Cornhill beat Week beginning April 20th
02/05/2026
Week beginning April 20th. Allan Donaldson & party.
Mon 20th The water level was 8″ inch in the morning Allan Donaldson lost a salmon in the McGregor pool, In the afternoon at approx 15.00 hrs the river began to rise and just on the rise at the same time Ian Bissett lost a Salmon in the McGregor pool, and Allan lost a Salmon down in the Gledfield pool. The river rose quickly and by 17.00 hrs the gauge was showing 2ft 3″inch and rising.
Tue 21st. The river dropped a lot over night going by the gauge up at Sgodachail The river peaked around 23.00 hrs at approx 3ft 3″ inch on the gauge, This morning we had 1ft4.5″ inch on the gauge In the morning Allan Donaldson landed a 7lb Salmon in the Clump pool, and folowed up with a 10lb Salmon in the McKenzie stream, and a 12lb Salmon in the Raven pool. The 10 & 12 pounders were carrying long tailed sea lice.
Wed 22nd. Water level 8.5″ inch Ian Bissett lost a Salmon in the McKenzie stream, and Allan lost a Salmon in the McKenzie pool.
Thur 23rd. Water level this morning was showing 7″ inch Colin More landed a 12lb salmon in thre Raven pool.
Fri 24th. The water level continued to drop and this morning was showing 5″ inch.
Sat 25th. Water level was 4″ inch and stayed steady at that height all day. . Over The last three days of the week i only fished about 2 hours, the first three days i fished as best i could . My back went on the Saturday evening 18th before the fishing not as bad as it can go fortunately but bad enough i was in real agony till Friday 24th and eased a bit over next three days, it is now about back to normal as i write this report on May 1st as normal as that is, As i always have a bit of slight back pain. With 5 other Salmon lost during the week with a bit of luck we could have had nine but thats the way it goes. Good that we had a bit of water during the early part of the week as it was running off quick and was destined to go very low as next weeks report will show.
Weeks total 4
Cornhill beat week beginning April13th
26/04/2026
Week beginning April13th. Patrick Gilmour & party.
Mon 13th. Starting off the week with a good water level after heavy rain yesterday afternoon and overnight, the river was running at 2ft 5 inch. Oliver shute landed an 8lb Salmon in the Clump pool
Tue 14th. River level 11.5 inch Patrick Gilmour landed a couple of Salmon in the McGregor at 8lbs and 6.5lbs.
Wed 15th. Water level today 9.5 inch Patrick Gilmour landed another brace today an 8.5 pounder in the Gledfield pool and an 8lb salmon in the McKenzie pool.
Thur 16th. The water level today was 7.5 inch
Fri 17th. River level 8.5 inch
Sat 18th. River level today 8 inch, I was on the river the last couple of days with Valerie Gilmour, I was delighted when she landed a lovely fresh sea liced 8lb Salmon in the McGregor pool.
She had tried so hard and was well rewarded, Grandson Jack was delighted to see the Salmon played and landed. Well done Valerie.
Weeks Total 6
Cornhill beat week beginning April 6th
19/04/2026
Week beginning April 6th Alison Galloway & party.
Good water throughout the week. with a water level of 4 ft 6 inch and dropping over Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th
Wed 8th. The water level today was 2ft 5 inch to 1ft 10 inch
Thur 9th. River height 1ft 4 inch. 10lb Salmon landed in the McKenzie pool.
Fri 10th. River level 1 ft
Sat 11th River level 1ft 2 inch.
Weeks total Salmon 1
Cornhill beat week begining march 23rd
29/03/2026
Week beginning March 23rd Jamie Hammond & party.
Mon 23rd. The week started out with the river running low at 4 inch.
Tues 24th. River this morning 5 inch and on the rise, Mark Jamieson landed a 7 lb salmon in the Gledfield pool.
Wed 25th. Water level 1ft 2 inch Jamie Hammond landed a couple today both 9lbs one was caught in the Raven pool and the other caught in the Clump pool.
Thur 26th. Water level today 10 inches Jamie had another brace today a 10pounder from the Little falls and followed up with an 8lb Salmon in the Raven pool.
Fri 27th. Water level 1 ft 4 inch we had strong blustery winds and all four season not just during the day sometimes within an hour
Sat 28th. Similar weather to yesterday with more rain, Jamie Hammond rounded of the week with a beautiful 14lb sea liced Springer.
Weeks total Salmon 6
Cornhill week beginning march 16th.
27/03/2026
Week begining March 16th Mon, Tues, Wed, Tom Dawson & Paul Roberts.
Thurs, Fri, Sat, John Waggott & party.
Mon 16th. The river was running at 1ft 4 inch at 09 00 hrs and the river continued to rise all day long to a height of 1ft 9 inch at 17.00 hrs
Tues 17th. The water level today was 2ft 9 inch and dropping which was an excellent height for several of the pools, a couple of salmon were seen but nothing was touched.
Wed 18th. River level 1 ft 2″ inch Tom Dawson landed a a 9lb Salmon in the Clump pool a nice plump sea liced fish which had a very fresh Seal damage to its flank. I must say a very well done to Paul for trying so hard and being so enthusiastic, even when things were getting a little difficult for him Paul does not mind me saying he is battling with Parkinsons and is bearing up to it with courage. hope to have a cast with you again Paul.
Thurs 19th. River level 9 inch
Fri 20th. River level 6 inch The beat was not fished today
Sat 21st. River level 5.5 inch The beat was not fished today
Cornhill week beginning march 9th
Week beginning March 9th. Dr Anthony & party.
The week ended Blank.
Cornhill beats first Salmon of the Season
09/03/2026
Thursday March 5th,Friday 6th, Saturday7th. Ryan Bunyan & Howard
Thurs 5th. The water level was approx 5.5 inch in the afternoon the water level crept up a little. Howard McIver caught a sea liced 10 lb Salmon in the Little falls pool this got us off the mark as it was Cornhill beats first fish of the season.
Well done to Howard who had came accross from Stornoway to meet up with Ryan, Its Howards earliest ever Salmon Howard Ghillies up on Grimersta and they don’t usually get going till May.
My first cast of the season
17/02/2026
Just into another week of the fishing season and the conditions are still not great. We have not had any big water since way back just as the season started due to snow melt.
last week i fished for the first time this season on the Monday the 9th, the river level was running at 1ft 2 inch i fished for around 3 hours and nothing at all doing, I gave it a go again for a couple of hours on the Thursday the 12th and again absolutely nothing doing.
I was down cutting back bushes today and the water level was running at 6 inch.
Oppening day of the 2026 Salmon fishing season
18/01/2026
This season the oppening day 11th January fell on the Sunday so Monday 12th was the first day. With the thaw well under way the river was very big and unfishable, as usual i went over to he river but did not attempt a cast even one as the riverbanks were rock hard and absolutely lethal with ice so it was to dangerous with the big river. I did have my dram though.
END OF THE DISASTROUS 2025 SEASON
14/12/2025
UPDATE OF SEASON CATCHES ON CORNHILL BEAT 2025
last season 2025 at Cornhill we had a pretty disastrous season we ended up with a total of 23. = Salmon 11 and Grilse 12. I hope this this is not downward trend the fishing over the last 3 seasons has been very erratic with very poor periods changing quickly and fishing well in short bursts, and the runs are getting noticably more condensed into shorter periods.
Last season was very very dry so this did have a very big detrimental effect on the fishing throughout the entire season, but in the brief periods we did have water over the season it was very noticable to me that their were definitely fewer fish.
The biggest salmon caught were estimated at 13lbs McGregor pool, 12lb Little falls pool, & 12lbs Clump pool. So no big fish were seen or caught on the beat, i personally consider a big fish to be approx 18lbs and above.
The Cornhill total per rod ( 2 Rod Beat ) although it was disastrous it was by no means poorest as i am now hearing from other beats on the Carron. i believe i am correct at time of writing, Dounie Beat 13, Gruinards Glencalvie combined 25, further a field there are some pretty worrying dismal reports coming out form all over Scotland.
A couple of weeks ago I was out for a walk a few times to see if their was much spawning activity i saw some at various places up and down the river.
