Week beginning September 25th. Hamish McFarlane & party.
Mon 25th. The river height today was 1ft 11inch dropping to 1ft 9 inch Alf Gamblin & Stephen Urquart fished today.fish were seen but nothing was touched.
Tue 26th. the river this morning was running at 1ft.and stayed steady till after lunch before dropping very slowly, Allan Donaldson landed a couple of grilse at 5lbs & 4lbs both from Cormacks, which pleases me no end as it was the only pool on the beat i have never caught a salmon in. admittedly its a pool i had very very seldom fished probably not more 6 or 8 times over the years.
Wed 27th. The water had went up again last night and this morning it was almost exactly the same height as yesterday morning 1ft 1inch. Alf Gamblin was fishing today again this time with Innes Rankin, Alf was rewarded with a 4.5 lb grilse in the McKenzie pool.
Thur 28th. The river bumped away up again overnightbut was down to 1ft 11inch at 09.00hrs. Allan fished today with Graeme McPherson, allan briefly had a hold of one in the Gledfield run, But that was it sport wise we did see a number of fish moving again on the rise in water.
Fri 29th. The water level was down to 1ft Allan Donaldson landed a 5lb grilse in the Lairds cast, Some running fish were seen again anticipating a rise in the River i fished the morning as it became very wet with gale force winds.
Sat 30th. River up again 1ft 8 inch at 09.00 hrs and looking at the the high water mark shown by the leafs on riverbank it would have been about 2ft 4inch. Colin More fished today, and glad to report that Colin landed a couple of fish to round off and bring the season to an end. Colin landed a 5lb Grilse in the Raven pool, and followed up with a 7lb Salmon in the Lairds cast.
I will update the seasons catches and details soon.
Weeks total 6
*****
Week beginning September 18th Ken Scott & party.
Mon 18th. The river at 09.00hrs was running at 4 inches there had been heavy overnight rain, so it was just a matter of time to see when it would rise and by how much. it began to rise at about 09.15 and by 10.15hrs it was rising very quickly and was showing 1ft 11 inch at 11.15 hrs. Later it peaked at approx 4ft3 inches.
Tue 19th. The water level today was 1ft 6 inch dropping to 1ft in late afternoon, Ken Scott landed an 8lb salmon in the McKenzie pool, later on Mrs Scott landed a 6lb grilse also in the McKenzie pool, Well done in landing your first salmon.
Wed 20th. The river went way up again and peaked at 4ft 4 inch a very un welcome feature that was to continued to occur over the last two weeks of the season which had a very detrimental effect on the fishing.
Thur 21st. River 1ft 5 inch the river level continued to bump up and down over the next three days with the river very quiet.
Weeks total 2
*****
Week beginning September 11th. Douglas Chalmers & party.
Mon 11th. This morning the water level was 2.5 inch.
Thursday 14th. Overnight the river level went up and bumped up and down around the 5 inch mark going up to 7 inch briefly before dropping back.
Friday 15th. Water level 3.5 inch
Sat 16th. Water level 2 inch.
*****
Week beginning September 4th. John Maginnis & party.
Mon 4th. The week started out with the river back down and running low at just 3 inches, it kept running off accompanied by very warm temperatures with the water heating up quicker as the level dropped. On Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday i recorded water temps of 19c, 20c & 20c. and by Friday there was just 1 inch registering on the gauge.
The Beat was not fished.
*****
Week beginning August 28th Keith Williams & party.
Mon 28th. The river level today was 1ft 3 inch. the beat was not fished today Unfortunately Keith could not make it today and subsequently asked if myself and Douglas McLeay would fish the rest of the week.
Tuesday 29th. The water level today was 11 inches, Douglas McLeay landed a 4lb Grilse in the McGregor pool, Allan Donaldson landed a couple both from the McKenzie pool a Salmon of 11lbs & a Grilse of 4lbs. Allan briefly had a hold of a Grilse in the Clump pool.
