Conveners Reports for 2007 Season
Netherdon season 2007
This will be a very brief report, on an absolutely dreadful season at Netherdon. During the months of February, March, April and May, there were no reports of any fish being caught at all. During a lot of this time, the river level was down to about summer level.
Then in early June the rains came and we were to endure our wettest summer on record. This, of course, had the effect on Netherdon, of putting the water level up to a height that ensured any would shoot straight through the beat.
Oddly enough there was a report of one grilse caught in June, water levels kept a good height in July with no reports of any fish being caught. Throughout August, water levels remained on the high side, reports of a few grilse, one sea trout and a number of Finnock being caught.
Into September and the water level beginning to drop slightly, with reports of a couple of salmon, one grilse and some salmon being caught. October saw the water levels dropping considerably, with very few fish being caught. In fact, only one salmon and three grilse were reported. Surprisingly, throughout the season, on the entire system of the river Don, there were very few sea trout or Finnock caught. Certainly at Netherdon, it must rank as one of the worst seasons ever. But despite that I am sure we are all looking forward to the coming season. Tight lines for season 2008
Cruives Fishings Season 2007
The opening day of the season saw the river in full flood with the river about 6ft above summer level and completely unfishable. It was several weeks until the river settled to a level suited to fishing.
On my visits to the river I never met a single angler and only heard through the grapevine of a couple of kelts being taken. No spring fish were taken to my knowledge.
Late May saw the river in ideal condition for the expected sea trout run but once again the weather played a hand and heavy rain saw the river rise once again to a very high level, making conditions for fishing impossible. Unfortunately the wet weather continued to affect the river throughout June. July and early August and as a result very few sea trout were reported . The river levels during the early summer months were exceptionally high due to the constant rainfall and as a result the fishing suffered.
In mid August grilse put in an appearance some 2 weeks later than normal but the second half of August and the whole of September saw some good numbers of grilse taken as well as some decent sized salmon. Catching these fish was very much determined by the times of the tide as the river at times was still running at a higher than usual level with fish not settling down in the pools and those being caught were running fish.
Unusually the month of October saw a lack of rainfall and sport slowed down. Still some fish were being taken but not in the numbers we have come to expect for this beat.
Vandalism was rife during 2007. The excellent seat donated for the top of Snuffies Pool was completely destroyed and landed up in the river – very disappointing. The black and yellow marker poles for the pool were also ripped out and again thrown into the river. When water levels dropped they were recovered but within a short time disappeared again.
Access into the former Donside Paper mill site was once again an issue. With completion of the demolition work the site was made secure and the security guards removed and we were faced with a locked gate. Eventually I was able to contact the new owners of the site – a housing corporation – and access was once again agreed with keys being supplied which were to be available from Somers on payment of a refundable deposit. The vandals however struck again and the padlocks were destroyed and had to be replaced. We had to get further keys for the new locks and everything went smoothly for remainder of the season. Just to remind members that our rights across the site is for pedestrian access only. Once the proposed housing development is completed however I anticipate there will probably be vehicular access down close to the river making access much easier. A new pathway is also in the pipeline coming upstream from Seaton Park as part of the City Council’s countryside pathways initiative.
2007 was far from being an ideal fishing season mainly due to the weather and for a change the complaint was of too much rather than as usual too little rain. Lets hope conditions for 2008 are better.
Robert Dey - Cruives Convener
Kemnay season 2007
Early season saw the water on the low side,there were plenty of kelts in evidence with a lot of these taken on fly and spinner but fresh fish were scarce and indeed i only heard of 3 fresh spring Salmon reported and 2 of these were said to be "doubtful" so its fair to say that the spring salmon fishing was a disaster this past season.Water remained low throughout the main spring period of April and May and Salmon fishing effort was as low as the water itself.
Trout fishing was fair with reasonable rises of trout some days but the next day fly life was scarce and surface activity very limited.
From late June right through July and much of August we saw consistently high water which should have encouraged Salmon and Sea- trout to run up to Kemnay but fish were scarce given the favourable water though no doubt fishing wasn't helped by the water being up and down almost every week and this coupled with the banks being overgrown meant catches were far from prolific and only a few fish were reported.
Unfortunately when the water did finally settle late in August it then remained on the low side for the majority of the rest of the season apart from one good lift of just over a foot in mid September which fell away very quickly and a couple of small rises at the end of September and the last weekend of October which stirred up one or two old fish to take but no significant run of fish appeared at Kemnay and the season ended on a quiet note.
Season 2007 will not be remembered as being anything other than a very poor year at Kemnay although it was hearting to see Salmon cutting redds in the 2nd weekend of November in the Bridge pool and hopefully these fish's prodigy will provide sport in the years to come.
We all look forward now to season 2008 and trying out new rods,reels,lines,flys and spinners.
Tight lines to one and all in the new season.
George Boyne
Convener-Kemnay Beat
DEE SEASON 2007
Opening day, Thursday 1st February, with the water level around the 2ft mark and the temperatures low, 3 or 4 members were out trying their luck, but the catch returns for that day were nil, not even a kelt to be seen.
By mid February water levels were now going up and down and at one point the level rose to about 8ft, this continued throughout February and March. As water levels started to drop in mid-April and early May there was lots of talk about another drought year ahead, if only… At the end of May the first fish, a sea trout, was reported from Banchory Devenick and just as it looked like the start of some good fishing conditions yet again the rain came and the water rose to over 4ft.