MY OWN PERSONAL SEASON
On a personal theme last season just finnished 2025 i had my own poorest catch for about 43 years, and this was also the least i have fished in over 40 years i landed just 11 Salmon / Grilse, and i suppose i cant complain of my average as unbelievably i only fished seven and a half days in the whole 2025 season!
The previous season 2024 i caught 61 salmon to my own rod and it was a pretty good season it was difficult at times but compared to this season just finnished it was very good.
And in 2023 season i managed to land 21 Salmon / Grilse in a week i hope these two recent seasons are not going to become the good old days.
last week of season
13/01/2025
Week beginning September 22nd Hamish McFarlane & party.
Mon 22nd. The river was showing 7 inch on the gauge today Alf Gamblin & Steven Urquhart were fishing today as an invite from Hamish, A pretty quiet day but well done Steven landing a 6lb Grilse in the Lairds cast.
Tue 23rd. The river down to 5 inch today Allan Donaldson landed a 7lb Salmon in the March pool very quiet only saw two fish show all day.
Wed 24th. River level 3 inch. The beat was not fished
Thur 25th. River level 3 inch Alf Gamblin and John McCrae all Credit to them fror turning up at all and having a very long lunch.
Fri 26th. River level 2inch. The beat was not fished
Sat 26th. River level 2 inch. The beat was not fished
Weeks total 2 Salmon 1 Grilse 1
The last two days of the 2025 season
Mon 29th. A little rain yesterday put the river up to 6 inch Allan Donaldson fished the morning , and saw absolutely nothing showing very unusual for end of September touched nothing, and called it a season !
Tue 30th. The beat was not fished
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Week beginning September 15th . Chris and Nik Howarth.
Mon 15th. We started off this week with the river rising which is a big change, it was 3.5″ Inch at 09.00hrs and just under 2ft at lunchtime it steadied for a while and then rose slowly for before rising again to just over 3ft.
Tue 16th. The river level today was 1ft 10″inches Nik Howarth landed a good sized Seatrout of approx 3lbs in the McGregor pool, and a few fish were seen but it was still relatively quiet
Wed 17th. The water level this morning was 1ft 3″ inch Nik Howarth had the afternoon off as he was feeling his back playing him up a bit ( I know how that feels ) Nik offered me his rod for the afternoon, I was delighted to land a couple of fish an 8lb Salmon in the Lairds cast and a 5lb Grilse in the McKenzie pool, i also had a Salmon causing a bow wave following the fly for a couple of yards in the Gledfield pool.
Thur 18th. The water level today 10″ inch dropping to 8 ” inch A very windy day gale force winds at times it eased off a bit in mid afternoon.
Fri 19 th. The river level today registered 8 inch at 09.00 and dropped an inch by late afternoon, a few fish showing today. Nik and Chris The two brothers gave it a good go over the week and once again river running off with a little rain forecast for Sunday, we shall wait and see.
Sat 20 th. River level 5 Inch and continuing to drop
Weeks total 3. Salmon 1 Grilse 1 Sea trout 1
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Week beginning September 8th Douglas Chalmers & party.
Mon 8th. Water level Minus – 1.1/2″ inch
Tue 9th. Water level Minus – 1.1/2″ inch
Wed 10th. Water level Minus – 1.1/2″ inch
Thur 11th. Water level Minus – 1.1/2″ inch
Fri 12th. Rain yesterday and overnight was the first rain we have had in just over a month so it was very welcome. The rain was mainly well out in the west and brought in mainly on a south west wind, that saw the river level this morning at 2.1/2″ inch and slowly rising it rose fairly slowly at first registering 7″ inch at approx 11.00 hrs. It then rose very quickly going up 1 foot in an hour peaking at 1ft 7″ inch and began dropping back almost immediatly at 12.00 hrs. The fishing guests arrived to fish at just after 14 00hrs and to my utter astonishment !! they left again at 15.15 hrs.
Sat 13th. The river level was 7.1/2″ inch the fishing guests did not come at all today, subsequently the beat was not fished at all.
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Week beginning September 1st John Maginis & party.
ROLL ON 30th September
Mon 1st. River level Zero 0″
Tue 2nd. River level Minus- 1.1/2″ inch. at 08.30 hours.. River rose briefly to plus 2 inch in late evening and dropped back quicky overnight as the ground is so dry.
Wed 3rd. River level Zero 0″
Thur 4th. River level Minus – 3/4″ inch
Fri 5th. River level Minus- 1″ inch
Sat 6th. River level Minus – 1.1/2″
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Week beginning August 25th.
I wish i could report something different but once again absolutely nothing to report on the fishing front, and this week there has been even less water in the river.
Next week will be the 1st of September with just four weeks of this season remaining. and i must say i am personally looking forward to the end of this extraordinary season.
It is by far the worst salmon fishing season i have seen, the fishing has been hampered and curtailed by long periods of extremely low water thoughout the whole season so far, but worryingly during the very few times the river has briefly went up there has been very little evidence of even reasonable numbers of salmon and grilse.
The salmon catches from the beats on the Carron are absolutely disastrous at the moment and i can not see that changing in the last month of the season.
On a personal note this is the least i have fished on the Carron in 42 years i have fished for a total of 5 days so far this season as of September 1st. and have landed a total of ( 8 ) 3 Salmon & 5 Grilse I am pleased with that score for five days, but to have that as the sum total of my fishing season NO comment.
last season 2024 at this point in the season i had landed ( 39 ) 22 Salmon & 17 Grilse the last month fished well and saw backend fish coming in with some residents already resident in the pools, and i ended the season with a total of 60.
I have been up and down the beat on numerous occasions in last three weeks doing work after the storm damage or just having a walk and have not seen one single fish move!
More cheery news on the fishing front no doubt next week. News from the wider world just as downbeat and dissastrous
Mon 25th Water level Minus – 1/2″ inch
Tue 26th. Water level Minus – 1″ inch
Wed 27th. Water level Minus – 1″ inch
Thur 28th. Water level Minus – 1.1/2″ inch
Fri 29th. Water level Minus – 1.3/4″ inch
Sat 30th. Water level Minus – 2″ inch
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Week beginning August 18th.
Mon 18th. I wish i could report something different but once again absolutely nothing to report on the fishing front, and absolutely no water in the river. We started out the week with 0″ Zero on the gauge.
Tue 19th. Water level 0″ ZERO.
Wed 20th. Water level Minus – 1/2″ inch
Thur 21st. Water level Minus – 1/2″ inch. Thursday evening a couple of the water bailiefs John Audsley and Ian Gollan came in and gave me a hand to pull down the two big limbs that were still attached to the main tree. after a good few attempts with a rope attached to the pickup and pulling eventually both limbs came away, A big thanks to John and Ian.
Fri 22nd. Water level Minus – 3/4″ inch
Sat 23rd. Water level Minus – 1″ inch
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Week beginning August 11th .
Mon 11th. This week started out with the river level at 4.5 inch and dropping, we had bright and pretty warm conditions at 22 degrees. No fishing at all was done this week
Tue12th. The water level today 3.5″ Inch and it dropped away pretty quickly over the rest of the week, what a surprise ! With the temperature up to 25 degrees one day.
Wed 13th. I was up and down the beat a few times, and once again this week saw nothing at all show. And today I met up with Hamish McFarlane at the top hut and had coffee and good long chat for couple of hours and during that period we saw ABSOLUTELY NOTHING showing in the Well pool and Clump pool.
Thur 14th. Fri 15th. Sat 16th. River level 3″ Inch. 2″ Inch. & 1.5 “Inch.
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Week beginning August 4th.
Mon 4th. The predicted storm for today did arrive and got going about 10.00 hs in the morning and increased in strength as the day went on. In the past they have given us storm warnings and we get very little and on a couple of occasions we had absolutely no indication of a storm. The wind and rain eased off mid evening, We lost our electricity , landline and internet at lunchtime and were without it till early afternoon Thursday.
Tue 5th. I went over to the river to check to see what damage had been done on the beat, a couple of smaller trees were down loads of branches and debri and branches debri still coming down the river. One of thr big trees up on path above the Wall pool split about 15ft up and came down in two big limbs smashed into the big Oak tree next to it, It is just attached so hanging pretty dangerously, It was still really blustery today with strong gusts.
