[Steven Sinclair]

Morning folks,

I'm just wondering if I'm alone in this...

With the way things have been this season across the country in regards to returning salmon numbers. I am now at the point where I am strongly considering stopping fishing for salmon (never thought I'd ever pen those words).

Year on year i spend a small fortune chasing silver tourists and I've now reached the point where I just can't justify the spend given the very limited return for my efforts.

For now I will not be booking any beats and will concentrate on my local angling club waters but even then its more a case of casting practise than anything else.

It's a sad state of affairs and whilst I would love the situation to change for the better I just dont have the answer and I cant personally see it happening either.

I could genuinely cry!

Steven.

[Bob Mitchell]

Know how you feel. The trouble for me would be that it is the anglers eyes that spot and report things like pollution / poaching and other problems
I can not see it getting any better but hope i am wrong. Do not know what is going on in the sea but there is plenty we could do in the rivers. When i started fishing 70 plus years ago we would go out and clean out the spawning burns and take care of other problems. Now most of the fishers just pay and fish with no further interest in the water or its soundings,
Bob.

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Steven 

You are not alone I'm afraid 

I have received quite a lot of emails from salmon anglers asking for advice about gear because they are looking at moving to trout fishing.

[Steven Kidd]

I have found I catch more Salmon when fishing for Trout.......and no Salmon when actually trying fishing a DH and Salmon flies.............so maybe fishing for Trout is indeed the answer to catching more Salmon, 

Steven

[Steven Sinclair]

Know how you feel. The trouble for me would be that it is the anglers eyes that spot and report things like pollution / poaching and other problems
I can not see it getting any better but hope i am wrong. Do not know what is going on in the sea but there is plenty we could do in the rivers. When i started fishing 70 plus years ago we would go out and clean out the spawning burns and take care of other problems. Now most of the fishers just pay and fish with no further interest in the water or its soundings,
Bob.

Bob,

I wholeheartedly agree that a lot more could be done on land (I fear that whatever problems are at sea will not be rectified).

"When I were a lad" we had teams of keen fisherman who would gladly go and ensure that spawning burns were free from obstruction for migrating fish but alas of late it has only been myself and a good old friend of mine who have taken the time to do it 😔

Whilst I may well be hanging up my d/handers I will sure as shit still be trout fishing, walking the banks and keeping a keen eye on pollution/Feb issues etc.

I really do hope things can bounce back but my optimism is dwindling rapidly.

🍻

Steven.

[Steven Sinclair]

I have found I catch more Salmon when fishing for Trout.......and no Salmon when actually trying fishing a DH and Salmon flies.............so maybe fishing for Trout is indeed the answer to catching more Salmon, 

Steven

Haha I think I'll stick to high stick nymphing. That will cover me for both bases 😅

On a side note. I was in your office today. Matt bouchett mentioned your name as I (as always) began yapping about fishing to anyone that's willing to listen 😅

Cheers,

Steven.

[Steven Kidd]

Ha......yes I sit just around the corner Steven, And remarkably I am even in the office today......

There have been a few reports of you dishing out flies on your visits to Ithaca as well...........



Next time, come say hello.

Steven

[Steven Sinclair]

Ha......yes I sit just around the corner Steven, And remarkably I am even in the office today......

There have been a few reports of you dishing out flies on your visits to Ithaca as well...........



Next time, come say hello.

Steven

Haha I must remind Frazer to keep such things quiet 😅

Cool I'll swing past next time I'm in 👍 don't suppose you're the same Skid from eastsidevw days 🤔 if so we did cross paths MANY moons ago 👍

🍻

Steven.

[Steven Kidd]

Nope thats not me Steven.....

I was a Peugeot guy back in the Boy Racer 90s.



Steven

[James Laraway]

205 GTi ?

Nope thats not me Steven.....

I was a Peugeot guy back in the Boy Racer 90s.



Steven

[Steven Sinclair]

205 GTi ?

I had a minter of a Diablo red 106 gti. Its right up there with my mk1 golf gti in my list of cars I should never have sold...

Cheers,

Steven

[Steven Kidd]

1.6 GTi...............with an Mi16 engine and twin 45s.....



Steven

[Steven Sinclair]

1.6 GTi...............with an Mi16 engine and twin 45s.....



Steven

Throw a dimma body kit on that and you'd have one of my favourite motors. Absolutely love wee French hatchbacks. Only got rid of a clio 182 about 18 months ago.

For back road hooliganism the French have it covered 😎

Cheers,

Steven.

[Eddie Sinclair]

I already told Steven a wee while ago that I am not fishing for salmon anymore.

I just think that the numbers retuning to our rivers don’t make it viable for me to harass an ever decreasing population. This was not an easy decision to make as I have access to some nice water so this was not based on cost.

