River Information 2005

It is all over for another season. I would like to thank you all for your custom and continued loyalty as well as the information you provide to keep the site up to date. Now for the sales pitch------ some of you may have purchased the Ian Gordon fly lines this season and added yards to your Spey casting- well he has a range of new salmon rods out and my stock will arrive in the new year. These are the "business". I can match any discount offered by the big boys on these rods so do not forget me if you are in the market for a new rod. In fact I do an increasing amount of mail-order so please ring me on 01888 562428 if you require anything at anytime of the year.

Once again thank you all and we look forward to seeing you again next year. 

Frank and Carol.

Update 31 October 2005

The river opened at 5 inches above normal and a peaty colour. In keeping with the last few days fish were seen but not many were caught. In excess of 27 Anglers were out on Turriff Angling Association- the most seen for decades on the last day. Nothing was caught. Last weeks returns are beginning to filter in and most beats had between 6 and 30 for the week. Not many were fresh and most went back. Avochie had four over 20 lb but although some really big fish were seen I have not heard of a monster being caught.

Five year old Harry Newman was fishing the Wrack with a £12 Shakespeare spinning rod and reel and a red flying "c". After a few false alarms ,aka the bottom, he managed  mostly on his own an 8lb coloured fish which was duly returned  He also hooked a bunch of nylon which was attached to a flying "c" in a fishes tail later in the week but needed Edwin Wilkie's help and the use of a boat before they landed and returned a 12 lb fish. Some week for the lad-lets hope he is hooked.

Update 26 October 2005

Every salmon fishers idea of hell- that's how I would describe the river today. All beats have seen too many fish to count and there are some really big ones amongst them- yet there are very few takers amongst them. Turriff had seven, and Forglen had a 15 lb hen - returned to G Wilson, Inverkiethny had a few as did Netherdale but very little else happening as the water stood at 18 inches above normal this morning and very black. Unfortunately it is pouring with rain again so we may be up again tomorrow.

Update 25 October 2005

Monday opened with low levels again and a lack of fish. Reports for last week show most beats doing very well on stale fish with a few clean ones here and there. I have heard of three beats that broke 30 for the week and several that were in the twenties. However this was not in evidence on Monday and by mid day it was pouring with rain.

This has opened levels this morning at 3 feet above normal . It has dropped away to two feet by 5 pm but the dirt is clearing quickly. I was on a lower beat this afternoon and was surprised to see around seventy fish enter the pool I was fishing- in around three hours- none were takers but just hell bent on running up river. Simon Atkinson and his brother had two each off the Turriff Angling club in the afternoon on small mepps and Richard Breakell managed a 6lb fish (returned) on the fly off Carnousie this morning. Most beats on a fly only policy were washed off but tomorrow looks promising.- here is hoping.

Update 20 October 2005

Levels have dropped away to normal and the water is gin clear. The strong wind has been a pest on some days and this brings with it the dreaded leaves. Most beats have picked away on stale fish with only lower beats seeing sea-liced fish. Lower Inverichnie had an 18lb sea-liced fish yesterday. Richard and John Brock continue to pick up a few fish at Forglen and Ian Masson and myself have had a few on our days there this week. I picked a fish up on Wednesday above Turriff and the notable catch of the week goes to Mrs. Birkin who on a beat above Turriff landed a fish with the keepers help( she could not follow it as she broke her ankle a few months ago ) on 8lb nylon. Length and girth measurements were taken before release. These put the fish at 33lb. Another fish of 28lb also was returned at Netherdale. Avochie fishes well with plenty of fish on the beat with an 18lb fish on a guests third cast on Monday. With all beats fully booked for the last week we are all hoping for some fresher fish to round off our season.

Update 17 October 2005

Saturday saw levels around 9 inches above normal. Carnousie saw 6; a first salmon to young Andrew Breakell and three to his father Richard, all returned, 12 to D Coull at Inverkiethny - only two kept. Marnoch Lodge had 18 all returned and a big fish estimated around 40 lb was lost at the net in the Lower Hummies. Turtory had 20 for the week, Lower Netherdale had 24 and another fish of "40"lb ish was lost at Avochie. Huntly AA had a good day with one angler returning seventeen for his day.

Today, Monday, levels have dropped back to around normal level and the fly has still taken fish . Turriff anglers had around 10 with D. Greenwood taking 5 before 11 am. - keeping two. Upper Netherdale hit the sea-liced fish with fish to J Jack , F Watt and T Lawson . Ian Masson had two at Forglen , J Brock had three on a cascade and a few others were lost.