Wed 6th. The water level today was 1ft 10 inch dropping back to 1ft 8 inch before rising again in late afternoon, Allan Donaldson landed a 5lb grilse in the McKenzie pool, and followed up with a 4 lb grilse from the lairds cast, and landed a very accrobatic 6 lb grilse in the Gledfield pool. Very quiet only saw three fish over these two days.
Thur 7th. The river level today was down to 10 inch Allan very briefly had a grilse on and off in the Clump pool, and then managed to get an 8lb Salmon to stay on and was landed in the McGregor pool, this salmon punched above its wait and gave a very good account of itself.
Fri 8th. / Sat 9th. The beat was not fished on these two days.
Total Salmon 1 Grilse 3.
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Week beginning July 28th.
Mon 28th. Started out with the river level at 3 inch. I Managed to get the whole beat strimmed again over the first three days of this week and over the three days beside the river up and down the beats length i never saw a fish.
Thur 31st. The water level hit zero 0″ again
Fri Aug 1st A little rain overnight river up to 3 inch and almost immediatley back to 2.5 inch
Sat 2nd. River 2 inch no fishing at all done over this week and absolutely nothing to report.
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Week beginning July 21st
Mon 21st. The water level this morning was minus – 1 inch. The river began to rise late evening after periods of quite heavy rain through out the day.
Tue 22nd. This morning the water gauge was 3ft and dropping very quickly, the water was really pretty coloured and dirty it began to clear slightly in late afternoon but was still pretty coloured. Allan was fishing and only saw three fish all day, a couple of Grilse and one Salmon all three coloured fish. I moved a grilse to the fly and a slight touch it appeared all very half hearted that was in the Gledfield pool. In late afternoon in the Clump pool i landed a good strong salmon of approx a good 12lbs it was coloured but in excellent condition.
Wed 23rd. River height this morning was 11.5 inch and dropping pretty quickly, It was pretty quiet i managed to land a 5lb and a 4lb grilse in 35 minutes both fresh and sea liced and both in the Lairds cast in the Morning very quiet only saw three other grilse one coloured and two fresh. The afternoon was very quiet i touched nothing and saw nothing.
Thur, Fri, & Sat, Allan did not fish the beat, and by Saturday the river was at 3″ inch and Sunday 2″ inches.
Total Salmon 1 Grilse 2
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SUNDAY JULY 20th
The season just keeps rolling along actually i am going through periods of looking forward to 30th September now only about 10 weeks to go. So far this season i have fished the River for a grand total of approx 4 hrs and landed 1 salmon. I have spent way more time strimming than fishing and very soon to be at it again, at least after that kind of time spent on the riverbank their is an end product. Last season at this point at this point of the season i had landed 34. DIABOLICAL does not sum it up!!!!!
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Week beginning July 14th. Alison Galloway & party.
Mon 14th. Another week of desperately low water, We started the week on Monday with the water level at minus – 1.5″ inch, by Saturday it was minus – 1.75″ inches .
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Week beginning July 7th. James England & party.
Mon 7th. We had periods of heavy rain on Saturday and yesterday late afternoon and evening which put the river level up to 7 inches this morning. We had a small movement of grilse hard to tell just how many it was very quiet and very few were seen although really good to report that in the morning John Laird landed an 8lb salmon in the McKenzie pool, and shortly after George Renouf landed a 6lb grilse in the Lairds cast. Later on in the afternoon some grilse were briefly seen.
Tue 8th. Nothing else was touched or seen and the river dropped pretty quickly and from Wednesday onwards 2″ Inch on gauge it was very hot and bright particularly Friday and Saturday very hot at approx 28 degrees and minus – 3/4″ inch on gauge.
Week total Salmon 1 Grilse 1
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Week beginning June 30th
Mon 30th, Sat 5th. Another week with absolutely nothing to report.
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Week beginning June 23rd Ian Patterson & party.
Mon 23rd. We had a real big thunderstorm in the early hours of sunday morning with some torrential rain and subsequently the river went up later in the day and as often happens with no fishing on Sunday the river run off pretty quickly by Monday morning. Ian was out early on Monday morning and their was still 8 inch on the gauge Ian landed a 3lb grilse in the Little falls pool.
Tue24th. The river was up an inch to 9 inch Ian landed another grilse of 4lbs this time in the Raven pool, a few fish were seen over the first two days .
Wed 25th., Thur26th., Fri27th. Sat28th. The river dropped away quite quickly and nothing else was caught or touched and nothing was seen over the second part of the week, Obviously some grilse running in and taking advantage of the rise in water, but un surprisingly moving through the beat quickly. Well done to Ian getting a couple out in what has been a truely disastrous season so far.
Total 2 Grilse
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Week Beginning June 16th.
Mon 16th. The week started out with river once again at a depressingly low level of 1″ Inch
Absolutely nothing to report.
Sat 21st. River level minus – 1 inch.
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Week Beginning June 9th Ian & Shelley Neville.
Mon 9th. River level today is just 4″ inch, and we are starting off another week with very little prospect of significant rain for this coming week.
Tue 10th. Water level 5.5″ inch
Wed 11th. River level back to 4″ inch. Ian and Shelley headed off back south after giving it a go for few hours over Monday and Tuesday.
Thur 12th. Water level 3.” inch It turned out to be a Very warm day hitting 24 degrees
Fri 13th. Water level 1.5″ inch Another very warm day.
Sat 14th This morning just 1″ inch on thre gauge. I have been doing a few jobs and have had a few walks up and down the beat during this week and have saw absolutely nothing very disappointing.
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Week beginning June 2nd. Peter sydney Smith & party.
Mon 2nd. Started off this week with 8 inch on the gauge and with Snow on the tops!
Tues 3rd. We had reasonable water levels at times through out the week at times up to approx 10 inch dropping back pretty quickly fluctuating a lot. and again very quiet on the fishing front.
Sat 7th. With the river running at 5 inch Peter Sydney Smith landed a 3 lb grilse in the Little Falls pool. This is the first salmon caught on the beat since 31st of March OVER 9 WEEKS !!
Weeks Total 1 Grilse
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Week beginning May 26th. Brian Alexander & party.
Mon 26th. We started out this week with 9 1/2″ inch on the gauge, One Salmon was seen in the Little falls pool myself and Brian both saw it and as it turned out that this running fish was the only fish anyone saw over the course of the entire week.
Tue 27th. River 2ft 3″ Inch. We have had good water over the last two days and the only contact made with a salmon was late afternoon today when Allan Donaldson pulled a salmon in the Gledfield pool wich was just an on and straight off again.
Wed 28th. River today 11 Inch conditions looked pretty good, but absolutely nothing seen or touched.
Thur 29th. River 6″ Inch at 09.00 heavy rain in early hours of the morning took effect and river rose and went on to reach 2ft 6 Inch,
Fri 30th. River 2ft 6 inch and dropping back to to 1ft 6 inch at 19.00hrs
Sat 31st. Water level this morning was 1ft 1 inch. and slowly dropping to 10 ” inch at 15.30. Not to much of a surprise that the Salmon were keen to run hard upstream after being held up for so long due to the prolonged low water, Salmon were seen coming into the pools upstream around Gruinards with salmon quite hard to tempt at first as the week progressed they were picking up fish up river. Dissapointing for Brian and Chris as the beat involves a fair bit of walking and often stragglers are left in the beat for us to pick up, this was not the case and absolutely nothing was seen other than the one fish early in the week.
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Week beginning May 19th. Ruaraidh MacMillan & party
Mon 19th. River minus — 3 ” inch. Absolutely hopeless the water level reached its lowest point on Friday & Saturday of this week. Some rain is forecast for Saturday so we will see, fortunately we do not appear to have any salmon in our beat as these desperate conditions would be really problematic for them. At least conditions cooled on saturday so hopefully the temperature dropping and becoming a little fresher will help the salmon that are struggling in these conditions. I managed to get the river banks strimmed and got a bit to much sun doing it. Now forecasting Thunderstorms for Sunday 25th & and Monday 26th.
