The high waters continued throughout October and for the best part of the river angling was ruined as fish strangely seemed to hold in the lower beats below the A9.  Downstream, angling seemed to go on much as normal and stories of anglers with good individual catches filtered through. I know of one angler who caught in excess of 4 fish a day on fly on several occasions, his best at 44inches and many at 20lb+

So the river appeared in good health, there was just no answer to why the middle and upper beats struggled while the lower beats prospered. There was simply no rhyme or reason!!

From Lochlane, John Young remained upbeat. He reports “with almost constant rain and fluctuating hydro levels the conditions were to say the least against us, however, anglers were out in force and those fishing  managed to land a few, Tom from the Ritchie party managed three one from Lairds Flats of 10lbs and two from Dallerie 15lbs and 9lbs, all were returned, the Alwen party landed a few of these R Alwen had one at 12lb on the fly at the flats, G Digweed had one of 12lb on fly, and his wife Kate had one of 10lbs all were returned, P Barnes had one of 9lb on fly on his second ever day fishing, G Wigginton had a fish on fly of 7lb at the Pipeline while his son Lawrence had one from the Flats of 71/2lbs from lairds, D. Roe had a lovely 14lber on fly from the Sands all were returned .J Isherwood had eight for his week all on fly 22lber from the boat pool, 20lber from flats, 15lbs and an 8lbr from Boggywood which was the smallest he had all week, Bill Milsom had two for his day 7lb and 6lb on fly in the bridge run and finally W Heath had his first ever fly caught fish of 15lb from little Dallerie which he returned. Roll on next season !!!”

 At Coquhalzie, Colin Lowson reported; “Innerpeffray continued to be dogged by very high water and small numbers of fish kept going through the beat.  This was good for the fish but not the fisherman.  However if caught some were very fresh and a number of large fish once again appeared highlighted by John Gillies’s estimated 27lb bar of silver caught after a 40 minute tussle on a conehead fly (on REIA website www.riverearn.org.uk ) John Robertson had a fish of 20lb.  All in all there were over 7 fish of over 15lb but numbers were well down on last year.  Jim Crawford caught his first fish at 15lb after years of trying.”

I spent a wonderfully entertaining day on this beat in the company of Colin Lowson and weel kent ace angler and raconteur David Sommerville.  David, ably assisted by John Gillies who was ghillie for the day, didn’t disappoint with a nice fish of 15lbs early on fly. We lesser mortals could not aspire to the standard set by David and blanked much to the huge disappointment of mine host Colin. However, this was soon soothed by the attention of the many servants constantly serving up a sumptuous steak lunch washed down by a selection of the finest wines and malts.  A huge thank you goes to Colin, however , its back to auld clathes and parritch for me.

Further downstream, numbers again were down but interestingly, big fish featured prominently in Sandys report as follows; “At Kinkell, October continued wet and miserable with heavy rain resulting in frequent floods and turbid water. However, in the brief periods when conditions allowed some good fishing was enjoyed with several above-average specimens coming to hand. At least a dozen fish of 20lb or over were landed in the month, prominent amongst which were Murray Dunan's 20lb and 25lb fish.These were hooked with almost successive casts in Napiers to a size 6 Dusty Miller single.  One of the captures took line 500 metres downstream before being landed. John Drummond met with a 27lb in the Machany which he enticed with fly. John Tobin had fish of 20lb and 7lb in Houstons whilst, best of all, Alistair Crawford landed a 30lb fish from Napiers. Other mention should be made of first ever fish to Christopher Boyle (4lb) and David Cox (5lb) A reflection of our catches includes Hugh Pinkerton 6lb from the Gurl, Sandy Blackett 14lb from Upper McDonalds, John Krailing 15lb from Crooked Tree, Murray Ferguson 10lb from the Bend, Jim Hutchison , at last, 10lb from Upper McDonalds, Dr Richard Wilson 8lb and 6lb from Middle and Lower Murrays, Euan Findlay 10lb from Adamsons willows,  Alan Mackie 12lb from Middle Murays, Ted Robinson 6lb from Napiers,Martin Docherty 7lb on Tippeny, Mark Mitchell 8lb in the Machany and Roddy Mackenzie 10lb in the Weir. More than half of these fish came to fly.”

At Auchterarder, a late report was received in September , when Derek Trevis landed and returned a spanking 17.5lb licer and a not so fresh 6lb Sea Trout, both on a sinking rapala and word just in that Jock Halley , one of the clubs long time stalwarts has at last landed and returned his first of the season , a 9lb hen , on a huge pike plug that he put on to try because “bugger all else was working!!” Theres a lesson to everyone!

During the last week in  October, it was reported that a 32lb coloured cock was landed at Trinity Gask,  I await further details which will be included in my next report if they come to hand.

