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

The pools have been well fished by rods who know FCW well, but catches have been erratic with a dearth of fresh autumn fish. Each autumn is different, and the adundance or otherwise of salmon returning to the river is another variable. We have had good water levels, and even now, with the water gin-clear and falling after the big spate of mid October, the level is at a good fishing height. But, in this section of the South Esk, there are very few fresh fish.

Simon Walter fishing Kirkinn on Castle Beat in excellent water in mid October. Simon and his brother, Hugh, caught 5 salmon and a seatrout during their late season week at Finavon.

There appear to be a good number of old stagers, familiar by now to everyone who fishes here regularly, but ‘pods’ of fresh salmon arriving in the pools are a rarity. I did see at Willows last Saturday a good shoal of fresh salmon, maybe a dozen MSW fresh salmon, passing through, and that is exactly what they were doing by not even pausing as they made their way upriver. A verbal report from Inshewan indicated that no new fish have been seen there.

The main lie at Willows on Milton Beat in perfect autumn conditions. But where were the fresh autumn salmon in October 2012?

Upriver, it is encouraging to see on Fishpal that Cortachy and Downie Park are catching fish every day. It will be interesting to learn what proportion of those salmon were fresh. At Careston I have heard of coloured fish being caught in reasonable numbers. Inshewan, like Finavon, is currently struggling to catch even the occasional fish.

Simon Walter fishing the best lies in Willows (Milton Beat) in excellent conditions in October 2012. Although Willows is undoubtedly the most productive place of all Finavon’s pools to catch an autumn salmon, it was not as generous this year as it can be.

It is a bit too soon to comment on the 2012 season as a whole, so this blog is just an October snapshot. If we get rain – and some is forecast for Saturday (tomorrow) – and if a blizzard of falling leaves doesn’t impede fly fishing too much in the last three days of the season, we could yet see additions to the FCW catch, which today stands at 136 salmon and grilse and 160 sea trout.

TA 26/10/2012

 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

After the big spate at the weekend the river level dropped slowly to give us a good day on Monday with seven fish to 12lbs, most of them coloured, but two fresh grilse amongst the catch. All were returned.

A sharp frost two nights running ensured that leaves were hanging onto their branches by a thread, and they fell in blizzards at the slightest movement of air. A large sycamore leaf, propelled by a strong current, feels tantalisingly like the draw of an autumn salmon taking the fly.

Autumn Sycamore Leaf

With rain now forecast and the days shortening, we are into that late October raw cold and sogginess, which is why swallows and wise men and women head south. In my opinion there are very few fresh fish coming into FCW pools; just the occasional bright grilse, most of which are small (4lbs or so) and thin, but not as emaciated as some I have seen.

Simon Walter caught a salmon and a grilse yesterday in Kirkinn and Willows, and Jack Dobie had a 5lbs grilse today in Tyndals. Some fish have been showing but very little response except a big dark fish took Simon’s fly, again in Kirkinn, but detached itself soon afterwards. This is very much an end of season scenario!

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

While I was flying back from Halifax Nova Scotia in 4 and a half hours, thanks to a powerful tail wind, all hell broke loose weatherwise in the Angus glens. The flood that followed thirty six hours of rain brought the South Esk up seven and a half feet in Brechin. All the woods at Finavon were flooded, our bank-side furniture was rearranged, and the Tyndals webcam told the story to anyone anywhere who cared to click in. Up the road the Northie was doing its Zambesi imitation even better than the Southie, with ten feet of extra water recorded at Logie. A proper autumn spate provided the stimulus for our late running fish to head upstream.

Alec Towns fishing Volcano in perfect conditions for an autumn salmon on the 15th of October 2012. He later caught two salmon in Indies, both of which he returned alive to the river.

And so it proved. On Saturday we caught five salmon and grilse (all returned), three of them fresh and all on the fly on Milton Beat where Willows and Boat Pool (as usual) scored. The largest was 12lbs.

The photo above shows Lower Boat Pool, with the Flats beyond, looking downstream towards the Red Brae and the backdrop of Finavon Hill. This is the setting of the river South Esk at Finavon. All four FCW beats are overlooked by the historic, and often spooky, Finavon Hill with its vitrified fort like the crater of a Volcano at its summit. In this picture the river is in superb condition for fishing the fly for an autumn salmon

On Monday (15/10) we caught another seven fish (all returned), including a nice fresh hen fish and two fresh grilse. There were two fish of 10lbs. Very few fish showed during the day as the river slowly receded and cleared. With extra top-ups of showers and some rain we should be alright for the rest of the 2012 season. As I write this bulletin on 15/10 FCW has a season catch of 119 salmon and grilse and 157 sea trout.

TA