Tue 20th. River minus — 3″ inch
Wed 21st. River minus –3. 1/4″ inch.
Thur 22nd. River minus — 3.1/4″ inch
Fri 23rd. River minus — 3.1/2″ inch
Sat 24th. River minus — 3.1/2 inch
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Rivers Findhorn and Nairn closed due to Saprolegnia deaths in Salmon.
May 21st. With the extremely low water conditions continuing the River Findhorn and the River Nairn as of May 19th have both been closed this is due to increasing incidences and deaths in Salmon due to outbreaks of Saprolegnia. In The case of the Findhorn it will be closed till June 2nd when it will be assessed.
On the upper reaches of the Carron there has been a few deaths again suspected to be due to Saprolegenia.
While Saprolegnia is a natural part of freshwater ecosystems and can infect wild salmon, there’s a growing concern that fish farms might be contributing to increased Saprolegnia infections in wild populations. Fish farms can act as a source of the pathogen, especially when their water systems connect with rivers and streams. Additionally, stress from handling and vaccination in farmed salmon can make them more susceptible to Saprolegnia infections.
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Week beginning May 12 th Hamish McFarlane & party.
Mon 5th. River Level Minus 1.5″ Inch The outlook is for another very dry week with some very warm spells particularly over the second half of the week.
Tue 6th. River level Minus 1.3/4″ Inch.
Wed 7th. River Level Minus 2.1/4″ Inch.
Thur 8th. River Level Minus 2.1/2″ Inch.
Fri 9th. River Minus 2.1/2″ Inch. last two days very bright and pretty warm only the brisk east wind keeping the temperature down around 18 degrees
Sat 10th. River Minus 3″ Inch. Incredibly low for this time of year it does go as low as this and lower, but it very unusual for this time of year to hit minus three Inches in mid May. Today is a Very warm bright day. Absolutely nothing to report.
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Week beginning May 5th. Mike Verbeeten & party.
Mon 5th River at 2″ Inch and dropping its a very bright and warm morning.
Tue 6th. River 1/2″ Inch The outlook is for another very dry week with some very warm spells.
Wed 7th. River Minus 1/2″ Inch.
Thur 8th. River Minus 3/4″ Inch.
Fri 9th. River Minus 1″ Inch.
Sat 10th. River Minus 1.25″ absolutely nothing to report.
*****
Its been an absolutely hopeless season, Personally I have only fished for just under 4 hours this season so far and we are now today on May 13th. 4 months into the 2025 season.
As a bit of a change from photos of a depressingly low river each week I have put up some photos of the river with a bit of water in it for a change. A couple of the photos were taken from approximately the same spot to see the comparison.
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Week beginning April 28th John Maginnis & party.
Mon 28th The water level this morning at 09. 00 was 1 inch we were getting some rain out in the mountains that susequently put the river up a little to 3.75 Inch in late afternoon around 16.30 hrs.
Tue. 29th. The river dropping back qickly from the little rise last night approx 3Inch and dropping.
Wed. 30th. 1.5 Inch at 12.00 hrs
Thur. May 1st The river this morning has once again reached 0″ Zero.
Fri 2nd. The river this morning again sitting at 0″ Zero on the gauge.
Sat 3rd. Much cooler weather overnight and steady but very light rain put the river up to 2.5 inch by 17.00 hrs. Another week with practically no fishing done, with the guests going through the motions on a couple of occasions. Its been an absolutely terrible season so far due to the continuous low water, Its hard to believe we are now at the 6th of May.
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Week beginning April 21st. Allan Donaldson and party.
Mon 21st. Starting another week with low water and 2 inch 3/4″ Inches on the gauge with it destined to get much lower in next few days. My pal Ian Bissett was up from Edinburgh to fish the first three days with me, Ian fished for 20 minutes and that was it he went through the motions just to wet his line, just enough water to do that !
Tue 22nd. River level 1″ 3/4 inch
Wed 23rd. River level 1″ inch
Thur 24th. River level 1/2″ inch. My pal Colin was to fish the last three days of the week with me but again this did not happen
Fri 25th. River level Zero 0″ Inches
Sat 26th. River level Minus — 1/4″ Inch. River now just dipping below Zero !
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Week beginning April 14th. Ann Cleverly & party.
Mon 14th. River level 1/2 ” Inch
Tue 15th. River level 0 zero
Wed 16th. River level 0 zero
Thur 17th. River level 2″ Inch
Fri 18th. River level 2″ inch. The fishing for the week till now absolutely non existant
Sat 19th. River level The river began to rise around 17.30 hrs registering approx 4.5 inch and rising slowly to late to do any good for this week. Absolutely no fishing was done this week.
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Week beginning April 8th Colin Campbell & party.
Mon 7th. Starting off this week with an incredibly low river for first week in April River level just 2.5 inch, because of the long clear blue skies we ended up starting the first four days of this week with a frost before turning to bright sun with not a cloud in the sky.
Tue 8th. River level 2inch Again frosty and bright sun with not a cloud in the sky chilly east wind at times.
Wed 9th. River level 1.5 inches frosty bright sun not a cloud in the sky
Thur 10th. River level 1 inch Warmest day of the week as the wind has swung round to the west. River level continuing to drop not unusual for the summer months but very unusual for first week of April! particularly as it is not due to snow and really hard frosts and frozen river, which we used to get.
Fri 11th. River level 3/4″ inch. Now that we are in spring with the growth in trees vegetation & plant life will also take effect on the available water & moisture.
Sat 12th. River level 1/2″ inch On the gauge, Pretty desperate now.
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Week beginning March 31st Graeme McPherson & party
Mon 31st March. With the river running off after the quick rise on Saturday evening and reaching a good fishing height yesterday of 3ft 8 inch in the late morning which is often the case on a Sunday ! so we started this week with a bit of water al though it was dropping back quite quickly.we started of with approx 1fty 4 inch Ernie Mackay had a good day making the most of the water by landing three springers all weighng in at 8lbs and all sea liced.
the salmon were caught in the Gledfield, McGregor and Clump pools, Graeme McPherson had bad luck hooking in to a couple of salmon but unfortunately they almost immediately threw the hook.
Tue 1st. the river was down today to 10 inch today and 9 inch by late afternoon however two salmon were moved and one other salmon pulled, We now have pretty bright sunny overhead conditions that will have a much more detrimental effect on the fishing as the river is dropping back pretty rapidly and as the week progressed.
Wed 2nd. Graeme, Ernie, Mike, & Stewart went off trout fishing, its not great over head conditions even for trout as the bright sun and blue skies took even more of a hold.
Thur 3rd. Another trout fishing expedition today for the boys, and i am sure they would have good fun and the crack would be brilliant.
Fri 4th. Another trout outing today, river level down to 4″ inch
Sat 5th. The boys went off back to Aberdeen early.
Weeks total 3 Salmon
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Week beginning March 24th. Alison Galloway & party
Mon 24th. The week started out once again with a low river just 5 inch on the gauge.
Tue 25th. The water level dropped back to 4.5 inch and hovered about the 4.5 to for the rest of the week till late Saturday afternoon when ther river began to rise rapidly but by then it was to late to improve the fishing conditions for this week.
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Week beginning March 17th. Jamie Hammond & party.
Mon 17th. We started out with the river 6.5 inch and dropping, with the overhead conditions very bright and sunny, and this was to be the outlook for the rest of the week along with it being very frosty overnight till Thursday.
Tue 18th. The river level today down to 5 inch Jamie and Andrew fished the beat again today but decided to head back south in the afternoon. Being experienced fishers i feel they made the right choice
Wed 19th to Sat 22nd. For a change the forecast was pretty accurate the water level dropped each day and by Saturday the River was registering just 3 inch on the gauge.
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Week beginning March 10th. John Anthony & party.
Mon 10th. We started out this morning with the river running at 3ft 2 inch, It has been a pretty dry season so far but the heavy rain in the early hours put the river level up very quickly from 6 inch the previous day.
Tue 11th. The water level today 1ft 5 inch.
Wed 12th. The river down again to 10 inch, John Anthony got the first of the week landing a 6 pounder in the Raven pool.
