After a poor September, partly down to an Indian summer and little fishing effort in the first couple of weeks, fishing picked up in October, with a total of 22 salmon landed and others lost. Yet again, fishing effort was relatively light for the time of year.
This gives us a total of 42 salmon for the 2023 season, which is up on the last couple of years, but still nothing to write home about. We would undoubtedly have had more fish, particularly in August, had there been a bit more fishing effort. However, it is also clear that fish numbers, particularly in the autumn, remain well down on those of 20 years ago.
We did see a modest number of sea trout being caught in the summer, which is very welcome again.
Colin Farrell decided to leave us in August, with some reluctance, to go back to a full time stalking role in Perthshire, and we welcomed Craig Crolla in September who did a very good job maintaining the riverbanks until the end of the season. A number of rods, both members and visitors, commented favourably on the work done.