Wed 30th. The river was up to 1ft 6 inch, Douglas McLeay landed a 5lb Grilse in the March pool. Allan Donaldson caught a 4lb grilse in the March pool, and a 5lb Grilse in the Clump pool. Allan finnished off the day with a really interesting little 4lb grilse in the Gledfield pool it was the take that was amazing, over the years i have had a few fish that have taken this way but this was the most extreme example. I cast across to the foam right at the point of Gill’s point as the fly hit the water in a split second their was a big splashy boil and the fish was on. I can only think the fly litterally landed above the fish right on its nose and it reacted immediatley practically instantaneous amazing!
Thur 31st. At mid day there was 11.5 inch showing on the gauge. The beat was only fished in the afternoon. Allan Donaldson caught a 4lb Grilse in the March pool, Allan also had a couple of Grilse in the Lairds cast at 5lbs and 4lbs. and lost another in Raven pool.
Fri 1st. The water is running away now 8.5 inch showing on the gauge. the beat was only fished in morning and nothing was seen showing or touched. Thanks to Douglas for the photos of his grilse.
Sat 2nd. 5.5 inch The beat was not fished today.
Total 10. 1 Salmon 9 Grilse
*****
Week beginning August 21st.
Mon 21st. The river was running low and by Thursday 24th it was down to 2.5 inch, we had a little rise on Friday before later in the day in early evening it began to rise quickly.
Sat 22nd. Saturday it rained pretty steady till mid afternoon, the river rose and steadied briefly before it rose very quickly and peaked around 17.00hrs at approx 7.5 ft. A week of very little water then to much water. The week ended blank.
*****
Week beginning August 14th. John Lawson & party.
We did have water on the Tuesday 15th the river went up to 1ft 4 inch a good enough height, and a little the following day on the Wednesday as it ran off . No one appeared to be fishing the beat all week, I was over a couple of times cutting some bushes at riverbank and also called by a few other times and saw no one, a bit of a waste but their we go. This week ended blank
*****
Week beginning August 7th.
Mon 7th. This week started out with the river running at 10.5 inches. Allan Donaldson landed three grilse, Allan landed a 4lb and a 3lb grilse in the Lairds cast, and followed up with a 2lb Grilse in the Raven pool all the Grilse were sea liced. Allan also briefly had a hold of a grilse in the McKenzie pool before it threw the hook.
Tue 8th. The river level was up a little today it was showing 1ft 2 inch on the gauge. Allan managed to pick up another grilse that was caught in the Lairds cast. it weighed in at 4lbs was not sea liced and had probably been in the river about 3 weeks. My pal Bryan Alexander fished with me today, we had good crack and a real good blether but unfortunately Bryan did not hook up.
The beat was not fished again this week, the river dropped off pretty quickly and by Friday the river was down to just 1 inch, The very small grilse caught in the Raven pool was entered in the book at 2lbs, but i reckon it probably would have been ounces less than 2lbs possibly 1.75lbs but very small anyway. It was landed and i intended measuring it accurately and taking scales from it before it was released but it wriggled and jumped out my hand.
I remember years ago landing a Grilse ? in the little falls which was 1.5 lbs. the reason for putting question mark to that very small Grilse was around the same time George Ross manager of the River Oykel had a fish on the Oykel if i remember correctly it was 1.75 lbs scales were taken and it turned out to be not a Grilse but a Salmon!
When we did a big scale sampling project on the Carron in 1998 we scale sampled 193 fish and we had a 10.5lb Grilse and several 4lb Salmon, so just shows you nothing is ever black and white and falls easily into what you would assume as the accepted norm.
Total 4
*****
Week beginning July 31st. John King & party.
Mon 31st. The river started out at 1 inch on the gauge.
Tue1st. The river up today the gauge was registering 5 inches today
Wed 3rd Water level 4.5 inch.
Thur 4th. Water level exactly the same as yesterday 4.5 inches
Fri 5th. The river level up today to a good height of 1ft 2 inch.
Sat 6th. The water level today running at 9 inch. The week ended blank.
*****
Week beginning July 24th Chris Lacey & party.
Mon 24th. The water level at the start of the week was 5 inch and Paul Cole got things off the mark by landing a 6lb Grilse in the Lairds cast, as it happens this was the highlight of the week as conditions returned to the way it has been much of the season, as the river dropped and conditions were pretty hard going and by the end of the week the river was down to 2 inches.
