Murthly 1 - River Tay

I recently spent a day fishing on a delightful stretch of the River Tay at Murthly 1 thanks to Philip Black who invited me down. There were a good number of fish in the area prior to my arrival and I was looking forward to fishing some of the best fly water pools on the river with some good pals. I had high hopes of kick starting my season after a long run of very little to show for my time and effort.

My first pool of the day - The Bargie. A very famous pool where Miss Georgina Ballantine hooked her record 64lb salmon all those years ago.

I set off early and arrived at the beat around 8am where I was greeted by the ghille, Donald. We spoke of the good recent catches and he was telling me that there were plenty fishing in the pools the previous day but they were proving difficult to temp. Donald advised me that small flies and light sinking tips were were the order of the day so my set up consisted of my 14ft Hardy Demon, a 9/10 floating shooting head and a 10ft intermediate polyleader. Initially, my fly of choice was a #10 Kitchen Sink dressed on a Esmond Drury treble but this would change numerous time through out the day as it usually does!

A fly that does well on the Tay - the Ghillie. Designed by Tay ghillie, Tony Black from the neighboring Murthly 2 beat, this deadly pattern accounts for numerous fish where ever salmon swim.

The first pool I was to fish was the famous Bargie Pool. This the pool where the largest salmon ever caught on British water was hooked, albeit from the opposite bank on Glendelvine but it was still a thrill to fish a fly through such hallowed water. Donald suggested I start up the top of the pool in the fast water as they had seen a few fish in there the day before so this is exactly what I did. I fished down the pool as instructed and covered as much of the water as possible but I could only manage a half hearted offer which I think was probably a trout anyway. Philip Black followed me down from the opposite bank but there was nothing doing for him either although he had lost a nice fish on only his third cast of the morning up in the Garth pool which I will come to later. Philip suggested having a go through a wee run just above the Bargie so we headed off upstream to do just that.

Looking upstream towards the Bargie Stone, in which the pool takes its name from.

Looking across to Miss Georgina Ballantine's house which over looks the pool in which she made famous.

The wee run under the wires above the Bargie is a lovely run and it usually held a fish or two. It was just short casts required to cover the water and I worked my down trying to keep stealthy mindful of the fact that the best part of the pool was narrow close to the bank. Despite this, I worked through the pool with out an offer so it was back up to the hut for a bite to eat. On our way back to the hut we noticed Gerry, who was fishing Minister's Pool was bent into a good fish. The fish seemed very acrobatic but Gerry played it well and just as he was drawing it into the side ready to beach, the hooks pulled and the fish was free. Such as pity, as the hard work was done and it was fresh looking too.

Another view of the Murthly 1 hut.

The comfy interior of the hut at Murthly 1.

The early part of lunchtime was spent discussing the ones that got away over a dram and a sandwich but attentions soon turned to the afternoon. By this time the rain was hammering down so we sat it out and waited for the showers to pass. Donald and Philip were on top form and poor Gerry took the brunt of the stick for his lack of movement whilst fishing a pool. Donald even referring to him as a Oak tree which had taken root at one point! It was all taken in good spirit but at least Gerry had had some sport for his morning which couldn't be said for a few of us!

Paul fishing down the Garth in the afternoon. Cracking pool for fishing the fly.

Looking down stream in the Garth.

I was to begin the afternoon off in the Garth and was to fish with Paul. Paul drove me up to the pool and explained the tactics so it was on with the Sunray Shadow in an attempt to provoke a fish into taking. The Garth was a lovely stretch of water ideal for fly fishing and as Philip had lost a fish in here early on in the morning we were hopeful that there would be one or two sitting about. Paul let me fish through the pool first but despite how well the pool fished my efforts proved fruitless as did Paul's. Every cast you were just waiting for the line to tighten or a fish boil at the fly but it wasn't to be so we headed off down river to have a go in Minister's.

Fishing down through Minister's Pool. A big, long pool which fishes the fly  well from top to bottom.

The Minister's is a big, long pool but the water is superb for fish the fly in. I kept on the Surnay and began right up at the neck of the pool and began to work my way down the pool, casting as far as I could in an attempt to cover as much water as possibly. As I made my way down the pool there was a huge hatch of flies coming off the river and the place became alive with trout of all sizes. Some were well into the 3-4lb range and would have been fantastic sport on a wee #5 rod or something but we were here for the salmon and ploughed on down the pool. Just as I got opposite the hut I noticed a nice salmon head and tail below me so I covered the area above it several times but it wasn't for tempting and was probably long gone as well. This really is a long pool and my casting arm was beginning to tire with fishing the Sunray all afternoon but I persevered and finished the pool out. I didn't get even a rise from a salmon but I did get an offer from one of those greedy trout which were hammering into the flies but it was off just as quickly as it was on so it was back to the hut for a wee breather before deciding on the where to fish next.

