The Devon Angling Association

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!

Apologies for the lack of news in recent months, in part driven by other commitments but certainly from my perspective the first months of the season on river to mid June were really slow.

River Devon

The river has been uniformly low for much of May and June, the only saving grace being the occasional additional release from Castlehill Reservoir when they have been running their hydro-electric plant. These general raise the level of the river by 10-15cm for a couple of days and does help clear some of the silt/algae that forms in the prolong dry spells.

In the early season there were a couple of reports of decent fish being caught by bait anglers of up to 4lb. It is only in recent weeks with a bit more cloud cover and rain things have improved. I finally began rising and catching decent trout with the dry flies (including a cracker of about 2.5lb. There have even been reports of Sea Trout splashing in pools …….. the sceptics find this surprising considering how low the river has been

Annual stocking has been completed: these fish have now moved away from where they were released and can still be found. One angler recently caught nine stocked fish in one session (all released).

Pollution incidents continue on the river; with the usual suspects reported once again to Sepa (Scottish Water’s Tillicoultry and Alva WTW). The new Coal Authority mine water treatment facility at Mains of Blairingone, below Vicars Bridge is causing concern as ochre is now finding its way to the river. The Coal Authority contractors are supposed to return this month to attempt to remedy this situation.

River Work Parties

Work Parties have been busy for the last few months attempting to clear vegetation to facilitate access to the river for angling. At this time of year I guess the work parties must feel that it is like painting the Forth Rail Bridge. Approximately six weeks ago they cleared routes through ‘Alva Airfield’ (around the B908) laready the jungle has quickly re-established itself. They have cleared around the ‘Alva Airfield’ , Balguharn, March Glen, Sheardale, The Haugh to Rackmill and Linnbank to Vicars Bridge. This benefits anglers (and dog walkers) access, has helped to reduce the extent of the Himalayan Balsam infestation and involves a huge amount of effort!

Glenquey

By contrast Glenquey has been in excellent form!

The regulars have been ‘busting a gut’ setting unofficial records. Donald MacGregor managed in one session to land 39 trout. Jim Milne by all accounts heading up on Sunday to try and top that …… he couldn’t quite manage to but still landed an impressive 30 trout. Neither will probably be able to keep up with the local Ospreys which once again can often be seen at Glenquey and the other local reservoirs.

Glenquey has benefitted from water at good height allowing full access to all banks. Access has been further enhanced by the sterling work of the work parties over the Winter/Spring who managed to open up access right along the north bank with the help of chainsaws and a huge amount of bloody hard graft!

In May there were 73 angler submitted returns showing 345 caught which represents an average of 4.72 trout/visit with an average weight 0.59lbs [prize winner from the submitted returns was from Sauchie]

In June there were 72 angler submitted returns showing 445 caught which represents an average of 6.18 trout/visit with an average weight 0.65lbs [prize winner from the submitted returns was from Alloa]

Interesting despite there being two modest stockings, a lot of the fish were overwintered or natural breeding stock.