Week beginning September 22nd Hamish McFarlane & party.
Mon 22nd. The river was showing 7 inch on the gauge today Alf Gamblin & Steven Urquhart were fishing today as an invite from Hamish, A pretty quiet day but well done Steven landing a 6lb Grilse in the Lairds cast.
Tue 23rd. The river down to 5 inch today Allan Donaldson landed a 7lb Salmon in the March pool very quiet only saw two fish show all day.
Wed 24th. River level 3 inch. The beat was not fished
Thur 25th. River level 3 inch Alf Gamblin and John McCrae all Credit to them fror turning up at all and having a very long lunch.
Fri 26th. River level 2inch. The beat was not fished
Sat 26th. River level 2 inch. The beat was not fished
Weeks total 2 Salmon 1 Grilse 1
The last two days of the 2025 season
Mon 29th. A little rain yesterday put the river up to 6 inch Allan Donaldson fished the morning , and saw absolutely nothing showing very unusual for end of September touched nothing, and called it a season !
Tue 30th. The beat was not fished
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Week beginning September 15th . Chris and Nik Howarth.
Mon 15th. We started off this week with the river rising which is a big change, it was 3.5″ Inch at 09.00hrs and just under 2ft at lunchtime it steadied for a while and then rose slowly for before rising again to just over 3ft.
Tue 16th. The river level today was 1ft 10″inches Nik Howarth landed a good sized Seatrout of approx 3lbs in the McGregor pool, and a few fish were seen but it was still relatively quiet
Wed 17th. The water level this morning was 1ft 3″ inch Nik Howarth had the afternoon off as he was feeling his back playing him up a bit ( I know how that feels ) Nik offered me his rod for the afternoon, I was delighted to land a couple of fish an 8lb Salmon in the Lairds cast and a 5lb Grilse in the McKenzie pool, i also had a Salmon causing a bow wave following the fly for a couple of yards in the Gledfield pool.
Thur 18th. The water level today 10″ inch dropping to 8 ” inch A very windy day gale force winds at times it eased off a bit in mid afternoon.
Fri 19 th. The river level today registered 8 inch at 09.00 and dropped an inch by late afternoon, a few fish showing today. Nik and Chris The two brothers gave it a good go over the week and once again river running off with a little rain forecast for Sunday, we shall wait and see.
Sat 20 th. River level 5 Inch and continuing to drop
Weeks total 3. Salmon 1 Grilse 1 Sea trout 1
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Week beginning September 8th Douglas Chalmers & party.
Mon 8th. Water level Minus – 1.1/2″ inch
Tue 9th. Water level Minus – 1.1/2″ inch
Wed 10th. Water level Minus – 1.1/2″ inch
Thur 11th. Water level Minus – 1.1/2″ inch
Fri 12th. Rain yesterday and overnight was the first rain we have had in just over a month so it was very welcome. The rain was mainly well out in the west and brought in mainly on a south west wind, that saw the river level this morning at 2.1/2″ inch and slowly rising it rose fairly slowly at first registering 7″ inch at approx 11.00 hrs. It then rose very quickly going up 1 foot in an hour peaking at 1ft 7″ inch and began dropping back almost immediatly at 12.00 hrs. The fishing guests arrived to fish at just after 14 00hrs and to my utter astonishment !! they left again at 15.15 hrs.
Sat 13th. The river level was 7.1/2″ inch the fishing guests did not come at all today, subsequently the beat was not fished at all.
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Week beginning September 1st John Maginis & party.
ROLL ON 30th September
Mon 1st. River level Zero 0″
Tue 2nd. River level Minus- 1.1/2″ inch. at 08.30 hours.. River rose briefly to plus 2 inch in late evening and dropped back quicky overnight as the ground is so dry.
Wed 3rd. River level Zero 0″
Thur 4th. River level Minus – 3/4″ inch
Fri 5th. River level Minus- 1″ inch
Sat 6th. River level Minus – 1.1/2″
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Week beginning August 25th.
I wish i could report something different but once again absolutely nothing to report on the fishing front, and this week there has been even less water in the river.
