William McAdam, his 1st Tummel fish of the seasonSalmon total: 29
Ladder count: 138
Largest salmon: 18lbs
On Monday, last week, anglers were faced with a frosty start, then very bright conditions. However Les Dargie and Steve Watt both took fish in the morning off the Portnacraig bank, both around 7lbs.Early evening and Donnie Whiteford got his Tummel season underway with a nice 8lbs fish off Sawmill, our first off the beat this year and ably netted by passing cyclist,and club member,Virginia Fraser and later in the evening Dave Stewart continued his good spell with a liced,11lbs fish off Pitlochry bank.
On Tuesday anglers saw fresh fish but these fish seemed to have running on their minds with 20 going through the counter during the day.
In mid-week conditions were far from ideal with very bright sunshine dominating the day. The initial run of fish at the start of the week seemed to have dwindled but,on Friday, Neil McLennan lost a fish and then took a lovely fish of 18lbs and David Bryce one of 17lbs,both off Pitlochry bank.Well done to both in difficult conditions.
On Saturday quite a few fish were seen running through but proved difficult to tempt in a strong,cold wind. However Jason Hendry,fishing in the evening, got his Tummel season started with a nice 11lbs fish off Portnacraig bank.
On Monday this week we had a very good day with six fish coming off. Starting on Pitlochry bank Steve Watt took two fish(11lbs and 8lbs) and lost a third. Moving over to Portnacraig after lunch Steve took another two,this time at 8lbs and 10lbs. Jim Kennedy also took his first Tummel fish of the season, a 10lbs fish off Pitlochry bank and Jimmy Ross opened his Tummel season with a 7lbs fish,late on in the evening, off Portnacraig bank.
On Thursday Steve Watt got another one. This time fishing on Sawmill he took a 9lbs fish then lost another larger fish. His fishing guest,William McAdam, also got his season going with an 8lbs fish, both came to the fly and today Jimmy Ross took a lovely fish of 17lbs off Sawmill.Also today, Sandy Watson took a 7lbs fish off Pitlochry bank.
This afternoon the counter rose from 78 to 138 which suggests that the fish have,indeed, been held up for a few days and are on their way again. With luck fresh fish will arrive to liven things up.
Remember up until the end of May it is “fly only” on Portnacraig Pitlochry. Big fish are a distinct possibility,over the next month, so please tackle up accordingly so that if you are lucky enough to get into a MSW salmon it can be brought to the bank in good time thus ensuring it has the very best chance of recovering quickly.