Duo will have good tail to tell
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THE fortunes of spring salmon fishing are notoriously unpredictable, and after Conon Bridge angler Angus MacKenzie managed to get three fish off Loch Ness in one day, there were hopes of an upturn in sport.
Unfortunately, this has not really come about and the fish remain pretty few and far between.
There was only one fish off the Ness system last week as far as I know, and once again it was Loch Ness to the rescue.
The lucky anglers were Kevin Stewart and Neil Porter who took a 16lb salmon off the Marker’s Stone on the Moriston side of the loch.
The daring duo were fishing a gold sprat with a fancy trace made by their oppo "The Veteran" and, a little birdie tells me, instead of hooking the fish in the mouth, they managed to lasso it round the tail which made for an interesting fight to get it safely to the net.
After getting off the mark the previous week, the River Oich did not produce any fish, which is little wonder given that there was hardly any water being released upstream.
Last week I reported that John MacIsaac had caught the first fish off the Moriston, and I have had it confirmed that this is indeed the case.
The fish scaled 11lb and was caught by John on the first cast of the day.
Alness Angling Club held their opening day on February 11 where there was a good turnout to witness long-time club member Aleck Spence make the first cast of the 2011 season.
Members were allowed three hours’ fishing and the river has now been closed until April 1 as a conservation measure. All fish must be returned up until June 30.
And while there might be no fishing on the River Alness, there is still plenty of work to be done bush cutting and bank-clearing.
Anyone prepared to give a helping hand is asked to meet at the Crawl Park car park on Saturday mornings at 9am for a four-hour session.
