River Findhorn Salmon Fishing Season Review 2018
This is my 2018 season review — part of my archive series drawing together the original week-by-week fishing reports from the River Findhorn into one record of the year. And what a year of extremes it was: from the “Beast from the East” to one of the longest, driest summers in memory.
The Beast from the East
The season opened on February 12th on the Rivers Spey and Findhorn, and while the Altyre and Darnaway beats gave up good numbers of well-mended kelts — always an encouraging sign of a successful spawning winter — the opening month produced no fresh fish. Then, just as the big spring tides should have brought the first early run, the Beast from the East arrived with a vengeance. Heavy snow across the Highlands, freezing overnight temperatures, and the Findhorn transformed into a winter wonderland of snow and ice, with river levels falling dramatically.
The thaw came slowly through mid-March, and with it the first encouraging news — a fresh fish hooked and lost on the Forres Angling water, and word of a 20-pounder landed on the Home Beat at Darnaway. The spring fish were moving at last, even if they made us wait.
Spring Arrives in April
Snow-melt kept the river topped up through April. On April 16th, local angler Alisdair Ker hooked and released his first spring salmon of the season — a cracking sea-liced fish of around 8 lbs. from the Roan Pool. Three days later, Alistair Foyers from Cawdor followed with a 10-pounder from the Tail of Meads on a ½” Monkey tube fly.
It was also a pleasure to welcome back old friend Lukasz Materek with his sons Maks and Ben, both becoming extremely proficient Spey casters, and to introduce Icelandic anglers Halli Eirickson and Jon Jonsson to the Findhorn for the first time later in the month.
The Long, Dry Summer
June opened with an early heatwave, and by June 8th the river was down to just 2″ on the Forres gauge. Persistence paid off for David Phillips, who released a lovely fresh grilse of around 4 lbs. from the Roan Pool on a small Temple Dog double — a hard-earned fish after a week of watching runners push through without taking.
The drought held through July and August, with big numbers of fresh salmon and grilse building in the lower river on every spring tide, waiting for water. There was still sport to be had for those who adapted. On July 18th, fishing the Scur Pool with a small hitched tube, I watched a grilse pop its nose up in the white water and take the fly hard — a lively sea-liced fish of around 3 lbs. that gave a fine account of itself on my 11′ switch rod. Fishing the riffled hitch in low summer water is about as visual and exciting as salmon fishing gets.
September Water at Last
When the September rains finally arrived, the fishing turned on quickly — between spates. On September 8th I released a small grilse from the Roan on a Willie Dog tube; two days later the river rose more than three feet in five minutes, ending the day early (time for a dram). The best of it came on September 13th as the water cleared: three grilse of around 5, 4 and 4 lbs. from the Scur Pool, Williams Run and the tail of Soldier’s Hole — the backed-up summer fish finally spreading through the beats to close out a season of remarkable extremes.
If you fancy testing yourself against seasons like this one, my guided salmon fishing days on the River Findhorn cover all of these pools — or get in touch to plan a trip.
