The last 4 days of the 2018 season on the river Findhorn.

Ever the deluded optimist (what fisherman isn’t), reports of great fishing and frequent success from ‘Ross of the road kill’ had me driving the length of the country to join him for the last few days of the season on the Findhorn. The excitement at the prospects of catching salmon (plural) was electric.
After a few false starts trying to sort out permits we finally arrived at my friend’s now favourite pool. The omens were good,the water was perfect,the weather was overcast but warm and he even found his lost wading staff on the way down to the water! The tried and trusted winning flies were tied on and lines thrown. A couple of casts later he got a ‘good pull’. Was this going to live up to billing and be a red letter day? Sadly not. The good pull was it! We tried other pols but all to no avail.
The next day we were having a look at his private syndicate water. It looked fantastic through the sunlit trees by the hut above the river. We made our way down to a beautiful pool framed by magnificent cliffs. Fish showed as we worked the water but only to mock us. We returned to our base broken men, but with some great casting practise and a few blisters.
The next day was our last on the water and we resolved s tart early and fish as much water as possible.
The wind howled and rain lashed down all night. The day dawned sunny and bright if still windy but the water was well up and some of the pools were unfishable. None the less we found a nice pool and fished it diligently which produced a pull for my pal and a Finnock of just over the pound for me. We went off to try Stoney next and had a look at the Kelt pool on route but the water was too high to fish it. Quite a few members were at Stoney and we enjoyed watching the Heron fish and a good chin wag sitting in the sun. Working on the information received we set off for a new pool. This pool was a running pool and sure enough fish started to appear in the tail with the tide. Eventually we hooked up on my mate’s trusty tube fly. A nice clean fresh fish of about 4lbs was soon followed by a red cock of over 5. Both fish released and honour satisfied we bade the river farewell for another season with smiles on our faces.