Conveners Reports for 2006 Season
MR PRESIDENT/FELLOW ANGLERS
YTHAN REPORT. 2006.
The Ythan fishing year started as usual, at Methlick. Fishing was quite good, finnock being present in greater numbers than we have seen in the last 10 – 15 years.By the end of March most of the fish had moved downstream.
Although our rules permit the retention of a small number of finnock, most, if not all of those caught, were returned. Sea trout fishing at the Machar Pool was very poor, the estuary as a whole had a similar experience.
That dedicated group of competition anglers who fished the September competition, as usual, managed to pick up a number of sea trout and finnock, when everyone else had given up the effort. Throughout the summer and early autumn the water levels remained dead low and it was not until the last few days of September that the rains came and the river rose.
This was just in time for the opening of our new beat at Ardlethen on 2nd October, and from then until the end of the month good catches of salmon were made. In the first couple of weeks at Ardlethen there were considerable numbers of coloured sea trout and some small finnock present; these quickly moved on as the good water level was sustained for the remainder of the season. As far as I could observe all coloured salmon, sea trout and also the finnock, were returned.
I look forward to fishing the Ardlethen beat for sea trout in 2007 – they should be there (given reasonable water levels) from July onwards. The novelty of the new fishings at Ardlethen was attracting the attention of Ythan anglers away from the Methlick beat. However the smaller than usual numbers of anglers who fished Methlick in October were quite successful.
Good wishes and tight lines for the coming season.
Alec Paterson.
WORKS REPORT. 2006
Following the decision of our maintenance contractor, Roy Ritchie, to retire, we had a very busy start to the year in putting together the detailed specification and documentation for the new maintenance contract.
This took far longer than either Iain Morrison and I had expected, mainly due to the difficulties experienced in getting the legal aspects of the contract agreed with our solicitors. Following interviews with several applicants, we finally appointed our new contractor, Martin Tosh, in mid May 2006.
At this point I would like to thank Roy Ritchie for delaying his planned retirement until our new contractor was appointed. Fortunately the production of the new maintenance maps detailing the grass cutting required for the various beats were complete before our new contractor commenced cutting at the beginning of June – this made the change over to the new contractor fairly straightforward.
In the maintenance contract document we had set a target for all grass cutting to be complete by early September – I am pleased to say this was achieved – except of course for Ardlethen, which was not included in the original workscope.
At the beginning of August the committee were advised that a qualified acceptance of our offer for the purchase of the Ardlethen fishings had been made.
This enabled us to carry out a detailed survey of the bank conditions and to prepare maintenance maps and drawings of stiles etc. In the third week of August I was given the go ahead to proceed with necessary work, with a view to the beat being available at the beginning of October.
Due to the efforts of our new contractor and also that we were able to cut much of the banks using a tractor mounted hedge cutter, the fishing was available to our members on 2nd October.
Just when I thought the maintenance situation was settling down, Martin Tosh, who had carried out an excellent job as our contractor, developed some health problems and advised us he would be unable to continue. We wish Martin well for the future.
As a result of Martin’s departure, maintenance works that had been programmed for the winter period are currently at a standstill. We are therefore once again, looking for a new self-employed maintenance contractor.
Thank you.
Alec Paterson. January 2007
2006 Annual Report for Loch Loirston
Fellow anglers, Ladies & Gentlemen.
The loch of Loirston has again become a very popular place for our members to cast a line, and season 2006 was no exception.
Session 2006 got off to a good start with some anglers keen to trying out the some new equipment along with some new fly patterns tied during the winter months, these anglers were well rewarded with some nice over wintered rainbow trout, and once the brown trout session started some nice sport was had.
As the months past and the weather improved anglers were rewarded with some good catches during early evening raises. Many anglers were also reporting some good seized brown trout that were being caught on the dry fly.
