Today I took the opportunity to follow up on reports of sea trout spawning in the upper Kylintra Burn in Grantown today. One of the bailiffs had relayed a report and mention of sea trout spawning in burn next to his accommodation by one of the members of a salmon fishing forum prompted a quick visit whilst in the area. The interest was mainly because the Kylintra Burn was on our database as being impassable; or at the very least troublesome for fish to reach.
Trout redd by the road opposite the Grantown Caravan Park. This was one of about 10 redds in less than 100m downstream from the park entrance.
Trout redd in the Kylintra Burn near the caravan park in Grantown
There are several culverts between the Spey and this point in the Kylintra Burn as well as a weir but the fish obviously made it past them all this year. The weir is on the outlet of an inline pond but I was able to have a look at it today through the fence and it certainly didn’t look impassable.
This summer we electrofished a new site upstream of the main road at the Craiglynne Hotel. There were a few salmon fry and parr but it was stuffed with trout; the parr density was the highest recorded this year.
Trout size distribution in the Kylintra Burn opposite the Craiglynne Hotel in Aug 2014
It is good to see that the trout are able to utilise the full length of the naturally accessible part of the Kylintra Burn. A short distance upstream of the caravan park there is an impassable waterfall. This is another burn we can remove from our obstacles database.
Spey Fishery Board
