The 2007 season has ended on the 31st October. It was a strange season in many ways. It started off in February with a reasonable height of water but with a cold easterly wind. Very few fish were caught in the first two months of fishing. April brought brilliant weather – long hours of sunshine and high temperatures and consequently the river level dropped dramatically. At the time when we ought to have had spring fish the water was so low that few entered the river. Normally we would expect that brown trout fishing would be at its best at this time but again the weather conditions played havoc. There was very limited fly hatch so very few trout were rising.
A few spring fish were caught in May but not in the usual quantities for this time. From May onwards the heavens opened and the river rose and fell constantly for weeks on end. Runs of seatrout entered the river in June and July but I cannot recall a single night where conditions were ideal for seatrout fishing. The seatrout which were caught were landed during the day and until last light. Some good seatrout were caught weighing up to 9lbs. Most were returned to the river. I believe that some in excess of 9lbs were caught downriver.
August brought salmon and grilse into the river and from then on the river was well stocked. Some beats on the middle reaches did extremely well. Again many of the fish were returned to the river.
The upper reaches of the Deveron, the Bogie and the Isla now have a good head of fish which should make for a good spawning season.
A footnote; During October, on some beats on the middle reaches of the river there were excellent hatches of fly and the brown trout were popping up everywhere. Unfortunately the brown trout season had ended!
