As another Sunday (day off) flies past, I have been dealing with clients  passing through the tackle shop, the golf course greens are now cut and it's time to knock together the fishing report once I get my breath back! Just another routine Sunday then (in season)

The Helmsdale course coming out of winter hibernation and looking good.

There is not a lot to report, but alarm bells are starting to sound all over the UK as catches continue to plummet. Last year was far from memorable but early signs this year are not exactly showing a bounce back.
From what I can gather the river barely gave up around 11 springers last week including 2 from the Association water and 3 from Achentoul rods. William Jappy had a nice fish from Roaries on Monday on a Willie Gunn as water levels started to drop although still flowing well at around 11 ins. Adam Macdonald took a week on the Association water for a change of scene and finally scored at the end of his week with a cracking deep 8 pounder from Horseback, just reward for his early shifts. The fish took an Alistair fished on the dropper.
Hopefully things will pick up soon as April used to be such a prolific month.

Here are some cracking new Alistair doubles we have introduced to the collection starting with the stunning RS Alistair Flamethrower. They are perfect for "droppers" on all small/medium sized rivers like the Helmsdale.

Classic Alistair

Prospects for next week are good, just as they should be for mid April as historical counter stats all point to a good run of fish entering the system this month. The weather forecast is not showing much rain after Monday/Tuesday so one of the best beats on the river may turn out to be the Association water.

One more thing, leading on from the debate on how to halt declining salmon stocks, I had an interesting email this week, (see below) Is salmon ranching the way forward? personally I have never been convinced that introducing hatchery reared fry is doing much to prop up wild salmon. General thinking is that they are much weaker than wild fry and therefore cannot compete well. Natural selection is always going to be best. BUT when nature needs a prop up due to increasing volatility in the climate which seems to be producing more severe damaging spates etc, maybe an injection in the form of more grown up smolts is the answer. The East Ranga in Iceland is the best known example and another is the Carron river in Easter Ross, Delphi in Ireland and Tyne in England are also similar success stories.

Below is the email and I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the topic - I will start a thread on the Helmsdale Forum to discuss so please tune in.

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"I agree with the Callander McDowell article in reporting that the success in Scotland of a rejuvenating salmon river is the West Coast River Carron.

Bob Kindness, a former fishery biologist from the Inverness College, has transformed our neighbouring river, the West Coast Carron, from a catch of 4 salmon per annum, to over 400.   His technique is to hatch salmon ova from native brood stock, under hatchery conditions, to the stage of parr and smolts and place them in the Carron, soon to migrate to sea.  Accepting that approximately only 5 per cent will return to the river, it is better 5% of 8000 smolts migrating than 5% of 80 smolts which have survived 3 years from ova to smolt in a “winter storm savaged” river, plagued with predators!

Bob’s technique is not original.  The Icelandic Rivers, the West and East Ranga, only 14 miles in length and with a short summer season of 3 months, from no salmon, are now the leading Iceland salmon rivers  with a catch of over 12,000 salmon p.a.    Because of Volcanic ash on the beds of the rivers, the Rangas cannot breed native smolts. The river bank owners appointed a trading entity to stock up to 400,000 smolts p.a.  The cost of a smolt can be as much as 40 pence.   There is a value to the Icelandic economy of £1000 for each salmon caught.   The chances for the angler are more than 1 salmon per angler effort day, instead of one in 5 days on Scottish rivers.   It is not surprising that U.K. and other anglers are deserting Scottish waters for those overseas, where they not only catch more than one per day, but may keep and eat a prime product.  In my experience the hatchery bred salmon fights, looks and tastes the same as the salmon which survived in the river three years from ova to smolt.  Only a count of scales can detect a hatchery bred from a river survived salmon.

Hopefully in the interests of the rural economy, the Scottish Government will look further than the Wild Fisheries Review, for how the River Carron and other rivers in Iceland, Norway and elsewhere have succeeded inrescuing the wild salmon.  The alternative is that many a Scottish salmon river, will suffer the same fate as the Rangas, and not as a result of volcanic ash!

Mark Pattinson

Proprietor, Lochcarron estate

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