Mid Feb Spey Report

The opening week on the Spey has been blessed on the whole with good fishing conditions, both in terms of water height and ambient temperature. After the flurry of activity from the kelts over the first couple of days, action has very much settled down. There have been 15 fish recorded so far with Upper Arndilly catching 5 of them. Forres tackle dealer Kenny Walker was one of those lucky enough to land a springer this past week and his weighed 8lb and was caught on a Willie Gunn tube. Delfur didn’t take too long to get off the mark and did so in fine form. Mrs Anne Cameron landed 2 fish weighing 10 and 15.5lbs respectively and lost a third. Both were caught on an intermediate line and a Black and Yellow tube fly, tied by ghillie Grant Morrison of Malloch Trophy fame! Annie caught the fish under the watchful and very capable eyes of Delfur head-ghillie Mark Melville whilst fishing the Hollybush Pool. This pool can be a pretty cold place in the spring, yet I don’t imagine for a minute either Mark or Annie felt anything other than jubilation as the first fish slid over the net. Mrs Cameron’s husband Neil won our Glenfarclas Fish of the month last April with a 25lb salmon, so perhaps with only a few fish caught this month, Annie might join him.

Aberlour taxi owner and former ghillie Willie Roy added to Delfur’s total on Thursday with another fish again coming again from the Hollybush. Knowing Willie, even without the morning sun, I don’t think he would have felt the cold too much either!
Spey fishery board correspondent Malcolm Newbould was also amongst those fortunate enough to record their first fish of the season this week. Malcolm caught his fish of 10lbs in the Junction pool at Rothes on Saturday.
Master Fly tier Duncan Egan fished at Kinermony on Saturday and as you can see by the photo below, he arrived from the south bearing gifts. Just click on Duncan’s name for details of how to order his flies, including the Kinermony Killer Flamethrowers pictured. We fished the water very hard but nothing fresh to report. I now know the reason for his nom de plume ‘Lastcast’. Duncan fishes until he can no longer see his rod tip, no matter what time of year. I am mighty thankful that his rod was 13’7” and not 7’13” !

The annual Ghillie supper took place at the Archiestown Hotel last Friday. We were given the customary warm welcome from Alan and Jayne Hunter before sitting down to enjoy a wonderful 3-course meal. The meal was delightful as were the fine wines and Speyside malts on offer. A thoroughly first-class time was had by all present and when the dulcet tones of ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes’ were heard, we all knew that it was well past bed-time. On behalf of all ghillies and wives present, I’d just like to thank Alan and Jayne once again for their kind hospitality.
Finally, Orton, Delfur & Arndilly have now all recorded their first fish of 2011 to women anglers. Whether this is simply down to ‘lady luck’, skill, perseverance, female pheromones or simply a mixture of all is a matter of opinion, but if they could bottle it, I’d certainly be one of the very first in the queue.