Next week will be the 1st of September with just four weeks of this season remaining. and i must say i am personally looking forward to the end of this extraordinary season.
It is by far the worst salmon fishing season i have seen, the fishing has been hampered and curtailed by long periods of extremely low water thoughout the whole season so far, but worryingly during the very few times the river has briefly went up there has been very little evidence of even reasonable numbers of salmon and grilse.
The salmon catches from the beats on the Carron are absolutely disastrous at the moment and i can not see that changing in the last month of the season.
On a personal note this is the least i have fished on the Carron in 42 years i have fished for a total of 5 days so far this season as of September 1st. and have landed a total of ( 8 ) 3 Salmon & 5 Grilse I am pleased with that score for five days, but to have that as the sum total of my fishing season NO comment.
last season 2024 at this point in the season i had landed ( 39 ) 22 Salmon & 17 Grilse the last month fished well and saw backend fish coming in with some residents already resident in the pools, and i ended the season with a total of 60.
I have been up and down the beat on numerous occasions in last three weeks doing work after the storm damage or just having a walk and have not seen one single fish move!
More cheery news on the fishing front no doubt next week. News from the wider world just as downbeat and dissastrous
Mon 25th Water level Minus – 1/2″ inch
Tue 26th. Water level Minus – 1″ inch
Wed 27th. Water level Minus – 1″ inch
Thur 28th. Water level Minus – 1.1/2″ inch
Fri 29th. Water level Minus – 1.3/4″ inch
Sat 30th. Water level Minus – 2″ inch
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Week beginning August 18th.
Mon 18th. I wish i could report something different but once again absolutely nothing to report on the fishing front, and absolutely no water in the river. We started out the week with 0″ Zero on the gauge.
Tue 19th. Water level 0″ ZERO.
Wed 20th. Water level Minus – 1/2″ inch
Thur 21st. Water level Minus – 1/2″ inch. Thursday evening a couple of the water bailiefs John Audsley and Ian Gollan came in and gave me a hand to pull down the two big limbs that were still attached to the main tree. after a good few attempts with a rope attached to the pickup and pulling eventually both limbs came away, A big thanks to John and Ian.
Fri 22nd. Water level Minus – 3/4″ inch
Sat 23rd. Water level Minus – 1″ inch
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Week beginning August 11th .
Mon 11th. This week started out with the river level at 4.5 inch and dropping, we had bright and pretty warm conditions at 22 degrees. No fishing at all was done this week
Tue12th. The water level today 3.5″ Inch and it dropped away pretty quickly over the rest of the week, what a surprise ! With the temperature up to 25 degrees one day.
Wed 13th. I was up and down the beat a few times, and once again this week saw nothing at all show. And today I met up with Hamish McFarlane at the top hut and had coffee and good long chat for couple of hours and during that period we saw ABSOLUTELY NOTHING showing in the Well pool and Clump pool.
Thur 14th. Fri 15th. Sat 16th. River level 3″ Inch. 2″ Inch. & 1.5 “Inch.
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Week beginning August 4th.
Mon 4th. The predicted storm for today did arrive and got going about 10.00 hs in the morning and increased in strength as the day went on. In the past they have given us storm warnings and we get very little and on a couple of occasions we had absolutely no indication of a storm. The wind and rain eased off mid evening, We lost our electricity , landline and internet at lunchtime and were without it till early afternoon Thursday.
Tue 5th. I went over to the river to check to see what damage had been done on the beat, a couple of smaller trees were down loads of branches and debri and branches debri still coming down the river. One of thr big trees up on path above the Wall pool split about 15ft up and came down in two big limbs smashed into the big Oak tree next to it, It is just attached so hanging pretty dangerously, It was still really blustery today with strong gusts.
Wed 6th. The water level today was 1ft 10 inch dropping back to 1ft 8 inch before rising again in late afternoon, Allan Donaldson landed a 5lb grilse in the McKenzie pool, and followed up with a 4 lb grilse from the lairds cast, and landed a very accrobatic 6 lb grilse in the Gledfield pool. Very quiet only saw three fish over these two days.