Thur 13th. Water level 8.5 inch Alan Sainsbury landed a 13 pounder in the McGregor pool.
Fri 14th. John Anthony rounded off the week landing his second a 10lb Salmon the second one to come out of the Raven pool.
Total 3
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First Salmon of season 2025 from the Cornhill beat
Friday 7th March. I fished the Cornhill beat Thursday 6th and Friday 7th. On Friday mid morning I was really delighted to hook into and land a really beautifully shaped sea liced 12lb Salmon, it fought extremely well and gave a very good account of its self. I am really pleased to get one in the book as i have only fished for approx 4 hours so far this season.
There has not been a lot of water so far this season and it is still early yet as for gauging how the spring salmon fishing is
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I had been suffering with really bad back for almost the last three weeks with the first ten days being absolute murder ! been out and aboutdoing a bit last 5 or 6 days. So subsequently i have not wet a line so far this season the river is low today with just 4 inch on the gauge with very light rain falling and some snow on the tops. Hopefully I will give the beat a cast next week, A couple of photos of Cornhill beat when i was cutting bushes and a photo from Greenland where my pal Brian is at the moment.
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Opening day of the 2025 Salmon fishing season
Saturday the 11th January was the first day of the 2025 salmon fishing season, it came and went without me even visiting the river. Since Hogmanay we have had a few falls of snow interspersed with some torential rain and we have had snow on the ground for around 10 days now and since Tuesday we have had a few extra falls with dropping temperatures to around minus- 4 or 5 degrees during the day and much lower overnight.
On Friday during the day it got down to minus – 9 degrees the roads are not great and the riverbanks having a good covering of snow and covering over holes in the bank so its really trecherous underfoot.
So for me that is the first oppening day in 33 years i have not ventured out to the river even for just minutes which is what happened in 2021 when it was a real blizzard.
A thaw is forecast for today Monday 13th January with temperatures forecast to get up to around 7 or 8 degrees with rain also forecast so that could result in a big river if we get a quick thaw as there is a lot of snow out in the mountains.
So hopefully i will get out and get some bush cutting done on the river banks and maybe the odd cast.
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How my own Fishing Season went in 2024
Just a quick update on my own personal fishing season last year 2024, I managed to get off to a good start by landing the first Salmon off the River on 16th February a 7lb Springer in the Gledfield pool.
I picked up a few fish in March although in general things were pretty slow, in April pretty similar quite hard going i had a resonable spell over a week landing 8 springers mainly salmon of 7 or 8lbs and one of 9lb. May & June we had periods of low water with pretty high temperatures for quite long periods with the river showing its bare bones much of the time.
I managed a nice 10 lb salmon during this period when the river went from a very low period just 1 inch on gauge to 1ft 1 inch due to a thunderstorm, i managed to get the salmon in the McGregor pool the river dropped like a stone as soon as it had peaked at 1 ft 1 inch. Their was a good lift in the water level in early July i fished Monday to Thursday and managed to land 14 ten of them Grilse, and four Salmon their were definitely more grilse in evidence than the same period last season. I was really delighted with the 5 lb grilse that i landed in the McKenzie pool as this was my 1.800 hundredth salmon that ihave landed in my lifetime.
We had Periods of low water again in August i picked up a few fish on the river and landed my one and only salmon that i caught down on the Kyle on August 20th.
I had another excellent bit of fishing in September over four days Wednesday to Saturday, i managed to land 16 over the four days 13 salmon and 3 Grilse, and the week could not have been rounded off and ended better than by landing the last salmon of the week mid afternoon Saturday in the March pool a very big cock Salmon that was estimated at 28 lbs and i must say i was really delighted and pretty knackered after i landed it, i had
landed four earlier that day and was pleasantly tired and was going to walk on past the March pool and head up to the car i am glad i did’nt I picked up another 5 Salmon before the season ended on the Carron.
I had an invite from good friend Bryan Alexander to fish the River Alness beat 3 on October 9th, I managed to land a 5lb Grilse and this rounded of my seasons total to exactly 60 of them 38 were Salmon and 22 were Grilse. Interestingly half my total 30 were caught over 8 days two x four day periods.
Season 2023 Catches & Update
12/12/2023
Week beginning 23rd September Hamish McFarlane & party.
Mon 23rd. The week started out with the river down again at just at 2.5 inch.
Tue 24th. The river still at just 2.5 inch at 09.00 but the very heavy rain overnight saw the river rising very quickly and by 14.00 hrs the river was at 4 foot.
Wed 25th. This morning the river was 1ft 6 inch Allan Donaldson landed an 8lb Salmon in the Lairds cast, and lost another salmon in the March pool.
Thurs 26th. The river level was up today and running at 2ft. Allan Donaldson landed a 9lb Salmon in the McKenzie pool and followed up with an 8lb Salmon in the Wall pool.
Fri 27th. The river was running at 1ft 3 inch Allan landed a 5lb Grilse in the March pool and lost another Grilse at the net in the Clump pool.
Sat 28th. The river was 1ft today. Alf Gamblin and Steven Urquhart were fishing today as guests of Hamish, Steven had a super day landing 3 Salmon in very quick succession in the morning all from the March pool weighing in at 14lb, 8lb & 6lb. Well done Steven.
Weeks total 7. 5 Salmon 2 Grilse
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Week beginning September 11th Douglas Chalmers & party.
Mon 9th. The river level again down to a very a low level with just 2 inch on the gauge.
Tue 10th. The same water level this morning at 09.00 just 2 inch, the river was destined to rise as we had torrential rain overnight but we had the usual delay for it to come into the system and come down river to Cornhill. It began to rise quickly at 11.00 hrs and was already up 16 inches showing 1ft 6 inch it continued to rise all day reaching 3ft at 16.00 hrs.
Wed 11th. I had a phone call late last night from Douglas saying that they himself and son Mark had to go back south first thing this morning due to a Family emergency so for them their fishing was over before it had begun. I did not envy them their long drive back down to Kent. The river today was 3ft 6 inch Allan Donaldson landed an 8lb,7lb,7lb,7lb, Salmon & a 4lb, Grilse all in the Gledfield pool, two others were lost.
Thur 12th. The river had dropped yesterday afternoon and overnight but had risen again and at 09.00hrs this morning was showing 3ft. Allan landed another couple from Gledfield at 8lbs, & 7lbs, two others were lost. Allan followed up with a 9lb salmon in the Clump pool.
Fri 13th. The river was running at 1ft4 inch. Allan landed an 8lb Salmon in the McKenzie pool, a 5lb Grilse in the March pool, and rounded of with a 12lb salmon in the Well pool. and a salmon was briefly on off in McKenzie stream
Sat 14th. The river level was 1ft1 inch Allan Donaldson landed a 7lb salmon in McKenzie pool just before the river started to rise and by mid day it was at 1ft 9inch.
A long lunch saw that the river was down to 1ft 8 inch Allan caught a 6lb Grilse in the Clump pool, a 9lb Salmon in the McKenzie stream, and a 7lb Salmon in the Wall pool.
The best was still to come certainly the biggest was. I hooked into a salmon in the March pool that was landed carefully measured and safely released and back at home after looking at three weight to length charts the 41.5 inch came out at 27lb /28lb. As it was hooked just after 15.00 hrs and was pretty tired by then i really was knackered after i played it and landed it. It was a superb 4 days landing 16 Salmon /Grilse. Thanks to Douglas & Marks misfortune. I have spoke to them since and although a private matter i can report all is now well and good.
Weeks total 16. 13 Salmon & 3 Grilse
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Week beginnig Sept 2nd John McGinnis & party
Mon 2nd. The low water conditions continued into this week with just 2 inch registering on the water gauge, but we were going to get rain in early evening and over night.
Tue 3rd. This morning started off with the river running at 1ft 1 inch, a 7lb Salmon was caught in the Clump pool and that turned out to be the only catch of the week.
Wed 4th. The river was down to 8 inch and dropping, There was no more activity on the fishing front.
Thur 5th. The river continued to drop back and by Saturday the river was registering just 3 inch on the gauge.
