A warm week with thermometer in some part hitting 25c, this does not make for idea fishing conditions, even so the river levels were still sitting at a pretty respectable 7 inches on average. A lovely brace of salmon were caught at Balmakewan before dinner, so the start of fishing in the morning and late afternoon evenings is coming into play. Canterland had 3 salmon for their week with a sea trout which is hopefully the first of many, as we should start to see them arrive about now. It always goes a little quiet at this time of year on both the rivers as the spring run slows down a bit, there will still be fish coming in but none of those big spring run salmon (maybe the odd one) This can be seen from the catch returns as the weights drop as do the numbers. Salmon in both rivers are well spread out and there are plenty of them I assure you, they just seem to switch off and give you the illusion that there is nothing there. Still most beats reported a salmon or two last week. Again, there have been reports of an awful lot of salmon being lost, not just a quick tug, coming off after a minute or so. Are they not taking as aggressively so not hooking themselves, or dare I say it angler error? Who knows and quite frankly who cares it proves a point, there are plenty of salmon about.
The Week Ahead.
The good news is that the sea trout have started to make an appearance, the bad news, none. Sea trout have been seen entering the North Esk in numbers last weekend 12th May. The have also been slowly building up in the South Esk, all though none have been caught yet. The summer run and grilse are still a few weeks away. So, time to dust of the single handers and pop on a full floater with long leaders and small flies. To my mind at least the best fishing is just around the corner. If the sun is out and shinning right down the pool you are about to fish, leave it and go and find a shaded pool or waiting until later in the day. Smaller darker flies such as the Stoats Tails, Stinchar Stoat and the many variations on this theme start to come into their own. Still keep the bigger flies handy for an early morning fish as the evenings can still be cool. The weather looks to be settled for the week ahead with the possibility of the odd shower. Thursday and Friday a forecast to be bright sunny days, may be head out early in the morning have a good lunch, a kip by the river then ready to go for an evening session.
Tight Lines.
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