The Annual Opening Day Ceremony will take place on Saturday 11th February 2017 at 9:00am at Penny Bridge, Alice Littler Park in Aberlour with the traditional pouring of a bottle of Aberlour 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky into the fast flowing waters of the River Spey.

To complete the ceremony Rev. Shuna Dicks, Minister for Aberlour, will bless the river and Alan Sinclair will perform on the bagpipes.

Anglers are invited to attend the opening ceremony, before starting on their quest to catch their first Spring Salmon of the season. To help celebrate the start of the 2017 season, drams of Aberlour 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky, samples of Walkers shortbread and hot drinks supplied by Le Petit Gourmand will be offered during the opening ceremony. All those involved with the Spey Fishery Board are grateful to the Aberlour distillery and Walkers for their continued generous sponsorship of this event and also to Le Petit Gourmand for their generous support.

There will also be a Opening Day Prize Draw, with the opportunity to win a £200 Fishpal Gift Voucher, a bottle of Aberlour 15 year old Select Cask Reserve Single Malt Whisky and a Walkers Shortbread Hamper. Tickets will be available at the Opening Ceremony and the draw will take place at the Prize Giving. See here for details.

The ‘Spey Anniversary Quaich’ will be awarded to the angler who catches the first salmon on the opening day, together with a bottle of Aberlour Single Malt Scotch Whisky and a Walkers Shortbread hamper. The angler who lands the heaviest Salmon on opening day will also receive a bottle of Aberlour Single Malt Scotch Whisky and a Walkers hamper.

Official Competition Rules

Fish must be caught by use of fly only, must be fresh run, released back to the river, and any catch must be verified by the ghillie in attendance.

Anniversary Quaich:

Awarded to the angler who catches the first salmon on the opening day.

Heaviest Salmon:

Awarded to the angler who catches the heaviest salmon.

Please note the Heaviest Salmon prize cannot be won by the Anniversary Quaich winner.

If the Anniversary Quaich winner (first fish) is also the heaviest, then the heaviest prize would go to the second heaviest fish caught.

If there is only 1 fish caught on the opening day the heaviest fish prize would go to the captor of the 2nd fish caught later in the week.

Registering Catch for prize:

All catches must be reported to Spey Fishery Board, I Nether Borlum, Knockando, AB38 7SD, by 5.00 p.m. on the opening day. Tel: 01340 810841.

The prizes will be awarded at the Aberlour Distillery Visitor Centre, Aberlour at 5.30pm on opening day.

For further information please contact;

Spey Fishery Board Tel. 01340 810841

The post Salmon Fishing Season Opening Day 2017 appeared first on Spey Fishery Board.

Spey Fishery Board

Following the Opening Day, we would like to thank our sponsors, Aberlour Distillery, Walkers Shortbread, Le Petit Gourmand for their hard work and generosity for making the annual event a great success. We would also like to thank Fishpal for their donation of a £200 voucher for a raffle prize, the proceeds of which went to the Spey Foundation. The lucky winner kindly donated the prize to the River Spey Anglers Association to further their Junior Angling Development Programme.

Our thanks are also extended to our guest, Jimmy Gray MBE, former Superintendent of the river from 1978 until his retirement in 2001 and to Allan Sinclair who played the bagpipes whilst Jimmy carried out the tradition of pouring a bottle of 12-year-old single malt Aberlour whisky into the Spey, a superstition said to bring fishers good fortune.

Congratulations to Graham Ritchie who will go down in the Spey records for the first angler to catch the first salmon and then went on to land a 2nd fresh fish on Opening Day, unless we hear otherwise!

Jimmy Gray MBE giving his entertaining speech.

Jimmy Gray MBE performing the traditional task.

Anniversary Quaich winner, Graham Ritchie receiving one of his prizes from SFB Chairman, Brian Doran

Brian Doran, (SFB Chairman), Rikki Scott (Aberlour Visitor Centre Manager), Graham Ritchie and Rory Paterson (Delfur Ghillie).

The post Salmon Fishing Season Opening Day 2016 appeared first on Spey Fishery Board.

Spey Fishery Board

With the new season approaching, the Spey Fishery Board is full of optimism for another successful year following the much improved catch in 2015. Last year’s grilse catch was the best since 2010, so the prospects are good for the 2016 spring/summer salmon run!

This year we are pleased to announce that Jimmy Gray MBE, has kindly agreed to open the river. Jimmy was Superintendent of the Spey Fishery Board ftom 1978 until he retired in 2001.

The Annual Opening Day Ceremony will take place on Thursday 11th February 2016 at 9:00 am at Penny Bridge, Alice Littler Park in Aberlour with the traditional pouring of a bottle of Aberlour 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky into the River Spey.

To complete the ceremony, Rev. Shuna Dicks, Minister for Aberlour, will bless the river and Alan Sinclair will perform on the bagpipes.

Anglers are invited to attend the Opening Ceremony, before starting on their quest to catch the first Spring Salmon of the season. To help celebrate the start of the 2016 season, drams of Aberlour 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky, samples of Walkers Shortbread and hot drinks supplied by Le Petit Gourmand will be offered during the opening ceremony. Everyone fishing on the 11th should be grateful to the Aberlour Distillery and Walkers for their continued generous sponsorship of this event and also to Le Petit Gourmand for their generous support.

The ‘Spey Anniversary Quaich’ will be awarded to the angler who catches the first salmon on Opening Day, together with an opportunity to hand-fill and register their personalised bottle of cask strength Aberlour Single Malt Scotch Whisky and a Walkers Shortbread hamper. The angler who lands the heaviest salmon on Opening Day will receive a bottle of Aberlour A’Bunadh and a Walkers Shortbread hamper. For the ghillies in attendance, each will receive a bottle of Aberlour 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky and a hamper.

Caroline Mitchell, Visitor Centres Manager for Chivas Brothers said, “We’re delighted to once again sponsor the opening of the River Spey salmon fishing season. Both Aberlour Distillery and the River Spey have a long history of bringing investment and visitors to the town. Aberlour Distillery was established in 1879 by local philanthropist James Fleming, and we are proud of our strong heritage in Aberlour, where we continue to craft our world-renowned range of single malts to this day. As with last year’s event, the opening ceremony will take place at the Penny Bridge - which is very fitting since this was also commissioned by Fleming as a gift to the town.”

Official Competition Rules

Fish must be caught by use of fly only, must be fresh run, released back to the river, and any catch must be verified by the ghillie in attendance.

Anniversary Quaich

Awarded to the angler who catches the first salmon on the opening day.

Heaviest Salmon

Awarded to the angler who catches the heaviest salmon. Please note the Heaviest Salmon prize cannot by won by the Anniversary Quaich winner.

If the Anniversary Quaich winner (first fish) is also the heaviest, then the heaviest prize would go to the second heaviest fish caught.

If there is only 1 fish caught on the opening day the heaviest fish prize would to the captor of the 2nd fish caught later in the week.

Registering Catch for prize

All catches must be reported to the Spey Fishery Board, 1 Nether Borlum, Knockando, AB38 7SD by 5:00pm on the Opening Day. Telephone: 01340 810841.

The prizes will be awarded at the Visitor Centre, Aberlour Distillery at 5:30pm on Opening Day.

The post Salmon Fishing Season Opening Day 2016 appeared first on Spey Fishery Board.

Spey Fishery Board