the best day of the week in terms of catches (and probably weather!) with 5 salmon caught; three of which from Stracathro beat. Fraser Guthrie landed an 8 lb sea-liced fish from the Soutars Run Pool on Edzell on a Monkey. Meanwhile at Stracathro Greg Gibb caught a 10 lb salmon in the Lower Junction Pool, Dave McDonald caught an 8 lb salmon in the Cruik Pool and Craig McDonald caught a 6 lb salmon in the Lower Dam Pool. The last record for Friday was a 14 lb salmon, landed by C Gorman from the Boat Pool on Pert.

On Saturday J Murray caught the final salmon of the week, weighing 6 lb, from the Blue Stone Pool on Pert and John Mitchell rounded off the week by catching the first South Esk sea trout of the season in Bothy Pool at Inshewan, on a posh cascade.

The Week Ahead (23rd – 28th March 2026)

If you had dared to believe that spring had arrived and that we could say goodbye to winter, by the end of this week you’ll realise your error and you’ll be digging out the thermals that you put away at the weekend!

Monday will start cloudy and as the day progresses, low pressure will move in, bringing with it windy conditions. Tuesday is the ‘transition day’ with winds gusting at 40+ mph. Wednesday sees air temperatures dropping and make no mistake, together with the wind it will be Baltic! On Thursday the winds will drop and we’ll see sunny spells, with rain forecast on Friday. Expect to see fresh snowfall in the hills this week.

Air temperatures will be a maximum of 8 – 11 °C / 46 – 51 °F and a minimum of -1 – 7°C / 30 – 44 °F.