Another reasonably accurate forecast last week, the rain towards the end of the week pushed the river up a couple of feet. Unfortunately this small rise coincided with SEPA having communication problems so the gillies could not inform their guests on the expected trends. Next week the forecast is for more unsettled weather, Monday and Tuesday will have a few showers, Wednesday will be brighter and Thursday showers again. The tides are building all week, an excellent fishing forecast.

Catches were fairly good with Saturday’s rise helping finish the week with a flourish.

Gordon Castle ended with forty-two, the majority salmon but with a sprinkling of grilse. Many thanks to Ian Tennant and his team for the photographs.

Orton had an excellent week, the Reeve party finished the week with almost thirty salmon and a handful of seatrout.

Delfur were again in the mid teens, just one picture this week.

Rothes had a bakers dozen, mostly salmon with a solitary grilse.

Craigellachie, Wester Elchies and Kinermony all had around half a dozen.

Aberlour had a successful week, thanks to Ken Davies for keeping me informed and providing me with pictures.

Carron had an excellent week ending up with fourteen.

Grantown started the week slowly but the lift in the water brought a lift in the catches. There was close to a dozen salmon landed the best a 21lbs fish from Tarric Mor by Craig Carswell. Again the sea trout catches were over fifty for the week including two over seven pounds. Pictured below John Gray’s seven pound sea trout.

Kinchurdy had yet another good week with over forty sea trout and four salmon landed. Regular tenant’s Kevin Shanks and his son were pleased with their catch, Kevin wrote, “What a week, 43 sea trout and four salmon for four rods. As normal great advice from gillie, Bobby Hall, his help and advice is second to none a fantastic place to fish” Thanks to Kevin for the following pictures.

Nature notes, as expected from the spectacular growth the Delfur swallows have fledged.

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Last week’s forecast was reasonably accurate, a mixture between sunshine and showers with a coolish wind thrown in for good measure. Next week will be overcast all week with a little rain, perhaps heavier towards the end of the week. The tides peak tonight and there will be no new water for the rest of the week.

It has been quite a quiet week on the river, although most beats having been catching fish, hopefully it just a lull between the spring and summer runs.

Ian Tennant tells me that the Gordon Castle beats finished in the mid teens.

Thanks to Ian for the pictures.

Delfur also finished in the mid teens, again thanks to Mark for his photographs.

Guess what? Rothes finished in the mid teens.

Thanks to Dougie Ross for the use of his pictures.

Wester Elchies had a couple. Davy Brand tels me Kinermony managed three and sent me this photo from the Little Turn.

Carron finished just short of double figures.

Grantown had five salmon. Sea-trout numbers are good with one at 7lbs and two at 6lbs landed this week. So far, about 110 sea-trout have been reported this season, including three fish at 10lbs.

Kinchurdy finished with three salmon and thirty-five sea trout with two into double figures.19th June Thanks to Bobby Hall for the pictures.

Mark Melville sent me couple of pictures of the Delfur swallows, I had to check with him how many days there were between the photographs, I was amazed when he told me they were only three days apart. The parents must be making a great job of feeding them, and the insects must be very nutritious.

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Can I start this weeks report with the tragic news of an angler’s death on the river on Monday? I cannot really write it better than the way Angus Gordon Lennox let me know.

You may have already heard, but if you haven’t I am writing to let you know that we had a tragic accident on the river on Monday. In full it is a horrific story but in summary one of our regular and experienced guests, from Germany, fell into the river in the Lord March pool, when the water was still quite high, and was swept away. Ian Tennant who was not close to him at the time jumped into a boat and with a Herculean effort caught up with him in the Pipe pool, managing to get him ashore in Lower Aultdearg. By this time he had been under water for a considerable amount of time and was unconscious. He was not wearing a life vest.

Ian and Kevin gave him CPR for approximately 30 minutes before the emergency services arrived on site. He was taken by air ambulance to Aberdeen but was pronounced dead soon thereafter.

Kevin’s and in particular Ian’s efforts can only be described as heroic, but as you can imagine they are traumatised and deeply saddened that their efforts were not able to save him. This tragic event has had a huge impact on the whole gillie team and the rest of the estate and on many fishers up and down the river.

Peter Kleine absolutely adored his fishing and was much loved by the team for his charm, enthusiasm, engagement throughout the year with gillies and office staff alike and for being a thoroughly wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and particularly with his wife.

The weather forecast I am told was pretty accurate with a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers. Next week is similar with some sunshine but some heavy showers mid week. The tides are building all week.

Catches, having returned eventually from a week on the Laerdal where the entire river’s catch was twenty-eight fish it shows what a classy river the Spey really is. If anyone is travelling to Norway avoid British Midland who treat their passengers with total disrespect, we found out the flight was cancelled as one of the party’s wives had phoned to find out why our flight was cancelled. BMI staff were in hiding and never showed their faces as we struggled to get a seat on the last SAS flight out tonight. A disgraceful way to treat anyone, livestock transporters treat the animals with more respect.

Gordon Castle finished the week in the mid thirties, it does not seem right to put up pictures this week following Monday’s tragic event.

Orton were in the high twenties and thanks to Richard Hold for this week’s pictures.

Delfur ended up with over thirty fish, I can only add David Wood’s comments.

The Wood party from Lincolnshire were fishing at Delfur this week. They finished the week having just got into the thirties. John Ketchingham, head Ghillie at Hendersyde on Tweed, who came up to have a day’s fishing on Saturday was successful with an 8 pound hen fish from Sourden. First Delfur fish were also caught by Stephen Wrisdale, renowned wildlife artist Clare Shaw, William Haggas and Rosie Sword. It was Rosie Sword’s first ever salmon after years of trying on different rivers. Rosie was presented with a coveted Delfur Badge by her ghillie Grant Morrison. 3 of the 4 Ghillie’s had a cast during the week and each caught a fish, with Davie Macintosh catching the largest fish of the week, a 21 1/2 pound sea liced salmon from Collie.

Rothes had sixteen salmon and five rainbows, which must have been washed into the river following the high water. Pollution incidents like this should be dealt with, with much heavier penalties.

Arndilly also had over thirty fish for the week including their first grilse.

Craigellachie were around the double figure mark. Thanks to Dougie Ross for the use of his pictures.

Aberlour Angling Club were also around the double figure mark. Bruce Cameron had a fish measured at 42” and estimated to be around 29lbs.

I will fill in some of the blanks when I am back in the loop!

Grantown was lightly fished but had at least five salmon the largest was 15lb from Tarric Mor. The seatrout numbers are still growing.

James Lang fishing Kinchurdy wrote he had 2 salmon of 8 and 11lbs and lost another. He went on to say how much he enjoys Kinchurdy with the company of Bobby Hall.

Many thanks to my youngest daughter Melanie for keeping the reports going and keeping an eye on my birds. The Delfur swallows are growing daily.

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