Update 14 October 2005

Levels now dropping steadily to just above one foot above normal at 7 pm Today. After a frosty start with temps at or just below 0 degrees lots of sea-trout came to the spinners. As things warmed up at lunchtime the salmon began to take and some excellent numbers of fish were had. Turriff Anglers had around 12 with the biggest landed at 16 lb returned by B Ewan whilst a fish well over 25 lb was lost by K Murray. Two visiting Spey Anglers had two each on the fly.

Whilst lower beats struggled for numbers F Watt had 11 to his rod at Upper Netherdale and D Coull had 10 and lost 19 at Inverkiethny. His biggest fish were  around 12 and 20lb - all were returned. Mark Robertson had 5 at Euchries and Carol (my wife) had her first ever fish all on her own - a sea-trout of 2 lb of the Turriff Water. It is also of interest to note that in the Turriff area we have had five brown trout over 4 lb and our best sea-trout over 7 lb.

Update 13 October

Levels now running at 2' 6" and peaty. Twelve  fish came off TAA but all were coloured and small even sea-trout caught up to 7 lb . No fresh or double figure fish yet.

Update 12 October 2005

Levels this am are running at around +10 feet above normal. The Deveron has fallen a foot since 8am but the Isla and all tributaries below it continue to rise. Plenty of fresh fish were seen yesterday off the morning tide going up river before it got too high.

Update 11 October

Sorry George!!--- We now have some water -3 feet above normal at 5.30pm tonight and still rising. It is still raining and another heavy load tonight is forecast. We are never happy - now we have far too much.

Update 10 October.

Another week of toil; although a small rise in levels, last weekend moved a few fish so if they moved into your beat you had some sport; but if they had vacated your beat; you blanked. No real numbers of clean fish have entered the river this week. Mr. D Shaw did manage a cock fish of around 30 lb off Scatterty on Saturday. It was duly returned. We are now waiting for all the rain forecast to arrive. It should set us up for the last two weeks.

Update 3 October

Despite the continued drought around 5 to 12 fish were caught off most beats last week .Most of these were stale but a few had been in around a couple of weeks. Obviously with very little flow a lot of these came out of deep pools on a spinner of some sort. However a run of fresh grilse did go through on Saturday at speed and a few beats rounded the week with clean fish.  Now a bit of un-forecast rain fell on Saturday evening and the river in the upper reaches has gone up around 6 inches. This has all dissipated by the time it has come down river but the river has coloured up tonight at Huntly so this may move a few fish, hopefully this week will offer a little better prospects.

Update 25 September

Well surprisingly a better week- at least for the lower river. Clean fish continue to enter the river and the lower beats are picking up some sea-liced specimens. There are however a vast number of coloured fish and these are refusing nearly all offerings. The largest fish reported this week is 23 lb. Most beats below Turriff offered some fish with a few beats into double figures but most are out of condition and are hen fish so are all going back. We missed all the forecast rain this week including last nights which never appeared.

This weeks forecast looks more promising though with rain all day Monday and heavy rain on Thursday- lets hope!

Update 18 September

Another week of nightmares. Levels at 8 inches below normal and any rain has been a waste of time. Levels did rise on Saturday by half an inch!!! Marnoch lodge had a few fish early on in the week to spinners and worms. R Henderson returned a 10lb salmon and a sea-trout at Carnousie. I returned a grilse on Wednesday and John Brock had a sea-liced fish of 8lb off Lower Inverichnie and another at 7 lb but nothing for the rest of the week. A little rain forecast for Monday but we really do need  some prolonged downpours.

Update 11 September

A week best forgotten I think.  We are in desperate need of rain and the forecast does not show any for as far as it goes. There are still a lot of grilse running but in the low water conditions they are not looking at anything and many pools have lost all their flow and your line just hangs and does not "fish".

Dunlugas , Laithers and TAA had some fish this week and E.Kublin had a red 16 lb fish off Muiresk. The temperature has been a bit on the cool side with highs of 14 degrees c and falling to 5 overnight. This will continue early next week before rising to around 20 degrees midweek before falling away again. Levels are around -6 or 7 inches so fish early and late( it is dark around 8to 8.30 pm) if you are looking for a fish. Oh and pray for some rain.

Update 4 September 2005

Another week of toil. It is getting harder to catch fish and now the stale ones are beginning to put in an appearance.

Some bigger fish were taken this week a 13 and 10 lb at Upper Netherdale and a 16 lb fish at Lower Netherdale. I think I would be safe in saying that if a beat had 7 fish this week it would be near the top of the weekly list. It is getting depressing and this week is going to see hotter weather and no sign of significant rain. It is all the more galling when I fished the Dee on Monday and saw its levels rise thirteen inches in the afternoon( I had a grilse and a sea-trout and lost two fish) and the Spey was unfishable on Thursday after they got the predicted rain and we got nothing. No doubt our day will come and surely there must be loads of fish waiting for the rain!!

