February 2006

Nearly there! On behalf of the committee, can I wish you all a happy and hopefully fish filled New Year. At time of writing there are only 12 days until our opening on the 11th of February. Compared with this time last year, we seem to be having more gentle winter. It was about this time last year when the river was in flood for a couple of days. Hopefully the absence of any floods and downpours mean the juveniles sheltering in nursery streams have had a less stressful winter.

Permits. New permits are in Morison, Ironmongers, West End, Beauly,
(01463 782213). It was decided at our AGM to increase the Senior BAC Permit (River & Firth) to £50. This will help cover the increasing cost of providing fishing on our stretch. All other prices remain the same.

Returns. We had an excellent permit return at the close of last season. Over 95% of our returns were submitted by the required date. Our catch for the 2005 season was 54 salmon (our 10 year average is 29), 254 sea trout (96% returned) and 86 brown trout. Dan Robertson caught the heaviest salmon at 9lbs 9ozs while Connor Ross was our most successful junior with a sea trout of 1.25 lbs. This was our best season for several years and hopefully the start of a more productive period on our stretch.

Database. Yes, your club has become a victim of technology creep. We are in the process of reviewing our membership database and records. Are the contact details we have for you correct? We are also keen to investigate the scope of contacting members by e-mail. Sometimes, between newsletters, we hear of events and competitions but are unable to inform you all in time. E-mail may provide us the opportunity to keep in closer contact with you, the members, as we hear of events. It would also offer us the scope of e-mailing out newsletters and AGM material. If you have e-mail and would be willing to help us develop this facility during the year, please get in touch with club at the.president@beauly-angling-club.co.uk or myself at archieap@tiscali.co.uk

Websites. Over the quiet winter months of fishing “cold turkey” the following two websites helped me with my fishing abstinence. The first of these is for the Wild Trout Trust, a charity dedicated to the conservation of wild trout in Britain and Ireland through the protection and restoration of their habitats. I found some of the articles in the library just the tonic to keep me going during the cold and dark winter months. The site can be found at http://www.wildtrout.org/WTT/default.asp. A second angling site that has kept me amused over the winter has been the Wild Fishing Forum. This is a site run by enthusiasts who discuss all manner of fishy issues. The site can be found at http://www.wild-fishing-scotland.co.uk/phpBB2/index.php.

And finally. An angler who hooked Scotland's biggest ever rainbow trout had to throw it back because he had already landed too many fish. In the ultimate tale of the one that got away, the 30lb 11oz fish battled for half an hour before being brought to the shore. The exhausted angler said: “It would have looked pretty good over my mantelpiece, but I've been fishing there for years with my pals, and I didn't want to be banned."

Tight lines for 2006.

Archie Prentice, Newsletter Editor