Spey Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

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Recent salmon and sea trout catch statistics for the Strathspey Angling Improvement Association water of the River Spey at Grantown on Spey

by John Gray

The River Spey is justly renowned for the quality of its salmon fishing, the lower fifty miles or so below Grantown on Spey characterised by mile upon mile of some of the most sought after fly fishing water in the world. Famous beats such as Castle Grant, Tulchan, Ballindalloch, Pitchroy, Phones, Knockando, Carron, Wester Elchies, Craigellachie, Arndilly, Rothes & Aitkenway, Delfur, Orton, Brae and Gordon Castle produce the bulk of the total Spey salmon rod catch of around 10,000 fish per annum. The sea trout of the Spey are often overlooked by those paying to fish those superb beats, overshadowed in the grand scheme of things by their cousin, the King of fish. Nevertheless, although catches in recent years have declined somewhat, the river Spey still offers some of the best sea trout fishing in Scotland. Interestingly, the best of the sea trout fishing is generally to be found in the top half of the river, in the upper Spey above Grantown, and much of it on water managed by angling associations, in particular the Strathspey Angling Improvement Association, with seven miles of the Spey above and below Grantown (along with twelve miles of the River Dulnain) and the Abernethy Angling Association, with some excellent sea trout water above and below Boat of Garten. Each will no doubt claim to have the best sea trout fishing on the whole of the Spey, and with some justification.

To illustrate the potential of these association waters, I provide below some statistics, gathered from the recent records of the Strathspey Angling Improvement Association , showing salmon and sea trout catches from 2004 to 2009 on the association water.

Salmon (including grilse) Rod Catches on the SAIA Water, Grantown 2004 - 2009

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	average
Feb	-	2	1	-	-	-	0.5
Mar	16	3	6	6	10	9	8
Apr	40	29	24	21	14	24	25
May	53	67	79	83	74	54	68
June	92	56	51	65	110	88	77
July	27	28	44	52	51	44	41
Aug	57	56	84	63	91	59	68
Sept	85	93	165	63	94	49	92
total	370	334	454	353	444	327	380

Sea Trout Rod Catches on the SAIA water, Grantown 2004 - 2009

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	average
Feb	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Mar	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	4	1	2	5	7	2	4
May	19	12	27	75	11	23	28
June	129	119	180	176	150	118	145
July	85	96	183	87	90	39	97
Aug	37	35	61	50	61	55	50
Sept	34	45	83	34	19	26	40
total	308	308	536	427	338	263	363

Method of Angling - Salmon

	2005	2006	2007	2008	total	%
Fly	107	162	114	155	538	32%
Worm	57	100	109	196	462	28%
Spin	170	187	130	193	680	40%

Method of Angling - Sea Trout

	2005	2006	2007	2008	total	%
Fly	129	232	90	75	526	33%
Worm	106	187	176	177	646	40%
Spin	73	117	161	86	437	27%

Percentage of fish returned

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Salmon	63%	60%	67%	65%	69%
Grilse	67%	59%	62%	61%	74%
Sea Trout	8%	25%	47%	48%	61%

Note: Approximately 40% of salmon and sea trout on the Grantown Association waters are generally caught by local members, the remaining 60% taken by visiting anglers.