Update 29 August 2005

Well once again the forecasters have been unable to get it right and we have missed all the rain. Even today Sunday we saw heavy rain from around 5 am until 10am but only a three inch rise at Turriff by 6pm. It might rise a lot further yet but no sign of the three feet we would like.

Monday saw Euchries take three grilse. One to J Smith and one each to Mr. Harris and Samantha Boxhall - both their first ever salmon and a first for Simon Hall a 5 lb fish of Inverkiethny. Tuesday saw A McDonald take an 8 lb fish off TAA, R Breakell returned one at 8 lb and one at 5lb and lost two at Carnousie. The Webb party at Netherdale had four up until Tuesday best 15 lb and five came off Forglen and a fish around 12 lb lost all on a Katie's Killer. Wednesday saw bright sunshine and the fish went off or had all gone past as Mr. Breakell managed two and lost one off the Huntly AA on the Thursday. R. McDonald managed a sea-liced fish off TAA and lost another Muiresk managed a couple and TAA produced a 6lb fish on Saturday and I had an 8lb 4 oz fish off Euchries on Saturday evening. This fish just showed how hard fish are still running in low water conditions. The scales were dropping off it and it was red raw on its under belly.

Two rods have become available at Turtory for w/c 19 September. This beat has yielded 42 fish up till now with fish of 17 and 23 lb in the catch returns. Give me a ring if you are interested.

Update 21 August 2005

Mondays levels opened at +5 but the water was like treacle in colour. However Mountblairy opened its account with 5 before 9 o'clock - two - sea-liced. Indeed Willie and Simon Stephen took 18 up until Friday am with 15 on the fly and only 4 kept - the rest all returned. Tuesday saw R Breakell return an 11 lb fish and G Pirie take two at 6 and 8 lb off Carnousie. Rain again on Wednesday (but not as heavy as forecast) saw levels rise to around +3 inches on the Thursday morning and  R McDonald took 4 of which 3 came in a half hour and lost several at Carnousie. Rain overnight on Thursday saw levels at +7 early Friday and things a little clearer. S.Reid took two sea-liced fish off the TAA and K King  returned a grilse at Netherdale and Lorna and Jim Smith had two of Kinnairdy.

It has been a case of - if you are in the spot where the fish stop you have a chance of getting a few. The fish are crashing through and sea-liced fish have come off the Huntly Club water at the end of the week. .Next week we have rain forecast for Monday and storms with heavy rain for Wednesday. We do need a two to three foot rise to flush out the bottom as it is very weedy. This will also bring in some double figure fish that have been lacking in the low water.

Update 14 August 2005

Last week was another week where most beats had a few fish up until Wednesday and then the rise in levels put things off. The water also ran very peaty and acidic which did not help  at the end of the week. Our rain arrived on Saturday but not as we had hoped  It was light and patchy with some places getting more than others. We also had heavy showers in the early hours of the morning and this has surprisingly given us a height of + 7 inches today. All in all a total rise of about 9 inches and it is still quite clear at the moment. Hopefully this should move the fish and bring some in. Forecast is for more rain in the middle of the week - heavy up in the hills. This should all help and we should see the catches rise as the fish are stacking up in the lower river

Update 11 August 2005

Heavy rain on Wednesday up in the headwaters gave us a rise of between 4 and 6 inches back up to normal level. . This has moved  all the leaves and grass but done nothing to the weed and algae. In fact it was nearly un-fishable due to the debris on Wednesday although the river remained clear. Good bags of grilse are being had on most beats where a serious effort is made and a 20 lb fish came off Scatterty on Tuesday to Jim Nicholl. The forecast for Saturday is heavy rain.

If this happens and we get a clear out of the filth then we will be in for some time when the fish run. The lower beats are staking them up and the bigger salmon are off shore; here is hoping.

Update 8 August 2005

Another week of very hard work. Not so hot and bright and some dull days to help out. Monday saw me take my first sea-trout of the year !!! Most of them have slipped up in high water. It was duly returned as should all sea-trout after 31 July irrespective of condition. C Prise had one as well at 3 .5 lb and Avochie had 2 grilse and lost three salmon. Tuesday saw J Smith at Euchries take a 4 lb 4 oz sea-liced grilse .Wednesday saw myself and Carol fishing a beat just up from Turriff and I had one grilse and lost three whilst pulling over a dozen and Carol lost two and pulled three.