Looking across to the Murthly 1 hut from Minister's.

Fishing down under the wires in Minister's. Loads of trout rising in this part of the pool.

Sitting down at the hut after going down the Minister's with the Sunray wasn't the best idea and I soon felt tiredness kicking in. The early start and the constant casting and stripping had caught up with me and I decided to pack up around 7pm and head off up the road.

I really enjoyed my day at Murthly 1 and I was grateful to Philip and Donald for asking me down to fish it. It really is good to say that I have fished the pools where Georgina Ballantine caught her famous 64lb salmon all those years ago and it certainly gets the mind wandering back to the old days, especially when you look across to see her old house which over looks the mighty Tay and the pool where she hooked her fish. The only thing missing for me was a fish on the bank but you can't have it all and sometimes that's just how fishing goes. I'll certainly be back again one day to have another go!

Pitlochry Angling Club - River Tummel

Back in January I booked a days fishing for the 29th April on the Pitlochry Angling Club stretch of the River Tummel. The last week of April, first few weeks of May are usually prime times for the beat and I was eagerly looking forward to going. As I had never fished the River Tummel before it was all new to me. the water was dead low for the time of year and was hovering around the 1" mark on the gauge. Not really ideal to encourage fish to take but catches earlier on in the week were encouraging and I was looking forward to getting started.

My first glimpse of the fishings at Pitlochry AC from the Pitlochry bank.

Fishing the beat involved an early start for me and I set my alarm for 4.45am to give myself plenty time to get down and give the water a good going over as I had to leave at 3pm. The journey down was fine until I hit Stonehaven where the roads were covered in snow and slippery which made driving treacherous. This continued all the way to Forfar where the conditions thankfully improved and allowed driving at speeds of more than 30mph. Not ideal driving conditions when eager to get fishing!

Looking upstream towards the Loch Faskally Dam from the Marker Stone.

I arrived at the beat later than I had expected at around 7.45am and tackled up. My rod of choice for the day was my 13ft Hardy Uniqua and I matched this up with a 8/9 Rio Scandi Shooting head and a 10ft 4ips tip. My initial fly of choice was a 3/4" Monkey tube.

Looking downstream towards the bridge from the Pitlochry bank.

There were already a couple of rods fishing when I arrived so started off mid way down the top part of the beat. My first cast had no sooner hit the water and three or four fish showed right in front of me simultaneously. This gave me great confidence that I was fishing in the right place, at the right time for a change and I concentrated hard on how I was fishing. I fished all the way down the pool and into the Burnmouth covering where the fish were showing but I got the impression that the fish were not going far in the low water conditions and had probably seen numerous flies for the last few days. Tempting them was proving to be more difficult than I had imagined. Sadly, I didn't get an offer so I headed up to the top of the beat to work my way down from there.

Looking across to the Port-na-Craig restaurant. 

I was fishing with two local rods from the angling club called Kenny and Roger and they made me feel very welcome. They were keen to give me advice and point out lies etc and I was grateful for that. I know with being in an angling club myself that members are not always forthcoming with advice on how to fish the water. Fortunately this was not the case here and I was even offered a cup of coffee and a bar of chocolate while we stopped for a wee break mid morning. I would just like to thank them for making me feel very welcome and they are a credit to their club. Roger had said that he had never seen the water as low as this in the 37 years he had been a member so as usual I had arrived at the wrong time! Still, there were fish showing and fish had been caught and I was still hopeful I might connect with something.

Looking upstream from the footbridge half way down the beat.

At 12.00 noon anglers must change side and fish the opposite bank. I made my way round to the Port-na-Craig bank and stopped for a chat with the anglers coming off the water. One of them was fortunate enough to land a nice fish of around 8lb from the top of the beat so again, I was confident that another fish could be landed before I left. I was hoping that I would be that lucky angler!

fishing down the Bluestones at the top of the beat on the Port-na-Craig bank in the afternoon.

Looking down stream from the footbridge.

I took a walk up to the fish ladder at the dam for a look since I was in the area and check out the number of fish going through to Loch Faskally. I was informed by one of the locals than only a single fish had went through the counter in the last 24 hours so the fish in pools didn't seem to be going very far in the low water.

The viewing station at the salmon ladder up at the dam. There had been 297 fish through the counter so far when I visited.

Looking downstream from up at the dam.

Looking over toward the dam.

Since I had never fished the beat before I thought I'd start at the top of the beat and work my way down. The top part of the beat was called Bluestones and there had been a few fish showing in here earlier on in the day and I was looking forward to covering them from the opposite side. I changed flies over to a Sunray Shadow as I thought I could maybe provoke a fish into taking the fly in the low water conditions. I fished all the way down to the Greenbank with moving a fin which was surprising as I knew that I was covering plenty fish.

