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Fishing Diary
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Scottish fishing days and nights
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This is a fishing diary...... but with a difference. From the mid
nineteen eighties, I kept a fairly regular, if simple, fishing diary, or log,
recording my fishing experiences, mainly of fishing for trout, salmon and, in
particular, sea trout in Scotland. My main interest has always been in river
night fishing for sea trout, through the short summer nights - fishing in the
dark, so to speak, sometimes very much so! In the hope that visitors to this
website might find some interest in my fishing exploits, I propose to enter, on
this page, extracts from my old fishing diaries, at the appropriate time of
year, beginning in the year 1985. I will then archive the entries for each year,
which will be accessible from the links in the panel on the right. |
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Latest Post for 1990
| July 16th - 21st
1 grilse
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River Alness - We fished the
Alness AC water for a week at a cost of £30 (£18 for
Alan as a junior) Beat 1
- Upper beat below the Blackwater - no sign of
many fish - more a worming water.
Beat 2 - Some nice pools but
overgrown with difficult access.
Beat 3 - Below Alness - Lady
Pool, Stick Pool and estuary pools - a nice beat. A good
number of grilse running and some sea trout ( difficult
to judge numbers) but they are hard to tempt. One angler
told me that the sea trout are more readily caught in
low water. Bill Topham, the river keeper, told me that
he released water out of the loch (Morie) on Monday
morning and it generally reached the lower river by 4am.
I was on the water early that morning and had a 5lb
grilse from the Lady Pool at 5am. I also accidentally
foul hooked a 2lb sea trout. On another night I hooked a
few small sea trout to half a pound on the Stick Pool.
Club members have access to the Novar rotating beats for
an extra £3 per session.
While in the area, I had a look at the
Conon and Blackwater. The upper Conon is a large river
when the Luichart station is generating - may be good
for spinning. The Blackwater looks a better bet for the
fly, after rain in the latter part of the season. |
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1990 |
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The Endrick saw two or three big spates in June. The
Leven hasn't really started fishing but a few salmon have been reported
on the loch. Now, at the end of June, there should be fish in the
Endrick |
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I fished the Spring Flats during the day with a bit too
much colour in the water. Fished the dam at midnight but no sign of any
fish. |
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Monday 2nd July midnight
1 sea trout |
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Dam - Frank arrived at the same time. We fished till
about 2am. I had a lovely fresh 3 lb sea trout, with sea lice,
just above the middle stone at 1am. I only saw one other good fish
move but it was good to see at least a few fish in the pool so early in
the season. The pool hasn't been fished much - still a bit overgrown. It
was a nice night, didn't really get dark. This was my earliest sea trout
from the Endrick. ( lost my exhaust on the way over .... what a racket!) |
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Wednesday 4th July
1 salmon |
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Another good spate, with the river rising in the
afternoon, coloured, muddy rather than peaty. At about 4pm, the river
was not quite covering the stone at the top of the Dam. No fish showing
but I hooked an 8 pound hen salmon just below the top burn, a lovely
fresh fish with sea lice and eggs barely developed. Again the size 10
red/silver shrimp did the business. Alex had a 2.5 lb fresh sea trout
and Robert a 4.5 lb grilse. |
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| Thursday 5th July
5am - 8am |
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Dam (with Alan) - River just below stone,
a good height, fairly clear with a peaty tinge. No fish
showing and nothing caught all morning. Might be OK for
night fishing if the rain holds off. |
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End July - It's been a quiet July, with
no rain for the past two weeks. There seem to be a fair
number of fish in the loch. |
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| July 16th - 21st
1 grilse |
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River Alness - We fished the
Alness AC water for a week at a cost of £30 (£18 for
Alan as a junior) Beat 1 - Upper
beat below the Blackwater - no sign of many fish -
more a worming water.
Beat 2 - Some nice pools but overgrown
with difficult access.
Beat 3 - Below Alness - Lady Pool,
Stick Pool and estuary pools - a nice beat. A good
number of grilse running and some sea trout ( difficult
to judge numbers) but they are hard to tempt. One angler
told me that the sea trout are more readily caught in
low water. Bill Topham, the river keeper, told me that
he released water out of the loch (Morie) on Monday
morning and it generally reached the lower river by 4am.
I was on the water early that morning and had a 5lb
grilse from the Lady Pool at 5am. I also accidentally
foul hooked a 2lb sea trout. On another night I hooked a
few small sea trout to half a pound on the Stick Pool.
Club members have access to the Novar rotating beats for
an extra £3 per session.
While in the area, I had a look at the
Conon and Blackwater. The upper Conon is a large river
when the Luichart station is generating - may be good
for spinning. The Blackwater looks a better bet for the
fly, after rain in the latter part of the season. |
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