Finavon Castle Bulletin

These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. While I may digress at times to write about other places, these 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

There have been a few fish caught by intrepid tenants during September, but it has been hard going. Despite the low water and reluctance of fish to show themselves, or move to the fly, we have seen fish in the main pools. As usual Melgund has held a few MSW salmon throughout the three months of low water. From the Aqueduct it has been possible to observe both grilse and large salmon, plus a few sea trout in the one to three pounds weights category, and last week we saw a reasonably fresh cock salmon of about 14lbs lying stationary just above the big lie boulder downstream of the aqueduct. Other pools such as Tyndals, Willows and Red Brae have all held fish – both salmon and sea trout – in varying numbers throughout the summer.

The webcam boulder at Tyndals (Milton Beat) in summer low conditions. The water level has been here, or here abouts, all summer. In fact there has been a reasonable flow all summer long, albeit a low water flow.

It is natural that some summers are dry, as this summer has been. The fact is that this season has been the driest in terms of flow in the South Esk for quite a number of years. You only have to look at the SEPA graphs in the river levels section of the Fishpal website to appreciate how short of water the river has been during this summer. The result has been FCW’s worst catch numbers for 30 years: a reminder to us all that we are dealing with a wild resource that is subject to the vagaries of weather conditions.

This photograph was taken from the Aqueduct while looking into the bright sun of early afternoon in September. It shows the streamy water of Beeches Pool in very lowwater, one of the best sections of FCW for salmon and sea trout in all but flood conditions. The lie upstream of the Aqueduct (just out of the foot of this photo) is where John Wood caught the first spring salmon of 2013 – a beautiful 17lbs fish – and where in 2012 Alec Towns lost a very big fish (est 30lbs) when his rod shattered after a 40 minute fight.

I feel some reassurance that there are uncertainties when dealing with the natural world. I would rather have it that way than predictable numbers of fish caught in a stocked river or loch. Managing a wild fishery is full of uncertainties. The best we can do is to make sure that the habitats over which we have control are in the best possible condition for returning adult fish, spawning and juveniles.

This is the South Esk in Glen Clova, just downstream of Gella Bridge in low water conditions. and the Rottal Burn Project are examples of efforts being made by the Esk Rivers and Fisheries Trust to improve the environment in this much abused part of the upper catchment.

In that context the summer has been a good time to improve the fishery by carrying out minor manual repairs to eroded banks, eradicating most of the giant hogweed, Japanese knotweed and a small amount of Himsalayan balsam. Filling in the gaps in boulder groynes with small stones to trap silt and provide placesto plant willow pegs in the autumn and winter has been an important part of our maintenance programme. The low water has also enabled us to remove debris and other rubbish from the bed of the river: pieces of wire fencing, bottles, tin cans, bits of cars and waterlogged timbers trapped against midstream boulders have all been removed. Other maintenance has included safety checks on bridges and huts, repairs to flood damaged infrastructure,  wood protection applied, and the usual round of grass cutting and cutting back intruding branches on banks and along access tracks.

The photo above shows the repair to the south support of the Haughs Aqueduct, which we should now describe as a ‘footbridge’ after FCW acquired it last year. It used to be the pipe bridge that brought water from Glen Quiech to Arbroath. The water supply has been rationalised and the aqueduct is now redundant. It is a well engineered 1950s structure which provides safe & private access across the river at Haughs for anglers. To take this photo the water level had to be very low, so there have been plenty of opportunities this summer!

We now await water and maybe some late autumn fish. If neither arrives it really doesn’t matter: there’s always next season! What I can say is that the river and its surroundings at Finavon have never been in better condition, and I keep reminding myself that our freshwater mussels are recovering – and that surely is a fine indicator of success!

TA 21/9

These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. While I may digress at times to write about other places, these 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

Low Water on the South Esk.

I have enjoyed inspecting every inch of the bed of the South Esk between the A90 bridge at Finavon and Marcus House. It is amazing to think that those smooth pools are the result of millenia of scouring. Where we have not interfered too much the bed of the river is sculpted by water and, especially in the dubs and tails of pools, the clear low water shows the scallops, scours, pockets and lies that a varied river bed provides for upstream migrating adults, with security and habitat for feeding juveniles.

This photo shows the upper section of Frank’s Stream in exceptionally low water. There is more silt on the stones (some of which is algae) than ideal, but the photo does show how good the lie is; quite deep water in a spoon shape; ideal for a resting fish, or even a small shoal.

It is encouraging that, even with the pollution caused by intensive farming, our freshwater mussels seem to be thriving. That news was quite unexpected, but it really is good news, and could mark a turn around in habitat and water quality in the river.

The head of Tyndals Pool in very low water. The Armchair Boulder is nearly dry. Compare this picture with some of the winter photos in earlier blogs!

There have been one or two fish caught in the last few days, and a small grilse lost in Marcus House Pool. Those fish were caught by Mike Forrest and his team of rods who, despite the difficult conditions, persevered and caught fish in the darkness of a September night. Until we get rain there will I think be few fish to report.

