Finavon Castle Bulletin

These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. They are not the views of any other organisation, nor are they designed to promote the interests of any individual or organisation other than Finavon Castle Water and factors affecting the fishery.  Tony Andrews

I think there are quite a few people who may be disappointed with this week’s report from the Montrose team of scientists on the movements of our tagged salmon. You may recall that last week, with the wind in the East, no fish were caught in the Usan nets. The week just gone (ended Friday 13th April) has seen more fish tagged to a total of 59 radio-tagged fish to date.

Despite the little freshet in the South Esk last week, there have been no more movements of tagged salmon recorded by the strategically placed receivers on the South Esk. We still await reports from the North Esk, Tay and Dee, but it does look as if last week’s higher water levels failed to encourage new fish into the river – at least not the 47 that were tagged up to the beginning of the week.

While members of the Marine Scotland science team worked long hours to select the best fish for radio tagging, the fish themselves were simply not responding, rather against our expectations. On Monday I will be in touch with the team again to see if there are any late reports of more salmon tagged or movements of the 50 tagged fish that have yet to ‘appear’ on the receivers.

I suppose the moral is that these wild fish will do as they please, We should remember that these salmon are wild animals, recently returned from one of the most astonishing migrations of any living thing. They are hardly going to respond to our attempts to measure and record their movements. Eventually we will continue building the picture of where these MSW spring salmon go to lay their eggs, and we could be surprised. I won’t say that I am disappointed by the dirth of recorded movement, but I will say that of the 59 so far tagged we only have 9 recorded, and three of these fish appear to have returned to the sea after a brief foray up the South Esk.

This 12lbs hen salmon was caught by Derek Strachan in Tyndals on the 12th of April 2012. The fish had been in the river for some time and there were signs of healed lesions and possible recovery from saprolegnia. Assuming that it succeeds in spawning this fish should deposit in the order of 6,000 eggs.

Fish have been seen at Finavon during the week, a couple lost (one in Melgund Pool on Castle Beat and the other in Volcano on Milton Beat) and salmon of 12lbs and 9lbs caught and returned, both from Tyndals Pool (Milton Beat). Interestingly these were both fish that had been in the river for some weeks and both were marked by lesions and fungus that had started to heal. They were caught on a small fly quite well down in Tyndals, which is surprising given the relatively low level of the river. As Derek, who caught both fish said, there are bound to be fish in other pools keeping a low profile in these summer low levels. I also note that Cortachy and Downie Park have caught 4 salmon this week, but that Inshewan has not scored, although fish there have been hooked and lost. From further down river Doug Scott reports fish running through the Brechin Angling Club water and Charles Gow, the factor at Kinnaird said that he thought there were plenty of fish in the river.

Late this afternoon (14/4) Moray found a large dead salmon beside the river at Nine Maidens (Castle Beat). It was such a fine fish, although covered with saprolegnia fungus, that Moray asked me to see it. We measured its length (37″) and its girth (19″). This cock salmon was bright silver but without sea lice, and in first class condition. Moray and I agreed that it weighed at least 20lbs. We checked its stomach for any sign of a radio tag, but there was none. We also took some scales to send to Gordon Smith at the Montrose office of Marine Scotland Science.

TA on 14/4/2012

Update on 16/4/2012. By Friday evening (14/4) about 65 salmon had been fitted with radio tags (exact number to be confirmed later this week), but, as before, there are no reports of fish being picked up by receivers on Dee, North Esk or Tay. There was some movement of fish within the South Esk, but this was minimal and probably not significant. Some people may be thinking that we are not learning much from this exercise, but I think that may be a bit pessimistic on the grounds that current conditions are not very helpful, with an east wind blowing onshore, cold and low water, and salmon probably moving offshore to await more favourable conditions.

I also find it highly significant that not one salmon out of approaching 70 tagged fish has been recorded in any of the neighbouring rivers. With the target of 150 salmon radio tagged by the end of May we are approaching the halfway point with seven weeks to go. A sample of 150 tagged fish is quite significant and has the potential to tell us a lot about the geographical dispersal of our spring salmon within the South Esk catchment.

TA

These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. They are not the views of any other organisation, nor are they designed to promote the interests of any individual or organisation other than Finavon Castle Water and factors affecting the fishery.  Tony Andrews

It is unfortunate that some people, whose words are currently in the public domain, describe the work being done to track the riparian destination of the South Esk’s early running salmon as a “waste of time”. I hope that my readers will ignore those statements because, in my view, they are based on ignorance and a lack of understanding of the role of scientific data in providing fishery managers with the information they need to make relevant and timely decisions to conserve, and ultimately enhance, the river’s stocks of wild salmon and sea trout.

Castle Stream

In addition to their lack of understanding of the role of science, these critics of the Marine Scotland S Esk stock assessment project are I imagine frustrated by the time it takes to obtain meaningful data. Perhaps they may one day accept the principle that knowledge (ie scientific data) is a better basis for taking action than unfounded guesswork!

