2007 Review

The Club, and indeed all the Upper Earn, had a mediocre year which was somewhat disappointing after the past couple of seasons. Although the was good water through the spring and early summer things really dried out from the end of Aug and there was virtually no rain until the last weekend of the season with the final three days offering some reasonable sport albeit that most of the fish were coloured.  Once again the fish didn't run in any appreciable numbers until mid-Nov onwards and by Dec the river was stuffed with fish.

The table shows the catch trend for the past seven years. The trend in the salmon figures is encouraging, especially given the last run this year, but sea trout figures* are more concerning. However, a strict comparison is not possible for sea trout as the amendment to the season shortening it to the end of August only came into effect in 2005 so the overall trend is less clear. In addition, it is suspected that a number of the trout recorded in Sep and early Oct may actually have been sea trout mistaken for brown trout. This is particularly the case this year with the long drought resulting in coloured sea trout running late.  It will take a couple more years before a trend is identifiable but anglers should be wary of any large brown trout taken in Sep and if in any doubt they should be returned and not recorded.

As 2007 dawned the river continued to run extremely high following the severe floods that occurred between Christmas and New Year. We entered the last full week of the grayling season with the water running high and clear. The floods at the end of December caused a considerable amount of damage to trees and banking, especially on the Strowan beat which is still in the process of being cleared up twelve months later.

The opening ceremony took place on Feb 1st with the water having dropped back considerably from the early-Jan spate. It was warm with the temperature nearing 10^oc for the opening that saw some 45 members turn out. The first fish of the season was a salmon kelt of about 10lb that fell to Country Member Wullie Duncan's fly.  Two local junior members were given permission by their school to attend and one, Ciaran O'Kane, was rewarded with the second fish of the morning and his first ever salmon. Heavy rain in the middle of the month brought fresh fish up as far as Kinkell but none to our beats.  There was snow and rain in the middle of the month followed by a temperature rise that saw the river running high, cold and clear. By the third week of Feb springers were being reported on the lower beats but the water temperature prevented them running any further up.  The month finished with snow and heavy rain that put the water up to an unfishable level.

The first half of March was characterised by rain, snow and strong northerly winds.  The water level dropped off during the remainder of the month and whilst there were rumours of odd fresh fish nothing was confirmed.  The first confirmed springer was caught and returned on 31 Mar by Country Member George Patterson. The fish of about 10lb was taken on the fly on the Drummond Beat and was George’s first every springer in all the years that he'd been a member. By the end of the month Drummond Loch was fishing exceptionally well with some excellent overwintered fish in the 3lb - 4lb mark reported.    

Much of April was characterised by drought with unusually warm weather and the water dropping to summer lows.  May - Jul saw more rain than was usual for that time of the year with the result that salmon, as opposed to grilse, were caught throughout.  After that the weather again became very dry and fishing was poor until the third week of Sept when heavy rain brought the first grilse up.  On one of the mid-Sundays fishing guide Andy Murray once again ran his excellent casting clinic which was hugely enjoyed by all those that attended. Unfortunately there were less than the previous year and the format will be review for 2008 although it will certainly go ahead.   The last week of the month saw grilse and some bigger fish up to 15lb returned.

One might have thought that the river would have stayed high and the fishing been correspondingly good but that was not to be.  There was no rain until the last weekend of October which left three days of frantic fishing.  For those that were out there were a lot of fish running though but almost all were coloured having moved up from the lower beats with the rise in the water.

Overall this was a mediocre year with catches slightly lower than last year although the 5 year average is still going the right way. The low summer water was certainly a factor in the lower sea trout numbers and late grilse run.  The back-end never really got going and the main run did not come in until the latter half of November. The heaviest salmon that I heard of on the club water this year was one claimed at about 15lb; there was a fewer that usual number reported in the 15+lb range.  Following the close of the season there was a vast number of fish seen running up.  Unlike last year, the hatchery is full which will help the future of the river.  The large number of coloured fish at the backend was probably responsible for the 50% release rate and irrespective of the number of fish running it is incumbent upon us all to return a high proportion of what we catch: certainly 50% should be everyone's minimum target.  A new rule and additional guidelines will be adopted for 2008 - please ensure that you are familiar with the changes which are there to help preserve stocks, especially spring salmon.  Details are on your Newsletter.  There are also available on the Rules page of the website.

Drummond Loch

The loch fished fantastically from the opening of the season until mid-May when it clouded with algae.  This was much earlier than usual and it never really cleared until the close of the season.  The heaviest fish reported was one of about 3¹/₂lb with the overall catch over 95 with an average weight of 1.36lb. There remains a good head of fish in the loch ready for next season.

Thank you to those that sent in pictures/catch reports. The news page is only of value if it is regularly updated and that relies on you passing on information. Email or send fish reports, photos and other news to Peter MacDonald