I will of course carry on fishing the locus and rivers for our fantastic wild brown trout.

I am certain that many people will be coming to the same conclusion.

I can’t see this turning around in my lifetime but hopefully the scientists and the riparian owners can fix the current state of affairs for the younger anglers and future generations of anglers.

Eddie

[Dave Robb]

According to Fishpal, 2 salmon recorded so far this week (4 days) on the Dee.

I’ll stick to to the trout,

[Steven Sinclair]

According to Fishpal, 2 salmon recorded so far this week (4 days) on the Dee.

I’ll stick to to the trout,

Dave,

It'd not just the Dee either...

Cheers,

Steven.

[Graham Nicol]

I stopped salmon fishing 2 years back seeing the writing on the wall.
I found it so disheartening fishing day after day, seeing and touching nothing.  What particularly irritated me was paying over the top money to turn up at a beat and to be met by the ghillie saying "you're wasting your time and should have stayed at home"!
Less than 10 years back I had a day on Bandley with with my fishing mate in the back-end. At lunchtime we met up and he had landed 5 fish and I had touched nothing! In the afternoon the tables were reversed and I had 5 and he blanked. Nevertheless 10 salmon to 2 rods on a middle Don beat was incredible. Many beats will not achieve that for the season now. Troubled times indeed.

[James Laraway]

Mi16 engine 

My first motor was the 1.9 205 GTi, in red of course 

Loved that car.....until I smashed it into a tree, backwards, a few feet off the ground, at what may (or may not !) have been above the speed limit...

1.6 GTi...............with an Mi16 engine and twin 45s.....



Steven

[James Laraway]

when i started fishing for salmon on the Don (about 2008) the river was heaving with fish in sept and oct. You'd be disappointed if you didn't catch something for your days effort - and that was on the council beat at kintore.

Even if you didn't catch there were constantly fish splashing which kept up the excitement and anticipation.

I think it was about 2012-ish that i noticed things going downhill on the Don.

The Dee seemed to do better ( but i didnt really fish it as i preferred the Don)

Now i will go if i get an invite to fish a nice beat that I have never been to before. I don't have any anticipation of actually catching anything , it's more for the company.

Even the Nairn which has faired very well ( i suspect the annual catch is WAY above many much bigger rivers) had been crippled for the last 2 years with a lack of rain....

[Steven Kidd]

Well.....I was out last night on the river......and I can assure you there are plenty Salmon....

I may share for a small fee, 

Steven

[John Wastle]

In the last 10 years I have gone from 50+ days , a combination of lets, syndicate and club fishing, to almost nothing. The last Dee fishing I did was in spring 2016 after years of decline of spring runs. Currently the whole river reports less in a prime spring weeks than our six rods were doing over two beats for the equivalent weeks in the 2000s.

The autumn fishing on the Tay and Tweed is as bad with barely a fresh fish to be seen.

There are only 3 or 4 Scottish rivers I would consider a (late) spring let on and all of them are north of Inverness and highly water dependent. There are none I would take autumn fishing on.

These days any salmon fishing I do tends to be as a byproduct of being on the river for trout. It's a sad situation but I can't say I really miss it that much. I have used it as an oppotunity to broaden my horizons.

[Terry Coging]

I was saddened to read Stephens first posting. I hung my salmon d/hander up 30 years ago. I fished regularly on the Herefordshire Wye.  When I first started  our beat produced 70 fish including some whopping springers. 10 years later in produced 4! I realised that salmon were an endangered species and gave up.
Although I have not fished for salmon in Scotland for 40 years, when visiting the Assynt region and passing over the Cassley and Oykel I often think of the old days when a bit of rain later in the season would guarantee a fish or two. I used to read Neil Greasser's (he used to keep the Achness Hotel) catch reports in Salmon and Trout magazine and the returns used to kept me dreaming for for most of the year. The last few times that I've passed these rivers they could have been walked across in street shoes.
Interestingly, I have returned to the d/hander but for trout  .

[Alex Russell]

Aye salmon in a sad state, anglers have cancelled, hotels, b&bs struggling. Am just home went to look at the Findhorn sat for an hour or so looking at the river, nothing showing rain forecast Monday but way things are I might not bother wetting a line.

[Hamish Young]

Interesting thread.
With the river conditions the way they are I have not cast a line for a Salmon since early May. In fact, I have yet to book/arrange any fishing for the rest of the season. I doubt if I will 'retire' from Salmon fishing and hang up the rods for good, but my days out will be far fewer.
Besides, I need to get back to my trout fishing - and bass, and pollock and pike and.... well... you get the idea.
H

[Mike Barrio]

I can remember similar thoughts in the 90s - and anybody that hung up their rods then would have missed out on the runs of 2008-2010.

Dunno what the answer is Steven 


Annual Salmon Catches Inverurie Burgh Fishings: