What’s happening in the world of game-fishing
THE NEXT GENERATION
An educational course for youngsters seeking a career in angling is seeking financial support. The inaugural Lionel Main Award, named after one of Scotland’s best-loved gillies, took place this summer at Castle Grant on the River Spey and was attended by five teenagers with ambition to become a gillie or guide.
The award was conceived as a memorial to Main, head gillie at Castle Grant from 1987 to 2021, by his tenants, who crowd-funded £5,000 for the first week-long course.
To repeat the course in 2024 and expand it nationally, significant sponsorship is needed, perhaps from industry. It is hoped to make the course residential, enabling children who live farther away to attend.
The first course was led by an educational charity, and pupils gained the Scottish SCQF National Progression Award in Angling and the Aquatic Environment. The syllabus included entomology, aquatic environment, angling skills, safety, fish welfare and working as a gillie.
Pupils were able to fish on the famous beats and were successful in catching several salmon. The deserving winner of the Lionel Main Award, voted for by pupils and gillies, was 14-year-old James Stewart (pictured below), member of Inverness AC.
Crucially, the prestigious Castle Grant venue was provided for free by Strathspey Estates. Other supporters included T&S columnist and guide Dani Morey, speycasting legend Scott MacKenzie, the Castle Grant gillies, Loop tackle and Mortimer’s tackle-shop.
Strathspey estate has offered the same week in 2024. Potential sponsors should contact Sean Tighe at seanqm.tighe@btinternet.com. Applications for 2024 are welcome.
Write to ian@countrysidelearningscotland.org.uk
POWER OF WATER
October and early November were tumultuous weeks on rivers throughout the UK as storms bearing unusually high rainfall caused severe flooding and loss of life. The Angus Esks were struck by Storm Babet on October 19 and badly affected.
Anglers on social media expressed shock at pictures and webcam footage of the torrent: notable was Farson Digital’s timelapse camera at Gannochy Bridge at Edzell on the North Esk (watch live webcams at farsondigitalwatercams.com) which showed the river level rising from 1ft to 15ft in less than nine hours on October 19 (pictured above). SEPA reported that up to 250mm of rain fell in 48 hours compared to an October monthly average of 100mm-130mm.
Neil Anderson at Angus Angling reported that few fishing huts escaped unscathed, and some were badly damaged at the bottom of the river. He said the effect on fishing was “too early to tell, but there are worries about juvenile fish. Parr have been found washed out and stranded in fields. This was an extreme flood, the biggest on record. They used to happen every