Thursday saw Jim Anderson finally  hook a fish and eventually landed a 7 lb fish - his first after about three years of trying. Other totals for the week saw Scatterty take 11 a 12 lb and 10lb fish amongst the total, Lower Inverichnie had at least eight again with a couple of fish over 10 lb. Mountblairy had 8 mostly grilse and C Masson fishing below Mountblairy had at least 4 up until Friday with the best 8.5 lb. Other beats all managed between 4 and 20 .

Cloudy and chilly weather on Sunday saw a few bits of rain in the hills and the upper river is up around 2 inches today but not so as you would notice down in Turriff. There is no forecasted rain for the next 10 days so we will have to wait some time for some water to clean the river and encourage fish to run.

The Lower beats have some large salmon filling up the deep pools but the grilse still keep running but you do not see them jumping around much. If you are coming up in the next week or so just be prepared to work hard for a few fish and pray for rain.

Update 31 July 2005

Levels still run around three inches below normal but with a small rise late this week of about 1 inch. Some days the weather has been miserable with drizzle and temperatures barely above 14 degrees - but ideal for fishing.

Low beats continue to do  well in the lower water but sea-liced fish are still running to the higher beats. Montcoffer saw the Dickinson party take 6 but loose 8;Forglen saw a few, best at 18 lb. Upper Netherdale had several sea-trout and a sea-liced grilse to G Ritchie, a 14.5 lb fish came off Marnoch Lodge, on 6 lb nylon and a trout rod, the other beat to do well in the last couple of weeks has been the Castle Water at Huntly with well into double figures.

We are now desperately looking for some rain.  Levels are ok but the algae and weed growth in the river need a good flush out and this is particularly bad in the lower river and has not been seen for some years. Unfortunately none is forecast but that is not to say it wont happen-- we were wet last week and they were telling us it was dry !!!.

August can be a difficult month on the river but the fish are still coming but lots of hours are needed to get results. The next spate should see some upturn in fortunes.

Update 24 July 2005

The river is becoming hard work in all respects. Although levels are holding up at around 2 inches below normal some pools are looking very sad and although numbers of grilse are running up river you neither see nor catch many

Water temps peaked last week at 68 degrees and have dropped back to 60 degrees on Saturday. Monday saw Steve Nicholson land one grilse and loose two for his early start ,a couple of grilse -sea-liced came off upper Netherdale and Kevin Barron had two grilse at Carnousie and R Henderson a sea-trout. Lorna Smith had her first fish on fly - a 4.5lb grilse at Euchries. R Breakell and G Pirie had a grilse each at Carnousie on Tuesday morning and C Moir had a grilse at Turtory.

Rain showers on Tuesday pm into Wednesday saw the Turriff burn put in some dirt for beats below Turriff. Ben Burgess had a grilse off Mountblairy and I had a 4.5lb grilse off Carnousie on a conehead ally. Thursday saw Forglen take a 6lb grilse The Forbes party take two grilse at Turtory Ray McDonald a 9lb fish at Carnousie and M McDonald a sea-trout- returned at Euchries. D Hymen had a few grilse and salmon for his week on a lower beat, Boat OF Turtory had several sea-liced fish on Thursday and Friday- best 12 lb with long tailed lice. Euchries saw a 9lb fish landed and two lost over 12 lb and Dunlugas had around 7 grilse to P Ward. To round the week off I lost a grilse of around 4 lb on Saturday evening on a Jerams fancy on the TAA water

The forecast is for no rain this week but the tides are 4 meters this weekend so maybe a few more fish will enter the river. We could do with a flush out now as the algae is taking over in the margins and this in only two weeks. Everyone is perplexed that with low water the lower beats are not stopping fish and they are still heading up river where there is far less water to hide in. These are the joys of fishing I suppose but perhaps we should pray for a little rain to see if that will change things.

Update 17 July 2005

Once again the higher beats seem to be having the best of it. The summer salmon are arriving and they are heading up river too. Monday saw levels at normal but temperatures hit 26 degrees .Early am saw K Kesterton take a grilse at Carnousie, Lord Brassy a 12 lb salmon off Forglen, John Whittet an 11 lb fish from Mountblairy Mrs. Furnival a 7 lb fish off Dunlugas and Mr. Woodhead a 4 lb sea-trout off Scatterty. It looked like things were off to a flyer but it all got a bit sticky for lower beats.