Thur 7th. The river level today was down to 10 inch Allan very briefly had a grilse on and off in the Clump pool, and then managed to get an 8lb Salmon to stay on and was landed in the McGregor pool, this salmon punched above its wait and gave a very good account of itself.
Fri 8th. / Sat 9th. The beat was not fished on these two days.
Total Salmon 1 Grilse 3.
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Week beginning July 28th.
Mon 28th. Started out with the river level at 3 inch. I Managed to get the whole beat strimmed again over the first three days of this week and over the three days beside the river up and down the beats length i never saw a fish.
Thur 31st. The water level hit zero 0″ again
Fri Aug 1st A little rain overnight river up to 3 inch and almost immediatley back to 2.5 inch
Sat 2nd. River 2 inch no fishing at all done over this week and absolutely nothing to report.
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Week beginning July 21st
Mon 21st. The water level this morning was minus – 1 inch. The river began to rise late evening after periods of quite heavy rain through out the day.
Tue 22nd. This morning the water gauge was 3ft and dropping very quickly, the water was really pretty coloured and dirty it began to clear slightly in late afternoon but was still pretty coloured. Allan was fishing and only saw three fish all day, a couple of Grilse and one Salmon all three coloured fish. I moved a grilse to the fly and a slight touch it appeared all very half hearted that was in the Gledfield pool. In late afternoon in the Clump pool i landed a good strong salmon of approx a good 12lbs it was coloured but in excellent condition.
Wed 23rd. River height this morning was 11.5 inch and dropping pretty quickly, It was pretty quiet i managed to land a 5lb and a 4lb grilse in 35 minutes both fresh and sea liced and both in the Lairds cast in the Morning very quiet only saw three other grilse one coloured and two fresh. The afternoon was very quiet i touched nothing and saw nothing.
Thur, Fri, & Sat, Allan did not fish the beat, and by Saturday the river was at 3″ inch and Sunday 2″ inches.
Total Salmon 1 Grilse 2
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SUNDAY JULY 20th
The season just keeps rolling along actually i am going through periods of looking forward to 30th September now only about 10 weeks to go. So far this season i have fished the River for a grand total of approx 4 hrs and landed 1 salmon. I have spent way more time strimming than fishing and very soon to be at it again, at least after that kind of time spent on the riverbank their is an end product. Last season at this point at this point of the season i had landed 34. DIABOLICAL does not sum it up!!!!!
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Week beginning July 14th. Alison Galloway & party.
Mon 14th. Another week of desperately low water, We started the week on Monday with the water level at minus – 1.5″ inch, by Saturday it was minus – 1.75″ inches .
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Week beginning July 7th. James England & party.
Mon 7th. We had periods of heavy rain on Saturday and yesterday late afternoon and evening which put the river level up to 7 inches this morning. We had a small movement of grilse hard to tell just how many it was very quiet and very few were seen although really good to report that in the morning John Laird landed an 8lb salmon in the McKenzie pool, and shortly after George Renouf landed a 6lb grilse in the Lairds cast. Later on in the afternoon some grilse were briefly seen.
Tue 8th. Nothing else was touched or seen and the river dropped pretty quickly and from Wednesday onwards 2″ Inch on gauge it was very hot and bright particularly Friday and Saturday very hot at approx 28 degrees and minus – 3/4″ inch on gauge.
Week total Salmon 1 Grilse 1
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Week beginning June 30th
Mon 30th, Sat 5th. Another week with absolutely nothing to report.
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Week beginning June 23rd Ian Patterson & party.
Mon 23rd. We had a real big thunderstorm in the early hours of sunday morning with some torrential rain and subsequently the river went up later in the day and as often happens with no fishing on Sunday the river run off pretty quickly by Monday morning. Ian was out early on Monday morning and their was still 8 inch on the gauge Ian landed a 3lb grilse in the Little falls pool.
Tue24th. The river was up an inch to 9 inch Ian landed another grilse of 4lbs this time in the Raven pool, a few fish were seen over the first two days .
