The Forres Angling Association hosted the annual opening ceremony on Wednesday 11th February 1pm at the Stoney Pool. Around 50 people attended the traditional ceremony with guest speaker Tommy Balch. The first salmon of the season was reported on Saturday 21st February from the Broom Pool on the FAA waters. The salmon don't usually arrive on the Lethen beats until late April/early May when the water temperatures rise above 42°F and the salmon start to ascend the Poolie falls at Sluie.

This feed was drawn from the Lethen Estate website

Heavy rain on Saturday evening meant the river was up by over a foot on Sunday. As always it dropped off quickly but hopes were up for the last two days of the season. Monday morning at 10am on Altnahara Jason McCruden caught and released a 5lb grilse in the Princess pool on a Phartagorva and intermediate tip. On the Dunearn beat Jack Christison also had success with a 5lb grilse and 7lb salmon. Jack had more success on Dunearn on Tuesday with a 10lb salmon from Morgan's Haugh at around 10.20am. Richard West was out for a last cast on Mini Daltra on Tuesday. With his 6th cast of the morning in Laird's he hooked a 14lb coloured cock fish on an orange tube that swam away strongly. 

Total Catch: 5
Dunearn: 3
Daltra/Altnahara:  
Day Lets: 2

This feed was drawn from the Lethen Estate website

Martin Dingemans, fishing Daltra this week, reported he caught a 10lb dark hen fish in Laird's on Monday morning at 10am on a yellow tube. He also saw plenty of fish in Daltra around lunchtime but they were not interested in the fly.

Ewan Maclachlan and friends had a great couple days at the start of the week on the Dunearn beat. They managed 6 fish over the 2 days. On Monday Murray Smith landed a 3lb grilse in Green Bank on a Park Shrimp and a 4lb grilse in Nettle Hole on a Frances. Greg Gibb also had success with a 5lb grilse in Kennel on a 1" Purple Tube and Ewan Maclachlan landed a 13lb salmon in Lady Mary's on a Phartagorva. On Tuesday afternoon Greg Gibb had more success in Kennel with a 6lb salmon on a size 12 Flamethrower and Murray Smith completed the scoring with a 14lb salmon in Lady Mary's on a Sunray.

On Wednesday George Middlehurst reported a quiet morning on Dunearn with not many fish moving, apart from in Lady Mary's where there were around 5 fishing jumping. Patrick Hanratty caught his first Findhorn fish around 11am with a 3.5lb Sea Trout coming to the net on a red Ally Shrimp in Lady Mary's. After a short exciting fight this was released.

On Thursday in very low water and what should have been tough conditions - Rupert Laslett caught his first ever salmon on his second cast of the day at Lady Mary's on a Willie Gunn. After a good fight and some heart pounding moments the 6lb cock fish made it to the net. It was released after a round of high fives and swam away strongly.

It was an early start on the Dunearn beat on Saturday and upon arriving at Lady Mary's first thing in the morning, the pool was electric with fish jumping everywhere. Patrick Hanratty hooked and lost a fish on his first cast into the pool, but hope was not lost and he quickly hooked up again a few casts later. After a short exciting fight, a 6lb salmon came to the net. Pat was elated as this was his first ever salmon. Caught on a Red Ally Shrimp, it swam away strongly after a quick picture. 

Total Catch: 9
Dunearn: 8
Daltra/Altnahara: 1
Day Lets: 0

This feed was drawn from the Lethen Estate website

The week started with heavy and consistent rain on Monday afternoon that lead to 2 foot rise and overnight spate. On Tuesday afternoon the river was still carrying a bit of sediment, but around 4pm it turned a lovely cola colour and 30 minutes later on the Dunearn beat Jason McCruden netted an 11lb cock salmon in Haugh Stream on a Findhorn Tube. At 6pm he hooked and netted a 13lb cock salmon in the tail of Polnachesse on his new nameless fly and 45 minutes later he had a 5lb grilse in the same pool on the same fly. All fish were tartan and were safely released.

Frank Kennedy and Colin Apperley are back on Daltra this week. There were no fish caught on Monday but they saw fish in most pools. On Tuesday Frank caught and released a 5lb cock grilse in Loop on a Phartagorva, and Colin hooked a couple but lost both. On Wednesday they had a day on the Dunearn beat. Frank had an 8lb fish from the Garden pool on a 3" Phartagorva and Colin had a 5lb cock fish from the March Stream on a 3" Phartagorva. Both safely returned and both were coloured.