B Moreland Managed a  grilse of 3.5 lb off TAA on Tuesday and I took a 10lb fish at Carnousie on Wednesday. R Breakell had an 11.5lb fish off Euchries on Thursday and Dunlugas had a small grilse. Friday saw Ivan Baily take 3 sea-trout and two salmon- best 16lb off Glennie-- all returned D Greenwood a 12 lb fish off TAA Jim Ross had a 12lb fish off Montcoffer and Inverkiethny had a sea-trout. J Brock fishing Muiresk saw 2 grilse and 3 salmon 7,11 and 13 lb for his week at Muiresk and D Plumpton had 3 sea-trout - returned off his Castle Water at Huntly. Keith Howman had his first salmon off the Deveron with a new rod for his 70th birthday whilst his wife not to be outdone had a 13 lb fish off Glennie second cast. Another angler taking his first fish were Peter Turner with a salmon and grilse from Avochie. Forecast is for heavy rain tonight so we might see a rise in levels this week.

Update 11 July 2005

Update 26 June 2005

Levels dropped away during the week to now stand at +6 inches but they remained very heavily peat stained until Saturday. These levels allowed the salmon and sea-trout to head for the hills and beats below Turriff had a hard time - hardly seeing a fish let alone catching one. However plenty of grilse and sea-trout were seen running hard further up river as levels were a little thinner on the higher beats and as the fish encountered the lower levels they pushed on.

Joe Euan had fish of 14lb , 10 lb and three sea-trout all over three pounds for his Monday morning at Carnousie. Netherdale had a 12lb salmon and two sea-trout. TAA saw one 3lb sea-trout and M Newbold had a sea-trout off the Glebe and lost a few others.

Wednesday saw T Lawson and F Watt take salmon, Liz and Jonathon Slater had a sea-trout each at Muiresk Dr Newbold had an 8 lb salmon at the Glebe and S Cockersoll had a 10 lb fish at Turtory. Netherdale and Inverkiethny saw more salmon, grilse and sea-trout on Thursday Roger Seed had a 12 lb Salmon at Forglen , Rosie Masson took a 4 lb grilse at Avochie and lost another. Laithers picked away with the Bradford Party  taking salmon and sea-trout and Ardmiddle had a 12 lb Salmon and a couple of sea-trout.

Forecast is for a more settled period until Thursday when heavy rain is forecast. We could do with missing this as the fish are not holding in the lower beats. The conditions this last week have been ideal for the fish and the anglers have missed out. Lets hope we all get a crack at them this week.

Update 20 June 2005.

Levels dropped away to 1 foot 10 inches on Thursday and a few fish came off the river. Gerald Webb had a 17 lb fish off Netherdale, W Ewen had a sea-trout  off TAA and the Wrack had three Salmon. Marnoch Lodge had the best day of all the beats with Nine salmon and a 6lb Sea-trout.  Lucky anglers were Bill Cameron, Ian Raymond on the fly and J McBain, G Pirie, R Patient and I Robertson on spinners. The River remained black on Friday at 1 foot 4 inches and R Breakell took 2 sea-trout at the Glebe. Saturday saw G Ritchie take a 10 lb salmon off Upper Netherdale but at a foot  the colour was still very peaty.
Summer finally arrived on the Friday with temperatures over 20 degrees c but heavy thunder on Sunday morning saw levels open today Monday at 1 foot 3 inches and again on the rise with a horrible colour in it.We hope that we see some sea-trout this week as this should be prime week -- it looks like they may be late this year as they have not arrived in other rivers yet either. Lets hope that is the case.

Update 15 June 2005

Water everywhere. Extremely heavy rain on Sunday night gave us a spate on Monday of somewhere between 8 and 10 foot. This has obviously suspended fishing for a day or two as we are only down to 3 feet today. Turriff Anglers have had  two sea-trout and one grilse but the fish have not really began to run as trees of 30 -40 feet came down the river on Monday. Hopefully as we drop a bit further and it clears a little we should see plenty fish in the system- both sea-trout and grilse.

Update 11 June 2005.

Another week has passed and things have slowed a bit despite the high water at the start of the week. Dunlugas opened its account for the season on Monday as levels opened at +14 inches, Avochie had two and TAA had one at 9 lb. R Henderson had a 2.5lb sea-trout at Carnousie.
Tuesday saw levels at +9 and temperatures soared to 23 degrees with bright sunshine. R Breakell had a 12lb 2 oz fish at Carnousie and Kenny Galloway had its twin at Kinnairdy. Forglen had three and Jim Smith had a sea-trout of 3.5 lb off Euchries with Lorna loosing another and Jim three.
Reports were scarce of fish for Thursday and Friday but John Gardner had a 12lb sea-liced fish off Turtory - second cast. Some of the higher beats had a few fish but there was a lack of sea-trout. Hopefully they will appear next week. I pulled  one and lost a double on the Turriff Angling water on Friday but things were generally a little slower. The weather is for cooler temperatures and light rain at some stage every day. Hopefully this will not affect levels too much and the sea-trout should arrive in the next ten days!!

