We have had 28 salmon and grilse for August, the highest total since 2014, which is very encouraging. We would undoubtedly have had quite a few more if the river had been fishable more often; we lost at least six days to high water, and it was marginal on several more. Additionally,
“The Doon…who knew?! I had heard that it is a gem, but reality was even better. More than anything else, it was a joy to walk the whole beat, and not have to jump in a car to get to the next pool. Beyond that, it fishes so well, and I loved
A Club member has advised that he is no longer able to fish his rod in the week commencing 7th October and has asked us to let it. This is now showing as available for let...the preference is for a let for the whole week.
After a spell of lower water and warmer weather in July, which reduced fishing effort and catches, August has started very well with a good number of fish caught last week; a mixture of larger, coloured MSW fish, and some lovely silver grilse. We are now up to at least 16 salmon
Davie McPhail is a ‘Friend of the River’ and is internationally renowned for his fishing and fly-tying videos on YouTube. He has over 121,000 subscribers to his channel and has posted more than 1300 videos, demonstrating the fly-tyers art and his skill and experience at fishing Ayrshire rivers for trout and salmon.
Following a couple of decent spates in late May/early June, it was always likely that a few salmon would have made it up to Smithston. A couple of the rental syndicate rods have been out, but some nice trout were the only successes....until this week. Delighted to report that David Allfrey had
We have received a recent notification from the Wild Salmon Senior Policy Officer with the Wild Salmon and Recreational Fisheries Team at Scottish Government to alert us to the publication of a progress report on the Wild Salmon Strategy Implementation Plan. The report provides a short update on the delivery of those
A one day per week rental syndicate is being set up for the 2024 season. This will be for one rod each day, which is from existing rod availability, and there will continue to be a maximum of six rods fishing at any time. There has already been a good level of
The Parker Family have now been fishing Smithston across three generations and for more than 25 years. Leslie Parker started fishing in his retirement initially locally in Yorkshire for trout and latterly in Scotland for Salmon. He joined the Smithston Fishings Club soon after its launch with his friend Ron Hourston. From 2004,
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
