It’s Hard Work…

..fishing at the moment on both the North and South Esk. The frustrating thing is that there are plenty of fish in both rivers, well enough to keep one interested. The grilse run is not what is should have been; hopefully this is a one off.  As far as large summer salmon go there are one or two in our rivers. Balmakewan had one of these wonderful salmon last week, tipping the spring balance to 22lbs caught on Saturday morning before breakfast and the rise in water, so the early bird does indeed catch the proverbial worm! Up at Stracathro the Gary Chamber’s party had 4 salmon and 6 sea trout; by all accounts the party fished hard and the fish that were caught were well earned. As I have alluded to many times before the fish are there, they are just proving very hard to catch; this theme seems to be running throughout the season on both rivers. It is what keeps us coming back for more. On the Saturday both rivers had a rise in water of about 1ft 6″ and by late morning most of the fishing came to a halt, so the rivers had a good day and a half of rest from anglers, as did the ghillies and deservedly so. A very quiet week on the South Esk with only a few fish caught down at Kinnaird. The fish that were in the middle beats took advantage of the rain on Saturday and headed further up river to the confluences of the larger tributaries like the Prosen, White Water and the Rottal Burn. A salmon did come off from Rottal Estate up in Glen Clova at 6lbs and caught on an Allys Shrimp just before the river came unfishable. So next week is hopefully shaping up to be a good one.

Week Ahead

Both rivers had some water on Saturday 19th which is very much needed. This will also help fish for this coming week. The air temperature is lovely and warm, making being on the river a muggy affair which is no bad thing. There will be a lot of colour in the water this week. The salmon and sea trout will be starting change into their river liveries, some already have, and salmon have a wonderful in-between purple colour. At the being of the week, I would suggest a slow to medium sink tip and later in the week an intermediate to a full floater depending on the water levels. For flies one should try anything with a little colour and flash and try to keep on the smaller side. Sunrays or Collie Dogs are always worth a swim. One other technique to try is the nymph, click on the link to find out more about this very effective method.  https://blog.fishpal.com/2023/08/15/nymphing-for-salmon-2/

Tight Lines.

North Esk.

Kinnaber. 3 grilse to 4lbs.

Canterland. 3 salmon/grilse to 7lbs.

Gallery. 1 salmon 6lbs.

Balmakewan. 4 salmon to 22lbs, 1 sea trout 3.5lbs

Pert.  11 salmon/grilse to 12lbs, 23 sea trout 4lbs.

Stracathro. 4 salmon to 7lbs, 6 sea trout to 3.5lbs.

South Esk.

Kinnnaird Middle. 2 grilse to 5lbs, 1 sea trout 3lbs.

Kinnaird Upper. 1 grilse 3lbs, 1 sea trout 2lbs.

Rottal Estate. 1 salmon 6lbs.

 Total:  Salmon/Grilse 30                                                  Sea Trout  32

                    Grand Total 62                                                                

Photographs (top to bottom)

Finavon Castle Water South Esk.

Nymphing for Scottish Salmon article (see link in report)

A summer salmon from Gallery North Esk.

Sea trout from Gallery.

Gallery North Esk.

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!!