In summary it was quite an unusual season with a good spring run followed by decent summer fishing with larger salmon but no grilse and then a strange autumn that divided the river in two as far as results go.

Certainly a good one for big fish!!

For the greater part of the month anglers had to endure unseasonably wet and windy conditions with the river cresting at 2.5m on the 12^th August whilst overhead the remnants of Hurricane Katia howled incessantly for days on end. In truth, the gales, gusts and generally unpleasant wet weather never gave up for the whole month leaving those brave enough to face the elements scratching their heads and muttering into their pint pots whilst searching for answers as to the whereabouts of the fish.

That question has not been answered yet and in my opinion they are just running later every year. Or is that just a cop out on my part? Certainly some fish have been caught but bizarrely, given the continually high water conditions lower beats were much more satisfied with their lots than middle and upper beats were (excluding tidal beats.) Unconfirmed reports from beats below the A9 road bridge seemed to suggest some good sport was being had, yet from the bridge upstream it was tough going!!

From the upper river, John Young gave me this report which includes a few bright spots; “D.Hepworth had 2 of 8lb and 5lb from Dalleariethen next day 2 sparklers of 14lb and 5lbs from Boggywood and Flats, all on fly. K.White a 12lbr on fly, P.Williamson  2 on fly from Sands , S.Wright a 9lbr on fly from Stepping Stones , C.Froud a 12lbr and a 5lbr from Big Bend and best of all G.Hurst finished off an otherwise fruitless day by landing 3 fish in 4 casts weighing 15,10 and 5lbs.” How does that work!!!

Further downstream at Coquhalzie Colin Lowson reported a quiet month also with probably around 20 landed, the best day being one of 4 fish on Sept 24^th of 16lbs, 14lbs, 10lbs and 5lbs , all on fly and all very fresh. The only unusual thing about this catch is that it wasn’t replicated at any other time during the month but again, the conditions played a huge part in limiting opportunity.

At Kinkell, a beat that just does not perform well during periods of high water at any time during the season, Sandy had a lean time but again a few highlights (and his special coffee! ) kept us allfrom wearying. He writes “At Kinkell the first grilseof the season fell to Dave Clark on 16th Sept. It weighed 4lb and came from the Bend. Thereafter a number of grilse came to hand, some as small as Alan Cavers 3lb one from the Machany. The heavy rain which caused such difficulties to the local farmers continued to render fishing impractical through much of the second half of September; it was hard to find the few running fish which paused briefly on their way through the beat. However, some good fish in the upper teens and twenties were encountered, amongst which Malcolm Tilly's fly-caught fish of 20lb from Lower Murrays was noteworthy, this being only Malcolm's second ever fish on fly. Douglas Brotherston came to the aid of Sandy Blackett to net a 25lb fly-caught fish on the Machany. This was Sandy's first fish since 1986! Well done both. Elsewhere, Dr Chris Horill landed a 10lb fish from the Gurl whilst Graham Long had a 12lb fish in Middle Murrays. Both of those fish fell to fly. All but one injured fish have been returned at Kinkell over the last month. Sport would improve if the rain would stop.”

At Auchterarder A.C. water on the Denfield Bend on 14th September , Derek Trevis landed and returned a spanking 17.5lb licer and a not so fresh 6lb Sea Trout, both on a sinking rapala and word just in that Jock Halley , one of the clubs long time stalwarts has at last landed and returned his first of the season , a 9lb hen , on a huge pike plug that he put on to try because “bugger all else was working!!” Theres a lesson to everyone!

Over the past few days I am hearing of some successes up at Crieff with catches picking up a wee bit. Heres hoping that will indicate a better October for us all!

Chairman’s Update

In the spring, I was elected Chairman of the association and since then, we have held two committee meetings.  I am delighted that three new members have joined the committee so welcome to Bob Mitchell, Tom Monaghan and John Patterson.  They have considerable experience between them.

The Earn is an excellent river for salmon and sea trout and my objective is to protect and enhance stocks wherever possible. I would like to thank all members and willing helpers for their efforts in the past and encourage you all to participate in going forward to promote your river.

We now have some objectives and plans in place, some of which are measurable and others we hope will enhance runs of migratory fish.

1.   An effort will be made to communicate with members and anglers by using our website (www.riverearn.org.uk), obtaining email addresses and using traditional mail where appropriate.

“Waddington” will provide a monthly report about the river where relevant and John Young’s 2010 report will also be posted on the website.

2.   Rob Mitchell, a recently appointed Tay Foundation Biologist, is working very closely with us, attends meetings and spends time on the river.

