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
So balmy has the weather been that anyone standing on the bank of Boat Pool at Finavon in the last few days could be forgiven for thinking that the winter is still some way off. With temperatures of up to 15C and water temperatures in the 6C to 9C range I expected to see running fish, and this is precisely what I did see. Mainly grilse but a few bigger fish were powering through FCW pools in really good water levels. The river is clean, the flows generous and there is nothing whatsoever to prevent salmon reaching their spawning locations.
This is the hut at the head of Indies Pool which is in the top three of FCW pools. In the past Indies was a 100 sea trout a year pool, but in recent years has struggled to get past 30. The hut is located in Indies Wood and provides warmth, shelter and a place to snooze for night sea trout fishermen and daytime salmon anglers. Just the place for late night crack and a dram!
Seeing running fish in mid November, some of them silver, invites the question about what proportion of the annual run of salmon and grilse enter the river after the 31st of October. My guess is quite a high proportion; maybe as much as 20%. But that is only a guess: we need to find out where they go, how many of them there are and whether they belong to a distinct genetic group. Is it run timing that distinguishes their population(s) or is it their genetically ‘hard wired’ tendency to return to a particular location or tributary? Questions, questions, but precious few answers!
Fishing Tollmuir Pool