Cornhill September
11/09/2011
Week beginning September 26th Hamish McFarlane and Party.
Mon 26th. Just one salmon was landed for the last five days of the season Allan Donaldson landed a 4.5lb grilse in the McKenzie stream and almost immediatley hooked and lost another in the same pool the river was 1 ft 1 inch but began to rise within twenty minutes and by 16.00hrs when it steadied it was 1 foot 10 inch, This rise obviously livened them up but after that they once again were pretty disinclined to take fr the rest of the week and the season petered out.
Week beginning September 19th Mr Blake & party
Mon 19th We had excellent water levels all week mainly running around the 1 ft 6 to 2 foot mark Thursday was big at around 5 feet and by Saturday it was down to 1 foot
The salmon were not very active at all which has been pretty noticeable over the last three weeks, One Salmon was landed on the Saturday an 8lb Salmon caught in the March pool by Bob Marshall this was Bob’s first ever salmon
Week beginning September 12th Douglas Chalmers & party.
Mon 12th Other than today where the water level only fluctuated by a couple of inches, This was very much a week of rapidly rising and falling water levels
Tue 13th The water level was 3foot 4inch rising later to 3 foot 9 inch two salmon were very briefly hooked in the Gledfield pool.
Wed 14th The river today was 2 foot 8 inch at 09.30 hrs the river bumped up and down a few times before going up to 4 foot 2 inch and rising around 19. 15hrs we had pretty much constant rain all day.
Thurs 15th The river today was down to an excellent height of 1foot 9 inch this ewas the best fishing day by far and we also had by mid afternoon a much brighter day, Paul Huggett managed to get on the score sheet by landing an 8lb salmon in the Wall pool, on his first cast after resuming fishing Paul pulled another fish
By 17.30 the river was down to 1 foot 5 inch some grilse were seen but they were not terribly active.
Fri 16th and Sat 17th The river was down to 11inches by early afternoon
David Walker moved a salmon to the fly on the Friday, and Alan Donaldson pulled a grilse in the Lairds cast in early saturday evening but by then the river was once again going up and showed 1 foot 5 inch on the gauge.
Week beginning September 5th Last three days of week Ronnie Main & party
Mon 5th We started out the week with a little run on the water the gauge was showing 8.5 inch a few grilse were showing from time to time Allan Donaldson lost a grilse in the March pool, and briefly hooked another one in Lairds cast this was a good sized grilse or small summer salmon, Allan managed to keep one on the end of his line and landed a 4.5lb grilse in the Lairds cast.
Tues 6th. The river today was down an inch to 7.5 inches, In the morning Allan lost a grilse in Lairds cast. continuous rain saw the river rise quickly at 15.00hrs by 16.00hrs there was 4ft 6inch on the gauge.
Wed 7th. The river at 08.30 hrs was 3ft and it continued to drop Allan Donaldson landed a 14lb salmon in the Gledfield pool, this big coloured hen fish gave a good account of its self in the big water, Highlight of the week was when I was with Aly Morris fishing the Raven pool and Aly hooked and landed a sea liced 4.5lb grilse in the Raven pool her first ever salmon, Aly lives at cornhill house on the beat and who’s fields go right down to the Raven pool so Aly was delighted to catch her salmon at the bottom of her garden as you might say
Both fish were caught on a 1.25inch kyley two other salmon were just touched, the water steadied later with more rain falling in the mountains.
Thurs 8th The next three days were let to Ronnie and Gordon Main & party the water level today was up and sitting at a very good height of 2 foot 2 inch Ronnie main landed a 5lb grilse in the March pool. by 17.00hrs the river was down to 1foot 9inch
Fri 9th The river height today was 1 foot 2inch a grilse was lost at the net in Lairds cast.
Sat 10th The river was once again up to 1foot 4inch but the river again bumped up due to heavy showers and by 17.00hrs it had risen to 1foot 7 inch this the day ended as a blank
Cornhill August
23/08/2011
Week beginning 29th August. Orr Ewing & party
This was a week of pretty good water levels and it was noticeable that there were a number of grilse moving in and through the beat particularly on Friday and Saturday.
Thur 1st Sep. 3.5lb grilse from Little falls pool.
Fri 2nd Sep 12lb salmon from Lairds cast, & 5lb grilse from Raven pool.
Week beginning 22nd August. Peter Rea & party.