Total 1 Grilse
*****
Week beginning July 17th Three days Mon 17th, Tue18th, Wed 19th.
Mon 17th. The water level this morning was 2ft 6 inch Allan Donaldson landed 5 Grilse Allan landed the Grilse in Gledfield pool 4lbs. Gledfield run 6lbs, & 5lbs. Wall pool 5lbs. Raven pool 5lbs. Allan also lost a grilse in the Lairds cast. The river was down to 2ft at 17.30hrs.
Tue 18th. The water height today was 1ft 6 inch Allan Donaldson landed a 12lb Salmon in the Lairds cast, this was an older fish and has probably been in river a good six weeks. Allan followed up with 6lb Grilse in the Gledfield run, a 5lb Grilse in the McKenzie stream, and a 3lb Grilse in the March pool.
Wed 19th. The water level today was 10.5 inch, Allan caught Grilse in the Little falls at 3lbs, and also had a Grilse in Lairds cast at 5lbs. and McGregor pool at 5lbs. Allan also lost three others. For the three days fishing Allan landed 1 Salmon & 11 Grilse. My loss rate not as significant as last week I lost 4 over these three days
Total 12. Salmon 1 Grilse 11
I am pleased with the upturn in sport having landed 21 fish to my own rod 19 Grilse and 2 Salmon over the last six fishing days, Three days last week and the first three days this week. and i am obviously pleased with that effort and pleased to see a run of Grilse coming into the river, all the grilse caught were sea liced. How long the Grilse run will last will be interesting to see and once again hindsight will be the way to reflect and analyse it. their should be a sprinkling of Summer Salmon i personally have not seen them. The bigger summer Salmon tend to come in larger numbers as the grilse run peters out and ends whenever that will be, in the old days the grilse run went on till around mid August. This recent slight upturn does not change my oppinion on the perils faced by the Atlantic Salmon and you would need to have a very short memory ( I dont ) not to remember earlier this season! and last season,and what has been and is now happening on other rivers.
Three days Thursday 20th, Friday 21st, & Saturday 22nd, Mrs Alison Galloway.
Thur 20th The water level today was 9.5 inch, before rising in mid afternoon to around 1 ft
Fri 21st The river level today was 11 inches before rising quickly just after lunch, A 6lb Grilse was caught in the McKenzie pool the angler did not record a name in the game book.
Sat 22nd The river today was running at 1f 1 inch.
This gave a weeks total of 13. Salmon 1 Grilse 12
*****
Week beginning July 10th.
Mon 10th. We started out this week with the river running at 1ft 7.5 inch. Allan Donaldson landed a 3lb and a 4lb grilse both in the Gledfield pool, and followed up with a 7lb salmon in the Lairds cast. Allan also lost a couple of other grilse.
Tue 11th. We had more rain overnight which put the river level up to 3ft 3 at 09.00 the river continued to bump up and down before rising very quicky, the river was just fished for a couple of hours.
Wed 12th. Similar conditions to yesterday starting out a little higher at 3ft 6 inch fished for an hour.
Thur 13th. The river level today was down to 1ft 6 inches dropping to 1ft 1.5 inch at 17.00 hrs Allan Donaldson caught a 4lb grilse in the Clump pool and followed up with a nother 4lb pounder in the Gledfield run, Allan also had a couple of grilse from the Raven pool at 5lbs & 4lbs. all were caught before 11 30, in late afternoon Allan lost a couple of fish in the Little falls and Raven.
Fri 14th. The water level today was 10.5 inches Allan landed a couple today both grilse and both in the Raven pool at 6lbs & 5lbs, Allan lost a salmon in the little falls and a grilse in the Lairds cast.
Sat 15th. A very big river today after constant heavy rain turning torrential at times river this morning approx 6ft we also had three thunderstorms in mid to late afternoon with torrential rain, no fishing done at all.
I am very pleased to get some sport and the 9 fish, 1 Salmon and 8 Grilse after such a disastrous season up till now, All the fish were sea liced and fish were seen although not an awful lot, in and moving through the beat. I am pleased with the 9 fish but my loss to catch ratio is not too impressive by losing 6 over the three and a bit days this can happen and is pretty much unavoidable particularly with grilse.
