Angus anglers are blaming the drought for poor catches and are saying the county’s two major rivers are at their lowest levels in living memory.
The water is so shallow in places in the North and South Esks that midstream gravel banks are clearly visible and many anglers have managed to swop their wellies in place of the usual 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 spring. The water levels are as low as anyone can remember.”
The club uses the Craigo Estates stretch of the river and Mr Sutcliffe said, “The fish are finding it impossible to get up the river. It is far too shallow — there’s 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. Some say other rivers are teeming with fish. So maybe this is just a local phenomenon, I don’t know.”
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 rubbed raw from the gravel.
He said, “At the start of the week the river was up a wee bit, letting more fish over the Morphie Dyke. 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.”
But Tony Andrews, chief executive of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, said the water levels represented normal summertime conditions and while fewer and fewer fish were entering the rivers, it was probably more to do with climate and ocean changes that are subject to ongoing research.Dry summersHe said, “All in all I would say this is a normal season. 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.”
Problems were exacerbated, he said, by increasing abstraction from rivers by farmers to irrigate their crops, though it is understood SEPA is moving to impose stricter controls.
Netsmen at the river mouths taking large numbers of salmon and grilse were, he said, adding to the fish scarcity for anglers.
He 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.”
But George Pullar, a director of Usan Salmon Fisheries which operate salmon netting rights south of Montrose, said, “During the 2010 season, we have been trialling a selective fishery after agreement with the Esk District board to release as many healthy sea trout as possible.
“We have released in excess of 2000 sea trout to date, which should benefit Esk district anglers. Although we have had a dry spring, reasonable numbers of salmon have been migrating over the fish counter on the North Esk.”
He added that just because the fish were not taking the anglers’ hooks did not mean the rivers were empty of fish.