The week was quite a dry one with around 4 or 5 inch on the gauge, the river did go up late on Saturday afternoon the grilse still have not made an appearance in any significant numbers
Peter did manage to land an 8lb salmon in the McGregor pool on Friday 26th.
Week beginning August 15th Stephen Gilchrist & party
This week ended as a blank which was quite a surprise to me as Stephen is a very good angler
Week beginning August 8th. John McRorie & party.
Mon 8th Two salmon were briefly hooked today John McRorie lost one in the Clump pool, & Allan Donaldson lost one in the McKenzie stream.
Tue 9th. John McRorie landed a very good fish of 15lbs in the Well pool this fish was quite coloured and was most likely washed down stream in one of the frequent spates we have had it has been quite noticeable the amount of coulered fish we have seen in the last couple of weeks.
Wed10th The water level today was 1 foot on the gauge but by 15.00 hours due to constant heavy rain the river would be on the rise towards a big spate however John McRorie made the most of it and landed a couple of grilse one at 5lbs from Little Falls pool and one at 4lbs from Lairds cast.
Thur11th We started out this morning with a very big river 5 feet at 09.00 it was dropping all the time going by the marks on the grass it had peaked overnight at around 8 and a half feet. It was soon at a fishable height of around 4ft 6inch, It looked very promising but by the end of the day it turned out to be pretty disappointing just the two grilse were caught during a day of very good water levels John McRorie landed a 4lb grilse In the Raven pool, and Allan Donaldson landed a 4lb grilse in the Gledfield pool.
Fri 12th Quite a number of grilse were showing for periods today, 15year old Drew Drummond had exceptionally bad luck, I was with Drew when he hooked a grilse in Lairds cast this would have been Drew’s first ever salmon but after about five minutes the Grilse unfortunately threw the hook.
Sat 13th The river was running at 1foot 1 inch it was a little brighter than we would have liked, I fished with John today we both fished hard al day again a little disappointing not as many fish showing as yesterday but enough to give you a good day, they proved pretty difficult and we managed one each John McRorie landed a 5 pounder fresh but no lice in the Raven pool and Allan Donaldson landed a 4 pound sea liced grilse in the March pool
Week beginning August 1st. Ronnie & Gordon Main and party.
Mon 1st. One grilse of 4lbs was landed today in the McGregor pool.
Wed 3rd Two grilse were landed today 5lbs in Lairds cast & 4lbs in Little falls pool
That was the sum total for the week
Cornhill July
01/08/2011
Week Begining July 24th James England & party
This week ended blank
Week beginning July 17th John West & George Probert.
Mon 17th The river this morning was 4foot 9 inch due to constant rain all day Sunday the river was around 7 ft going by the marks on the bank the river was dropping fairly quickly but was very dirty
Tue 18th The river today was down to approx 1ft 4 inch John west landed a lovely sea liced salmon of 13lbs in the McGregor pool and that was the only activity for the day
Wed 19th the river stayed at pretty good levels over Wednesday and Thursday but dropped pretty quickly overnight Thursday a few fish were seen but it was basically pretty quiet
Fri 21st John West landed a 5lb grilse in the Raven pool
Sat 22nd Saturday was blank
Dorothy Kirkwood & party.
Mon 10th We started of this morning with 4ft 9 inch on the gauge due to torrential down pours through out yesterday the river was pretty dirty nothing was touched
Tues 11th The river was down to an excellent height of 1ft 6in
Wed 12th The river continued to drop and was approx 9 inch today Allan Donaldson very briefly hooked a very small grilse in the Little falls pool and in the evening Allan rose a very good sized salmon in the Raven pool estimated to be between 17lb and 20lb. it was rested and covered several times but it did not come again.
Thurs 13th It turned out to be very bright for much of the day the river is down to 5.5 inches, Allan Donaldson landed a nice 11lb salmon in the Little falls pool on a Collie dog very fresh with the lice just off, that was the only activity
Fri 14th Ronald Gardiner and Ewan fished today a couple of salmon were seen in Clump, McGregor, & Little falls pools, during the day and the river continued to drop to 4.5 inch
Sat 15th Warm sultry day water level 4 inch but with the threat of heavy rain to come this week is mirroring last week the rain came came late on Saturday evening putting the river up around the 7 feet mark on Sunday.
Week beginning July 3rd John Forrest and party.
On Monday the river started out low at 4 inch and continued to drop during the week and by Friday the water gauge was showing 2 inch, a little overnight rain put the river up about one and a half inch. Torrential rain during Saturday afternoon saw the river rise very quickly on Saturday evening to late to be worthwhile for fishing purposes this week this week also ended as a blank week.
