HISTORIC DAYS

Brothers Rob & Ali (both 6’6”) with Guide Binni.

July 26 saw records fall on East Ranga. The guides had whispered that if conditions were kind we could see a record daily catch. It happened. 223 Atlantic salmon landed in a single day.

Perfect water and a warm overcast day led to fishing the likes of which we all dream, in fact a little too good on some beats but we should never turn down the occasional red letter day as there are so many other days we catch nothing at all!

Whilst Beats 9 & 6 were tougher fishing, they still produced. On the other end of the scale one fisher quipped that you could walk across the fish in Beat 3 ‘without getting your knees wet, so many fish’. Beat 1 was very much like Beat 3, and pulses of fresh fish gave good sport on Beats 2 and 4.

Beat 5 was excellent in both morning and afternoon (Dyjarnes’ was prolific), and Beat 7 was phenomenal - Moldarhylur (‘Earth Pool’) was stacked with fish from top to tail, and many eager to attack a Sunray on the surface, but the long bank in front of Minnahof that had not been fished for at least a fortnight (200m+ of classic fast riffle middle Spey like fly water) was inspiring. Rob and Ali Sijperstejn twice had double hook ups, both times with fish of 80-90+cm, in among a dozen or more other fish and still left the pool with large sections unfished and salmon jumping everywhere.

The end of the evening was a time to celebrate, canapes and drinks in the bar, a glass of champagne for everyone to mark the occasion. Lastly, we all sang Happy Birthday to guide Albert, followed by a beautiful acoustic rendition of Clapton’s ‘Change the World’ by Jogvan Hansen the famous Icelandic singer and fisherman.