First Fish Of The Season

[MIK 4,756]

Plenty of fish entering with this much needed rain so hopefully get into a few more

[J Darcy 5,871]

Mik, is that typical size of river up there that produces? What # line do you use? 7? 8?....looks a nice water.

[MIK 4,756]

This is the North Esk which would be classed as a mid sized river probably the most productive river per rod fished in Scotland ....this is the first beat on the river called Kinnaber I run a syndicate, ghillie and do all the vermin control on it and im good friends with the manger and owner so have access to plenty fishing especially now the beat is up for sale as every fish caught adds around 7k to the value so the more fish the better ....it is a first class fly water .

I rarely use the double hander unless the water is up and keep the bigger rod for the bigger waters like the Tay and Dee I have a 11'3 sharps switch#7 I work the #7 airflow clear ridge floating and various intermetiates for when the water is really low and a more stealthy approach is needed it throws out a good line on a roll cast even with heavier flys .....I put on a floating airflow 40 plus#8 last year which is similar to a shooting head and has a longer head than the skandi set up I was using this line really works well with this rod and throws a big long line on the roll cast .

Im just away down for a look at the river but its a bit big but hopefully get a cast later on as im ghillieing for some lads that are up from downsouth and have sent them over to another River the South Esk that is fishable today as the water is not so big there .

get your self up for a cast anytime fannyboy Jo was up a few years ago but he got a bit star struck as I was ghillieing for a famous football player ....it was embarassing watching him get his pic taken and asking for an autograph and going on about he could of made it to the top if it wasnt for his gout

[MIK 4,756]

The only thing with the smaller set up is when you are into a big fish ...the fish is defo in control especaially when they get there nose into the harder water and there seem to be alot of big fish 20-30 pound in this season .

[J Darcy 5,871]

Is there a sea trout run? obviously a little later in the season...

[MIK 4,756]

There has been huge runs of seatrout around the 2-4lb mark and bigger this past few years and I think its down to what we call smolt shepherding for the past 3 years we have kept the sawbills off the water by shooting, flagging and gas guns during the smolt run this has made the birds very nervous so the minute they see someone there off we have just completed last week a sawbill cull through the SNH and shot 29 mergansers 26 goosanders and 20 cormorants now these birds would of taken huge numbers of finnock and smolts and this has surely been the reason for the improved sea trout runs .

a mate had a couple yesterday

Ive got a dog fox to deal with tonight or would of had a craic at the sea trout this evening

[bell 3,590]

There has been huge runs of seatrout around the 2-4lb mark and bigger this past few years and I think its down to what we call smolt shepherding for the past 3 years we have kept the sawbills off the water by shooting, flagging and gas guns during the smolt run this has made the birds very nervous so the minute they see someone there off we have just completed last week a sawbill cull through the SNH and shot 29 mergansers 26 goosanders and 20 cormorants now these birds would of taken huge numbers of finnock and smolts and this has surely been the reason for the improved sea trout runs .

a mate had a couple yesterday

10957184_436518556525856_7267297947033673913_n.jpg

Ive got a dog fox to deal with tonight or would of had a craic at the sea trout this evening

 

How many are you allowed to cull mate ?.........it just doesn't seem right that I can see cormorants flying about at just about the farthest point of the coast that you can get........madness.

[MIK 4,756]

You van kill whatever you want after May the first but I will only take fish that wont go back ie bleeding at the gills or have just fought that hard you know they wont survive ...I will keep the odd sea trout imo one of the best eating fish out there

[leegreen 2,150]

It's good to see great fish caught legitimately and know that there are fish put back for future of the sport.

Hats off to ya mate.

[bell 3,590]

You van kill whatever you want after May the first but I will only take fish that wont go back ie bleeding at the gills or have just fought that hard you know they wont survive ...I will keep the odd sea trout imo one of the best eating fish out there

 

Doh !.... I meant how many sawbills are you allowed to cull ??

[MIK 4,756]

 

You van kill whatever you want after May the first but I will only take fish that wont go back ie bleeding at the gills or have just fought that hard you know they wont survive ...I will keep the odd sea trout imo one of the best eating fish out there

Doh !.... I meant how many sawbills are you allowed to cull ??

 

We carried out a sawbill count in January and sent the results to the SNH and were allowed to cull 29 gooseanders 26 mergansers and 20 cormorants

[bell 3,590]

Who does the count then Mik ?, are SNH present and counting or do they rely on the figures you give them ?.........seems open to a bit of creative counting (not that you would do that obviously).....so with 60 birds killed, lets say they eat only 8 smoults a day(sure its going to be more) then that makes 13,500 smoults a month left to go to sea !!

 

Bell

[MIK 4,756]

2 years ago they sent students to do the count and they didnt know the differance between a mallard and a magpie so it was a bit of a waste of time ...this year the count was carried out by the lads that would be put on the cull license we were spread out from the mouth of the river to about 10 miles up stream and the count started at 8 am and we were all in contact with walkie talkies so the count was very accurate and all sightings were geographically documented and at what time .

Last season I was fishing and we had one bird to get on the quota I shot a male merganser and when the dog retrieved it ...it regurgitated a salmon parr we weighed the small fish and it was 7.8 grammes ...studies show that these birds need +- 300 gr of fish a day to survive .....now if you have 100 of these birds on you system and they take that amount of young fish a day 7 days a week 365 days a year I will let you do the maths that this a bigfactor in the decline in salmon numbers .

.

 

[bell 3,590]

Great pic mate, they really are efficient at what they do......it's a shame as they are stunning looking birds. But they are birds of the coast historically that belong on the coast and not on inland waterways.....but I guess man has had a hand in their change of preferred venue eh ?

Bell