A week of…
… firsts last week and the fishing conditions could not have been better. Again, at the beginning of last week both the North and South Esk rose to about 1ft 6” on the North and 1ft 2” on the South. So, the week was of to a flying start with good river levels and the weather was pretty good to boot. Sisters Rebecca Lawrence and Victoria Deschamps both had their first sea trout while fishing at Inshewan on Wednesday with one at 3.5lbs and the other at 3lbs, a fantastic brace of sea trout. John Mitchell had a belter of a sea trout at 6lbs from Inshewan. It seems strange that the grilse on the South Esk have yet to seen or in any numbers at least, one would have thought that the near perfect conditions would see the in by now? The North is catching so why not the South? Only one salmon from the South Esk and that was from Kinnaird Low and Pow Mouth right down at the bottom of the river. Over to the North Esk. Young Angus Jacobsen son of the proprietor Symon Jacobsen caught his first salmon on their beat at Balmakewan with the help of gillie Mike Young. Angus returned the gesture by netting a salmon for Mike. Another first on the North Esk this time at Edzdell the Dalhouise Estate beat. Mason MacLennan son of Garry MacLennan Head Keeper at Invermark caught his first salmon at 12lbs. Some have years to get double figure fish! A point of note that all of the above salmon and sea trout were caught on the fly and returned to their respective rivers. Staying on the North Esk this time at Stracathro, they had a fantastic week with 19 salmon mostly grilse and two brace of sea trout. That is a good week on any salmon river. So, as we can see there are plenty of fish about and as mentioned above lets hope that the grilse and summer salmon start to arrive in numbers on the South Esk.
The Week Ahead.
The week again started with both rivers getting a small top up of water so with that in mind whatever you are all doing, change nothing as it seems to be working! Only if it was that simple? For sea trout I have dug out a few old flies that have not seen the light of day for a while, one you will have come across is the Dark Mackerel. A great fly just as the colour has left the day, also if there is a little colour in the water. The other is a Camasunray Killer a sea trout fly of note from the Isle of Skye, also works very well on the South Esk and other smaller rivers. For grilse and salmon, the usual suspects Stoats Tails, Cascades, Collie Dogs and a hitched sunray across the oily tails of the pools. Grilse also like to lie in more broken and faster water, if it looks like it will a grilse, it most likely will. I feel that this coming week is going to be a good week. Fish hard, early and late, see you next week.
Tight Lines.
North Esk
Kinnaber. 3 grilse to 5lbs.
Canterland. 2 grilse 4lbs, 1 salmon 8lbs.
Gallery. 3 grilse to 5lbs, 1 sea trout to 2lbs.
Balmakewan. 5 grilse to 5lbs, 6 salmon to 15lbs, 13 sea trout 5lbs
Pert. 8 grilse to 6lbs, 6 salmon 14lbs, 9 sea trout 3lbs.
Stracathro. 16 grilse to 5lbs, 3 salmon to 11 lbs, 4 sea trout 3lbs.
Edzell. 1 grilse 4lbs, 2 salmon to 12lbs, 1 sea trout 3lbs.
South Esk
Kinnaird Lower and Pow Mouth. 1 salmon 6lbs, 2 sea trout 3lbs.
Finavon Castle Water. 4 sea trout to 2lbs
Inshewan. 9 sea trout to 6lbs.
Total Salmon/Grilse 57, Sea Trout 42
GRAND TOTAL: 99
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)
Almost sea trout time at Inshewan, South Esk.
Victoria Deschamps catching her first sea trout at Inshewan, South Esk.
Rebecca Lawrence, with her first sea trout at Inshewan, South Esk.
2lbs sea trout from Gallery, North Esk.
Iain Stewart with a grilse from Balmakewan, North Esk.
Angus Jacobsen with his first salmon from Balmakewan, North Esk.
Mike Young gillie at Balmakewan, with a salmon netted by Angus Jacobsen.
Photos 8 ,9. Ryan Taylor with a salmon and grilse from Balmakewan.
Portrait of a salmon.
Mason Maclennan, with his first salmon at Edzell, North Esk.
Will Laird with a grilse from Edzell, North Esk.
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!!
