news/editorial

3 April 2022 News/Editorial

Notable last week was the return of cold, with frost most nights and bitter northerly winds. Catches were low, considering the very settled, clear and cold water conditions, the only conclusion being that nothing much came in from the sea.

One hopes that will change as we get into April and further into mid/late spring, when, in recent times, more springers have tended to arrive (see below for early spring numbers over the last 10-12 years).

The forecast for next week is mixed, initially warmer and possibly wetter, but then colder again as we head towards the weekend. The most rain, in the west, seems likely to be on Tuesday which could provide a lift in river levels. This will be a good thing if it encourages more salmon to come in from the sea.

Having missed out on fishing the Spey and Carron last week thanks to some pretty unpleasant stomach bug attacking my all too fragile system, I have yet to cast a fly in anger in 2022. As the sun climbs ever higher in the sky, that initial foray cannot be far off. Even the sand martins are here, all the way from the southern Sahara Desert.

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You could say that 31st March marks the end of the early spring period on the Tweed, indeed on all Scotland’s east coast salmon rivers.

So how was 2022? By including just over 100 salmon (on the best authority) for Junction and Sprouston, we find that the total Tweed salmon rod catch to 31st March has been within, that old favourite, a gnat’s crochet, of 300.

I have been doing some sums, de rigeur for comptables manques, and find that in the 6 years 2011-2016 the average pre 31st March Tweed score was 538.

The 6 year average for years 2017-2022 (assuming 300 for 2022 is correct-ish) was 251, a reduction of over 50% on the previous 6 years.

You might say that 2017-2022 is compromised somewhat by Covid in 2020 and 2021, but in fact the effect of lockdowns on catches was limited in those early months in both years.

Conclusions have I none, except that as with so much in the Atlantic salmon’s world of late, abundance in the early spring months is very far from an improving/increasing trend. There may, or may not, be anything we can do about it that is not already being done. But one hopes the question is at least being asked?