Meagre catches on Scottish 'Big Four' rivers so far this season
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COLUMN: Northern Lines by Keith Williams
It has been an inauspicious start to the 2023 salmon season in Scotland, to put it mildly.
With all of the ‘Big Four’ rivers (Spey, Tay, Dee and Tweed) now in full swing, reported catches have been meagre compared to times past.
Some fine fish have been caught on local and other Scottish rivers, though, and there is always the hope that fortune will be on our side whenever we put a fly into the water.
At the start of the month, I was lucky enough to be able to visit a very famous beat on the River Spey. It is one that I had fished several times before, albeit not for a number of years. I have yet to land a salmon from that beat - and yet it is always a privilege to spend a day fishing its storied pools.
The Spey has heavily influenced modern salmon fishing techniques, tackle and flies and is justly famous throughout the fishing world. It is particularly revered by steelhead (rainbow trout that have migrated to the ocean and back) fishers in North America.
Most fishing for salmon and trout in America and Canada is undertaken using what Scottish anglers would consider to be short rods, casting with a single hand gripping the handle.
Longer rods are the norm here, particularly in the early months of the year, with two hands holding the rod whilst casting.
The latter approach makes Spey casting easier, a form of cast that never allows the fly to go behind the angler and become lodged in the bankside vegetation.
Spey casting is esteemed with an almost religious fervour by some anglers and, in turn, this has resulted in many fishing products being described as Spey rods, Spey reels or Spey lines on the other side of the pond.
No fish were caught on the beat I was fishing during my visit, but it was to prove happy day for me, nonetheless. It was good to fish in the company of people whom I have known for many years and worked alongside in my profession.
Likewise, the thoughts and wisdom of the ghillies is always thought-provoking, particularly in relation to the current status of salmon and sea trout stocks both on the Spey and elsewhere.
Mostly it was just pleasurable to be out fishing on such a benign day weather-wise and to connect with a river close to my heart once again. Only as I drove away from the river in the twilight did I realise that almost exactly half a century ago the river provided my young self with his first ever trout. A humbling thought, indeed.
Dr Keith Williams is the director of Kyle of Sutherland Fisheries.