Update 4 June 2005

I have been a bit indisposed this last week- hence no updates; but what a week. Thursday 26th saw reports of a further fish of 14 lb off Lower Inverichnie, a 10.5 lb fish off Boat of Turtory and one of 6 lb off Kinnairdy. Levels were at +6 on Saturday and S Cockersoll took an 8.5 lb fish at Turtory. Mondays levels opened at +9 and peaty. Ian Cameron took a 10 lb  fish off The Castle Water at Huntly, Bob Hughes had an 8 lb fish at Carnousie and S Cockersoll took another fish at 9 lb off Turtory. Forglen had one at 13 lb.

Tuesday saw levels down 3 inches and Forglen took two salmon Montcoffer had 3 sea-trout Kenny Galloway took to around 10 lb off Corniehaugh ,J Donald had  a sea-trout at the Wrack and E.Wilson had a brown trout at 2.5lb off TAA. Heavy rain on Wednesday pm kept anglers away but Netherdale reported 11 up until the Thursday.

Thursday saw levels open at +7 inches and there were fish in nearly all beats. Ian Masson had a 12 lb fish off a higher beat. TAA had one at 11 lb C Anderson took a 16 lb fish at the Wrack, R McDonald landed one at 10 lb and lost two at Carnousie and A.Robertson had a grilse of 6 lb at Avochie. Mike Stephen, Hamish McBain and Gordon Dublonski all had fish off Lower Inverichnie and Mr. Slater had two sea-trout. Friday saw levels up again to +9 and G Clark had a 10.5 lb fish at Muiresk and S Cockersoll had another at 9 lb off Turtory.

Friday saw our first hot day at 19 degrees but this sparked off heavy showers and extremely heavy rain overnight saw levels at 4 foot on the Saturday. This dropped during the day but rain all morning sees levels up again by 5 pm to over 4 foot again. Forecast for next week is a high pressure and warmer days so once we settle down we should see fish a plenty !!!!!

Update 26 May 2005

Levels peaked at 3 foot above normal on Monday night and fell back to 2' 6"by Tuesday am. However the colour was terrible and fishing was a waste of time. Wednesday saw conditions ideal at 8 am -1 foot on the stick and a lovely peaty colour. However things blackened up a bit during the morning. Stuart Cockersoll landed a 7 lb Fish off Turtory and I managed a couple of pulls at Carnousie but nothing connected. Heavy rain overnight on Wednesday did nothing to levels and Thursday opened at 9 inches above normal. Later reports this afternoon have seen Stuart Cockersoll take two 10 lb Salmon on a size 8 Cascade off Turtory and two fish around 10 lb I believe came off the Wrack with plenty fish seen coming off the tide - the most in a while and now showing themselves in the lower beats as they make their way upriver.  We really have had a fantastic start to the season so let us hope even more fish will come off these high tides and give the whole river a chance at them.

Update 23 May 2005

From my last report levels dropped to normal level and things seemed to go a little slow. However speaking to several beats over the weekend things were on a roll. Richard Breakell took a 10.5 lb fish off Carnousie on a full floater and a size 12 Cascade on Tuesday. Several salmon came off Lower Inverichnie, an 8 lb fish came off Turtory on Wednesday and John Brock had two salmon at 9lb and a sea-trout at 2.75 lb; whilst R Cardno had a sea-trout at 5lb off Inverichnie proper for the week.
 
R Breakell returned a fish off around 10 lb covered in sea lice off the Glebe after losing one on Wednesday on a size 10 Ally. D McAllister had a 10 lb salmon off the Wrack and I believe G.Ritchie had two off Upper Netherdale. Further up river I believe that Mains of Mayen / Corniehaugh had another good week.

Saturday saw the river have a rise of 5 inches and a wee touch of colour, this allowed J Mutch to Grass a salmon at Carnousie. K Kesterton had a sea-trout at Muiresk whilst another was lost and another sea-trout was lost at Scatterty. Fraserburgh Anglers had an outing to Turriff and lost three Salmon and J Duthie grassed a lovely 11lb sea-liced fish.

Heavy showers up country on Saturday saw things colour up on Sunday and further rain with thunder on Sunday saw the river open at 1 foot above normal and very dirty. However heavy thunder plumps today (Monday) have seen the level reach 1 foot 6 inches at Turriff by 5 .30 pm and the local burn has made the conditions impossible. The river is nearly orange in colour.

Forecasts are for more rain Tuesday and very heavy rain Wednesday late pm right through until Thursday.

We shall just have to put up with it and hope that the fish and sea-trout do not rush for the headwaters. 

