Drought is bad news for anglers in Scotland

Published on Thursday 15 July 2010 20:11

THE worst summer drought in more than 30 years has dried up some of Scotland's top salmon rivers, leading to unusually low catches and fish found with bellies rubbed raw by gravel.

Anglers on major fishing beats say water levels are at their lowest since the long hot summers of the mid-1970s, stopping wild salmon and sea trout from getting up rivers.

The water is so shallow in places on the North and South Esks that midstream gravel banks are clearly visible and anglers have discarded their deep-water waders.

Montrose and District Angling Club secretary John Sutcliffe said: "I've just been trying to fish on the North Esk. I've not seen a salmon this year. The water levels are as low as anyone can remember.

"The fish are finding it impossible to get up the river. It is far too shallow - there is not much oxygen in the water.

"I was fishing with a trout rod and very small fly and couldn't even get a tiddler. There are virtually no fish in the river.

"Even very good anglers are not catching fish."

One seasoned fisherman even reported landing sea trout which had fought up the shallow North Esk, despite the lack of oxygen, only to find their bellies rubbed raw from the gravel.

Gordon McDonald, secretary of the Kemnay Angling Club on the River Don in Aberdeenshire, said: "In the last few days we have had a little bit of rain but most of the water has been sucked up by the land.

"The salmon have struggled to get up the river. They tend to lie in the deeper pools and sulk until the water level rises and they can go further up the system.

"In these conditions, fishing through the day is a waste of time. The only time you will have any real success is early in the morning or in darkness.

"I've been fishing here for 14 years and this is as bad as I have seen it. This year, we have also seen it ten-foot up, which looked like a loch instead of a river, so we've had extremes, and it seems to me that it's a very good indicator that global warming is happening."

Another angler on the river Findhorn said: "I swear you could walk across the river in ankle socks, it's that low. The fish are not willing to come up it, so it's almost pointless in going out."

A meeting at Finavon was called by the Esk District Salmon Fishery Board to discuss the situation and further possible catch restrictions.

David Swanston, who owns the Pert Fishings on the North Esk, said some of the sea trout catches had their bellies injured by the gravel.

He said: "Two years ago we'd have had 70 or 80 grilse a month, but this year it's been just a handful. The grilse runs are getting later and later."

Patrick McEwan of Crieff Angling Club said the River Earn was "particularly bad".

He said: "For this time of year, the river is as low as I've ever seen it.It's been particularly dry in this area.

"You wander five miles or so up and down the river and the chances of you seeing someone fishing for salmon are pretty remote.

"The salmon won't appear until there is more water, so right now, it's hardly worth going out for a throw."

Tony Andrews, chief executive of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, said water levels in some rivers were at their lowest levels since the 1970s.

He said: "Yes, rivers are low but we've seen that before in 1975 and 1976 when we had very dry summers.

"When the water is this low the salmon can't get up the river and in the South Esk those that do tend to settle in the lower pools at Bridge of Dun. Up at Cortachy, the fish tend to be those that have run the river when it was higher."

He also accused Scottish farmers of diverting water from rivers in order to irrigate their crops - a practice that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency is understood to be cracking down on.

Netsmen at the river mouths taking large numbers of salmon and grilse were, he said, adding to the fish scarcity for anglers.

Andrews said: "There are sea nets south of Montrose at Scurdiness and down into Lunan Bay taking a heavy toll. In low water when the fish can't enter the rivers, they lie prisoner at the mouth of the sea."

Some rivers have escaped the drought, thanks to the heavy snowfall over the winter, which has kept water levels high during the summer.

Ken Reid, Fisheries Development Officer of the River Dee Trust, said: "We have had a large reservoir of snow in the Cairngorms which has provided good water levels throughout spring and early summer."