Cornhill June
29/06/2011
Week beginning June 27th
The river was down to approx 4 inch the week ended as a blank
Week beginning June 20th
Mon 20th The river level was 6 inch in the morning Allan Donaldson very briefly hooked a grilse of approx 5lbs in Little falls pool
Tue 21st In the evening Allan Donaldson briefly hooked a salmon of approx 8 or 9lbs in the McGregor pool, it was played for about a minute before it threw the hook
Allan hooked and landed a tiny grilse of approx 2lbs in the Little falls pool it was sea liced and took a Collie dog
Wed 22nd The water level today was 6 inch
Thur 23rd The water level today was up 2 inches to 8 inch John McRorie briefly hooked a salmon in the Clump pool, and Allan Donaldson also briefly hooked a Grilse this one was in the Little falls pool.
Fri 24th The water level today was 6 inches
Sat 23rd The water level today was 5 inches Allan Donaldson landed a lovely sea liced 9 pounder in the Little falls pool the salmon was taken on a Collie dog.
Week beginning June 13th Stephen Gilchrist & party.
Mon 13th The River was very big it went to 6 feet
Tue 14th Water level 2feet
Wed 15th Water level 1 foot
Thur 16th Water level 9 inch
Fri 17th Water level 10 Inches
Sat 18th Water level 8 inches
The week ended as a blank
Week beginning June 6th.
Mon 6th. Monday and Tuesday the river was approx 7 inch
Wed 8th. Heavy rain last evening and overnight these showers were torrential at times and put the river up to 2feet 7inch and dropping at 10.00hrs by the water marks on the bank the river had been around 5 and a half feet during the night. Allan Donaldson landed a couple of salmon today both caught in the Gledfield pool. one at 10lbs, and another at 14lbs both taken on a1.25 inch Kyley. Both were sea liced although not with long tails.
Thur 9th. Once again overnight rain put the river up and I was surprised to find it was 2 foot 9inch it had been much higher during the night but it was dropping back quite quickly at first it steadied and then dropped back a little quicker in early evening to 1foot 7inch. John McRorie caught a 10lb salmon in the Clump pool.
Fri 10th Today started out with the river at 1 foot 2 inch we actually had a frost over night Allan Donaldson landed a 12lb salmon in the little falls pool, which almost succeeded in going out the pool on two occasions it was however safely landed, little falls is a very exciting place to play these very strong fish. Allan followed this up with another from Little falls pool at 10lbs both had long tailed sea lice and were caught on a Collie dog, by early evening the river was 11 inch
Sat 11th. The river level today was approx 9 and a half inch and dropping although sunny and bright to start with we had frequent heavy showers as the day went on
Allan Donaldson landed a 5lb grilse in the Little falls pool it was taken ion a Collie dog Allan lost a salmon in the Raven pool and another in the little falls which was just briefly hooked. Again this week which has been a dominant feature for the last six weeks or so is salmon just are not showing I personally only saw two salmon show all week.
Cornhill May
05/06/2011
Week beginning May30th
Mon 30th. The river level started out at 1 foot 10 inch and dropped back to 1 foot 5 inch Allan Donaldson had a superb day landing 7 salmon and losing 2. Allan landed three salmon at 12lbs, 10lbs, & 10lbs, in the March pool, and another three at 10lb,8lb, & 8lbs, in the Lairds cast, and followed up with another 8pounder in the Clump pool.
All 7 were caught on a Kyley 1 inch tube two other salmon were lost in McGregor pool, and McKenzie stream, and two others were pulled. All 7 were carrying long tailed sea lice.
Tue 31st. Ian Houghton was fishing today Ian managed to get down as far as the McGregor pool Ian has not been keeping to well so this was a good effort by Ian
Allan Donaldson lost a very good salmon of approx 14lbs at the net.
Wed 1st June. Douglas Mcleay pulled a salmon in Raven pool, and Keith Williams lost a good sized salmon in the Gledfield pool, Allan Donaldson also lost a salmon in Gledfield pool.