This spurt of activity does not change my oppinion that i have held for a number of years but more so this season in particular it is an extremely worrying time for atlantic salmon.
Week total 9 = 1 Salmon 8 Grilse.
*****
Week beginning July 3rd. James England & party.
Mon 3rd. The water level this morning was up due to very heavy rain last night, we had 1ft 5 inch on the gauge.
Tue 4th. The river was running at 12.5 inch this morning, The beat was not fished today or yesterday.
Wed 5th. 7.5 inch
Thur 6th. 5 inch
Fri 7th. 8.5 inch
Sat 8th. 6 inch Nothing at all to report.
*****
Week beginning June 26th. Ian Patterson & party.
Mon 26th. Once again the week starts out at minus – 1inch
Ian fished every morning for a few hours up and down the beat in the low water conditions by Friday the river was showing just 1 inch . We had a few good chats as i was strimming the riverbanks on the beat each morning, one obvious feature was up till Friday neither of us had seen a fish anywhere on the beat not even a splash or sign of a fin !! pretty remarkable but certainly not unusual more the norm this season, as the fishing has been an utter disaster so far this season and more than a little worrying.
*****
Week beginning June 19th Miss Pilling & party.
Mon 19th. Another week of basically low water starting out the week today with the water gauge showing just minus – 1.5 inch.
Tue 20th. River level 2.5 inch before it began to rise later, a 3lb grilse was caught in the Little falls pool, We again had thunderstorms and the river went up to 1ft 3 inch on Wednesday.
Thur 22nd. After yesterdays rise in water levels the river today was down to 5 inch.
Fri 23rd. Water level 2inch.
Sat 24th. Water level 6 inch.
Week total 1 grilse
*****
Week beginning June 12th.
Mon 12th. Thunderstorms last night put the river up very quickly, by 09.00 hrs the river was down and dropping showing 10 inches on the Cornhill gauge ( See photo of S E PA Graph ) Thunderstorms on Tuesday night and Wednesday night resulted in a repeat of the above with extremely bright warm conditions all week.
By Thursday the river level was down to just 3 inches ! pretty remarkable after the three rises in water in the three previous days, this illustrates just how dry the ground is.
The water was very very coloured from the Monday and was basically the colour of Ox Tail soup particularly after the second and third rises, their had obviously been a land slip somewher high up the catchment. At the end of the week when the river was back to very low their was a lot of peat sediment covering the bottom of most pools.
Mon 12th. Allan Donaldson landed a 4lb grilse in the Little falls the first grilse of the season, Allan lost another shortly after, and pulled another all within an hour, after which it was very quiet i fished for another couple hours as river got down to approx 8 inch, I packed in due to the blazing sun and 25 degrees which continued for the rest of the week and that few hours on Monday morning was my fishing effort for the week.
Week total 1 Grilse
*****
Week beginning June 5th. Wryley Birch & party.
Mon 5th. Water level Minus – 2.75 inch. A pretty depressing photo of the March pool at minus – 2.75 inch
Sat 10th. The water level now at the lowest point since late July 2021 water level now Minus – 3.5 inch
Week beginning May 29th. Bryan Alexander & party.
Mon 29th. Yet another week starting out with desperately low water levels, with the river now at minus – 1.5 inch showing on the gauge.
Absolutely nothing to report and anything i am hearing from other areas and rivers is not good!
Sat 3rd June. River now at the lowest point this season at, minus – 2.5 inch.
Week beginning May 22nd. Ruaraidh McMillan & party.
Mon 22nd. Once again river level very low and showing its bare bones just 1.5 inch on the gauge with the river to continue to drop during the week to its lowest point since last season.
Wed 24th. The river showed zero 0 ” today.
Fri / Sat 26th. 27th. The water level now minus 1 inch & minus 1.25 inches.
Weather conditions obviously dry with some bright sunny spells but noticeably colder than normal for this time of year, i managed to get all the riverbanks strimmed this week and going over early a couple of mornings the temperature was just 7 and 8 degrees. I normally see the odd fish showing whilst strimming this year not a fin was seen, and i would usually rather be fishing than strimming not this season i am afraid.