June is normally the start of our fishing season on the Dee with early runs of grilse and good runs of sea trout but by mid June water levels rose again and were up and down daily throughout June, July and August, all fish were just passing us by.
At the end of August and into early September the waters dropped to a better height for our beats but most fish had already passed upstream and very few fish were to be seen or caught. Those members who caught a fish or two had to work really hard for them, employing many tactics and changing lines and flies to tempt a fish. The most productive area this season was in the slacker water below the main Pump House pool on the North Bank, where long casting and hand lining the flies back to tempt a take.
This year will probably go down as one of the worst seasons ever for the ADAA but one of the best overall for the River Dee.
Stuart Fleming
Dee Convenor
MR PRESIDENT/FELLOW ANGLERS
YTHAN REPORT. 2007.
The Ythan fishing year opened on 11th February with severe flooding that made fishing impossible for a period.
Unlike Spring 2006 when good numbers of finnock were caught at Methlick, 2007 finnock fishing was generally poor, although a couple of our members caught several in late March, when most of us thought they had dropped down to the sea.
Of all the finnock caught throughout our beats on the Ythan, some 97% were returned to the river, a considerable change from 10 years ago when the return rate was 46%
Very few people fished Ardlethen in the spring and there is no record of salmon or finnock being caught at that time.
There were however a few clean salmon caught upstream of Ardlethen in April – I, for one, will certainly have a try for salmon in spring, this coming season.
The almost continuous rainfall from the third week in June until the end of July, and extensive flooding of the Ythan on the 6th August seems to have attracted the sea trout upstream much earlier than normal, and as a consequence none of our beats did well for that species.
The dedicated group of anglers who fished the September Machar Pool competition, managed to pick up a number of sea trout and finnock.
Salmon and grilse appeared in good numbers at Ardlethen at the beginning of September until the end of the season, nearly all fresh silver fish, over 70 were landed.
For our beats on the Ythan the return rates for salmon and grilse was 64% and for sea trout, 78%.
The lower half of Ardlethen was badly affected by ranunculus this year, however thanks to volunteers Nicky, John and Co, who also carried out grass cutting here when the maintenance contract failed, this was largely removed before the salmon run reached it’s peak.
Good wishes and tight lines for the coming season.
Alec Paterson.
Loch of Loirston 2007
I'm sure you'll all agree it was a poor year at the loch with a severe weed problem right from the start of the season. There were many efforts made by myself and most of the regular loch anglers to clear the weeds from the loch , but this didn't seem to be enough to cope with the growing problem. But all was not lost with some good hatches of pond olives, the wild browns and over wintered rainbows were reacting to the correct methods and some anglers were enjoying some good sport. The level of the loch was higher then usual for most of the season due to the wet summer, which pushed the stocked fish into areas they would'nt normally be found, this was providing some good challenging fishing which caught out many anglers.
The usual haunts at the loch were far from fishless with the lack of rainbows these areas were full of the lochs wild brown trout in the 8" -10" region with the odd 12" fish amongst them. I feel this is a good sign for the loch and would encourage safe return of these fish in the future.
With fairly poor fishing over the summer months for most, I had been fishing the loch in November and December when the weed started dying back. I would'nt normally fish the loch at this time of year with the fly, but I had some good sport and would encourage fellow anglers to fish early spring before the first stocking for some over wintered fish.
On the 14th August we were advised by Aberdeen city council,s Environmental services that the loch had once again been hit by Blue Green Algae, the council's advise was clear, and your committee swung into action with signs placed at the loch advising anglers not to eat any fish caught, but to fish catch & release until further information that these conditions had subsided.
As Convener for the Loch of Loirston and a regular angler for many years it was very disappointing to see the loch the way it was last year. We must look forward to the 2008 Season and hopefully with a new and competent works contractor and maintenance plan that I am currently working on, so I hope it will be back to business as usual in season 2008
I would like to hear of any positive ideas for the loch, so that I can in turn put these to the Committee for consideration. I can be contacted by my e-mail which can be found on the ADAA website.
I wish you all tight lines for 2008.
Richard McHattie
Following on from Richards report I would like to say a bit more about the Blue Green Algae problem.
In terms of attempting to sort out the problem this year it is the intention to use barley straw as in previous years.
The main problem identified last year was that the contractor appointed in 2007 did not use the same method as previous years. He is no longer our contractor.
The loch convenor, Richard McHattie, & works convenor, Alec Paterson have guidance notes provided by the Council. We have also received guidance from contacts Kenny Riddell & Bob Dey have. We are also close to the point of appointing a new contractor for 2008. The use of barley straw there will be one of his top priorities.
As far as the policy on the eating of the fish was concerned the Committee thought long & hard & considered the often conflicting scientific advice available. One common theme was that potential health problems associated with consuming fish from waters affected by algae bloom diminishes as the bloom wears off.
I did contact a person recommended to me at RGU regarding a study into this & she was very positive & helpful, however this was ruled out as it was felt this would be too time-consuming to organise and potentially expensive.
On the basis of all the above the Committee agreed to remove the catch & release arrangement at its meeting on 7 January.
We are led to believe the fish are now safe to eat but based on the advice taken we cannot absolutely guarantee the safety of fish for eating and that it is therefore up to the individual to decide for themselves.
Paul Toseland.
AGM 2007 Information --Here