Wed 25th., Thur26th., Fri27th. Sat28th. The river dropped away quite quickly and nothing else was caught or touched and nothing was seen over the second part of the week, Obviously some grilse running in and taking advantage of the rise in water, but un surprisingly moving through the beat quickly. Well done to Ian getting a couple out in what has been a truely disastrous season so far.
Total 2 Grilse
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Week Beginning June 16th.
Mon 16th. The week started out with river once again at a depressingly low level of 1″ Inch
Absolutely nothing to report.
Sat 21st. River level minus – 1 inch.
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Week Beginning June 9th Ian & Shelley Neville.
Mon 9th. River level today is just 4″ inch, and we are starting off another week with very little prospect of significant rain for this coming week.
Tue 10th. Water level 5.5″ inch
Wed 11th. River level back to 4″ inch. Ian and Shelley headed off back south after giving it a go for few hours over Monday and Tuesday.
Thur 12th. Water level 3.” inch It turned out to be a Very warm day hitting 24 degrees
Fri 13th. Water level 1.5″ inch Another very warm day.
Sat 14th This morning just 1″ inch on thre gauge. I have been doing a few jobs and have had a few walks up and down the beat during this week and have saw absolutely nothing very disappointing.
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Week beginning June 2nd. Peter sydney Smith & party.
Mon 2nd. Started off this week with 8 inch on the gauge and with Snow on the tops!
Tues 3rd. We had reasonable water levels at times through out the week at times up to approx 10 inch dropping back pretty quickly fluctuating a lot. and again very quiet on the fishing front.
Sat 7th. With the river running at 5 inch Peter Sydney Smith landed a 3 lb grilse in the Little Falls pool. This is the first salmon caught on the beat since 31st of March OVER 9 WEEKS !!
Weeks Total 1 Grilse
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Week beginning May 26th. Brian Alexander & party.
Mon 26th. We started out this week with 9 1/2″ inch on the gauge, One Salmon was seen in the Little falls pool myself and Brian both saw it and as it turned out that this running fish was the only fish anyone saw over the course of the entire week.
Tue 27th. River 2ft 3″ Inch. We have had good water over the last two days and the only contact made with a salmon was late afternoon today when Allan Donaldson pulled a salmon in the Gledfield pool wich was just an on and straight off again.
Wed 28th. River today 11 Inch conditions looked pretty good, but absolutely nothing seen or touched.
Thur 29th. River 6″ Inch at 09.00 heavy rain in early hours of the morning took effect and river rose and went on to reach 2ft 6 Inch,
Fri 30th. River 2ft 6 inch and dropping back to to 1ft 6 inch at 19.00hrs
Sat 31st. Water level this morning was 1ft 1 inch. and slowly dropping to 10 ” inch at 15.30. Not to much of a surprise that the Salmon were keen to run hard upstream after being held up for so long due to the prolonged low water, Salmon were seen coming into the pools upstream around Gruinards with salmon quite hard to tempt at first as the week progressed they were picking up fish up river. Dissapointing for Brian and Chris as the beat involves a fair bit of walking and often stragglers are left in the beat for us to pick up, this was not the case and absolutely nothing was seen other than the one fish early in the week.
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Week beginning May 19th. Ruaraidh MacMillan & party
Mon 19th. River minus — 3 ” inch. Absolutely hopeless the water level reached its lowest point on Friday & Saturday of this week. Some rain is forecast for Saturday so we will see, fortunately we do not appear to have any salmon in our beat as these desperate conditions would be really problematic for them. At least conditions cooled on saturday so hopefully the temperature dropping and becoming a little fresher will help the salmon that are struggling in these conditions. I managed to get the river banks strimmed and got a bit to much sun doing it. Now forecasting Thunderstorms for Sunday 25th & and Monday 26th.
Tue 20th. River minus — 3″ inch
Wed 21st. River minus –3. 1/4″ inch.
Thur 22nd. River minus — 3.1/4″ inch
Fri 23rd. River minus — 3.1/2″ inch
Sat 24th. River minus — 3.1/2 inch
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Rivers Findhorn and Nairn closed due to Saprolegnia deaths in Salmon.