Looking upstream from the Summer Stones. 

Plenty fish showing in this area of the Greenbank but they just weren't for tempting.

 The river fished well form this bank but I just felt I covered the fish better off the opposite side at this height of water. The pool seem to be deeper over there but it was still a pleasure to fish. The Greenbank is a lovely cast with the fly but as time was running out I decided to give the last hour a cast with the spinner. I set up my spinning gear and tied on a Vision 110 but I fished the length of the pool down to the footbrige without an offer and it was then I had to call it a day. Fishing has to stop at 5pm anyway so I wasn't missing out on too much fishing time. I hadn't had an offer all day and with my very early start I was kind of glad to be heading home. Not before having a nice, cold 1/2 shandy in the bar though!

Looking downstream along the Greenbank form Port-na-Craig

Looking upstream towards the dam from the Port-na-craig.

Time for a half Shandy before hitting the road!

I really enjoyed my day on fishing the Pitlochry Angling Club water of the River Tummel. They are blessed with a fantastic stretch of water and it was be fantastic to cast a line through here when conditions are favourable. Unfortunately, as per usual, conditions were against me and I caught nothing but it was still good to fish here. The local members, Kenny and Roger were very helpful and the club should be proud to have their likes on their membership list. Hopefully I'll be back again next year to try again.

Tulchan C - River Spey

After fishing Tulchan back in February as part of Ian Gordon's group I was keen to return and organised a day with some pals, Bill Cook and Andy MacLennan. We managed to book 8 rods on beats B and C. These rods were taken by some more good friends and we made a day of it. The anticipation began with numerous messages and texts during the run up to or day on the 9th April and we were all really excited about the prospect of fishing the water at Tulchan during a good time in the Spring.

Charlie with his first ever River Spey springer.

Charlie with his second springer of the day.

We arrived at the magnificent hut on beat C to be greeted by ghillie, Lawrence de Rosa. After a chat about tactics and previous catches etc if was time to get the gear set up and out on the river. The river was sitting at 1ft on the gauge and was running off after a rise earlier on in the week. The colour was ideal and fish were caught in steady numbers from all beat during the week. 

The magnificent fishing hut at Tulchan C

The interior of the main hut on Tulchan C.

Charlie and I raring to go. 

I was to fish with my good pal Charlie and we were allocated the pool at the top of the beat called Speanoch. Speanoch is shared in rotation with B beat and it was a fantastic looking pool. Lawrence suggested we fish it off the north bank first then cross the river and have another run through from the opposite side. This is what we did and the pool was a delight to fish at the height we had. Charlie and I both fished through the pool but we couldn't believe we never had a touch as it looked so fishy.

Charlie putting out a nice long line in Speanoch.

Looking down onto Speanoch from the high bank on the South side of the river.

We made our way across the river and started again at the top of the pool from the south bank. I opted to start at the top of the pool this time and Charlie went in 30 yards below me. Just about half way down the pool a good fish showed mid stream which spurred us on. No sooner had we got to the area where the fish showed, Charlie had a lovely take from a fish and lifted into it. The fish was dogged and tried to stay deep. Chalrie soon had the fish under his control though and I was delighted to do the honours of slipping the net underneath it to land Charlie's first ever Spey springer. A cracking fish of around 7lb was unable to resist Charlie's home time Cascade variant.l. The sea lice wasn't long off the fish either. After a few photos it was sent on it's way to carry on it's journey up river to where ever it may be heading. It was great to see a fish in the net and it gave us hope there would be one or two more around. We fished on through the rest of the pool without a touch but we did see a couple of fish head and tail in the pool but it looked as though they were running hard. It was now time for lunch so we made our way back to the hut and with the good news of landing a fish.

Charlie and I fishing down the Speanoch shortly before Charlie struck "silver".

Safely in the net. Charlie with his first ever Spey springer.

Not only did Charlie catch 2 fish for his day, he also landed a fresh water pearl mussel!

Lunch time was a good laugh and it was great to catch up with the other lads Philip Black, Andy Pelc, Alan Mowat, Mel McDonald. The conversation never strays far for fishing when we get together but that's how we like it. Charlie's fish was toasted with a nice dram of 12 year old Aberlour and we all hoped we would be toasting a few more fish in the afternoon too.

Looking downstream at the top of the Tulchan Pool.

Looking upstream in the Tulchan Pool where the Tulchan burn enters the Spey.