Update 16 May 2005

Levels dropped away quickly from Tuesday to stand at just above normal today. Decent weather over the weekend has given way to predominant cold winds and snow/hail showers. I hope we get some decent temperatures soon for the sea-trout fishing. Talking of which R Cardno had one of 8 lb off Forglen on Thursday. E Kublin had a salmon off the wrack at 8lb and another of 5lb came off their on Saturday.  Mark McGregor also had a fish of 7 lb of Euchrie. This week has started with lower levels and very cold but I Masson took an 11 lb fish off Carnousie today. 

M McGregor

For those of you who bought my own branded Spey lines last year I have yielded to requests and now have them in intermediate , sinking and fast sinking in the 10/11 range. A steal at only £25 - no middle man and no fancy box !! - just made to my spec direct from the factory.

Update 10 May 2005

The River saw a rise to one foot on Monday and had some colour in it. Several Salmon and Sea-trout were lost at Carnousie before a grilse of 2 lb was caught and returned-- it was covered in sea-lice (very small and very early for grilse). I am informed that Corniehaugh had a fantastic week last week with double figure numbers of salmon but have yet to have this confirmed. The river went up to 1 foot 6 inches today and was again dirty. Ally Lawson took an 8 lb sea-liced fish at Turtory in the morning. Things have got a little milder today so lets hope we can get out amongst the sea-trout now with our single handed rods.

Ally Lawson with his sea-liced 8lb fish.

Update 7 May 2005

This week has seen the weather cold with showers -some of hail and sleet. Levels saw a rise of 3 inches to +9 inches on Friday but it remained clear. Fish wise it has been a slow week but there have been some traveling through at speed and a few sea-trout have now been seen but not caught to date. T Lawson had an 11.5 lb sea-liced fish off Upper Netherdale on Wednesday, another one came off the same beat on Friday 8 lb sea-liced on a size 10 munro killer and to round the week off Tommy had another fish on Saturday on a size 12 Red Francis on an intermediate line- this one 18.5 lb and sea-liced.

T Lawson 18.5 lb sea-liced

Despite things warming up a bit the trout are still reluctant to rise even when there are plenty of flies on the water. We have missed most of the really heavy showers in Turriff and it appears so has the catchments. Despite heavy rain on Sunday and the showers yesterday and today the levels are at +6 inches and fairly steady. I believe Avochie had a fish on Friday and a 6lb 12 oz Brownie came off Forglen but nothing else over the weekend. Fish have been seen coming off the tide but are proving elusive in the river. We will now be looking for an early sea-trout and a few anglers are now booking up the lower beats to try and get amongst the start of them.

Update 29 April 2005.

Another couple of dates added for a brand new beat today- Inverichnie see the letting availability page.

A few of the new Guideline rods arrived this week and I have tested them . The Alpha range peaking at £182 for a  14' rod are something else and really belt out a line whilst the 15' LPXe will cast an Ian Gordon 10/11 Medium sink line right down to the backing and still look for more- truely awesome. Look out for these as they will take the UK market by storm- you heard it here first.

Update 28 April 2005

River levels have continued to drop until a small rise of 4 inches this morning brought them back up to +8 inches. This may go a little higher as heavy rain is reported up in the high catchments. Further catches this week have come at Forglen where R.Cardno landed one at 5 lb and lost two others in  quick succession ,Upper Netherdale reported 2 with two lost and Simon Ashworth on his first Deveron Outing took an 8 lb sea-liced fish off Turtory today within 5 minutes of starting. So far today we have missed the heavy rain but the wind that has been a feature all this week is at Gale force and not much use for fishing. The May day holiday will see a few more anglers out and the fish are there  if it warms up a bit the trout should also start rising so best of luck.

Update 25 April 2005

The rain reported in my last update gave us a level of 3 foot above normal  on the Tuesday morning. Ross Wood reported a 3lb  Brown trout off Turtory. Levels dropped away during the rest of the week and although the skies were bright and sunny the East wind had a real bite and made fly fishing awkward . Fish continued to run and Conniecleuch took a 12lb fish, Mains of Mayen had around 5,Laithers had 1 , Edwin Wilkie had an 8lb sea-liced fish off the Wrack, Tommy Lawson had an 8.5lb fish off Upper Netherdale, Harvey's Daughter had one off Lower Netherdale, Whilst R Fraser 10 lb and N McHardy 8 lb were successful at Avochie on the same day. Levels are now down to +6 inches today and R Euan took an 8lb sea-liced fish off Carnousie. The wind is still in the east and water temps are around the 42 deg f mark first thing.

We now have around 45 to 50 fish off the river and this is with very little angling pressure. These figures are ahead of last year and are a complete turn around from 2003 and 2002 where only around 24 fish were caught up until the middle of May. Lets hope this continues. It will be interesting to see if the Faroes nets go back on in a few years time we go back to dismal numbers of Springer's.

