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Strathspey Angling Improvement Association Catch Statistics 1956 – 2009.
Click for a Larger View
The 2009 Season.
Our last season got off to a slow start because of the weather. Opening day, seen below, saw deep snow and very cold conditions, making the river unfishable. When the snow melted towards the end of February, it resulted in huge floods. Water levels could be described as normal until August which was a wet month.
Bun a Bhord on opening day, 11th February 2009.
A total of 327 salmon / grilse and 263 sea-trout were declared.
The heaviest salmon of the 2009 season weighed just over 25lbs. It was photographed and returned alive to the river. The heaviest sea-trout weighed 8.75lbs.
Month Salmon / Grilse Sea-Trout Feb 0 0 Mar 9 0 Apr 24 2 May 54 23 June 85 118 July 44 39 Aug 60 55 Sept 51 26 Totals 327 263
The break-down on these numbers are displayed below.
Number caught Salmon/grilse sea-trout On Fly 107 85 On Worm 84 100 On Spinner 136 78 By Locals 161 121 By Visitors 166 142 The average weights of these fish were as follows:
Salmon - 9.8 lbs Grilse - 3.75 lbs Sea-trout 2.5 lbs
The percentage of fish returned in 2009 was as follows.
Salmon - 70.8% Grilse - 64.2% Sea-trout - 58%
The 2008 Season.
In terms of salmon, 2008 was a good year. A total of 444 salmon / grilse were declared. Alas, sea-trout numbers were down to 338. The water levels for the early part of the 2008 season were boosted by the late and very heavy falls of snow on the Cairngorm Mountains which kept the skiing season open until the 5th of May! This melting snow kept our water levels at a generous height until the middle of May.
There were three salmon declared at 20 lbs. There was another which may have weighed up to 25lbs but it was never weighed and was sportingly unhooked at the water's edge and returned. There were marginally more grilse in 2008 than the previous season.
I understand that a large wild brown trout that weighed about 5 lbs was caught in our waters. Amazingly, this fish had previously been netted and tagged in the River Tromie by the Spey Fishery Board.
Month Salmon/Grilse Sea-Trout Feb
0 0 Mar 10 0 Apr 14 7 May 74 11 June 110 150 July 51 90 Aug 91 61 Sept 94 19 Totals 444 338 The break-down on these numbers are displayed below.
Number caught Salmon/grilse sea-trout On Fly 155 75 On Worm 96 177 On Spinner 193 86 By Locals 224 131 By Visitors 220 207 The average weights of these fish were as follows:
Salmon - 9.68 lbs Grilse - 3.9 lbs Sea-trout 2.31 lbs
You will note from the figures for 2007, that the average weight for salmon rose 0.38lbs and that the average weights for grilse and sea-trout were largely the same.
The percentage of fish returned in 2008 was as follows.
Salmon - 69% Grilse - 74% Sea-trout - 61%
The 2007 Season.
The declared sea-trout catch for the 2007 season has now been confirmed at 427. The number of salmon caught was identical to the 2006 figure at 272, however the reported grilse was down by 97 to 81.
The heaviest salmon of the 2007 season weighed 20 lbs - and there were two of them.
The heaviest sea-trout of the 2007 season weighed 7 lbs.
The heaviest brown-trout of the 2007 season was 68 cm long is estimated to have weighed 8 lbs.
Month Salmon/Grilse Sea-Trout Feb 0 0 Mar 6 0 Apr 21 5 May 83 75 Jun 65 176 Jul 52 87 Aug 63 50 Sep 63 34 Totals 353 427
The break-down of these numbers as is below:
Number caught salmon/grilse sea-trout On Fly 114 90 On Worm 109 176 On Spinner 130 161 By Locals 130 104 By Visitors 223 323 The percentage of fish returned to the water were as follows:
Salmon = 65% Grilse = 61% Sea-trout = 48 %
The average weights of fish were as follows:
Salmon = 9.3 lbs Grilse= 3.99 lbs Sea-trout= 2.48 lbs
The 2006 Season.
This terrific season consisted of 201 fishing days. February through to May provided generous water levels and only 11 days in those 4 months were below 6 inches. June to August were dry months with 64 fishing days under 6 inches. September saw good levels with only 11 days under 6 inches. Once again, September was the most productive month.
The total numbers of declared fish for the season were:
- Salmon: 269 fish with an average weight of 9.7 lbs
- Grilse: 180 fish with an average weight of 3.93 lbs
- Sea-Trout: 540 fish with an average weight of 2.31 lbs
The monthly distribution of catches is detailed below.
Month Salmon/Grilse Sea-Trout February 1 0 March 6 0 April 24 2 May 79 27 June 51 180 July 44 183 August 84 61 September 165 83 Totals 449 536 The break-down of these numbers is as below.
Number caught Salmon/Grilse Sea-Trout On Fly 162 232 On Worm 100 187 On Spinner 187 117 By Locals 178 300 By Visitors 271 236 The percentage of fish returned to the water were as follows:
Salmon - 67% Grilse - 62% Sea-Trout - 47 %
The average weights of these fish were as follows:
Salmon=9.7 lbs Grilse=3.93 lbs Sea-trout= 2.31 lbs
The 2005 Season.
The 2005 season consisted of 199 fishing days with July, August and September being particularly dry with low water. You will note that September was the most productive month.