The 2012 Spring Run. While it is true that the South Esk’s 2012 run of spring fish have so far been disappointing, I note that small numbers of fish have entered the river, some of which have moved up above Brechin and some caught and returned alive. Inshewan reported an 8lbs fish this week, and a fresh fish of 12 to 15lbs was hooked and lost in Melgund Pool (Indies Beat, FCW) earlier today (Friday) following a slight rise in the river level, largely as a result of snowmelt. It is also true that when rivers are very low salmon are often reluctant to enter them and to move on upstream. The 2012 spring has featured a period of very low water. It is therefore manifestly wrong to attribute the lack of fish caught by the very few rods that have ventured out this season to low pre-fishery abundance. As I have said before in these blogs; rod catches, in the absence of other data, can provide useful information about stock abundance, but we should not base our planning and management decisions on rod catches alone.

Onshore winds. With a strong East wind, and surf churning up gravel and sand in the estuary, and with cold water exiting the river, combined with low river levels, it is really not surprising that the bulk of the spring run has stayed at sea. Julian Maclean told me today that no fish have been caught in the nets during the last week, which I can imagine was no surprise to George Pullar, nor the MSS team because salmon generally keep away from the coast when the wind is in the East. To date no tagged fish have been recorded by receivers on Tay, Dee or North Esk, only on the South Esk.

Red Brae

It is worth noting that of the 47 fish so far radio tagged, 9 have been recorded going up the South Esk of which 3 have returned to Montrose Basin. In other words, these 3 fish were recorded as moving downstream of the lowest receiver at Bridge of Dun having previously been recorded at Kinnaird. If we get a good rise in water level, a change in wind direction and warmer temperatures, we should see more fish enter the river. Our three ‘Hamlet’ fish may even decide to return!

The Big Picture – the Ocean ecosystem. An ecologist at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway, who was the coordinator of the multinational SALSEA project, last week answered a question for me about predicting salmon runs. I asked him about the 2012 run of salmon into our Scottish East coast rivers. His reply surprised me on two counts: first, he was prepared to make a prediction, which is quite unusual for a high level scientist. Second, he said that we should expect more multi sea winter salmon in good condition and that this trend – more bigger salmon – is likely to continue for the next few years. He was less sanguine about grilse returns and would not be drawn on the overall pre fishery abundance figures. I took that to mean that the cake is no bigger, but that marine survival of certain groups of fish may be improving. Interesting stuff, but maybe we shouldn’t get too excited!

If our media quoted luddites could find a way of acknowledging the significance of facts about the spring migration provided by recordings of South Esk spring salmon, and give their full support to the work of the Montrose team of scientists, we would all be in a better place. Ultimately, if that unlikely situation were to arise, the beneficiary would be the river and its stocks of migratory salmonids. Here’s hoping!

TA on 6 April 2012

These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. They are not the views of any other organisation, nor are they designed to promote the interests of any individual or organisation other than Finavon Castle Water and factors affecting the fishery.  Tony Andrews

I spoke with Colin Gibb (Inshewan – 5 miles upstream of Finavon) yesterday about this year’s spring run. He told me that there is a good number of fish in the Esk Pool and that he had seen two fish in the Dardanelles last week. There are also a few kelts lingering in the Castle Hill and the Boat Pool.

The spring run of 2012 in context: The radio-tagged salmon are of course only a small proportion of the total number of salmon entering the South Esk. A few have already been caught by rods as far upriver as Justinhaugh, and, judging by Colin’s Inshewan report, and accounts from the Marine Scotland team of untagged fish released from the Usan nets, we can assume that there may be quite a good number of fish already in the river, with an increasing number waiting in the sea for higher water levels. We should remember that the purpose of the MSS radio tagging project is to find out where the S. Esk’s early running fish go to spawn. Counting them will come later, but that should not prevent us making every effort now to estimate abundance of stocks of both salmon and sea trout.

Latest radio tagging news: The news from our Montrose scientists is that another 8 fish were radio-tagged last week, bringing the total of tagged spring salmon to 47. Of those 47 fish, 8 have now entered the South Esk, with one of those fish dropping back into Montrose Basin. All the fish appear to be in good condition but the numbers seen in the nets in late February and early March have dropped away, so that the target of 11 rasdio-tagged fish for the week ending 31/3 was not met.

Two salmon have migrated upstream and were recorded by the receiver at Haughs of Finavon. The first of these two fish passed the Haughs of Finavon receiver on 27 March and was later recorded at Tannadice. The second salmon was recorded by the Haughs receiver on the 28th of March and is probably lying in one of Finavon’s holding pools.

What surprises me about these reports is that a significant number of spring salmon are entering and travelling a fair distance up the river, even in these dead low water levels. The fact that these fish are making it well upriver (15 to 20 miles, and maybe more) should remind us of how resilient and determined these fish are. Salmon never cease to amaze me. Who would have believed that a good run of fish could take place through the thin stickles of the river in its present condition?

No tagged fish have yet been recorded by receivers on Dee, Tay or North Esk.

TA on 2 April 2012