For anyone looking for fishing I have just added some weeks for Forglen and Muiresk on the letting Availability page. Some of these weeks are being offered on a one season only basis. Get in Quick if you are interested.

Update 18 April 2005

The river has ran at 1 foot 4 inches for the last couple of days and we have missed all the heavy rain forecast for today - well in Turriff at least. I believe it has rained in the upper catchments so we might see a rise Tuesday. Thursday last week saw report of a fish at Glennie and a fish estimated at well over 20 lb was lost at Mountblairy on Saturday. Ian Masson took a 7 lb fish on a minnow off Carnousie today so there are some still about the middle river. The weather is very windy and not very pleasant. The rain has now started to batter the window so that rise will probably happen.

Update 15 April 2005

Well a bit of a surprise today . Levels were at 8 inches at 8am but rose quickly during the day to level off at around  1' 6 inches.  It obviously rained up in the high hills. Decent numbers of fish have been seen steaming up river this week . Conniecleugh have had three, one at 16 lb, and Upper Netherdale had 2 sea-liced fish on Wednesday and lost another two. Hopefully the water will level off and will have encouraged a few more to enter the river. Water temperatures were down at 40 degrees early am this week but have risen to 50 degrees during the day and a few trout are starting to rise.

Update 13 April 2005

With gales and snow towards the end of last week the river was not the place to be. Levels fell on Saturday to 1 foot 6 inches but as the day warmed the snow on the hills began to melt and levels were creeping up in the higher beats by lunchtime. The only report of a fish was a 7 lb sea-liced salmon off Laithers. Levels ran at 3 foot and dirty for Sunday and Monday. The higher beats were now dropping and clearing and Two sea-liced fish came off Mains of Mayen. Tuesday saw levels at 1' 6" and Ian Masson had a fish at Avochie whilst one was lost at Marnoch Lodge and another at Turriff Angling Association. Levels are at 1 foot today and clearish. Perfect water for a Springer. However I managed to loose one on fly this afternoon at Carnousie.

Update 29 March.

Another two fish came off the river today. One on fly at Carnousie (returned) and a sea-liced fish again off Lower Netherdale.

Having read the Trout and Salmon 15 ft rod reviews this month I am pleased to see that the Guideline LPX received a good report. This Swedish company has just entered the UK market but are well established in Scandinavia as market leaders. I am proud to say that I am the only distributor for their products north of Perth. The products will be arriving over the coming weeks and months. The 15 ft will be here this week.
Also the Loomis "Deveron" scored two 8's and a 9 - one of these will be here by the end of this week as well.
I will post a review on these rods when I have had a test drive.

Update 26 March

Turriff Angling Association had their annual outing to Lower Netherdale today . Kevin Murray had a lovely 8lb salmon with his first cast on a black flying "c" and Nigel Smith had a 10lb fish on a Devon minnow. 

    
Kevin Murray with his 8lb fish off Lower Netherdale.                    Nigel Smith - 10lb off Lower Netherdale.

Update 25 March

The river has fallen steadily over the last few days and is now running at one foot above normal. The temperatures have remained warm in the sunshine and it has been a joy to be out.

I had a day out on Thursday to Arndilly on the Spey and was fortunate to catch a tremendous 11 lb salmon with a small one inch waddington on a medium sink line. Meanwhile back on the Deveron Ian Masson grassed an 8 lb fish on a gold minnow from Avochie on Thursday and young 18 year old Peter Smith landed another 8lb 4 oz fish off Muiresk on Friday. It just shows that if the anglers are out fish get caught. Plenty of rods are still available on a daily basis and some more weeks are being added to the letting list for later in the season. Now that the fish are here and the conditions are great lets hope we get a few more.

I was talking to a beat owner earlier today and he informed me that he hooked and played a fish for 45 mins last week before landing it to find he had a kelt that measured 50 inches in length.--- another 40lb  fish in its day and only a few miles from the sea. Lets hope it survives to come back again.

Update March 19

With the snow melt the river has again been un-fishable up until Thursday. It ran at between four and five feet as temperatures soared to the mid teens. However by Thursday it had dropped to two and a half feet and there it has stayed for three days, heavy rain on Friday night saw the colour a bit dirty today so really only Friday was of any use

The bailiff on Turriff Angling Club had a 7 lb sea-liced fish (returned) on Friday  on a black flying "c" and the keepers son, Jamie Mair (12 yrs), had an 8lb fish on a Toby off Laithers. Hopefully the milder water will bring up a few fish and with more anglers out in the sunshine we should see some fresh fish caught.