In season 2006 the Loch was again subject to the annual weed problem with some area’s suffering worse than others, but again in 2006 your committee had already agreed an action plan that would see year on year improvements.
Our new boat was put to the test again last season with Martin and the gang making excellent progress cutting the weed in the area’s that were worst effected.
During the summer attempts were made to cut and remove the weeds and clear some of the more popular fishing areas giving anglers a better chance of catching fish, I think we were successful according to the support we received from regulars at the loch.
You may have noticed in the 2006 season, that the trout in the loch were harder to catch again, this is because your stocking convener Dave Smith has sourced our supply of rainbow trout from a new supplier, this resulted in our members have some great days with super fit rainbow trout.
During the 2006 session we were witness to many of our members enjoying good sport at the loch, and many of our members practicing catch and release, this is an area I would ask you all to take part in as it becomes an even more popular form of angling in all our waters.
Thank you and tight lines in 2007
Kenny Riddell
Annual Report for the Kemnay Beat 2006
The season started with the river running low and with a lot of salmon kelts about and these were being caught in good numbers on both fly and spinner.However,there wasn't much sign of any fresh fish during the early week's of the season.
At the start of March we saw a significant amount of snow fall across the area making roads treacherous but the snow also coincided with the first signs of fresh run salmon and a handful of these fish were caught around this time despite the difficult angling conditions.
Fish were still in short supply and as March turned to April fish were still hard to come by even after the big water that followed a thaw at the end of the month. Indeed kelts were still being caught well into April but some beautiful fresh run sea-liced springers were being caught at this time averaging 7-10lbs in typical Don fashion.
Unfortunately water levels dropped away as the spring ended and turned to summer and this trend continued right through the summer making angling conditions very difficult this far upriver although trout anglers did have success especially the dedicated dry fly anglers fishing small and light tackle.
An occasional small rise in water in September brought an odd small grilse as well as some sea-trout which by now were colouring up quick and most were safely returned to the water to continue their journey upstream.
Into the first week of October and we at last got a decent rise of water which took a few days to clear and dropped quickly but a few salmon and grilse were landed mostly coloured fish which provided some most welcome sport after a very lean period.
Further rises in water continued throughout the later half of October and brought more fish into the beat although there were definitely far less fish about this backend than in recent seasons,perhaps the fish were less plentiful generally in the Don or maybe they were just less inclined to run this far upriver in any quantities?
Tight lines for season 2007 which is now only weeks away
George Boyne
Convener-Kemnay Beat
Cruives report – Season 2006
The season started with rivers at a good height with milder than average temperatures.
There was no signs of any fish in the lower part of the river. Only an odd angler was seen on the river and the only fish I heard of being caught was the odd kelt.
Water levels kept dropping and by the month of May the river was down to near summer level and just kept on dropping. At times during the summer months the river was running well below its usual summer level which did very little to encourage fish to make their way into the system.
The sea trout run just never arrived in 2006 – not at the Cruives anyway.
The grilse rum was very late in coming and again due to poor water levels only small numbers came into the river in dribs and drabs. Not only were numbers of fish small, the fish themselves were also very small with some in very thin condition. This problem has been reported in much of the east coast rivers during 2007.
During the early part of the season several large trees that had fallen into the river were removed. A new access stairway down the river bank was also completed on the North Bank upstream from the Grandholm footbridge The bank at Snuffies was also improved with stonework that had fallen into the river being recovered for this purpose.
Thanks to Dave Gordon and his associates for their help with this. In the course of doing the work at Snuffies, a relatively rare fish was discovered – a stone loach. This fish only survives in clean water which confirms that the water quality in the Don is good – despite our complaints about the discharge from the Persley Sewage Works.
Dippers, Herons and Kingfishers are now common sights on the Lower Don.
We had some problems with access via the former Donside Mill Site in late spring. One particular security guard was taking his duties a little too seriously and was taking the decision to deny access to our members – a decision that was way beyond his authority.