Extremely high winds on Thursday made conditions difficult. Colin Apperley lost one in the morning in Lady Mary's when it was very stormy. Frank and Colin then headed to Daltra where Colin had a fresh 4lb grilse in the Loop on a 3" Willie Gunn. Later in the afternoon Frank landed a 9lb coloured cock fish in the Loop on a 3" Willie Gunn fly. Both were safely returned. We also had reports of fresh grilse running through Gaffers on the Dunearn beat on Thursday evening just before dark.

Total Catch: 8
Dunearn: 5
Daltra/Altnahara: 3
Day Lets: 

This feed was drawn from the Lethen Estate website

It was a quiet week on the river with no weekly tenants and only a couple of local rods out. On Monday evening Jason McCruden was out briefly on Daltra and reported a few fish jumping in Daltra and a fresh one leaping about the tail of Whin but for some reason, Dalnashaugh, Whitestream and Loop were dead even after a slight rise. Rain through the night on Wednesday meant that by Thursday evening the water looked a good height for the tail of Morgan’s Haugh. Jason fished it twice and on the first run down had a nice 7lb tartan cock fish, and then on the second run down a lovely 6lb tartan cock fish obliged, both on a 5ft intermediate tip and a size 10 double - a new fly he is still to name! Both were safely released. In general the pools were quiet, nothing jumping but playing the fish disturbed a good number of salmon and the pool came to life briefly. Jason was out mid afternoon on Friday and started with a 10lb hen salmon in the tail of Lady Mary's, followed by a 15lb hen salmon in the tail of Polnachesse. Both were on same set up as Thursday and were safely released. At around the same time Richard West landed and returned a 5lb cock grilse in Loop on the Daltra beat.

Jason gave the Dunearn beat a good go on Saturday, but only saw four fish move all day as the water dropped of quickly. Still though at around 1.30pm he caught and returned a lovely 15lb hen salmon in the tail of Morgan’s Haugh, on a Sparky Fly on intermediate tip. Richard West also had success with a nice 10lb tartan cock salmon from Gaffers at around midday.

Total Catch: 7
Dunearn: 6
Daltra/Altnahara: 1
Day Lets: 0

This feed was drawn from the Lethen Estate website

The week got off to a good start for the party fishing the Daltra/Altnahara Beat.  Thomas Le Guilchet had an 8lb salmon at 6pm on Tuesday in Black pool on a small collie dog tube and Loïc Loheac lost a fish in Laird's early Monday morning.  On Wednesday Thomas reported he lost a fish in Dalnashaugh but the rest of the week proved to be very quiet due to the low water conditions.

Patrick Benson fishing the Dunearn beat reported the river was up and down for the first three days of their week by 9" to a foot but from Wednesday onwards the river really dropped. Only one fish caught for the week which was a coloured grilse of around 4lb, caught by Alexander Martin about a third of the way down Garden on a three quarter inch silver stoat tube. 

Total Catch: 2
Dunearn: 1
Daltra/Altnahara: 1
Day Lets: 

This feed was drawn from the Lethen Estate website

Tony Rushton and Mike Winters were back on the Dunearn beat this week. On Monday Tony had one follow a Sunray Shadow in Lady Mary's with no commitment, but then Mike caught and returned an 18 pounder in the Bridge on a ½" Willie Gunn tube. The water was very low and very clear and Tony confirmed he saw nothing in the Falls, but there was the odd brown fish of 7-10lbs showing in Lady Mary's at lunchtime until a goosander appeared and did a spot of diving and that killed the action. The bright sunshine then stopped the fishing for the day soon after. There were no catches on Tuesday, but fish were seen in good numbers first thing in Lady Mary's and Morgan's Haugh. Mike had three expressions of interest in Lady Mary's on a small Willie Gunn and Tony one in the Bridge on a Sunray Shadow, but then everything switched off at 10:30am in the sunshine.

On Wednesday morning Mike had a very dark, well-rounded hen of about 8lbs in Lady Mary's on a ½" Willie Gunn tube and Tony reported seeing 15 fish line abreast again in Morgan's Haugh but they weren't coming to the fly. Activity ceased in the afternoon as the weather changed, with little showing. It was still low on Friday morning, with a large number of fish in Lady Mary's halfway down the pool and despite covering them, they showed no interest and were just swimming around in circles. Around 2pm the river rose about 4 or 5 inches, but the fish were probably disturbed by the large amount of free blanket weed the water was flushing out, which also made it impossible to fish without the line and fly gathering weed. The water dropped back on Saturday morning but again the fish were uninterested in anything offered.