Weeks total 1 Salmon
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Week beginning August 26th
Mon 26th. The start of another week and another dry one, the river was showing just 2 inch on the water gauge.
Tue 27th. On Tuesday late in the evening the river rose quickly to approx 1ft and by the following morning it was dropping back quickly.
Wed 28th. The river showing 8 inch and dropping after last nights quick rise again Allan Donaldson took the oppertunity to have a cast before the river went rapidly back to the bare bones. Allan managed to land a 6lb grilse in the McGregor pool and once again that was it for the week, the beat was not fished again this week.
We are not getting prolonged rainfall and subsequently the ground is very dry we are getting occasionally very localised heavy rain for a short period that results in a very quick rise that drops back immediatley.
Weeks total. 1 Grilse
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Week beginning August 19th.
Mon 19th. The week started out with the river running at approx 5 inch, It briefly bumped up a few times and rose to around 1 ft 7 inch late evening on Wednesday and overnight into early Thursday morning
Thur 22nd. The water level at 09. 00 was showing 1 foot on the gauge and dropping quickly Allan Donaldson fished the morning and landed a 5lb grilse in the McKenzie pool and that was all that was seen, Allan packed in at lunchtime.
The river rose quickly again in the evening and once again dropped quickly and by Saturday was showing 5 inch. We are badly needing a good lift in water levels for several days. We had flood warnings for Wednesday and Thursday but the much talked about storm and heavy rain in midweek did not materialise up here.
Weeks total 1 Grilse
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Week beginning August 5th
Mon 5th. Tue 6th. The low water we have been experiencing for the last three and a half weeks continued with minus – 2 inch on the gauge, Wednesday saw a little overnight rain but only enough to register 3 inch
Thur 8th. River 3 inch.
Fri 9th. The river bumped up and down erratically but not to any significant level, in late evening getting up to approx 5.5 inch.
Sat 10th. The river rose very quickly in the early hours of the morning and peaked at Cornhill at approx 09.00 hrs. registering 2ft 5 inch and it imediately began to drop back. The water was understandably dirty, Allan Donaldson took the oppertunity to have a go on the quickly dropping river and was rewarded with a couple of grilse both weighing in at 4lbs and both taken in the Gledfield pool in quick succsession. at 10.10 and 10.30 and that was the activity i packed in at 12.30 for the day with the river dropping quickly and now showing 1ft 6 on the gauge.
Week total 2 Grilse
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Week beginning July 29th. Chris lacey & party
The river continued to fall back slowly and reached minus – 1.5 inch on Sunday 4th August
week ended blank.
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Week beginning 22nd July Mr Lawson & party.
Continued low water zero on gauge and reaching minus – 1 inch by the Sunday
The week ended blank
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Mrs A Galloway. Thursday 18th, Friday 19th Saturday 20th,
July.Fri 19th. David Brown landed a 3lb Grilse in Lairds cast.
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Week beginning July mon 15th, 16th,17th,
The beat was un fished.
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Week beginning July 8th.
Mon 8th. The week started out with the water guage showing 1ft. Allan Donaldson landed three fish in the morning. A cracking 12lb Salmon in the Lairds cast, a 4lb Grilse in the Little falls, and followed up with a tiny grilse of 2.5 lbs in Lairds cast. In the afternoon Allan caught another 4lb Grilse in the Little falls pool.
Tue 9th. The river went up over night and was running at 1ft 6 inch today, Allan Donaldson landed five fish in the morning, Allan caught two Grilse at 4lbs each in the Lairds cast, a 4lb Grilse in the McKenzie stream and a 3lb grilse in the March pool. and a 7lb Salmon in the McGregor pool. In the afternoon Allan landed a 5lb Grilse in the Clump pool. Allan briefly had a hold of another in Gledfield pool and pulled another in Lairds cast.
Wed 10th. The water level started off at 10 inches and by 17.00 hrs it had dropped back to 8.5 inch. Allan landed a 7 lb Salmon in the McGregor pool and caught another salmon of 7lbs in the Little falls pool. one other was lost in Little falls, and another pulled in the Wall pool.
Thur 11th. Water level today 9.5 inches Allan caught a 5 lb Grilse in the McKenzie pool, and followed up with a 4 lb Grilse in Little falls. Iam absolutely delighted with the first one today the 5 pounder in the McKenzie pool, as it is the 1.800 hundredth Salmon i have caught in my life time fishing. So really really pleased and at the start of the week did not expect to land 14 in four days 10 Grilse & 4 Salmon. and managed to get 12 of them on my video camera so that was good for the future & memories. I did not fish Friday or Saturday the river ran off quicker and it was noticeably quiet.
Friday 12th. and Saturday 13th. were not fished
Weeks total 14
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Week beginning July 1st James England & party.
Mon 1st. The week started out with the river running at 8 inches
Tues 2nd. Water level today 7 inches. a couple of grilse were lost today in Little falls pool & Raven pool.
Wed 3rd. The river down an inch today to 6 inch on the gauge
Thur 4th. Heavy rain last night put the river up to 1ft 10 inch, James England landed a 7lb Salmon in the McGregor pool
Fri 5th. River level up again to 2ft 8 inch James England lost a salmon in the McKenzie pool before hooking and landing a 6lb grilse.
Sat 6th. Water level today 1ft 10 inch quite a number of salmon were seen today which makes a welcome change.
Weeks total 1 Salmon & 1 Grilse
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Week beginning June 24th Ian Patterson & party.
Mon 24th. the entire week the water level stayed very low and on Wednesday 26th Ian managed to tempt a 4 lb grilse in the Raven pool with the water level at just 2 inches well done Ian.
Sat 29th. Friday night heavy rain put the water level up to 10 inches, Allan Donaldson landed a 4lb grilse in the Little falls pool.
Weeks Total 2 Grilse
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Week beginning June 17th. Miss Jane Pilling & party.
Mon.17th. The weekn started out with the river level running at 1ft 5inch. Jane Pilling landed a cracking salmon weighing in at 17lbs, in the Wall pool, a really super acheivement as Jane is 92 years young.
Tue 18th. Bill Cottle landed a 12lb salmon in the Lairds cast
Wed.19th. Water height 1ft 3 inch. Jane pilling again landing a really nice salmon of 13lbs in the McKenzie pool a nice brace of fish for Jane two salmon weighing in at 30lbs .
Thur 20th. River height 9 inch.
Fri 21st. The river level dropping back with 6 inch showing on the gauge.
Sat 22nd. The river down to 4 inch.
Weeks total. 3 Salmon
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Week beginning June 10th Ian & Shelley Neville.
Mon 10th. This week started off with the water level running at 1ft 2 inch, Ian Neville caught a 12lb salmon in the McGregor pool. Ian had earlier lost a decent fish in the March pool.
Tue 11th. This morning 1 foot on the gauge, Shelley Neville also had success in the McGregor pool by landing a10lb Salmon.
Wed 12th. River showing 8 inch
Thur 13th. River down again to 5 inch today, Ian & Shelley both rose fish in the Little falls pool.
Fri 14th. Water level 5 inches, Ian Neville landed a 5 lb grilse in the Little falls pool.
Sat 15th. Heavy rain overnight put the river up to 1ft 10inch Ian & Shelley fished till lunch time.
Weeks total 3. Salmon 2 Grilse 1
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Week beginning June 3rd Wyrley Birch & party.
Mon 3rd. The river level today was back down to just 1 inch.
Tue 4th. In late afternoon the river began to rise, and for the rest of the week the river ran basically at very good water levels for the rest of the week. However it could have done with less of the level bumping up and down quite so quickly, Wednesday 1ft 8 inch rising, Thursday1ft 7 inch, Friday 1ft 3 inch, Saturday 2ft 6 inch steady then rising again.
Week ended blank
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Week beginning May 27th Bryan Alexander & party.
Mon 27th. We started out this week once again with very low water conditions with just 2.5 inch showing on the gauge.
Tues 28th. The river was up to exactly 1 foot on the gauge after some heavy rain last night, it did not help to get a fish on the bank as it was pretty dour and very quiet.