Thurs 2nd. The river today was back up to 1 foot 2 inch Allan Donaldson landed a lovely sea liced 10lb salmon in The McGregor pool, this one was caught on the Collie dog
Fri 3rd. It was a lot warmer today and had we not had a stiffish breeze at times it would have been a real scorcher
Sat 4th. The river today was down to 8 inch, I very briefly had a cast early morning before a trip to Inverness and managed to briefly jag a salmon in Little falls pool, this again was a cracking fish of about 12 to 14lbs the Quality of springers this year has been super, The other feature this season so far has been that the salmon just are not showing I did not see one salmon show over Monday and Tuesday yet seven were landed and three were lost in fact I only saw 6 salmon for the rest of the week when I was fishing. So the total for the week was 8 salmon.
Week beginning May 23rd. Jonty Goodchild & party
Mon 23rd The water level was a very good 1foot 8 inches this morning with very heavy rain at times and very strong west winds that became gale force by lunch time
Unfortunately we never landed any of the salmon that we connected with, a total of four salmon were lost, three in Raven pool and one in the March pool ,four others were pulled.
Tue 24th Gale force winds continued overnight with torrential rain and by morning the the river level had dropped back to 4foot 6 inch, the winds were almost as strong as the previous day mid afternoon Allan Donaldson landed a 9lb sea liced salmon in the Gledfield pool.
Wed 25th The water level was down to an excellent 1 foot 9 inch at the start of the day we still had torrential downpours through out the day, Paul Brereton had an exciting time after hooking a salmon in the Wall pool which went on several strong runs the salmon simply tore line off the reel and headed down through the rough water below the wall pool and into the march pool had the fish been lost at this stage I would have estimated it at up around 18lbs, I managed to guide Paul through under the trees and down into the March pool in persuit of his fish which was now fully 50yards below us. It did end happily as the salmon which turned out to be surprisingly approx 12lbs ad sea liced, a lovely fish but one that certainly punched way above its weight was safely netted and released
Sat 28th The water level was pretty steady all day at 1 foot 7 inches Paul Norman landed a 6lb sea liced salmon in the Gledfield pool, in the afternoon Allan Donaldson landed a 10lb sea liced salmon in Lairds cast, Its good that we managed to intercept a couple of fresh fish as they come off the tide as most are still pretty intent on getting upstream quickly, since Monday we have had a pretty constant stream of running fish moving through the beat.
Week beginning May 18th D. Smith & party
Mon 16th The river was running at a very good height of 3 feet
Tue 17th The river level today was 1ft 6 inch three salmon were landed to day Tony Considine landed a12lb salmon in the Well pool. and later had an 8lb salmon in the McKenzie pool. Derik Smith landed a10lb salmon in Lairds cast.
Wed 18th The river height was again 1 foot 6 inch today Tony Considine caught a 10lb, & a 6lb in the McKenzie pool and a 9lb salmon in the McGregor pool, R. Seed landed an 8lb salmon in the Raven pool,
Fri 20th. With the river down to 1 foot on the gauge Ivan Bailey landed an 8lb salmon in the Little falls pool. giving a total of 8 salmon for the week.
Week beginning May 2nd. Peter Church & party.
Again another dry week with the river continuing to drop even further I have never seen the river this low in the spring just coming out of April the water level is now at zero on our gauge. Once again nothing to report the odd resident fish still showing in the Gledfield pool.
Cornhill April
30/04/2011
Week beginning April 25th Hamish McFarlane & party.
Nothing to report except a continuation of this dry spell by the end of this week the water level was down to 1 inch. I am afraid to say it was another blank week.
Week beginning April 18th Mrs Alison Galloway & party.
The dry spell continued throughout this week it was very bright and sunny particularly later in the week and by Saturday the water level was down to 3inch.
The week ended as a blank and the prospects of rain for next week do not look good.
Week beginning April 11th Colin Campbell & party
Three salmon were landed for the week and they were all caught on the Wednesday
Wed 13th Ian McRae landed a12lb salmon in the Raven pool, Judith Campbell landed a couple of salmon the first a10lb salmon in the Raven pool, she then followed this with an 8lb salmon from Little Falls. Two other salmon were lost during the week and by the Saturday the river level was down to 6 inch.
Week beginning April 4th. Peter Rea & party.
Mon 4th. The river level today was 1ft 6 inch, it was pretty quiet with the odd fish being seen.
Tue 5th Again a quiet day on the sporting front although numerous running salmon were seen through out the day and again around 16.00hrs in the pools lower down the beat, the water level was 2 foot dropping to 1ft 5inch.
