End of Season 2024 Salmon Fishing Update

Closing of the Salmon Fishing Season in Scotland

The salmon fishing season has finally closed here in Scotland’s North East, on the River’s Findhorn, Spey and Aberdeenshire Dee.

A Superb Spring and Summer Season

It has been simply a superb salmon fishing season on my local river Findhorn throughout the Spring and Summer months, with decent amounts of rainfall, plus fantastic runs of multi sea winter Spring salmon running into the river throughout late March, April, May and into the middle of June.

Transition to Grilse and Summer Runs

Just as the Spring run was tailing off in the middle of June, the Grilse and Summer run salmon run were hard on their tails! Therefore as we moved through July and August, once again on the back of decent rainfall, the Summer run just kept on moving into the River Findhorn beats! It was truly heartening to witness these phenomenal runs of salmon and grilse, moving through the River Findhorn beats, almost daily, when river levels permitted.

September Weather Changes and Fishing Conditions

As we moved into early September, suddenly Summer decided it wasn’t quite over just yet and high pressure settled in over Scotland, offering very dry and rather hot conditions for the first couple of weeks on the month! However, the Altyre beats and all of the other Middle/Upper River Findhorn beats above were simply stuffed full of some very fresh and also many coloured resident salmon, which were bouncing around in every pool. However, these fish under these conditions were totally disinterested in any fly that was being offered, through these unprecedented September heat wave conditions!

Return of Rain and Fishing Challenges

Then by the middle of September, low pressure returned briefly bringing more heavy rainfall and strong winds to the North East of Scotland, with river levels going into a heavy spate over the following days. Needless to say, whilst the rain was most welcome, it brought with it some very dirty water conditions and so fly fishing conditions remained difficult until the water started to clear, slowly but surely! John Samuels managed to catch a slightly coloured cock fish of around 5lbs from the Garden pool on Altyre lower beat on September 14th. Then, another sudden return to high pressure and river levels fell away quickly throughout the following week and heat wave conditions returned with a vengeance!

Late September Fishing Highlights

Finally, as we moved into the last week of September, weather conditions changed once again with a return to low pressure and lashings of rain! By September 25th river levels were running at 2’9” on the Forres gauge but fell quickly overnight, and a couple of grilse were hooked from Palamore pool in the following days. On September 27th, as river levels continued to fall, fishing conditions improved and Charlie Newington-Bridges hooked a cracking seasonal coloured cock fish of around 15 lbs from the Soldier’s Hole on the upper beat. A little later on in the day, Alex Marland also hooked and released another cracking big cock fish of around 17lbs, from the top of Palamore island pool. This was his first River Findhorn salmon and indeed his first fish caught in the last 4 years! Just like most of my Findhorn guests, he went home a very happy man!

Conclusion: Reflecting on a Great Season

Finally, on the last day of the River Findhorn salmon fishing season, river levels had settled and were reading 9” on the Forres gauge. It was a classic Autumnal day, a little overcast with spells of sunshine throughout the day. Both of my guests, Alistair Foyers and David Johnstone enjoyed some great sport. Ali hooked and released two resident salmon of around 13 lbs and 8lbs both from Palamore pool on the upper beat. David Johnstone also hooked and released another fish of around 12 lbs from Palamore pool.

I hear that all of the salmon fisheries on the River Findhorn who subscribe to www.Fishpal.com enjoyed one of their best salmon fishing seasons, not seen for several years! I also believe from what I hear that most of Scotland’s North East rivers have all enjoyed some excellent fishing sport throughout the 2024 season.

So, that’s it and another great salmon fishing season comes to a close here in the North East of Scotland in Moray. These wonderful Atlantic salmon can now be left alone uninterrupted to carry on with their final journey and why they entered our rivers, over these last seven months, to spawn successfully and secure the future of our beloved salmon rivers here in the North East of Scotland.

Contact Information

Please do contact me as always at [email protected] for information on all of my fishing availabilities on the River Findhorn, Spey and Aberdeenshire Dee through the 2025 season.

Tight Lines,
Ian Neale.
www.speycaster.net