Week beginning May 15th. Hamish McFarlane / John McGinnis & party.
Mon 15th. Its becoming very monotonous but once again the week starts out with the river showing its bare bones, with just 2 inch showing on the gauge.
Tue 16th. River 3 inch this morning, thunderstorms once again put the river up very quickly in late afternoon to 1ft1 inch.
Wed 16th. 6inch
Thur 18th. 3 inch.
Fri 19th. 2 inch.
Sat 20th. 1 inch.
Even with a couple of slight quick lifts in the water levels over the last two weeks and still zero action and practically nothing seen. Really quite worrying hard to believe we are now at the end of May, this season so far has been a complete disaster.
Week beginning May 8th. Duncan Betts & party.
Mon 8th. Another week starting off with low water levels 1.75 inch on gauge.
Tue9th. The river continued to drop slightly over the next two days.
Thur 10th. Thunderstorms up in the mountains put the river up quickly today to 1ft 2 inch .
Fri 11th. River showing 5 inch on the gauge.
Sat 12th. Back down to just 2 inches on the gauge.
Week beginning May 1st. Mark Shirley & party.
Mon 1st. This week started out with the river running at 6 inches, again another day where nothing was seen.
Tue 2nd. The river stayed at exactly the same height this morning at 6 inches but it began to drop fairly quickly in mid afternoon. One salmon was seen in the McGregor pool, and i saw a fish show in the McKenzie pool which alarmingly is a highlight and is now a conversation piece so rare is the sight! We had a bit of success in the afternoon when Charlie Younger managed to hook and land a sea liced 8lb salmon in the Little falls pool, Well done Charlie.
Wed 3rd. Water level down to 3.5 inch and another very quiet day with nothing seen or touched. Badgers out on the beat in daylight is very unusual you can see evidence of them regularly on the beat next day where they have been grubbing about for food overnight, often at Lairds cast and down stream.
Badgers and their Setts are protected by law, This season their have been dogs running freely on lower part of beat, not the fishing guests dogs i hasten to add. I do hope this has nothing to do with it. We also have Otters regularly on beat with a well used Otters holt on the beat.
Thursday, Friday. Saturday, The water level continued to drop away 3.5inch 3 inch and by Saturday the gauge registering just 2 inches and absolutely nothing to report with nothing seen. really quite worrying.
Total 1
Week beginning April 24th. Allan Donaldson & party.
Mon 24th. The week started out with the river running at 6 inch two salmon were very briefly hooked and were on and off again, Ian Bissett connected with one in the Clump pool, and Allan Donaldson briefly connected with one in the Little falls pool. Later in the Morning Ian Bissett had a salmon on for three or 4 minutes in the Little falls pool long enough for Ian to have a good bit of fun in the exciting little pool before it unfortunately threw the hook. The afternoon was very quiet.
Tue 25th. A little rain overnight kept the river up a little at 5.5 inch and dropping back, Allan Donaldson landed an 8lb sea liced salmon in the McKenzie stream in the morning and that was the only action of the day.
Wed 26th. The river is down a lot at with just 3inch on the gauge, I did not fish at all today or Thursday, and Ian fished today till lunch time and nothing at all was seen.
Thur 27th. River 2.5 inch Colin more fished today and landed an 8lb sea liced salmon in the Gledfield pool.
Fri 28th The water level today was an excellent height running at 1ft 5 inch the beat was fished hard and at the end of the day nothing was touched and absolutely nothing was seen which is really very strange and dissapointing.
Sat 29th. River today 8 inch only one fish seen all day dissapointing and a bit worrying at what appears to be a lack of fish. hindsight is a great thing so we will look back in a few weeks and see if things has improved by then.
Total 2 Salmon
Week begininning April 17th. Ann Cleverly & party
Mon 17th. The water level as we start this week was showing 5.5 inch and destined to drop as the forecast was for a dry sunny week, the beat was lightly fished on Monday.
Tuesday 18th. The beat was briefly fished on Tuesday morning and after that the beat was not fished again. Ann did exceptionally well getting down the beat as she will reach her 90th year in December, On friday we walked the whole beat from the hut down coming out at Gledfield bridge. we had bright sun every day all day all week with a fairly steady east wind and a rapidly dropping river by Thursday 3 inch, Friday 2 inch, Saturday 1.5 inches, the lowest level since last August.