The numbers of fish caught each month were as follows:
Month Salmon/Grilse Sea-Trout February 2 0 March 3 0 April 29 1 May 67 12 June 56 119 July 28 96 August 56 35 September 93 45 Totals 334 308 The break-down on these numbers is as follows.
Number caught Salmon/Grilse Sea-Trout On Fly 107 129 On Worm 57 106 On Spinner 170 73 By Locals 136 94 By Visitors 198 214 The percentages of fish returned to the river in 2005 were as follows:
salmon - 60.2 % grilse - 59 % sea-trout 25.3%
The average weights of all fish caught on our waters in 2005 were as follows:
Salmon - 10.39 pounds Grilse - 4.47 pounds Sea-trout - 2.37 pounds
Returns for 2004.
The numbers of fish caught each month were as follows:
Month Salmon/Grilse Sea-Trout February 0 0 March 16 0 April 40 4 May 53 19 June 92 129 July 27 85 August 57 37 September 85 34 Totals 370 308 The percentage of recorded fish returned to the river in 2004 were as follows:
Salmon 63% Grilse 67% Sea Trout 8%
An exceptional fish of 22lbs was taken in May 2004 by 12 year old Robert Shearer, a local Junior Member of the club. Just to prove that this was no fluke Robert popped back to the river in the evening and took a 7 pounder. Add to this the the 20lb salmon taken by Stan Hughes of Wolverhampton and a 19 and a half pounder in July by an other visitor and you can see that we had an exciting year!
Many of the fish caught that year were been double figure fish in stunning condition, the proverbial bars of silver with sea lice. These Spey fish are a sight for sore eyes, long full bodied fish with powerful tail, torpedoes, explosive on the end of your line.
Sea-trout numbers were good with the best fish being a 9lb specimen taken by Mr Campbell in Big Stream and a 7lb fish by John Regan in the Lurg.
Past Seasons.
Our simple statistics show that average salmon catch returns on the Spey at Grantown-on-Spey have remained consistent throughout the last 48 years whilst grilse and sea trout returns have been improving since 1981! We have analysed the catch returns from 1956 to 2003 and have represented them in graph form below. The graphs show the average catch per visitor on the basis of 5 year catch averages over the period.
The numbers confirm what we have been aware of for years. Catches of salmon, grilse and sea trout are as good as or better than ever. We no longer kill as many fish, 61% of salmon and 52% of grilse were returned in 2003, conservation of stocks remains of paramount importance to the Association, but we catch on average at least as many fish as in the ‘good old days’,
The only statistic that has declined significantly is the number of visitors, from a high of 3184 visitors in 1978 when an exceptional 728 fish were taken, to 366 visitors in 2003.
Salmon catches on the Association water have never been better than in recent years, the numbers of fish caught reflects not only the quality of the fishing but the quantity of fishing effort put in which is far lower than in the 1970’s. Simply stated, we have the fish but we do not have the rods out there fishing for them.
So what of the good old days of the seventies when fish were everywhere and ‘you could cross the river walking on backs of salmon’? There is no doubt about it there were more fish around in the seventies. Our best year was 1978 when a whopping 728 fish were recorded. It has been suggested that this freak ’78 return was a direct consequence of the poor runs of grilse in the heat wave summer of 1976. The belief is that these fish continued to over winter at sea returning two seasons later.
Doesn’t that massive ’78 result prove the case that fishing was better in the ‘old days’? Well hold on, there were 3187 visitor tickets issued in 1978, which works out at 0.23 fish per rod per week! Even in our drought year of 2003 we averaged 0.58 fish per rod per week, better than double the catch average in 1978.
This catch average improvement is borne out when we look at the top three catch average periods.
The top three catch averages occurred in the following years:
At Number 1: 1996 - 2000 when the average catch was .34 fish per rod.
At Number 2: 2001 - 2003 when the average catch was .32 fish per rod.
At Number 3: 1956 - 1960 when the average catch was .28 fish per rod.
It is true, the best 8 years out of the last 48 were from 1996 to 2003, which is amazing given that 2003 was a severe drought year, yet 366 rods took 214 fish (in 1976, 2094 rods took 168 fish).
Grilse.
As with the salmon statistics, the figures speak for themselves. 1996 to 2003 were the best years for grilse out of the last 48. Although grilse only represent about 25% of the total salmon catch they are a significant contributor to our summer sport.
Sea Trout.
1981 to 1993 were the best years for sea trout with 1985 showing a massive return of 1515 fish for the year, 0.76 fish per visitor rod. When you consider that sea trout fishing does not start until May and really kicks in from June and the fact that only a proportion of all of the rods fish for sea trout, the average catch per sea trout angler would have been significantly higher.
Isn’t it good to hear positive news about angling returns and prospects?
Good news or not let us pay regard to what we take from the river for the sake of the future. We continue to urge anglers to exercise restraint, take pleasure from your fishing and follow the guidelines that every second fish (first, third and so on) should be returned and all hen fish.
With exercised restraint, we will be able to continue to report good news from the Spey.
Salmon fishing in Scotland and the Spey in particular has not gone away; salmon fishing continues here on Speyside as strong and rewarding as ever, so does our Highland hospitality.
Come and join us, you will be made very welcome.