Total Catch: 2
Dunearn: 2
Daltra/Altnahara: 0
Day Lets: 0 

This feed was drawn from the Lethen Estate website

On Monday Adrian Ware, fishing the Daltra beat, started the week off nicely with a 6lb salmon from the head of Dalnashaugh on a 1¼" Red Flamethrower tube that was safely released.

On Wednesday at 1.40pm Geoff Cruickshank caught and released a clean 10lb salmon in the head of Dalnashaugh. Having tried everything else, Geoff resorted to a 3" orange brass conehead tube cast square across the stream and stripped back as quickly as possible. They also reported seeing a lot of fish in Daltra, Dalnashaugh and in particular Sand. Neil Cruickshank had a fish take the hitch right at top of Dalnashaugh but it didn't stick and they also moved a couple of fish to the hitch.

Neil Cruickshank was up early on Thursday for a quick session in Black Pool as he had seen fish on Wednesday and was keen to have a go before the Glenferness rods! He fished down with hitch, then micro tube before switching to a larger weighted Pink/Red Shrimp brass tube about 1” long. A few casts into the deeper water and a fast retrieve resulted in a strong take and a dogged fight before a magnificent hen salmon was led into the landing bay. It measured at 37” before swimming away strongly and wasn’t the deepest fish so Neil estimated it at 20lb  - a handful on a single hander and relatively light leader! Neil confirmed quite a few fish were seen on Daltra beat on Wednesday and fish were spotted running into Lady Mary’s on Dunearn at dusk. Unfortunately there was nothing more to add to the catch for the week other than a few more offers and Rob Cruickshank lost a fish after a brief struggle in Black Pool on Thursday. Not many fish seen towards the end of the week so I wonder if the fish running through Lady Mary’s were fish from below and with no replacements yet up.

Total Catch: 3
Dunearn: 0
Daltra/Altnahara: 3
Day Lets: 0

This feed was drawn from the Lethen Estate website

Unfortunately it was another week of extremely high temperatures and very low water. Not many fish were seen and they were extremely difficult to tempt.

Total Catch: 0
Dunearn: 0
Daltra/Altnahara: 0
Day Lets: 0

This feed was drawn from the Lethen Estate website

Storm Floris hit on Monday and the extremely high winds made it unsafe to be on the river. It also brought heavy rain at times and there was a nice rise of over a foot on Tuesday afternoon as things calmed down.

Jason McCruden was out on Mini Daltra on Tuesday evening. He started fishing around 7pm on the corner of Island, and fished down once with Findhorn tube and then went down again with Krabby Patty and netted a nice 6lb grilse that was safely returned after a decent fight.

Jason was out again on Wednesday evening around 6.30pm and he fished from Daltra pool downstream, with fish showing in all pools. He could see fresh fish coming in at the tail of Dalnashaugh and managed to hook and land a lovely 5lb grilse. Then in White Stream near the tail off the rock wall he hooked into a large resident male and 25 minutes later he netted a 15lb salmon. It was a struggle to lift him during the fight as it stayed deep and trolled all over the pool. Finally it was back up to Dalnashaugh and at the tail he landed  another 5lb grilse. Both grilse were bars of silver, no sea lice and a lovely deep shape. All were caught on an intermediate tip and the Krabby Patty. On way home popped into Loop and a few fresh fish moved but no offers. On the Dunearn beat David Watson reported an 8lb coloured cock at 10.30am from Polnachesse on an Orange Ally with dropper which was safely returned. There was more success on the Dunearn beat on Thursday with a 3lb grilse from March Stream on a size 8 Ally Shrimp that was safely released.

Jason McCruden confirmed things were pretty quiet on the Daltra beat on Friday evening with not many showing, but there were still the odd fresh fish jumping in the tails of pools so they’re still creeping up. At 9pm in Dalnashaugh, just after the boil, a lovely fresh 5lb grilse took the Sparky fly on full float set up on the switch rod and was safely returned after it gave a good account of itself.

Total Catch: 7
Dunearn: 2
Daltra/Altnahara: 4
Day Lets: 1

This feed was drawn from the Lethen Estate website