May 21st. With the extremely low water conditions continuing the River Findhorn and the River Nairn as of May 19th have both been closed this is due to increasing incidences and deaths in Salmon due to outbreaks of Saprolegnia. In The case of the Findhorn it will be closed till June 2nd when it will be assessed.
On the upper reaches of the Carron there has been a few deaths again suspected to be due to Saprolegenia.
While Saprolegnia is a natural part of freshwater ecosystems and can infect wild salmon, there’s a growing concern that fish farms might be contributing to increased Saprolegnia infections in wild populations. Fish farms can act as a source of the pathogen, especially when their water systems connect with rivers and streams. Additionally, stress from handling and vaccination in farmed salmon can make them more susceptible to Saprolegnia infections.
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Week beginning May 12 th Hamish McFarlane & party.
Mon 5th. River Level Minus 1.5″ Inch The outlook is for another very dry week with some very warm spells particularly over the second half of the week.
Tue 6th. River level Minus 1.3/4″ Inch.
Wed 7th. River Level Minus 2.1/4″ Inch.
Thur 8th. River Level Minus 2.1/2″ Inch.
Fri 9th. River Minus 2.1/2″ Inch. last two days very bright and pretty warm only the brisk east wind keeping the temperature down around 18 degrees
Sat 10th. River Minus 3″ Inch. Incredibly low for this time of year it does go as low as this and lower, but it very unusual for this time of year to hit minus three Inches in mid May. Today is a Very warm bright day. Absolutely nothing to report.
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Week beginning May 5th. Mike Verbeeten & party.
Mon 5th River at 2″ Inch and dropping its a very bright and warm morning.
Tue 6th. River 1/2″ Inch The outlook is for another very dry week with some very warm spells.
Wed 7th. River Minus 1/2″ Inch.
Thur 8th. River Minus 3/4″ Inch.
Fri 9th. River Minus 1″ Inch.
Sat 10th. River Minus 1.25″ absolutely nothing to report.
*****
Its been an absolutely hopeless season, Personally I have only fished for just under 4 hours this season so far and we are now today on May 13th. 4 months into the 2025 season.
As a bit of a change from photos of a depressingly low river each week I have put up some photos of the river with a bit of water in it for a change. A couple of the photos were taken from approximately the same spot to see the comparison.
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Week beginning April 28th John Maginnis & party.
Mon 28th The water level this morning at 09. 00 was 1 inch we were getting some rain out in the mountains that susequently put the river up a little to 3.75 Inch in late afternoon around 16.30 hrs.
Tue. 29th. The river dropping back qickly from the little rise last night approx 3Inch and dropping.
Wed. 30th. 1.5 Inch at 12.00 hrs
Thur. May 1st The river this morning has once again reached 0″ Zero.
Fri 2nd. The river this morning again sitting at 0″ Zero on the gauge.
Sat 3rd. Much cooler weather overnight and steady but very light rain put the river up to 2.5 inch by 17.00 hrs. Another week with practically no fishing done, with the guests going through the motions on a couple of occasions. Its been an absolutely terrible season so far due to the continuous low water, Its hard to believe we are now at the 6th of May.
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Week beginning April 21st. Allan Donaldson and party.
Mon 21st. Starting another week with low water and 2 inch 3/4″ Inches on the gauge with it destined to get much lower in next few days. My pal Ian Bissett was up from Edinburgh to fish the first three days with me, Ian fished for 20 minutes and that was it he went through the motions just to wet his line, just enough water to do that !
Tue 22nd. River level 1″ 3/4 inch
Wed 23rd. River level 1″ inch
Thur 24th. River level 1/2″ inch. My pal Colin was to fish the last three days of the week with me but again this did not happen
Fri 25th. River level Zero 0″ Inches
Sat 26th. River level Minus — 1/4″ Inch. River now just dipping below Zero !
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Week beginning April 14th. Ann Cleverly & party.
