September continued very dry, with rivers at rock bottom levels,
eventually relieved by some rain which was largely absorbed by the parched
ground, but did give us a rise of a few inches on all rivers. The Tamar ran
extremely dirty, but this water did encourage some fish to run, and we caught
our first salmon since June. Charlie Yeoward released a 5 pound grilse from
Quarry pool on the Tamar, taken on a black and yellow tube fly. More grilse
were seen showing, so at last a few fish are on the move.
Sea trout night fishing provided 15 fish for September, with a
few days to go as I write, and a total of 138 for the season to date. Best fish
this month was one of 2 ¼ pounds for David Pilkington from beat 3, taken on a
P.R. Decent numbers of sea trout were in our beats, and a couple were taken
from the Thrushel by trout fishers.
Trout fishing perked up as temperatures slowly dropped, with
nice hatches of stone flies and some late caddis keeping fish rising. 131 trout
and 8 grayling were released by trout rods, with some excellent brownies up to
12 inches.
Prospects for the final fortnight of the salmon season are
entirely dependant upon some real rain, rivers are still very low and a big spate
would be most welcome.
David Pilkington