Wed 28th The river ran off pretty quick leaving us with 5 inch today a salmon was seen showing in Little falls shows how bad its been when you comment on a salmon being seen ! later in the day James Clark landed a 6lb Salmon in the Little falls pool, and that was the sum total of action for the week. It certainly was not the best specimen of a salmon i have seen but as they say they all count as one. In fact the beat was not fished again for the rest of the week as the water dropped away.
Thur 29th. 3.5 Inch.
Fri 30th. 3 Inch.
Sat June. 1st. 1.5 inch.
Weeks total. 1 Grilse.
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Week beginning May 20th. Ruaraidh MacMillan & party.
Mon 20th. The very low water conditions continued over the weekend and into this week
the water gauge was sitting on the 0″ Zero and stayed that way till Thursday it was understandable that the beat was not fished during this period.
Thur 23rd. The forecast for a tremendous amount of rain over late Wednesday and Thursday did not materialise and we basically missed out however we had enough rain to put the river up to 6 inch on thursday morning it continued to rise slowly reaching 1ft 2 inch in early afternoon. In the morning Scott Ramsay lost a good fish almost at the net in the March pool estimated at 12lb to 14lb. In the Afternoon Scott Ramsay landed an 11lb Salmon in the Little falls pool
Friday 24th. The water level was 9 inch and dropping, a few fish were seen but it was really pretty quiet.
Sat 25th. Water level at 5.5 inch and dropping, Bright and sunny and once again pretty quiet. On Thursday we had small run of very small Salmon / Grilse these fish come in every year and appear anytime between end of first week in May to about third week in may approx, they run straight up river as far as they can often arriving in Glencalvie falls the same day. They usually are very loathe to take a fly so intent are they in getting up river.
Weeks total 1 Salmon
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Hamish McFarlane & party.
Mon 13th. The river was running at 11 inch at 08 00 hrs this morning and was dropping back. Yesterday the river was on its bare bones showing just 1 inch on the gauge, But a thunderstorm in the very early hours of last night put the river up very rapidly. Allan Donaldson managed to tempt a 10lb salmon in the McGregor pool a nice strong fish that gave a very good account of its self, I suppose a kind of bonus fish. And that was it as the sport for the week dried up as the river did.
Tue 14th. Alf Gamblin and Stephen Urquart fish in a low and rapidly decreasing river just 4.5 inch on the gauge at the start of the day, nothing was seen or touched.
Wed 15th & Thur 16th. Water levels 3.5 inch & 2 inch The beat was not fished on both days.
Fri 17th. Alf Gamblin was back up from Inverness and brought a friend Malcolm Macrae, really just for a day out and to show him the beat as the river now was even lower down to just 1 inch.
Sat 18th. River level 0 ” Zero on the water gauge.
Total for the Week 1
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Week beginning May 6th.
Mon 6th. The week started with the water gauge showing just 3 inches.
Absolutely nothing to report over the week as the water level continued to drop and by Saturday there was just 1 inch showing on the water gauge.
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Week Beginning April 29th. Andrew Sayer & party.
Mon 29th. We start off this week with the water level showing 8 inches on the gauge, In the morning Jane Sayer had very bad luck when she played a salmon for a few minutes before it threw the hook. Shortly after Andrew Sayer landed a sea liced 10lb Salmon in the Little falls pool, Andrew did exceptionally well getting down the beat to the pools and fishing let alone playing the salmon as Andrew had major surgery less than three weeks ago. I was on hand to net the fish for him, Well done Andrew.
Tue 30th. Exactly the same water level today, Jane Sayer landed a lovely sea liced salmon in Little falls pool this one carrying long tailed sea lice. In the afternoon Celia Temple also had success in the Little falls pool connecting with another 10 lb Salmon. This one decided quite early on to go downstream which does not happen to often and involves a pretty heart stopping scramble down stream through the whitewater, fortunately it was landed in the Gledfield pool.
Wed 1st May. The river down to 6 inch, one salmon was lost today in the McGregor pool, and a few more salmon were seen, This was not a lot more its more an indicator of just how few Salmon have been showing for most of the season so far.
Thur 2nd. Water level 5.5 inch, The rest of the week was quiet and the river dropped away progressively the odd fish was seen
Fri 3rd. Water height 4.5 inch. Saturday 4th. Water height 4 inch.
Weeks total 3 Salmon
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Week beginning April 22nd Allan Donaldson & party.
Mon 22nd. The week started off with the River running at 9 inches It was a very quiet day with very few salmon showing. Allan Donaldson got things of the mark landing a lovely 10 lb salmon in the Little falls pool. Allan also lost a salmon in the McGregor pool. In the afternoon Ian Bissett lost a Salmon in the McKenzie pool.
Tue 23rd. The water level today exactly the same as yesterday 9 inches, Ian Bissett moved a couple of salmon to the fly and Allan moved a fish and pulled another.
Allan managed to tempt a salmon of approx 9lbs in The McKenzie stream that cleared the water by about a foot to take the fly, But other than that the salmon were loathe to take the fly and again it was very quiet with just the very odd fish showing.
Wed 24th. The river down to 7.5 inch very quiet I did not fish again till Saturday when we had a little rise in water. Ian Bissett fished pretty hard over Wednesday but to no avail .
Thur 25th The river down today 7 inch Colin More fished but again very quiet with little activity
Fri 26th Water down again to just 6.5 inch and quiet on the fishing front and bitterly cold with sleet and hailstones !
Sat 27th Some overnight rain saw the river up to 10 inches Alan McLennan landed a lovey 12lb salmon in the McKenzie pool with his few last casts of the day, so well done Alan and his trip back up to Halkirk would be all the pleasenter with that end to the day.
Weeks Total 3 Salmon
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Week beginning April 15th 16th & 17th for three days Iain Burr & Joe Polson.
Mon 15th The water level started off today at 2ft. and dropped steadily, it was very quiet with few fish being seen.
Tue 16th. Water level approx 1ft 10 inch.
Wed 17th. The water level today in the afternoon was 1 ft Joe Polson landed a nice fresh sea liced 7 lb Salmon in the McKenzie pool, i managed to get a couple of nice photos of Joe with his fish a nice reward for them as they both fished and tried hard for their three days on the beat.
Thur 18th. The water level showed 1ft on the gauge Allan Donaldson landed a 9lb Salmon in the Lairds cast. and followed up in the afternoon with an 8lb Salmon in the McKenzie pool,
Fri 19th. The river level went up overnight to 2ft 3 inch and dropped fairly quickly, Allan Donaldson landed a 7 lb in Gledfield pool in the early part of the morning i saw about three fish show around then but after 10.00 saw nothing and touched nothing all day which makes for a long day.
Sat 20th. Was speaking to Jim Gilmour who was ghillieing at Gruinards this week was saying if my memory serves me correctly up to Friday night Gruinards had 9 Salmon Braelangwell 7 Salmon Dounie 5 Salmon all three of these beats fishing 4 rods.
Cornhill 4 Salmon, and Gledfield 7 Salmon both these beats fishing 2 rods. Apparently they were not seeing many fish at all showing except for some activity in the Moral pool at times.
Total 4 Salmon
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Week beginning April 8th. Colin Campbell and party.
Mon 8th. We started out this week with 1ft 5 inch showing on the gauge it was very quiet and very few salmon were seen.
Tue 9th. The water height today was 1 ft Hilary Campbell caught an 8 lb Salmon in the Clump pool The salmon was carrying a few sea lice.
Wed 10th. River level today 1ft 2 inch dropping slowly at first and again very few salmon being seen.
Thur 11th. This morning the river was running at 2ft 7 inch and dropping quickly, In the afternoon with the river running at approx 1ft 10 inch Colin Scott landed a 6 lb Salmon in the Clump pool, and Mary Nicholson caught a 7lb salmon in the Gledfield pool.
Fri 12th. The river level 1ft and it was again quiet on the Salmon front with gale force winds for most of the day which became very blustery
Sat 13th. The water height in morning was 11inch by lunch time it had went up to 1ft we had horrible very strong winds that increased as the day went on and were gale force by early afternoon. Just before lunch Mary Nicholson had a very exciting brief bit of activity losing a good sized salmon of 9 or 10 lbs that was briefly on and showed before it threw the hook, Mary then moved a fish twice in the three casts before it went quiet again.
