By the middle of the month the “Gab of May”, an annual cold spell with easterly winds blowing off the continent, had not arrived, and favourable conditions continued.   Clear and fairly low water conditions had been prevalent since around the middle of April and fishing continued to be very good throughout the whole length of the river. 

From Fochabers to Boat of Garten, very good quality fish have been taken of a regular basis. My hosted week on the Brae Water got off to a great start on the 16th with 5 fish, with all but one of my rods catching fish before the end of the day.   Notable was the fish caught by Mr John Fox in the junction pool, at an estimated 15lbs this was John’s biggest and got the week off to a flying start.   The first three days produces 14 fish, the best, caught by Mr Rob Oakley, the fine specimen estimated at 22lbs, caught in the Upper Ewe was also his best from the Spey. 

As the week progressed water conditions could not have been more favourable and those fishing the middle part of the week were not to be disappointed.   The best fish during this middle part of the week, estimated at 15 lb, was caught in the rock pool by Mr Sandy Lawton. The final couple of days continued as it had started with sporadic runs of fish stopping off in those parts of the pools you would expect to catch running fish.   

Taking time out from running their busy tackle business, Paul Devlin, Robbie Macgregor and David Craik also enjoyed success during this week.   Having spent a few days on the Deveron, the time spent travelling to the Spey proved time well spent, with two of the three catching fish within 20 minutes of arriving on the Brae Water.   The highlight of the week for me was a first fish on the Saturday for local Butcher, Mr Jock MacLennan.   Jock opened his Spey account with a 12lb fish from the Junction, and as is typical in salmon fishing, followed this with another from the Rock. 

Fly of the week had to be my Copper Munro, a fly I first tied aged 10 and have used with much success at this time and in the Autumn.   An interesting point of note was the number of fish lost this week, with one in every two fish falling off. Careless, I hear you say, but it would appear this was the case throughout the river this week. 

Too many fish to mention, but all beats between the Sea and Aberlour have had very good fishing this month, some exceptional catches have been reported in the Delfur and Rothes area, and also fishing well has been Easter Elchies and Upper Arndilly. 

The end of May is a real magical time on the Spey, probably my favourite, so it come as no surprise, given a good run of fish, on his first visit to Lower Pitchroy, Mr Jim Coats wasted no time in landing the first of four nice fish he caught during that day.   Stripping the Monkey Fly was the ticket to success for Jim. Instrumental in bringing the Dalmore Spey Dram to Speyside, Jim is also a champion of the conservation of Scottish Salmon, and perhaps this latest success could be viewed as a thank you from the river!   The Dram itself is very much worth a try and is available at various outlets throughout Speyside and beyond. 

Further up-stream Tulchan have also enjoyed a very good spell of fishing with a notable fish of 23lbs, for Mr Channing Williams whilst fishing Hunters on D beat, and C beat accounting for 16 fantastic hard fighting MSW fish in one session.   The good fishing continued on both A and B Beat with some lovely fish being caught in what is wonderful fly water.   Amazingly there were still some vacancies for this year and with the river filling up with so many MSW fish, other than those beats which seem to be struggling at the moment, I cannot think of anything but good fishing to be had over the remainder of the season.   As always - More information on last minute availability and up to date information can be found on my frequently updated website – www.speyonline.com

Further upstream Castle Grant have also enjoyed a better Spring, their best fish of the period being a fantastic specimen of 30lbs caught by Mr martin Williams on Polwick.   This was one of nearly 70 fish off the Castle grant water during the first week of June.   Head ghillie, Mr Lionel Main tells me they have also had some Sea Trout, although the weather had not been warm enough at night to fish seriously for them just yet. 

The Grantown Association Water also had a nice start to June, landing around 25 Salmon during the first full week adding to the already good number already caught during May.   Sea Trout numbers were more like average, but again, until the weather perks up it will be difficult to really tell. 

All in all, apart from a few beats in the middle part of the river, this has been the best period of Spring Fishing seen on the Spey for some time, a real tonic for all visiting and those others dependent on on the salmon swimming in the river as a source of income. 

August Prospects 
So, all would appear good for the early fish, but what about the Grilse and Summer Salmon? As I write this [13th June] no more than a handful have been caught, which I would say, by normal standards, would appear to be slow.   For those visiting Speyside in July and August, my feeling is the water will drop to very low levels, this being the case, look at fishing very lightly dressed flies on light nylon, also, remember not to wade overly deep as this tends to move your fish on and we don’t want our neighbours catch all our fish, do we?!

Ian Gordon
Speycaster