Wed 6th. A couple of salmon were briefly hooked and again running fish were seen the river level went from 2ft 6 inch to 1ft 7inch
Thur 7th Danny McLaughlin landed an 8lb salmon & a 6lb salmon both in the Raven and both on a yellow monkey, Peter Rea landed an 8lb salmon also in the Raven pool, and Peter also caught an 8 pounder in the Gledfield pool, both were taken on 1.5 inch Kyley’s. Allan Donaldson landed a 7lb salmon in the McGregor pool.
Fri 8th The river today was down to 1foot 3inch Peter Rea caught an 11lb salmon in the March pool, and Danny McLaughlin landed a couple from the Raven at 8lb, and 8lb,
Sat 9th The river today was down again to approx 11.5 inch one salmon came to the fly in Little falls that was about it for the day.
8 salmon were caught for the week the feature of the week was the gale force west winds for five days ! and running fish moving pretty steadily through the beat for most of the week.
Cornhill March
30/03/2011
Week beginning 28th March. John Jamieson & Ian Sharp
Mon 28th The river level today was approx 9inch Iain Sharpe caught a 9lb salmon in the McKenzie pool, 
and shortly after Iain lost a salmon in the Raven pool this turned out to be the only catch of the week. The end of the week was marred by very big and fluctuating water levels.
Friday saw at he river fairly steady at first around 1 ft 6inch and rising slowly it then began to rise rapidly. On Saturday the river was already big and by 14.00 hrs it was around the 4ft 9 mark.
Week beginning March 21st Keith Williams and party
Mon 21st The beat was only briefly fished today, Due to a Family bereavement in Cornwall Keith was unable to fish this week
Tues 22nd The river was 3foot 8inch dropping to 2 foot 9inch Allan Donaldson had bad luck losing a couple of salmon Allan lost a salmon in the Gledfield pool and shortly after lost another clean fish in the Raven pool.
Wed 23rd. The river today was down to 1foot 3 inch this is by far the warmest day of the year so far Allan Donaldson caught an 11lb salmon in the McGregor pool, and later in the afternoon landed a 12lb salmon also in the McGregor pool.
Thur 24th The river was 1 foot dropping back to 11inch two salmon were caught today Allan Donaldson landed a 10lb salmon in the Gledfield pool, and followed up with another 10pounder in the March pool, Allan also lost a good salmon of around 12 / 13lbs after a couple of minutes and a particularly strong run up towards the wall pool ! these salmon landed over the last two days are of super quality and beautifully shaped.
Fri 25th. Quite overcast today with some light rain, the river was down to 10 inches and stayed pretty steady all day. Allan Donaldson landed a 7lb salmon in the Little Falls pool this one was absolutely plastered in long tailed lice. Calum Beattie came over from Gledfield and landed an 8lb salmon in the Gledfield pool.
Sat 26th. The river was down again to approx 9inch on the gauge a little cooler mostly overcast with some light rain, A few fish were showing in the pools mostly fish a little smaller in size than the really lovely springers of earlier in the week. Allan Donaldson connected with another salmon in the Little falls pool this was again a 7 pounder covered in sea lice, This run coming in at the end of the week seems mainly smaller salmon predominantly 7 or 8lbs the earlier salmon were as good quality and shaped springers as I have seen o the Carron.
Of the 7 salmon landed 6 were caught on the Collie dog.
Week beginning 7th March
March 11th The river level today was 1foot 3inch dropping back an inch by 14.00hrs
Cornhill’s second of the season was landed today Allan Donaldson caught an 8 lb sea liced salmon in the Lairds cast on a 1.25 inch Kyley it was eventually landed not an easy task at times in this pool, It was then released.
I have not seen any fresh fish move at all so far this season, on thursday when the river was up at around the 3 feet mark the big Gledfield pool looked promising and is often where the first springers will show, but their was nothing seen and the rest of the week was blank.
Cornhill
28/02/2011
Week beginning 21st February
Fri 25th The river height today was 1foot 6 inch at 09.30 hrs around 10.30 it began to rise, and just on the rise Allan Donaldson landed a fresh 9lb sea liced salmon in the Raven pool. on a 1.5 inch Kyley, The salmon fought well and a was safely released
An hour or so later Allan hooked and played a fresh salmon in the Wall pool which appeared to be a little smaller than the first, this salmon was played right to the net when unfortunately it threw the hook and was lost.
The river rose to 2 feet then steadied before beginning to rise again around 17.30 hrs so I was delighted with my first of the new season which came very close to being a double.