3.   An action plan is attached with appropriate time lines, to be agreed:-

a)      TDSFB has been looking at improving salmon and sea trout access to the Upper Ruthven Water by modification of a weir on Gleneagles Estate. This weir can be modified to allow fish to ascend it.  A survey has been undertaken and proposals will follow.

b)      A weir on the Cloan Burn is also being looked at. However, this weir is subject to a hydro application, and SEPA will (as always) approach TDSFB for comments. We will ensure that a fish pass is a mandatory part of any installation plan, enabling fish to navigate the weir.

c)      TDSFB in conjunction with Complete Weed Control will be continuing a programme of Japanese Knotweed eradication on the Earn. A total of 15 spraying days have been set aside for 2011, and spraying will commence from St Fillans down to Crieff in late August. This is an ongoing control programme.

d)      There is the potential for a fish counter to be installed on the Upper Earn, with a view to obtaining hard data showing the timings of fish migration to this part of the catchment. This data could then be used to ascertain the optimal times to request the limited number of freshets agreed with SSE, enabling fish to ascend the upper river.

e)      TDSFB has recently taken on the Almondbank kelt-reconditioning programme from Marine Scotland. The plan is to expand the facility, and therefore double capacity. It would be the intention to then collect a number of fish from the Ruchill, re-conditioning them year-on-year and using this guaranteed supply of fertilised eggs to re-stock areas of the Ruchill.

Please encourage your friends to join and we will all try to promote, develop and protect the Earn.

I would like to thank the Tay Bailiffs for their support throughout the year.

 We carried out electro fishing in many areas including The Ruchill, The Turret, The   Machany and from Loch Earn down to Comrie. This was extremely successful and we managed just fewer than 280,000 eggs. Here was no rod and line fishing this year, due in the main to the snow- it was considered just too dangerous. The eggs this year were kept in The Tay Hatchery as they had   room to store them. This Hatchery has a chiller and can keep the eggs at a lower temperature which allows them to hatch later. Once the eggs Eyed up they were put back in the river in artificial redds and left to hatch naturally in the river system.

Once again this year J. Young has had assistance with work within the hatchery, this included planting trees, cutting grass, painting as well as removing tanks and replacing them with smaller ones. Thanks to all who assisted with these tasks.

I would like to thank Drummond Estate for their help and support with the hatchery, Ian Dalglish and Sandy from Kinkell, Colin Lowson from Inner Peffrey Fishing’s, Aberuchill Estate, Fordie Estate, Major Melville, Trinity Gask Fishing’s, Auchterarder Association, Paul Turek from Strageath Fishing’s and once again Comrie Angling Club for their generous donation towards the hatchery and habitat for the improvement association.

In 2010 John Young once again organised for Comrie Primary School, St George’s Girls School in Edinburgh, Newton Mearns School, Stirling High and Falkirk High to be involved in the hatching and releasing of salmon eggs. The project included educationals to Almond Bank Hatchery, Tay Board Hatchery, which are both situated at Almond Bank and also our hatchery. John Young would like to thank Lee Fisher who is head bailiff for the Tay System.

On going habitat works have been carried out on various tributaries through out the system. These are mainly in the Machany, and the Upper reaches of the Earn. The Glascorrie Burn has been completed as has the Fordie Burn. There are a few burns still to be looked at and a few where work is already in progress. Last year all clubs were asked to carry out surveys along their stretch of the River Earn, Comrie Association was the only club to do this and subsequently work has been carried out on most of these burns.  The Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board (TDSFB) has carried out a survey on lowland burns including May Ruthven, Cloan have found 3 disused weirs and TDSFB are in discussions with the owners and SEPA. There have been sightings of beaver activity on the Upper and Lower reaches of the Earn. These are being monitored.

John Young can organise trips to both the Tay Hatchery and REIA hatchery   and anyone or club wishing to visit either hatchery is more than welcome and they should contact John on 07970 274236.

John Young

April 2011

2011 Year to date (By John Young).

TDSFB has now taken over the government hatchery as from last Friday.Therefore things may change for the better  on the hatchery front.

During the winter a rainbow trout cage broke loose on the Lochearn, this was sighted , J Young contacted the bailiffs and they went straight up to check it. Fortunately it was new and empty. Once again, there have been a few problems involving burns being scraped, blockages etc.  There is an education required here, as it may be that the offenders are not aware of the consequences of their actions.

 It is important to understand that anything you bring to the attention of John Young will be investigated as a matter of urgency however insignificant you may think they are.

Once again this year there will be a concerted effort to trap mink using mink rafts; these do not need to be checked on a daily basis. They only require to be checked once a print of the animal has been seen on the raft and the cage trap has been inserted. These can be made as required. Any beats wishing to be involved contact John Young. He has reported sightings of water voles on his beats already this year.

George Dudek

As we are all aware George passed away earlier this year, he was a keen angler, great supporter of the River Earn , and was  eager to help in any way he could particularly in the hatchery. He could always be heard before he was seen on the river bank and made many friends and was always available to help a fellow angler.

He will be sadly missed