A busy…

… week on the North Esk with most beats reporting good returns. A little lift in the river levels helped a little to wake the fish up at the start of the week and set the ball rolling. There are plenty of summer salmon and grilse in the North Esk now and still a good number of sea trout. The grilse are at the end of their run, a few stragglers might still make their way in. The sea trout are most certainly over by now and they will start to spawn next month. Down at Kinnaber the reports are that there are plenty of fish coming in on most tides which is very good news for the North Esk. The summer salmon seem to be in great shape and in good numbers. Most fish are being caught on very small black flies, with a small sunray on the dropper, this is most like due to the warmish water and low water towards the middle and end of the week. The South Esk on the other hand has been very quiet, with a limited number of sea trout and a poor run of grilse. The summer salmon on the other hand has been pretty good, though not a lot has been caught the visuals have been encouraging, at least they are in the river. Cameras have been put into to the South Esk and plenty of salmon have been seen. For some reason they are not wanting to play ball and seem to be biding their time until they need to spawn. Why the grilse run is poor is up for debate, one plausible theory is that there was a loss of fish in November 2022 after the flood of that month. I suppose the bottom line is that we will never know as to why. Salmon and sea trout are up against vast amount pressure, and now with changing weather patterns getting more extreme and heavy flooding is not helping their cause.

The Week Ahead.

At the time of writing the North Esk is 1ft 4 at Logie Mill and the South Esk is 3ft 2 at Brechin, both on the rise. So, I doubt much fishing with be done today! So, the week has again been set up well and hopefully by tomorrow both rivers will be dropping away, and wonderful fishing conditions will be had for the rest of the week. There is more rain or showers forecast whether it comes to much we will have to wait and see. The water will be somewhat coloured to start with, bigger flies with some colour about them will be the order of the day. As the week progresses and the colour diminishes move to smaller patterns, to be frank fish whatever you have confidence in, and you will catch. If you enjoy fishing the top of the water, try Brooks Sunrays, Collie dogs and hitches will all be worth a try. Also, small flies with a smaller sunray seem to be doing the trick now. Slow sink tips then as the week progress move to an intermediate or a full floater. Hopefully this week with the rivers topped up more fish coming in, plus the salmon awakened from their stupor we will see a few more fish coming from the South Esk.

Tight Lines.

North Esk

Kinnaber. 12 salmon/grilse to 10lbs, 1 sea trout 2lbs.

Canterland. 15 salmon/grilse to 12lbs, 1 sea trout 2lbs.

Gallery. 5 salmon/grilse to 11lbs, 3 sea trout to 3lbs.

Balmakewan. 10 salmon/grilse 12lbs, 1 sea trout 2lbs.

Pert. 21 salmon/grilse to 20lbs, 10 sea trout to 3lbs.

Stracathro. 10 salmon/grilse to 10lbs, 4 sea trout to 3lbs

Total: 73 salmon/grilse, 20 sea trout

South Esk

Kinnaird Middle. 1 sea trout to 2lbs.

Finavon Castle Water. 1 sea trout 2lbs

Total: 2 sea trout.

 Total 73  Salmon/Grilse , 22 Sea Trout.

GRAND TOTAL 95. 

If anyone has caught a salmon or Sea Trout within the North or South Esk and would like to share please get in touch.                                                 

Photographs (top to bottom)

Salmon are starting to colour up. Balmakewan.

Sandi Datta at Canterland.

Samantha Datta at Canterland.

Photographs 4&5 Jason Walls and his brace of salmon from Gallery.

Inspecting the a sea trout at Gallery.

Photographs 7&8, Mark Halliday with a brace of salmon from Balmakewan.

Lastly I should say thank you to the gillies and guests who send the photographs to me, with out them the report would not be complete and certainly not as colourful!!