The Spey –
Is my home river, the one I grew up on. It presents challenges as well as very easy salmon fishing. The river is fast flowing and generally has a shingle, and in conditions of flood, a highly mobile bed. It is the largest single gravel producing river in Europe. Like most Scottish rivers, The Spey presents the chance of a fresh salmon over a long season, covering Spring, Summer and Autumn, each presenting a slightly different challenge. A long term [50 year]annual catch of around 10,000, or between 35 and 45 tonnes of salmon mean there are normally more than enough fish for most people to catch at least one during their visit. Not always, but at this moment in time, The Spey is a Summer/Autumn river, with most fish entering the system between June and September. It is a river which is covered best with a 15 foot rod, but for the most is fairly shallow, so, during summer and autumn, also fishes well with floating line or sink tip.
Finding fishing on the Spey for a single rod at a good time is very difficult, as any "good" fishing tends to be booked by the same parties and by the week. So what is “Good”? To some, good fishing is catching lots of fish and nothing much else, well, maybe bragging about what they have caught! Whilst to others, it’s being amongst friends and having a good time sharing the highs and lows of salmon fishing, with a few fish thrown in. To me, it’s the latter but fishing in the knowledge that you have a reasonable chance of catching a salmon.
The River Spey provides a good chance of catching a fish from around late March to the end of the season. Before this, no matter what beat you’re fishing, a sporting chance of a fresh fish is all you have.
Single day lets during this first 6 week period are fairly easy come by, but this changes as we move into April.
I now rent fishing by the day, two days or half week, throughout the full season, thus fitting the fishing around the free time of the client rather than the fishing agent!
Generally speaking, the Spey is no different from most UK Salmon Rivers and works like this – Beats situated in the Lower River tend to fish better later in the season, with beats in the upper part of the river fishing best during the spring and early summer.
For instance and supposing we are talking about the chance of catching one or two fresh multi sea winter [MSW] salmon - The best weeks on Castle Grant [upper river] are always between May and mid July. Whilst on Wester Elchies [Middle river], those are between May and mid August, and on Lower River Prime weeks are found in July August and September. Of course there are exceptions to this but generally speaking this is how it is here on the spey.
Exceptions to this rule are beats such as - Delfur, Rothes and Arndilly; those will produce fresh fish throughout the whole season but are very difficult, or almost impossible to access. This fact however, speaks volumes for the quality of the fishing in those places.
It also goes without saying that the nearer the prime weeks you are, the more expensive the fishing will be to rent.
Is my home river, the one I grew up on. It presents challenges as well as very easy salmon fishing. The river is fast flowing and generally has a shingle, and in conditions of flood, a highly mobile bed. It is the largest single gravel producing river in Europe. Like most Scottish rivers, The Spey presents the chance of a fresh salmon over a long season, covering Spring, Summer and Autumn, each presenting a slightly different challenge. A long term [50 year]annual catch of around 10,000, or between 35 and 45 tonnes of salmon mean there are normally more than enough fish for most people to catch at least one during their visit. Not always, but at this moment in time, The Spey is a Summer/Autumn river, with most fish entering the system between June and September. It is a river which is covered best with a 15 foot rod, but for the most is fairly shallow, so, during summer and autumn, also fishes well with floating line or sink tip.
Finding fishing on the Spey for a single rod at a good time is very difficult, as any "good" fishing tends to be booked by the same parties and by the week. So what is “Good”? To some, good fishing is catching lots of fish and nothing much else, well, maybe bragging about what they have caught! Whilst to others, it’s being amongst friends and having a good time sharing the highs and lows of salmon fishing, with a few fish thrown in. To me, it’s the latter but fishing in the knowledge that you have a reasonable chance of catching a salmon.
The River Spey provides a good chance of catching a fish from around late March to the end of the season. Before this, no matter what beat you’re fishing, a sporting chance of a fresh fish is all you have.
Single day lets during this first 6 week period are fairly easy come by, but this changes as we move into April.
I now rent fishing by the day, two days or half week, throughout the full season, thus fitting the fishing around the free time of the client rather than the fishing agent!
Generally speaking, the Spey is no different from most UK Salmon Rivers and works like this – Beats situated in the Lower River tend to fish better later in the season, with beats in the upper part of the river fishing best during the spring and early summer.
For instance and supposing we are talking about the chance of catching one or two fresh multi sea winter [MSW] salmon - The best weeks on Castle Grant [upper river] are always between May and mid July. Whilst on Wester Elchies [Middle river], those are between May and mid August, and on Lower River Prime weeks are found in July August and September. Of course there are exceptions to this but generally speaking this is how it is here on the spey.
Exceptions to this rule are beats such as - Delfur, Rothes and Arndilly; those will produce fresh fish throughout the whole season but are very difficult, or almost impossible to access. This fact however, speaks volumes for the quality of the fishing in those places.
It also goes without saying that the nearer the prime weeks you are, the more expensive the fishing will be to rent.
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