One of the downside aspects of extended low water periods in salmon rivers is that fish tend not to enter the river. Most fish hang around off the estuary. Research shows that in such conditions more than 50% of the incoming migration of adult fish can be lost. We tend to blame such depredation on the mixed stocks nets. We are right to attribute some of the losses to them. But there are also predators, pollution, diseases, parasites and other causes of attrition of the migration to take into account. It is at such times that all exploitation, by nets and rods, should cease until conditions improve. An effective fishery management regime would do that.

TA

These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. While I may digress at times to write about other places, these 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

This summer has been warm and dry, unlike recent summers in the east of Scotland. The low rainfall and comments made by some people that “this year is the lowest level they have ever seen the South Esk” might give the impression that there is a serious drought  and that the river is in some kind of trouble. In fact neither of these statements are true.

Low water at the first N bank groyne in Tyndals Pool. Even in this low level the pool has ample room and depth to provide security and well oxygenated streamy lies for resting fish.

While it is certainly the case that June, July and August so far have all been drier than at least the last five summers, these conditions used to be the norm. I only have to think of the summers of 1975 and 1976 when Peter Annand described the South Esk as “an unfishable ditch” to find two years when the river was lower and water temperatures higher. May and June 1995 were also dry, hot months and I remember the weather breaking at the end of June and bringing with the cooler water temperature a tremendous run of sea trout.

The Boat Pool at FCW in low summer water. This pool holds large numbers of salmon and sea trout in such conditions. It is quite normal – even in this year of very low sea trout catches – to see a shoal of 200 – 300 fish in this pool, plus a few salmon.

The early nineties were years of good sea trout numbers in the South Esk, with weeks at Finavon and Inshewan of over 50 not unusual. There were also some big sea trout – up to 12 lbs – in those years.There was plenty of evidence that the river was at that time producing good numbers of sea trout smolts, and that recruitment of juveniles was at a high level. It is possible that things have changed since then, and the cause may be the weather, perhaps resulting from climate change. SEPA measurements of the amount of water in the river, especially at times of peak flood events, has risen appreciably.

Casting into Red Brae Stream in bright summer conditions. This pool is best fished at dusk or dawn at such times. Red Brae always holds fish.

Increased energy in the river at times of big flood events will have moved many thousands of tons of gravel and cobbles, leaving larger diameter stones in the bed of the river and moving the smaller stuff downstream to new depositing zones. Bigger stones (cobbles) favour bigger fish spawning habitat, which may help to account for the improved numbers of salmon, as opposed to sea trout, in the river. Certainly, in the FCW catch returns there was a turn around in the late nineties from a predominance of sea trout to the situation as it is today where salmon and grilse catch numbers routinely exceed those of sea trout. Such consistent catch returns may well be an indication of the effects of climate changes in the South Esk catchment.

Last week we had a most welcome visit from Aberdeen University’s Department of Natural History. The visit was to look at the abundance and condition of Freshwater Mussels (Margaritifera Margaritifera) at Finavon. Here’s their informal note to me after the visit.

The freshwater mussel – Margaritifera Margaritifera – a splendid name for a mysterious mollusc. But an animal that tells us a lot about the health of the river. Its dependence on migrating salmon and sea trout to recolonise the upper reaches of the catchment when its larva (glychoda) hitches a ride in the gills of young fish. A wonderful piece in the natural jigsaw!

“We finished the Finavon section on Saturday.  A few bullets:

• This section is unstable in sections, with large deposits of coarse and fine mobile riverbed sediments – typical of the South Esk!
• The riverbed in the upper sections (Boat Pool, Volcano) appear generally shallower and less stable than the deep, rocky pools further downstream.
• There are numerous stable patches, however and mussels found throughout.
• Some old engineered modifications (weirs, reinforced banks etc) noted, but the mussels seem to be regenerating in many places.
• This is evidenced by the relatively large numbers of juvenile mussels (<6.5cm shell length), which indicates that recruitment has been successful in recent years.
• Below the sluice bridge (Haugh’s Pool?), there is a “sink” bed, with hundreds of mussels settled in a large deposit of fine sand. These may have redistributed after the big flood last year.
• The riverbed does seem to have been changed in places (in the last decade), with mussels in new places and missing from old ones etc, again possibly linked to flood effects.
• Quite a few scattered shells – probably flood mortalities.

Overall, I would say the Finavon mussel beds are currently in pretty good shape.

The South Esk habitat does appear to be under heavy pressure, mainly from agriculture effects etc, but the mussel population  appears to be stable, based on our findings so far.

Full details will be available later, but I wanted to pass you some info for now. SNH will have a full report and info if you wish to acquire all the data , probably next year since the South Esk survey is part of a larger, national mussel survey.

Hope this does for now. Happy to chat anytime about mussels.  Thanks again for your time and permission to access.”

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For me that is great news because I have been worried about the condition of our mussel beds. Now we know that they are recruiting successfully in this middle section of the South Esk, we can but hope that the good work of SEPA starts to take effect on the amount of silt clogging our gravels and cobbles.

TA