We finally saw some heavy rain for a few days in the first week of August and although the River South Esk rose by almost a foot, the North Esk only rose by 4 inches, showing how localised the rain was falling. Although river levels have dropped back down to what they were before the rain, it was enough to reset SEPA’s Low Flow Threshold and as such the Esk District water scarcity categorisation has been upgraded from ‘Moderate Water Scarcity’ to ‘Alert’ – for further information see https://beta.sepa.scot/water-scarcity/previous-reports/06-august-2026/
Somehow, we find ourselves approaching mid-August and as such the birds have largely sung their last chorus and have taken a bow, having raised this year’s young. There are plenty of naive fledglings about, including my person favourite, the spotty robin. Take the time to appreciate the swifts this week, they will be leaving us very soon…
River North Esk
Stracathro Beat saw two grilse and 22 sea trout landed. A 3.5 lb grilse was caught in the Upper Junction Pool and a 6 lb grilse was caught in the Laird’s Pool, both on 6th August and both on an Ally’s Shrimp fly. The sea trout were caught in the Dam and Junction Pools on flies including the Golden Gun, Needle Tube, Dark Mackerel and Welsh, and weighed between 1.5 lbs and 5 lbs. Downstream on Gallery Beat three sea trout were caught weighting between 1.5 lbs and 3 lbs on the Bottle Tube, Micro Tube and Grey Monkey flies. A 4 lb grilse was caught on a Hauger Tube fly (see photo) and a second, weighing 5 lbs was caught using the same fly.
River South Esk
The furthest upstream catches for the River South Esk were reported on Cortachy Beat, where 12 sea trout, weighing between 2lb and 5lbs, were caught. Inshewan Beat reported catching two salmon weighing 10 lbs (see photo for one of them from the Castle Hill Pool), and four sea trout weighing up to 4 lbs. On Cortachy Beat 12 sea trout were caught, weighing between 2 lb and 5 lbs.
The week ahead (10 – 15 August 2026)
The week begins with high pressure sitting over the UK. Tuesday into Wednesday will be cloudy with air temperatures slowly rising. Thursday will be the hottest day of the week with sunny spells and thundery down pours likely for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, there is no significant rainfall in this week’s forecast. Daytime air temperatures are expected to reach highs of 17 – 26 °C (62 – 78 °F), with overnight lows of 10 – 14 °C (50 – 57 °F).
If anyone has caught a salmon or sea trout on the River North Esk, River South Esk or the Bervie Water, and would like to share, please get in touch.
Photographs: (top down)
4lb grilse from Hatton Pool, Gallery Beat, River North Esk © Michael Henderson
10 lb Salmon, Castle Hill Beat, River South Esk © John Mitchell
Salmon lying up in Edzell on the River North Esk © Garry MacLennan
Hatton Pool, Gallery Beat, River North Esk © Neil Anderson
Hatton Pool, Gallery Beat, River North Esk © Neil Anderson
Many thanks to the proprietors, ghillies and guests for sharing their photos and catch details.
