August comes to a close

The second half of August saw a mixture of Icelandic, English and Spanish clients at East Ranga. Having worked our way through a month of low clear and cold water in search of rain; in late August we got it. All of it. The heavens opened and it rained. The river came up and coloured which made it tricky fishing with big flies and heavy tips the order of the day.

What still never failed to astonish us was we continued to catch large multi sea winter fish and some relatively fresh ones too. The fishing certainly slowed but between downpours and coloured floods some nice fish were caught including a few first fish. 

There has been much speculation about size of fish and why numbers of grilse were down but we saw a strong catch of multi sea winter fish. After a massive year in 2020 it was always likely we would see a strong return of MSW Salmon this year. What is also suspected is that the smolts that left the river last year were not so lucky and that has impacted the grilse. What strikes us as really exciting is the prospect of a strong grilse run next year in addition to maybe a few 3 sea winter fish. Whilst impossible to tell it will be a fun early season to be on the river.

By the 1st September the river was on 2,218 fish landed and we would hope for around another 1,000 fish for the rest of the season. Whilst nothing compared to last year in terms of numbers it has so far been a very exciting season with some very happy clients and staff. We are backed by an excellent team and a very cosy lodge environment. Whilst catching a few fish is an important aspect of a trip to East Ranga it’s also an excellent experience on so many other levels. 

We look forward to seeing how September goes and reporting as things unfold.