The 2010 season began in the coldest winter to hit Scotland for 60 years. With temperatures falling regularly to -10 ̊c in the daytime and -16 ̊c during the night. Snow and ice lay thick on the ground and the river was on its bare bones and crystal clear. The opening day saw lots of kelts and a few baggots. January didn’t produce any springers this year. February saw similar conditions to January with water levels hovering around 1ft and temperatures down to 1 ̊c or even 0.5 ̊c. The first spring fish fell to head ghillie David Godfrey in the Pot Shot head on a Flying c. The sea liced fish weighed in at 8lb. Another was landed by Bobo Forrest on the 20th in the Rumbling stone. The 15lb sea licer was hooked on a pink and pearly kynoch. Both fish were returned safely to the river. March saw a lot of well mended kelts with plenty coming to the fly but only 1 springer landed by local fisher Jim Davidson in the Saugh bush on a devon. April and May saw an increase in fish numbers with 9 landed during April and 24 during May with hook-ups on the fly more regular. Fish landed at this time of year are always sea liced and are hooked as they travel quickly upriver to loch Tay. The river was now truly at summer level with the ledges and lies all visible in the clear water. Martin Ferry and McElroy had a brace of 15lbers from the bridge stream. Jim Lowe had a lovely 12lber fly fishing the bridge stream. Ben and Ed Thomson landed 3 in their 2 days all on tobies. June always arrives with the anticipation of some good summer fishing, especially with the river low and clear. 20 salmon were landed for the month. Biggest fish fell to David Godfrey with a 24lb sea licer from the cradle on a floating minnow. The water was a quite pet stained as any rainfall was in the west of the catchment. Despite the colour fish came regularly to the fly with full floating lines and dressed flies most effective. The grilse run started in June this year with well conditioned fish around the 4lb mark being caught regularly. July saw 27 fish for the month with good summer conditions keeping fly fishing productive. Pods of grilse ran regularly throughout daytime with the prospect of a big summer fish always there. Gillian Anderson landed her first and second ever salmon on the 3rd. The middle of the month saw a flood which encouraged a lot of fish into the river. Fortunately the river level dropped quickly and the fish kept running making for good sport. Angus Johnson’s party ended the month landing 12 with all but 1 on the fly. August was an even more productive month and fish numbers began to increase steadily. Rivers levels dropped back to summer levels again but stayed slightly peat stained with some summer rain in the west of the catchment. Fish were caught every day throughout the month with the fly accounting for many of them in the low conditions. The month ended with 73 salmon and grilse which is the best August since 2006. Good conditioned grilse continued to show up with plenty of large summer fish to test the rods. Autumn came with the promise of great fishing and it didn’t disappoint. With 263 salmon and grilse landed during September and October it was an excellent 6 weeks of sport. It was the best autumn on Cargill for 10 years. We regularly enjoyed double figure catches as numbers of running fish increased every week. 20lb plus fish were being caught every week and towards the end of the autumn we catching them almost every day. Best day of the year was on the 2nd of October when we landed an amazing 21 fish to 4 rods plus another 20 hooked and lost. As well as lots of big fish being encountered most of them were sea liced. The season culminated on the lower beat with Alistair Sheach landing the biggest fish of the Tay for 5 years. We hooked it in the Cobble croy on a flying c and it weighed in at just over 34lb. The season finished with 419 salmon and grilse which is the most productive season since 2006. Hopes are high for another good season next year and we look forward to seeing you all soon.
Tight lines
Mike
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