(Last Updated: Friday 08 October)
Over the last week and bit there has been some good drops of rain and the rivers have risen across Galloway.
Salmon have been getting reported caught across all rivers. Last week on the Cree; NSAA had 21 salmon, Linloskin 4 salmon, Galloway Estates 6 salmon and Machermore had 1 salmon. On the Bladnoch Mochrum Park reported 4 salmon and Clugston Estates had one too. Over on the River Urr, the Dalbeattie Angling Association had 2 salmon. We also heard that Castle Douglas and District Angling Association also had at least 5 salmon landed on their River Urr beat. Last Friday and Saturday also saw good fishing on the River Luce with 11 salmon reported caught including one of 18lb. One angler caught had 5 salmon in a day on the Luce.
(Last week)
A long dry spell in early summer has delayed the salmon run from entering any of the Galloway rivers for months. The salmon have simply stayed out at sea. Heavy rain finally came on the 5th of August which saw significant rises on all of the Galloway rivers and once the rivers had flushed out salmon have finally started to enter the rivers. The lower Cree beat run by Newton Stewart Angling Association caught 18 salmon within 48 hours of this rise. The flood was not prolonged though and there was little evidence of many fish running well up the river systems with the main rod catches all focused on the lower river beats only. The majority of catches were recorded from the lower Cree.
Decent heavy rain returned on the 20/21 August and put a welcomed rise on the rivers across Galloway but again there was little evidence of many salmon running the rivers yet. The rest of August was dry with very little rain and the rivers levels all dropped again providing little angling opportunities for salmon.
The dry weather largely continued through September until finally heavy rain and showers arrived on the 26th/27th September and more unsettled weather followed.
The river rises in early October saw rod catches increase in all of the Galloway rivers particularly in the lower river beats. Salmon catches suggest fish are entering all of the rivers now after an extremely dry summer and autumn but in general the number of salmon caught this season is low so far but it is hoped further runs of fish will enter the rivers before spawning time.
The Galloway rivers are in a good spate now (Friday 8th October) and should offer decent fishing opportunities once it starts to fall.
