Last week’s weather conditions did little to entice anglers out onto the river, cold days and chilly blustery winds saw only a few anglers venture out for the odd couple of hours to try their luck.... Continue reading

The white stuff has decided to make a return with a good few inches falling and lying over the catchment by midday yesterday. This latest fall will have given the upper hills another good top up. I had... Continue reading

Weather conditions were good for fishing last week, after the morning frost had disappeared anglers enjoyed some lovely spring days out on the river. The sun shone on most days and encouraged this year’s... Continue reading

The South Esk is centre stage in Scottish salmon fishery politics - yet again. The decision of the Scottish Government to revoke the licence for Usan Fisheries to fish in September, increasing... Continue reading

Frosty mornings were the norm over much of Donside last week this was combined with a cold NW breeze for most of the week, although by midday the warmth and brightness of the sun was most welcome for an... Continue reading

11th Feb - Weather conditions were good for the opening day of the 2013 season, the water clarity was poor on the lower river due to overnight rain and melting snow, but on the middle beats the water was... Continue reading

River Don - Season 2012 Review

February & March

The opening day saw a good turnout of anglers wetting a line on the river. The water temperatures were unseasonably high for the time of... Continue reading

Close Containment: the plot thickens!

The speed of development of the Close Containment argument is most encouraging.

In August 2011 Professor Ken Whelan, AST Research Director,... Continue reading

AST at the European Commission

Last week the AST team were in Brussels to meet officials in DG Mare – the department responsible for European seas – and DG Environment – the... Continue reading

AST & Aquaculture

For people who missed the flurry of articles on Sunday 13/1/2013, here are the links:

"Anti-aquaculture body ‘aiding fish farm... Continue reading

Atlantic Salmon Trust

End of year review 2012

People have asked me recently, “What do you think is the actual state of wild Atlantic salmon stocks?”

While... Continue reading

The decision by the Westminster Government to end drift netting for salmon and sea trout by 2022, and to phase out all T & J nets that are exploiting salmon from unknown rivers of origin, where populations... Continue reading

Salmon farming Workshop

at

The Wilfred Carter Atlantic Salmon Interpretive Centre, Chamcook, New Brunswick.

10 & 11 October 2012

Tony Andrews... Continue reading

Since my last report catches of autumn salmon have been good on the lower beats from Kintore to the Cruives. Grandhome Estate and ADAA anglers have been landing decent numbers of fresh and coloured fish... Continue reading

St Andrews,NB, Canada October 2012

Melfort Campbell and Tony Andrews, AST’s Chairman and CEO, are in New Brunswick, discussing alternative ways of farming salmon to the destructive and unsustainable... Continue reading

"HELP US TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LIVES OF SALMON AT SEA", ATLANTIC SALMON TRUST ASKS EU PELAGIC FISHERMEN

Professor Ken Whelan, AST’s Director of Research, has asked representatives... Continue reading

Anthony Steel, who lives at Kirkwood on the banks of the River Annan, is a long standing Friend and supporter of the Atlantic Salmon Trust and this post is to ask whether any of our readers would be interested... Continue reading

SALMON AT SEA. WHAT CAN WE DO TO IMPROVE SURVIVAL RATES?

Introduction – why AST is asking the EU sponsored Pelagic RAC to help?

Recent research has shown conclusively that, during the part... Continue reading

Over the past few weeks the weather has remained settled with long dry days resulting in a dropping river. Currently the Don is running very clear and is at its lowest level since March, boulders and... Continue reading

AST Autumn news

If you have had a chance to look at the new AST policy on the website (see Home Page www.atlanticsalmontrust.org ) you may have recognised that the focus of our work has changed radically.... Continue reading

As we enter the last few days of August the weather has an autumnal feel about it with the night’s drawing in and much cooler evening temperatures already upon us. Water levels have been fluctuating... Continue reading

After a great July catches have tapered off slightly in the past two weeks, the river rose on the 5th and 6th due to very heavy rain in the upper catchment and ran very peaty for a couple of days, however... Continue reading

With river levels staying at a good fishing height, the past couple of weeks has seen the Don produce great fishing on most beats. Salmon and Grilse have been landed in good numbers with sea trout also... Continue reading

Since my last report the river level has never dropped below a 1ft. Salmon and Grilse have been enjoying the extra water and continue to push upstream giving most beats with rods on the chance of a fish... Continue reading

Catches of salmon during June have been good on a few middle beats, it’s been a case of being lucky to be on a beat when fish have been going through and have decided to stop for a rest. Some beats... Continue reading

Fluctuating water levels and weather conditions have made May an unsettled month. Snow fell on higher ground and this kept the water temperature in the mid-40s, blustery North Easterly winds made the... Continue reading

Since my last report the rain has never let up and subsequently river levels rose throughout April with quite a few days fishing lost due to water conditions. On Thursday the 26th, the river peaked at... Continue reading

With only 12 salmon reported landed for March it has been a disappointing month. This was mainly due to the low river levels and high daytime temperatures which made salmon angling very difficult. Fishing... Continue reading

Things have gone a bit quite for salmon angling at the moment, the rain in the west of Scotland never reached the north east and river levels remain very low. Fishing has become very difficult with bright... Continue reading

As the last of the catch returns come in it looks as if the total of spring fish caught for February will be 16. This is a reasonable amount considering the low angling effort. As on some days no more... Continue reading

The Ocean Silver Conference probably raised more questions than it answered. The most common point made by conference participants was "OK, we've seen the problems at sea. Now, what are we going to... Continue reading

The salmon fishing season got underway on the 11th of February. Beats from Kemnay downstream saw anglers out casting a line in the hope of landing an opening day springer. However by the end of opening... Continue reading

February – March

During early spring, small runs of spring fish entered the river system, most of them were held up in the lower beats as the low river temperatures slowed their progress upstream.... Continue reading

'OCEAN SILVER'

The AST's conference is about what happens to our salmon in the Atlantic Ocean - where their food is plentiful & where it is scarce, where salmon go to... Continue reading

Introducing the Atlantic Salmon Trust

Founded in 1967 at a time of crisis for the survival of Atlantic salmon, the Atlantic Salmon Trust has devoted its entire resources during the last 45 years... Continue reading

Well the rain finally arrived and now again I have something to report. After a long dry spell with little angling effort and almost no significant catches the river has finally risen, giving fish a chance... Continue reading

The river has risen rapidly from the head waters and the rise is making its way downstream. It appears to be slightly dirty, but with luck it should bring in in a run of salmon and seatrout.

The Don has been very low of late, and as such the salmon fishing has basically ground to a halt. Fish are spread throughout the catchment, from the sea to Strathdon. A very occasional salmon is being... Continue reading