So that’s it for the 2023 Brown Trout season.

River Devon

It’s been a far from classic season; for the second summer on the trot the Devon suffered from a prolonged drought making fishing on the river very frustrating for many anglers. Thankfully the rains and periodic spates of August and September flushed the river and brought it back to life. Anglers were reporting numerous catches (20+) last Saturday including some decent catches.

A couple of weeks ago Stevie Hodge caught his best trout on the season on the Devon, while fishing with a self-tied micro jig streamer in fairly murky water:

A clearly happy (and slightly shocked) angler though the hook of his streamer showed the signs of hard fight!

Despite the high water in recent there are little sign of salmon entering the river and as of Monday evening no reports of any catches.  Hopefully the spate during the week, the predicted rain for the weekend and the very high tides will encourage salmon into the river. There has been a pattern for the last couple of years of our salmon running very late in the season and into the closed season. The committee are monitoring the situation and we will wait with interest for the results of the annual Forth Rivers Trust electro-fishing surveys in the spawning burns. Certainly in late August we were aware of sea trout being caught.

Glenquey

At Glenquey had a pretty good summer considering the conditions:

June – 45 permits returned, 123 trout caught at an average of 8oz and largest being 1lb

July – 28 permits returned, 50 trout caught at an average of 12oz and largest being 4lb (caught by David Hartley and confirmed by a number of witness as a whopper!)

August – 45 permits returned, 72 trout caught at an average of 8oz and largest being 1.5lb

The lucky anglers winning a free day’s permit for submitting a Glenquey catch return were:

June – Robert King, Kinross

July – Peter White, Edinburgh

August – Gordon Dow, Powmill

Other news

Throughout the summer the work parties have been out and about strimming paths, supporting the Forth Rivers Trust by undertaking invasive species surveys, repairing stiles/gates etc. More recently they have being clearing fallen lumber and making sure that the river and burns are clear of any blockages preventing trout and salmon reaching their spawning grounds.

There are a number of projects underway being promoted by our partners the Forth Rivers Trust and The Crown Estate and supported by the Association. They are in various stages of development but include:

> Detailed feasibility studies on removing the weir at Dollar

> Discussions with Diaego and regulators on removing the weir at Cambus

> Working with landowners/tenants to prevent cattle getting in to the river around Taits Tomb

> Control of Invasive Non-Native Species (particularly Japanese Knotweed) – this project is funded and the Trust staff have been busy identifying and mapping invasive species.

Details of the Annual General Meeting will be published on the website as soon as arrangements are confirmed