When this was brought to my attention it had a meeting with the Managing Director of the Company who had control of the site. It was pointed out that ADAA had a legal right of access across the site (a fact that they were aware of) and there were no further problems with access.
In the long term the site will be developed for housing and a permanent access to the riverbank will be maintained. If anyone does have any problems getting access at any time let me know and I will get something done about it.
The river levels remained very low throughout the summer and salmon fishing remained very poor.
Weed was a problem in some areas but was dealt with – some of it by members themselves.
Whilst elsewhere in Scotland we heard reports of floods etc the North East remained dry – the Don in particular. At times the pools appeared to be devoid of any fish.
The water levels did not improve until October and when it came it was all at once. The river rose rapidly with the result that any fish that came into the river went straight upstream and very few fish were reported for the beat. This continued right up to the end of the season.
2007 will certainly be remembered more for the lack of water and fish than for anything else. Is this what we will see in years ahead with global warming? Some say that the NE should experience higher than average rainfall as a result of global warming so we can only pray and hope that what we experienced in 2007 is not repeated in the season ahead.
All the best for season 2007
Bob Dey
Cruives Convener
Entertainment Convener's report 2006
Mr President, fellow anglers
If you don't already know Entertainments deals with the competitions and any social events required to be organised by the club.
I'm just going to briefly let you all know how the competition anglers performed, how effective any changes to the competitions have been and to let you know what is planned for the year ahead.
As usual we fished 10 senior club competitions, five on the rivers and five on lochs. These were well attended and the friendly rivalry and banter was as good as ever. It was a very hotly contested Championship this year and the prizes were well spread.
A few changes were made last year in order to provide a bit of variation and also to promote conservation where it was possible.
There were no migratory fish allowed to be killed in any of the competitions since the Don competitions were all staged on a Sunday. This also meant that for the Upper Parkhill and Fintray competitions the water didn't need to get closed for the day to other anglers, as in past years.
The competition at the Machar Pool was totally catch and release and the 24 fish that were landed certainly appreciated this new change.
Remember the competitions are open to all members and it's always nice to see new faces.
I must thank those members who help to stage the junior competitions and offer encouragement and advice to the youngsters. These kids represent the future of the club and should be assisted as much as possible.
Our representatives in the National competitions had mixed fortunes with the best being an individual third place in the SANA finals at Lake of Menteith.
I was extremely pleased that the club was successful in having two representatives qualifying through to the Scottish Rivers final hosted by the Association at Parkhill and Fintray.
I didn't do particularly well on the day but Richard McHattie came within one fish of qualifying for the Scotland River Team.
This is the first time the final has ever been staged in the north east and it was an opportunity we couldn't really refuse.
When we were approached to host the final there were many issues that had to be discussed before the committee finally agreed for the go ahead.
In summary the event was fished by 20 river fishers from all over Scotland. The event was totally catch and release. It was fished on a Sunday which meant no members were disadvantaged.
The feedback from the competitors was extremely positive: Great stretch of river, members couldn't have been more helpful during practice days, good quality fish, love to come back again.
The SANA organisers praised the support of the Association and were extremely impressed by the way the event went.
I'd personally like to thank Somers Tackle Shop for assisting the visiting competitors with directions and permits prior to the event and also the volunteers who turned up on the day to act as stewards and controllers to some of the anglers.
An additional bonus was the £450 raised from visitor permits purchased by competitors familiarising themselves with the water.
Once again we held a fun day at Loch Insch which was well attended. Another scorcher of a day that was enjoyed by all that came along. This really is a friendly noncompetitive outing which I recommend to anyone.
Looking forward to the year ahead, we're going to enter two juniors into the Scotland qualifiers for the Scotland Youth team for the first time.
There is also going to be a dinner and dance in early November to celebrate our 60 years as a club.
Lastly I'd like to wish you all good health and good sport in the season ahead.
Mike Cordiner
Entertainment Convener