As per tradition we popped down to look at our beloved piece of water on the Sunday of our arrival and were disappointed by the height and colour, the Spey looked more like liquid silt than water, not the best for night-time Sea Trout fishing.
My pals and I went through the motions after midnight and for the next couple of nights but to no avail. Despite the forecast the conditions got better during the week. Two of the Team seemed to fish 24 hours a day and on the Tuesday in hot and humid conditions one of them managed a cracking 8lb Salmon. Our beat is not a renowned Salmon beat so catching one is counted as a welcome ‘bonus’
Mid-week and the water had fallen to 6 inches on our gauge and the silt had nearly disappeared, time to start Sea Trout fishing properly!
Our beat features a huge holding pool with a lovely long glide running into it, above this is a quicker run which slowly dissipates into another glide. One of the best Sea Trout pools on the entire River Spey except this season as it was too high! Concentrating our night time efforts on the water above the holding pool we soon started to catch a few fish.
After 25 years of fishing this water we tend to know where the fish will ‘hover’ during their night time wanderings, every year this changes slightly, some spots work well some not so well. There’s a burn that flows into the glide which is usually a ‘hot spot’ and this summer was no exception. The river by the burn is deep with large subsurface boulders which the fish seam to love. It’s a long cast to reach but using modern Sage 10ft #7 fly rods or Sage Switch rods coupled with RIO fly lines its manageable.
The most productive line this week was the RIO Aqualux Intermediate, its always been a popular choice for us except in low water.
We add 6ft RIO Salmon tapered leaders to this line
which help turn over the Blue Demon Special flies we all fish.
We had perfect dark and warm nights despite the full moon but luckily cloud cover meant this didn't cause us a problem.
More Sea Trout arrived over the next few days and the size of them increased significantly. I had one heart stopping moment when an 8 lb Sea Trout cartwheeled down the glide tearing backing out of my reel in the process. This was followed the following night by a hard fighting 6 lb fish.
The last few nights were productive as all of the guys had some action with fish landed and fish lost.
A wonderful week despite the conditions early in the week in a wonderful part of the Scotland with great friends.
Wishing the year away until we return.
Tight Lines
Nick