Charlie and I were to fish the Tulchan pool and the pool below, Dunbar. This was another lovely stretch of water and Philip and Bill had seen a few fish showing in here during the morning session. The pool was ideal for the Sunray Shadow but with the water still on the cold side we were unsure whether the fish would move to a stripped fly. We stuck with it though and about half way down the pool I looked up to see a good fish rising clean out the water just opposite where Charlie was standing. It turned out to be attached to his fly and he was bent into a strong fighting fish. I quickly wound in and grabbed the net from the bank and made my way down to assist. The fish was boring deep and trying hard to shake the hook but Charlie played it well and I slid the net under the lightly hooked fish much to our relief. It was another spit fresh fish of around 6lb and again, the lice couldn't have been long off it. Charlie was delighted and not only had he caught his first Spey springer in the morning, he had doubled his tally and now had his second! After posing for a quick photo we released the fish to continue it's journey. I went back up to finish fishing the pool but as I got myself into the area where Charlie landed his fish earlier on, there was an almighty bang and my rod had snapped just above the joint on the middle section! My trusty old Vision GT4 Catapult had given up the ghost after a good innings of around 9 years. I was eager to see if another fish was around to a quickly set up my other rod and finished fishing the pool. Sadly it was all in vain as I never had an offer but you were just waiting for the line to go tight at every cast. 

Looking down the Tulchan Pool into Dunbar..

Charlie playing his second fish of the day.

Looking up Tulchan Pool just before calling it a day at 5pm.

Fishing finishes at 5pm on a Saturday at Tulchan Estate so we all made our way back to the hut to reflect on what was a great day in great company. Charlie finished top rod with 2 fish and we were surprised to hear he was the only one who managed to land a salmon. There was a sea trout caught by Mel and Andy MacLennan lost a good fish on B beat and also landed 2 kelts. All in all it was a good day given it was still early in the season for Tulchan to produce good numbers of fish.We all went our separate ways and we headed off down the road satisfied with the fact we covered the water well and managed to get 2 fish in the book to add to their weekly tally.

Roll on next season! 

Little Blackhall & Inchmarlo - River Dee

I had a days fishing on the River Dee at Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo yesterday thanks to ghillie, Martin Robson. The river is currently quite low at the moment and was it sitting around 9" on the gauge. It did however, rise a few inches throughout the day and also took on a bit of colour too. Due to the low water, tactics for the day consisted of mainly small flies and Sunray Shadows. My set up for the day was my 13ft a Hardy Uniqua, a floating AFS shooting head with a 6ft Rio 1.5ips tip.
 

One of my favourite views on Deeside. Looking towards the Inchmarlo hut from the Roe Pot.

Looking downstream from outside the hut.

I arrived at the beat and was greeted by the beat's new ghillie, Martin Robson. This was the first time I had met Martin so it was good to get acquainted over a cup of coffee before fishing. Fellow rod Ken Rothwell arrived soon after and as we were the only two rods fishing we each had half the beat to fish. I was to start in the Roe Pot and Ken headed off upstream to fish the Mill and the Fawn pools. 

Fishing down the top of the Roe Pot. As you can see the sun was splitting the stones!

Further down the Roe Pot. I had two small brown trout in here which took a Sunray Shadow.

I always enjoy fishing the Roe Pot and because of the low water conditions we were experiencing Martin suggested concentrating our efforts on the upper part of the pool. Fishing it down with a conventional fly the again stripping a Sunray Shadow. This is just what I did and after a fruitless run down with a small Crathie fly and changed over to a Sunray. I had a two trout using the Sunray and both were around the 1lb mark but I couldn't temp any salmon so Martin suggested I head upstream to have a go in the Fawn before lunch.

Fishing down the Inchmarlo side of the river just before lunch.

Looking downstream from Sandy Bay and Otter Stone.

Looking upstream from the Fawn. A lovely stretch of river.

After an extended lunch in which Martin, Ken and I exchanged stories of fishing outing past and future it was back fishing the beat we were on today. By now the air temperature was around 20C and really balmy. Not ideal for salmon fishing in low water conditions but we gave it a good go regardless.

Not the ideal air temperature for low water salmon fishing during the afternoon.

Looking upstream from the Fawn before fishing Seatie's and Laird's

Looking upstream into the Fawn.

Fishing down Seaties. I did see a nice fish show in here as I worked my way down the pool but I couldn't tempt it.

The afternoon was wearing on and Martin returned to say that Ken managed to winkle out a nice 3lb sea trout from the Roe Pot. He suggested that I move down stream to have a cast in Laird's as there is often fish rest in there after pushing up through the fast water below. Again, it was fish it through with a small fly first and then back down with the Sunray. I gave it a good half hour in here covering the most likely lie in the pool but there was nothing doing.

Fishing down Laird's with a small Silver Stoat.

Away to have my second run down the pool with a Sunray Shadow this time.

Although conditions on the day were far from ideal, it was good to meet Martin for the first time. He is a very knowledgeable ghillie and tried his best to put us in the most likely spots to try and get a fish. Inchmarlo is a beat that has always been pretty kind to me in terms of catching salmon but it wasn't to be this time around.  Still, it was a pleasure to fish this fantastic beat again and I will look forward to my next visit whenever that may be.