Over the week a pretty quiet week 3 Salmon landed, 3 lost and two others pulled. Saturday morning their were more fish showing, not in great numbers but encouraging.
Weeks total 3
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Week beginning April 1st Graeme McPherson and party
Wed 3rd. At the start of the day we had a big river the river was up and showing approx 3ft 6 inch on the gauge, Ernie Mackay landed an 8lb Salmon in the Gledfield pool.
Thur 4th. The river was down to 2ft 3 inch Ernie Mackay landed a 9lb sea liced salmon in the Clump pool.
Fri 5th. One salmon was lost in the McGregor pool.
Sat 6th. We started out with a big river which was steadilly rising Ernie Mackay managed to get his hat trick by landing a 6lb sea liced salmon in the Gledfield pool before it really began to rise quickly to approx 6ft.
Salmon were seen on the Wed, Thur, Fri, in particular but not in any great numbers and the activity mainly confined to a few pools, a couple of other salmon were briefly hooked.
Total 3 Salmon
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Week beginning March 25th Alison Galloway & party
Mon, Tue, Wed. The river level was running between 8.5 inch and 10inch approx,
Fri 29th. Water level up to a good height today 1ft 10 inch
Sat 30th. Again very good water height today at 2ft 2 inch
The week ended Blank
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Week beginning March 18th. Jamie Hammond & party.
Mon 18th. The week got off to a start with the water level showing 11 inch on the gauge and a salmon on the bank, Jamie Hammond landed an 8lb sea liced salmon in the Raven pool.
Tues 19th. Water level today 8 inch.
Wed 20th. Water level 1ft 2 inch.
Thur 21st.
Fri 22nd. Water level 1ft5 inch we had frequent heavy showers of rain with the odd shower of sleet with very strong gusty west winds bordering on gale force by mid afternoon.
Sat 23rd. The heavy over night rain put the river up and at 10.30 the river level was 3ft 8 inch, it basically bumped up and down for the next 3 hours by early afternoon the river was still showing 3ft 8 inch with the approx 3 hour delay in reaching Cornhill.
Thankfully the gale force winds had subsided to a strong westerly but it was bitterly cold, No fishing was done.
Total 1
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Week beginning March 11th John McGinnis & party.
Mon 11th. The water level was 6 inches.
Tue 12th. Similar condition as yesterday 6 inches on the gauge with a stiff east wind.
Wed 13th March. The water level this morning was 7inch but the river began to rise in early afternoon, it went up to just over 1 foot by 17.00 hrs.
Thurs 14th. The water level down to 8.5 inch.
Friday 15th. The river went well up over night to approx 4ft 3 inch it began to steady about 10.00 and began dropping back.
Sat 16th. The water level dropped a lot over night to 1ft 5 inch again the wind swung back round into the east.
The week ended blank.
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Week beginning March 4th Dr John Anthony & party.
Mon 4th. The water height for the start of this week was at a reasonable level of 1ft 3 inch by Wednesday it was down to 10 inch, we had a pretty stiff cold east wind most of the week particularly from Wednesday onwards, The river continued to drop and by Friday there was just 6 inches showing on the gauge, nothing was touched during the week.
The week ended blank
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Week Beginning February 19th.
Not much to report, we had a week of very changeable weather with the river height on Monday running at 2ft Tuesday 1ft 9 dropping it dropped but was basically running at a reasonable fishing height for the rest of the week reaching 1 ft on Saturday.
Mon 19th. I fished with Graeme McPherson Monday and Tuesday mornings but nothing was touched.
Thur 22rd. I fished on Thursday afternoon river running at 1ft 5 inch I managed to catch a really beautiful 4lb Brown trout in absolutely superb condition in the McKenzie pool, I thought it was a salmon when it first took the fly.
Fri 23rd. I had a day up on the upper Brora fishing with Calum Beattie & Jim Gilmour we were fishing courtesy of Willie Sutherland, it was a bitterly cold day and we gave it a good going over but nothing was touched.
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First salmon of the 2024 season on River Carron caught on Cornhill
Friday 16th February The river level was 3ft 7 inch which is a pretty big river, Fishing the Gledfield pool at 10.20 in the morning Allan Donaldson landed a lovely sea liced springer of approx 8lbs.
The salmon fought well and gave a very good account of its self in the big water. Allan is delighted to land this one and get off the mark, The first Salmon off the Carron and the Kyle district rivers, Allan had the first salmon off the river last season 2023 landing a 7 pounder in Lairds cast on February 21st.
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SEASON 2023 UPDATE
Finally i have managed to get an update done of a breakdown of the catches at Cornhill, and how the season went in 2023 for myself. A bit of a delay in doing so as i have been really suffering with really bad back problems the last week of the fishing season it was causing me a bit of a problem, it came back with a vengence three weeks later and i had about three weeks of absolute agony.
The season got of to a good start reasonably early i managed to land a 7lb Springer in the Lairds cast on February 21st. this was the first salmon off the River Carron, at this point there was a complete absence of kelts as they appeared to be non existant after that the usual slow spring build up failed to materialise.
Around third week of March we saw a slight flurry of activity it was short lived before things settled back to a worrying trend, during this period Jamie Hammond was on Cornhill it was’nt easy Jamie had to work hard but was rewarded Jamie landed 5 salmon between 10lb & 7lbs to his own rod with a couple of losses. I fished the Gledfield beat opposite at the same time, and was pleased to land 5 salmon also with similar weights.
As the spring season progressed their was very little to get excited about and i can remember saying early on it was as poor a spring season as i had seen in 40 years fishing the Carron and definitely not all due to low water conditions.
The Summer and Grilse season took a little while to get going we again had prolonged periods of very low water down to approx minus – 2.5 inch which was no where near as dry as 2022 season. we had very erratic periods of water conditions very low rising to unfishably high and sometimes going unfishably high twice and sometimes three times in a week.
The week of 10th July was unlet but was only fishable three days,being unfishably high the other three, the first three days Monday to Wednesday the following week were also unlet,
I fished these six days and had a super time landing 21 fish 19 Grilse and 2 Salmon landing 9 in the first three days and 12 in the second three days, and also losing 9 others most losses during the first period i think due to the fish being really unsettled and running in periods between the big water i also had numerous pulls and snatches at the fly usually an indicator of running fish that are unsettled whilst briefly stopping.
Summer catches kept picking away but it was hard going and fish were noticably scarse at times and were loathe to show themselves. There was no noticeable back end run and the and the odd big fish that are usually in evidence were not their, or at least they did not show up before the season ended, the mainly uneventfull season just petered out.
This can be seen in the final totals, all in all the season ended up i suppose O K for a two rod beat we had a total of 62. for the season. Early on i feared it would be absolutely dissasterous which i mentioned to guests on more than one occasion, better being honest as the figures dont lie.
I am a bit of a pessimist which is quite good at times like this as things can only get better hopefully!
Cornhill catches season 2023
The catches in most productive pools were more evenly spread throughout the beat this season with the three most productive being Lairds cast, Raven, & McKenzie pools.
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My own 2023 season ended with myself taking a total of 49 fish 38 Grilse and 11 Salmon. which i am really delighted with as by early June i thought it would be absolutely terrible. One very small Grilse was taken in the Raven pool it was booked at 2lbs but had it been measured or weighed would i am sure been 1.75lbs or even ounces less, it unfortunately slipped out my hand before i could measure it.
LITTLE YOSHI WHO WAS ALSO NOT TO WELL FOR SHORT TIME WHEN I HAD BACK PROBLEMS AND WAS GOOD COMPANY AS USUAL
Although not a spectacular season it was great as usual being on the river with some great fun with great fishing pals.
SOME PALS BELOW EACH SEASON CREATES GREAT MEMORIES FOR THE FUTURE
Not a highlight but very welcome and enjoyable was during the last week of the season landing a couple of grilse on concsecutive days in Cormacks pool, up till then the only pool on the beat i had not landed a fish in.
i have never fished it much only probably 3 or four times in all the years as when it appeared to be in good ply a good few other more productive pools and casts are in condition. i must say i may not pass it quite so often from now on.