Week beginning April 10th Colin Campbell & party.
Tue 11th. The water level today was sitting at 6 inches, we had a bit of activity today when Colin Scott hooked and played a salmon in the Little falls for about 5 minutes before it unfortunately threw the hook and was lost.
Wed 12th. Very heavy rain overnight put the river well up this morning and it steadied around 11.00 at 4ft 3 inch before beginning to drop back.
Thur 13th. Water level running at approx1ft 10 inch
Fri 14th. River level 1ft 2 inch today Hilary Campbell had a good day landing an 8lb salmon in the Raven pool and followed up in the afternoon by landing a 9lb salmon in the Clump pool
two other two other salmon were pulled in the March & McKenzie pools
Sat 15th. One salmon was landed today Valerie Gilmour landed an 8lb salmon in the McKenzie pool.
The noticeable thing for me is we are seeing very few fish
Total 3 salmon
Week beginning April 3rd. Graeme McPherson & party
Mon 3rd. The week started out with the water level at 5.5 inch and was destined to go lower as the week progressed we had rain showers but mainly coming in from the east they had little effect. other than one day their was always a chilly wind.
Thur 6th. By Thursday the water level was down to 4 inch and very little fishing was done after Wednesday,it continued to drop with Saturday showing 3 inches on the gauge, & hardly a fish was seen during the week.
Week beginning March 27th. Alison Galloway & party.
Mon 27th. the river level started at 8 inch we had reasonable water levels which fluctuated quite quickly throughout the week
Wed 29th. Thur 30th. we had a couple of days with river up at 1ft 4 inch and dropping back each day. On the Thursday an 8lb salmon was caught in the McKenzie pool. and that was the total for the week, the river continued to drop back to 6 inch by Saturday. Again this week very very few salmon were seen showing.
Week beginning March 20th. Jamie Hammond & party.
Mon 20th. We started out the week with the river running at 1ft2 inch.
Tue 21st. The river height today was 1ft 7 inch it would rise after mid day.
Wed 22nd. River level 1ft 11 inch Jamie Hammond landed a 10lb Salmon carrying long tailed sea lice in the March pool
Thur 23rd. River 2ft 1 inch Jamie Hammond caught a 7lb Salmon in the Gledfield pool and followed up with a 10lb salmon in the Raven pool both were sea liced.
Fri 24th. The water level today was 1ft 2inch Jamie Hammond had a couple of salpmon today Jamie had a 7lb springer in the McGregor pool and a 9lb springer in the McKenzie pool. both salmon sea liced one of them carrying long tailed lice.
Sat 25th. The river was well up today 3ft but dropped back quickly to 2ft 1inch by 13.00
Total 5
Week beginning March 13th Dr John Anthony & party.
Mon 13th. The week started out with a good enough level of 1ft 2 inch
Tue 14th. Overnight we had about 4 inch of snow fell at ground level at the river with a lot more up on the tops. the river banks were very slippy and dangerous so a lot of care had to be taken.
Wed 15th. The river was running at 10.5 inch and we had a bit of sport Alan Sainsbury landed an 8 lb salmon in the Raven pool.
Thur14th. Dr John Anthony briefly had a hold of a Salmon in the McKenzie pool.
Fri 17th. A big river 2ft 10 inch which steadied at around 3ft before rising again. Dr John Anthony caught a sea liced 7 lb Salmon in the Clump pool.
Sat 18th. Again a big river just under the 3ft dropping slightly before rising steadiing at approx 3ft 3 inch before mid afternoon rising very quickly, just after lunch Allan Donaldson caught a sea liced 9lb Salmon in the Clump pool.
Total 3
Week Beginning March 6th. John McGinis & party.
Monday 6th. River level 1ft 4 inch
Tue7th. We had a good fall of snow last night which saw the temperatures plummet and subsequently the river level dropped away quickly down to 4 inch. With the low overnight temperatures the river ran at a low level for the rest of the week only going up a little on the Saturday to 6 inch.
