The Devon Angling Association

The Devon Angling Association held it’s Annual General Meeting on 10th January 2017 at the Royal Arms, Tillicoultry and was attended by 17 members.

The DAA’s honorary secretary David Mudie provided a report on the fishery and the work of the Association through the 2016 season, noting:

• River Devon – 2016 was a fairly average season in part affected by prolonged periods with low rainfall. Good numbers of fish in the half-pound range were caught as well as larger fish (4lb +). The continuing lack of rain in the Autumn meant that yet again salmon fishing was very poor. Fish did enter the river and the DAA had carried out redd surveys on the main stem of the river and identified at least twenty redds
• Glenquey Reservoir – Glenquey was very well patronised in 2016 with 529 permits being sold; only twice in the last 30 years have there been more rods on the water. The improvements to the bank access on the north shore (thanks to a lot of hard work by  the work parties) and the reservoir being generally at a high level contributed to some very good fishing (which the local otters and ospreys enjoyed!). The new extension to the season at Glenquey did not encourage too many anglers out but the option remains for the Glenquey enthusiast.
• Crown Estate –  The DAA lease for the salmon lease has been renewed for the next five years. The DAA will be carefully watching the impact of the proposed changes in management of The Crown Estate in Scotland.
• Pollution July 2011 –  Fish Legal continue to represent the DAA in an action against Scottish Water but there is no word yet of a settlement in this dispute.
• Work Parties   These have been in action every week but the extraordinary growth of vegetation this summer proved a real challenge to keep paths/accesses clear. Some areas were strimmed up to four times but it proved impossible to keep all areas clear. David thanked on behalf of the members those who participate in this work and extended the thanks of the members to Alan Armstrong Jim McGuire for their continuing work as river bailiffs.He went on reiterate that every season ticket holder to be aware of illegal fishing or anglers without permits and take appropriate action. This could be direct or by telephoning the Forth Bailiff/Police.
• Salmon Conservation –  Although there have changes to the categories of certain Scottish rivers, the Devon has been retained as Category 3. This is understandable with the current sequence of poor catches and little proper evidence of salmon spawning (redd counts) and number of smolts produced. 
• Stocking  – The river and the reservoir were stocked on two occasions (once in April and once in June) with trout from Howietoun and placed in approximately equal numbers in the river and Glenquey.

Alan Armstrong (treasurer) reviewed the annual account which showed the DAA finances remain stable and healthy

Season Tickets and other permits for 2017 – it was agreed that permit prices will remain unchanged for the 2017 season; price of the trout ticket will have been the same (£17) since 2007 and the salmon ticket the same (£45) since 2010

Stocking – there was a very healthy debate the merits of stocking or otherwise of both the Reservoir and the River. Views expressed varied from no stocking at all, citing experiences gained when there had been periods such as the aftermath of the Castlehill pollution and the time when Howietoun could not supply, to increasing the numbers of fish put in. Bearing in mind the need to sell tickets, the general feeling was that some stocking would probably have to take place. Another factor is the requirement to stock triploid fish which may be more damaging to fish eggs and alevins in the winter period when these fish continue to feed. It was agreed by the members present that the matter be remitted back to the Committee for a final decision. It seems likely from what has been said that stocking for 2017 will be broadly similar to 2016 but is likely to come under review thereafter.

Next AGM will be held on Tuesday 9^th January 2018 [details will be uploaded to the website]

With only one more sea trout/salmon fishing day to go, the Devon Angling Association 2016 is almost over.

The end of the Glenquey season this year was extended from its traditional 30th September finish to the statutory end date of the 6th October. A number of anglers took advantage and were still catching:

A late 2016 season brownie from Glenquey [caught by Alan Graham]

Catch returns for September and up to the 6th October showed 37 anglers submitting catch returns showing they caught 145 trout at average 0.65lb and each angler catching a mean 3.9 trout/visit.

We very much appreciate the time taken by anglers in posting their catch returns to the box  and we extend our thanks particularly as this season we have had 328 catch returns  compared with 263 in 2015.

Brown trout fishing on the river came to end on Thursday 6th October and was met with cold gusty easterly winds. I shared the Fossoway beat with a single other angler for a difficult afternoon of fishing. I lost a decent fish, frustratingly almost at the net, but at least didn’t blank as I managed a few wee trout on a parachute adams

Fishing wasn’t the greatest but the scenery made up for it!

A couple of moderate spates, combined with high tides have brought salmon and sea trout into the river in the last few weeks. Apart from the illegal caught salmon from Taits Tomb reported in September I am aware of only one Salmon being reported caught (though I am confident that a few of the river’s more canny anglers will have had success ……. we will find out in the newt couple of weeks as catch returns come in). Interestingly we have had several reports of Sea Trout being caught:

Sea trout caught 6 October [caught by Alan Graham]

Significantly sea trout were seen running on Thursday, where Alan Graham caught two and lost another very fresh fish; yet when I fished the same area on Friday I drew a complete blank (nothing surprising there).  Now I could (and should) blame my lack of angling skill but there was a significant difference between the two days and is a new phenomenon on the Devon.

This year Scottish Water have began generating hydro-electric power at Castlehill Reservoir. When generating they are releasing significantly more water than the standard compensation flows. This is the SEPA gauge reading from yesterday:

By the time I was fishing on Friday afternoon the flow from the headwaters had reduced as they had stopped generating during Thursday afternoon and didn’t resume until Friday afternoon. Time will tell as to the impact on the fishery of this generation activity? There are a lot of factors at play:

• Routine ‘freshlets’ over and above the compensation flow may be beneficial in cleaning the river (algae/silt) and encourage migratory fish into the river in the right tidal conditions
• Management of water in the Glendevon reservoirs for electricity generation over and above Scottish Water’s duty to provide water supplies could have an impact on the spates which are critical to encouraging migratory fish into the river and improving the riparian morphology
• The impact of regular releases of cold water from reservoir

No doubt anglers will be out in hope rather than expectation on Monday to bring the season to a close ………. hopefully at least one angler will get lucky!