LAST WEEK
The first week of September saw 9 salmon reported on FishGalloway (and 27 the previous week). On Tuesday (3rd September) one salmon was caught on the NSAA beat on the Cree and 2 were reported on the Dalbeattie Angling Association water on the lower Urr. The following day an angler caught 2 salmon on the Kirwaugh beat (lower Bladnoch), a further 2 salmon was reported caught on the Cree (Machermore & Linloskin beats) and one on Dalbeattie AA. As the week dried off catches dropped with just one further salmon reported (13lb from Linloskin). We heard there were a couple of salmon also caught on the lower Luce earlier in the week.
Only some beats report their catches directly to fishgalloway – please do send us any information on catches as we are keen to report what is happening across the Galloway rivers.
PROSPECTS
All rivers in Galloway have dropped following a dry week so fishing conditions are not very suitable for salmon until we get some further rain. The forecast is suggesting there may be some rain mid week which may freshen things up. There are certainly salmon in all of the rivers.
SEASON SO FAR
The 2024 season started slowly with the Bladnoch and Cree reporting some spring salmon in April and May, with the best fishing on the Minnoch.
Through May and June very little was reported caught from across all of the rivers although sea trout did start to be caught particularly on the Luce and Cree.
July was reasonably dry so catches were low on most rivers. The lower Cree beats such as NSAA / Machermore, which fishes just above the tide, were catching with NSAA reporting 51 salmon for July.
August was a really wet month providing good fishing opportunities across most beats. Grilse were clearly running across all of the Galloway rivers. On the Bladnoch the Kirkcowan Angling Club have reported 12 salmon from the lower Water of Tarf (mostly caught in August). Further downstream Mochrum Park and Kirwaugh report catches of 26 salmon so far.
The Minnoch has been fishing very well with syndicate rods reporting 101 fish up to the 3rd September.
On the Luce between 5th – 26th August the main beats on the lower Luce reported 61 salmon (up to 15lb) and 41 sea trout.
On the Water of Fleet one of the proprietors has caught 2 salmon and 23 sea trout up to the end of August.
On the Urr, Dalbeattie AA reported a total of 17 salmon and some good sea trout for August.
September started off dry and warm so as the river waters dropped salmon catches have fallen too.
Beat catches reported
(Last week)
