The snow came late this year but it is an important part of spring on the Spey to encourage the silver
smolts on their way and to tempt the returning bars of silver back.
It will be interesting to
see, with nobody fishing, whether there has been more predation with the predators getting free range of
the river.
May is a good month on the Spey and it also brings the first of the sea trout. You
don't see the same amount of people putting in the nightshift on a balmy summers evening waiting
for the scream of the reel.
This is by far my personal favourite time to fish.
Next week
was going to be a big one for me. 30 years on the river and 20 years married and I was all booked up to
be in a much sunnier location drinking cool beer out of an iced glass. That will happen, but not this
year.
I have seen massive changes on the river over the years from no catch and release to 96%
being returned. Salmon were plentiful, poaching was rife, we pulled trees out the rivers - now I am
putting them back in!
I witnessed the start of science and electro fishing and I am sure a lot of
people will have their own views. My personal one is: if you look after the habitat, the fish will look
after themselves.
I can see a slow return to local fishing when lockdown starts to ease but
people travelling to fish, I am not so sure.
One thing is that, when we all get back to
normality, it will be a changed countryside for at least the remainder of this season and maybe beyond.
