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Deveron Reports

24th September 2010

The last three weeks on the River Deveron has proved to be very much of a mixed bag. As is the usual standard for the North East of Scotland the weather has proven to be changeable and therefore has provided challenging, if in some instances prohibiting and damaging, conditions along the full stretch of water.

The first week of September saw an amazing number of fish sighted, biting and landed. Whilst the first half of the week provided excellent sport with water heights around plus nine inches and lowering to around normal levels throughout the week, the latter part of the week saw catches tail off.

One beat in particular reported around 40 fish in total for one week and Dunlugas also reported excellent numbers with notable double figure fresh fish taken by the Wilson party. Kinnairdy also provided good sport on the fly with 18 fish taken by one party, with the largest weighing in at 14lb.

Towards the middle of September fish were still running solidly up the river with conditions causing the water levels to tip one foot above normal. This however provided no problem for fishers on the Turriff Angling Association beat. Whilst overall catch numbers showed a downward trend from the preceding week, sizes of fish taken were of good numbers – mostly over 12lb – were reported from Avochie, Carnousie and Forglen.

Torrential rain over the past week and a half has proven damaging for the River Deveron on the majority of beats: muddy, rising water and the river bursting its banks will have affected the characteristics of some beats. Thankfully it has not affected the persistence of the fish.

Fish are moving fast up the River and stopping infrequently on beats due to the higher water, however the figures that are being landed and their respective sizes are encouraging. This season has already shown there is fantastic sport to be had on the Deveron and once the water levels settle again the tail-end of the season should see record breaking numbers of fish.

3rd September 2010

What a difference two weeks makes! The Deveron has welcomed back to its water (and banks) some impressive fish since the last update on Spinfish with one notable catch of 21lb taken on a mid-water beat. The weather conditions have contributed to perfect river water levels and conditions making for copious sightings of good runs of fish and excellent numbers hooked.

Mid-August saw advantageous river conditions on many prime beats culminating in several notable double-figures fish. Falling water levels with a little colour allowed good numbers of fish to be taken off Mountblairy and Dunlugas with a 15lb and 17lb making the day of two anglers very worthwhile.

Reports of jumping fish made for a hopeful feeling on the riverbank and whilst several impressive catches were landed, there were also a few reports of those that got away. Fishers on Avochie, however, remained unperturbed and continued to contibute to a so far excellent season for the beat with a 15lb fish amongst the heaviest of a good number taken.

Towards the end of August river levels were sitting a few inches above normal which clearly aided fishers with great catches of both grilse and salmon taken off beats down river from the Turriff Angling Association beat. Worthy of note is that Euchries produced three double-figured sea-liced fish ranging to 20lb. One angler contributed eleven fish over the course of two days on Euchries so clearly a beat the fish are pausing at on their respective journies.

Whilst a few beats have been in spinning condition, many fish continue to be taken on the fly with manageable fluctuations in water heights and conditions. The mid- to upper-beats that had been slow to start have now begun to benefit from the strong runs of fish along the river which is encouraging. Wind and rain towards the end of this week will have kept fishers from the banks on Saturday however should allow for a promising start to next week.

Worth noting is that there has been a cancellation on the Wrack beat for three rods in October (week commencing 3rd October) for exclusive access to the full stretch of river as its normal capacity is six rods. If you're interested in fishing this beat for the 2010 season only, please contact Frank on 01888 562 428 or through;

http://www.fishingthedeveron.co.uk/index.htm.

August 2010

The River Deveron has, until the past few weeks, been off to a particularly slow start to the 2010 season mainly due to a combination of poor weather contributing to inhibiting river conditions and a general lack of runs. Whilst there have been obvious exceptions earlier on in the season, the salmon and sea-trout have only now started to make a notable appearance.

The last two weeks have made a welcome change to the slow pace of the last few months with good numbers of fresh fish taken off several mid to lower beats. The final week of July saw the Wilson party land 12 grilse and 7 sea-trout for the week with the youngest angler (only six years old!) contributing a 4lb sea-trout caught on a 7ft trout rod and dry fly. It's great to see numbers of fish being caught with the massively changeable weather currently being experienced.

August so far has borne witness to high, peaty water levels on many beats making for difficult fishing conditions. Therefore reports of around ten fish landed on Forglen and eleven fish on Eden through the first week of August made for encouraging news.

The tough river conditions didn't phase Upper Netherdale and Carnousie however as a 10lb sea-liced fish was reported, and Eden landed three grilse to weights of up to 4lb. Despite high water levels, the Turriff Angling Association were able to provide visitors with small, but nonetheless welcome, sea-trout. Following a return to manageable river heights the lower section of the Deveron was quiet with only a handful of grilse and sea-trout reported.

Encouragingly, the mid to upper sections of the river have been able to boast sea-liced salmon up to weights of 14lb on Avochie, Upper Netherdale, Carnousie and Marnoch Lodge. Last Saturday saw excellent river conditions, averaging around 1ft which clearly contributed to decent sized fish taken on Avochie, Laithers, Lower Netherdale and Euchries - the most notable of which was a 15lb sea-liced salmon taken on Bognie.

River conditions are settling back down after higher water at the beginning of the week commencing 16th August meaning a great chance of retaining the numerous runs of grilse reported through the lower sections of the river.

This information was contributed by Turriff Tackle & Trophies, the leading resource for salmon and  sea-trout fishing in Aberdeenshire, log on to:

http://www.fishingthedeveron.co.uk/index.htm.

If you're interested in fishing the Deveron please visit our website or contact Frank directly on 01888 562428.