Mon 14th. River level 1/2 ” Inch
Tue 15th. River level 0 zero
Wed 16th. River level 0 zero
Thur 17th. River level 2″ Inch
Fri 18th. River level 2″ inch. The fishing for the week till now absolutely non existant
Sat 19th. River level The river began to rise around 17.30 hrs registering approx 4.5 inch and rising slowly to late to do any good for this week. Absolutely no fishing was done this week.
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Week beginning April 8th Colin Campbell & party.
Mon 7th. Starting off this week with an incredibly low river for first week in April River level just 2.5 inch, because of the long clear blue skies we ended up starting the first four days of this week with a frost before turning to bright sun with not a cloud in the sky.
Tue 8th. River level 2inch Again frosty and bright sun with not a cloud in the sky chilly east wind at times.
Wed 9th. River level 1.5 inches frosty bright sun not a cloud in the sky
Thur 10th. River level 1 inch Warmest day of the week as the wind has swung round to the west. River level continuing to drop not unusual for the summer months but very unusual for first week of April! particularly as it is not due to snow and really hard frosts and frozen river, which we used to get.
Fri 11th. River level 3/4″ inch. Now that we are in spring with the growth in trees vegetation & plant life will also take effect on the available water & moisture.
Sat 12th. River level 1/2″ inch On the gauge, Pretty desperate now.
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Week beginning March 31st Graeme McPherson & party
Mon 31st March. With the river running off after the quick rise on Saturday evening and reaching a good fishing height yesterday of 3ft 8 inch in the late morning which is often the case on a Sunday ! so we started this week with a bit of water al though it was dropping back quite quickly.we started of with approx 1fty 4 inch Ernie Mackay had a good day making the most of the water by landing three springers all weighng in at 8lbs and all sea liced.
the salmon were caught in the Gledfield, McGregor and Clump pools, Graeme McPherson had bad luck hooking in to a couple of salmon but unfortunately they almost immediately threw the hook.
Tue 1st. the river was down today to 10 inch today and 9 inch by late afternoon however two salmon were moved and one other salmon pulled, We now have pretty bright sunny overhead conditions that will have a much more detrimental effect on the fishing as the river is dropping back pretty rapidly and as the week progressed.
Wed 2nd. Graeme, Ernie, Mike, & Stewart went off trout fishing, its not great over head conditions even for trout as the bright sun and blue skies took even more of a hold.
Thur 3rd. Another trout fishing expedition today for the boys, and i am sure they would have good fun and the crack would be brilliant.
Fri 4th. Another trout outing today, river level down to 4″ inch
Sat 5th. The boys went off back to Aberdeen early.
Weeks total 3 Salmon
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Week beginning March 24th. Alison Galloway & party
Mon 24th. The week started out once again with a low river just 5 inch on the gauge.
Tue 25th. The water level dropped back to 4.5 inch and hovered about the 4.5 to for the rest of the week till late Saturday afternoon when ther river began to rise rapidly but by then it was to late to improve the fishing conditions for this week.
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Week beginning March 17th. Jamie Hammond & party.
Mon 17th. We started out with the river 6.5 inch and dropping, with the overhead conditions very bright and sunny, and this was to be the outlook for the rest of the week along with it being very frosty overnight till Thursday.
Tue 18th. The river level today down to 5 inch Jamie and Andrew fished the beat again today but decided to head back south in the afternoon. Being experienced fishers i feel they made the right choice
Wed 19th to Sat 22nd. For a change the forecast was pretty accurate the water level dropped each day and by Saturday the River was registering just 3 inch on the gauge.
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Week beginning March 10th. John Anthony & party.
Mon 10th. We started out this morning with the river running at 3ft 2 inch, It has been a pretty dry season so far but the heavy rain in the early hours put the river level up very quickly from 6 inch the previous day.
Tue 11th. The water level today 1ft 5 inch.
Wed 12th. The river down again to 10 inch, John Anthony got the first of the week landing a 6 pounder in the Raven pool.
Thur 13th. Water level 8.5 inch Alan Sainsbury landed a 13 pounder in the McGregor pool.
