Latest News.
Quick Update - 10:05 hrs, Friday 9th May 2008.
I don't really know how to put this - no salmon or sea-trout have been declared on our water since the 1st of May! Salmon are being caught below our water - perhaps it's been just too hot for our anglers!
We have enjoyed a very pleasant week with temperatures reaching 24°C yesterday. It's beautiful just now but it may cloud over with a possibility of some light rain tonight and perhaps tomorrow too, however, it's to remain warm. The river level is at 11.5 inches this morning and the water temperature is at 10°C, or 49°f in old money!
If you're heading up to Grantown this weekend, have a pleasant journey and tight lines.
Updated : 15:00, Tuesday 6th May 2008.
I wrongly imagined that I would have lots of news to tell you about today - I'm afraid that only one salmon has been declared since my last report. No sea-trout have been declared.
The lower beats are catching salmon!
We have enjoyed quite a pleasant weekend with warm sunny weather yesterday and today. It is forecast to continue like this for the rest of the week. Of course, this warm weather has been melting the snow on the hills and keeping the river level a little high - it's currently at 1 foot 5 inches. The water temperature has also risen and today stands at 49°f.
Speaking of the snow on the hills; the skiing season finished yesterday on Cairngorm. There is still a reasonable amount of snow up there but what's left is melting fast. You can see it on the Cairngorm webcam link, below.
Hopefully, I'll have some better news for my next report!
Remember that you can check the present river height and recent catches with the links further down this page.
For those of you who are looking for your other favourite photos, I have moved them to a new photo galley.
Best wishes,
Jimmy Mitchell
Click on the above links for information from FishSpey.
Click the weather symbol for the BBC 5 day forecast for Grantown.
Click the map for a 24 hour radar view of Scotland's weather from the BBC.
Click the Cairngorm Mountain link to see the current weather on Cairngorm Mountain's 3 web-cams.
We have our own A3 full colour glossy brochure which contains a detailed map of our fishings, lots of photos and other information. If you would like to have your own copy or are just interested in fishing our waters, please telephone Mortimer's Shop on 01479 872684 or use the contact us facility on this website to make this request. If you live locally, you can pop-in and pick one up.
Incidentally, there is no need to book your permit, just call into Mortimer's in Grantown's High Street and pick it up. To keep our costs down, it can only be paid for with cash or cheque.
Please read the important information, (below), about a parasitic fluke, Gyrodactlyus salaris.
Gyrodactlyus Salaris.
There is grave concern about a parasitic fluke, Gyrodactlyus salaris, (GS), which lives on freshwater fish. It is less than 1 mm long and is barely visible to the naked eye. It can be carried by brown trout, rainbow trout and other fish but is lethal to Scottish Salmon.
GS is native to rivers in Sweden, Finland and Russia where local salmon have evolved a resistance to the parasite. During the 1970's it was accidentally spread to rivers in Norway, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France and Portugal. The U.K. is currently GS free.
GS rapidly infests juvenile salmon causing mass mortality. In Norway, infected rivers lost 98% of their salmon within 5 years. Fishing in infected rivers becomes unfeasible due to lack of fish and restrictions on anglers' movements.
GS is most likely to be introduced to the U.K. by the movement of live fish from the continent. GS can survive for 5 to 7 days without a host, (fish), in damp conditions. The parasite could survive on wet angling clothing, nets, waders or other equipment or on canoes, rafts or boats.
Once a river is infected, all fish must be destroyed to remove potential hosts. The Spey could easily be infected by anglers carrying the parasite from infected countries on their damp clothing or equipment including waders and nets.
If you have fished or canoed on the continent, please, please take the following precautions before visiting the Spey.
- Dry equipment and clothing at 20 C or more for at least two days.
- Heat equipment and clothing to 60 C or more for at least one hour.
- Deep freeze equipment and clothing for at least one day.
- Immerse equipment and clothing for 10 minutes in any of the following treatments.
- Virkon (1%) : Wescodyne (1%) : Sodium Chloride (salt) (3%) : Sodium hydroxide (0.2 %).
You will be asked to declare yourself GS free before you fish on the Spey.
......and finally, some older news.
An interesting fact for you: did you know that through the Spey Fishery Board's salmon stock enhancement programme, over 2 million fry were placed into the Spey's tributaries in 2006. Over 250 000 of these were placed into tributaries of our own water!
An article from the Atlantic Salmon Trust deals with the catch and release policy and mortality rates of fish which have been released. It acknowledges that salmonoids are more susceptible to injury/damage than other fish when removed from water - if you can keep your fish in the water whilst removing the hook, the more likely it will be to survive.
Also, older style landing-nets with 'knotted' type nets are believed to harm fish in that they damage and remove scales. This leaves the fish prone to infection. So, if your other-half is treating you to a landing-net, make sure that it's of the 'knotless' type.