Fri 14th. John Anthony rounded off the week landing his second a 10lb Salmon the second one to come out of the Raven pool.
Total 3
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First Salmon of season 2025 from the Cornhill beat
Friday 7th March. I fished the Cornhill beat Thursday 6th and Friday 7th. On Friday mid morning I was really delighted to hook into and land a really beautifully shaped sea liced 12lb Salmon, it fought extremely well and gave a very good account of its self. I am really pleased to get one in the book as i have only fished for approx 4 hours so far this season.
There has not been a lot of water so far this season and it is still early yet as for gauging how the spring salmon fishing is
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I had been suffering with really bad back for almost the last three weeks with the first ten days being absolute murder ! been out and aboutdoing a bit last 5 or 6 days. So subsequently i have not wet a line so far this season the river is low today with just 4 inch on the gauge with very light rain falling and some snow on the tops. Hopefully I will give the beat a cast next week, A couple of photos of Cornhill beat when i was cutting bushes and a photo from Greenland where my pal Brian is at the moment.
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Opening day of the 2025 Salmon fishing season
Saturday the 11th January was the first day of the 2025 salmon fishing season, it came and went without me even visiting the river. Since Hogmanay we have had a few falls of snow interspersed with some torential rain and we have had snow on the ground for around 10 days now and since Tuesday we have had a few extra falls with dropping temperatures to around minus- 4 or 5 degrees during the day and much lower overnight.
On Friday during the day it got down to minus – 9 degrees the roads are not great and the riverbanks having a good covering of snow and covering over holes in the bank so its really trecherous underfoot.
So for me that is the first oppening day in 33 years i have not ventured out to the river even for just minutes which is what happened in 2021 when it was a real blizzard.
A thaw is forecast for today Monday 13th January with temperatures forecast to get up to around 7 or 8 degrees with rain also forecast so that could result in a big river if we get a quick thaw as there is a lot of snow out in the mountains.
So hopefully i will get out and get some bush cutting done on the river banks and maybe the odd cast.
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How my own Fishing Season went in 2024
Just a quick update on my own personal fishing season last year 2024, I managed to get off to a good start by landing the first Salmon off the River on 16th February a 7lb Springer in the Gledfield pool.
I picked up a few fish in March although in general things were pretty slow, in April pretty similar quite hard going i had a resonable spell over a week landing 8 springers mainly salmon of 7 or 8lbs and one of 9lb. May & June we had periods of low water with pretty high temperatures for quite long periods with the river showing its bare bones much of the time.
I managed a nice 10 lb salmon during this period when the river went from a very low period just 1 inch on gauge to 1ft 1 inch due to a thunderstorm, i managed to get the salmon in the McGregor pool the river dropped like a stone as soon as it had peaked at 1 ft 1 inch. Their was a good lift in the water level in early July i fished Monday to Thursday and managed to land 14 ten of them Grilse, and four Salmon their were definitely more grilse in evidence than the same period last season. I was really delighted with the 5 lb grilse that i landed in the McKenzie pool as this was my 1.800 hundredth salmon that ihave landed in my lifetime.
We had Periods of low water again in August i picked up a few fish on the river and landed my one and only salmon that i caught down on the Kyle on August 20th.
I had another excellent bit of fishing in September over four days Wednesday to Saturday, i managed to land 16 over the four days 13 salmon and 3 Grilse, and the week could not have been rounded off and ended better than by landing the last salmon of the week mid afternoon Saturday in the March pool a very big cock Salmon that was estimated at 28 lbs and i must say i was really delighted and pretty knackered after i landed it, i had
landed four earlier that day and was pleasantly tired and was going to walk on past the March pool and head up to the car i am glad i did’nt I picked up another 5 Salmon before the season ended on the Carron.
I had an invite from good friend Bryan Alexander to fish the River Alness beat 3 on October 9th, I managed to land a 5lb Grilse and this rounded of my seasons total to exactly 60 of them 38 were Salmon and 22 were Grilse. Interestingly half my total 30 were caught over 8 days two x four day periods.