Cromarty Firth Fishery Board and Trust

Our junior angling club got off to a great start with lots of fun had by all and we even caught a few fish! If you would like your child to come along to our next event on 3rd August please email [email protected] we hope to see you there, tight lines :)

Board staff spend a significant amount of time on fishery protection patrols during the fishing season. During one recent patrol we were joined by Police Scotland. Multiple sites were visited across the district and we are grateful for the support they provide in tackling illegal fishing, which is a wildlife crime.

Unfortunately, due to the poor weather forecast for Saturday we have taken the decision to cancel the junior angling club this Saturday. There are still a few spaces for the July and August dates and we will see if we can sort put another session on in September to make up for this week.

Just a wee update, we still have a few spaces for the junior angling club this saturday. Drop me an email at [email protected] if you think your child might be interested and I can send further details. Hope to see you there.

After a long hiatus we are pleased to announce the return of our Junior Angling Club. Young people will have the chance to give angling a go at a local stocked fishery near Contin. We are running three sessions throughout the summer and best of all, it's totally FREE! If you can think of anyone who might be interested in joining us please tag them or share this post and help spread the word. Tight lines.

With the water temperature slowly rising the annual migration of salmon smolts has gathered momentum this week and we have seen a good increase in the numbers caught daily in both our fixed Wolf Trap and Rotary Screw Traps (RST). At the start of this season to help improve the trapping efficiency of the RST we placed rock bags into the river where they are sited. Now the water levels have dropped they have proved incredibly useful, as we hoped they would, by narrowing the river channel and forcing the bulk of the flow into the trap entrance. In between trapping of smolts board staff have also been carrying out patrols looking for illegal fishing at varying times. During one early morning patrol this week it was disappointing to find an illegal net set in one of the rivers within the district. The latest annual wildlife crime report from the Scottish Government showed that illegal fishing remains the most commonly reported wildlife crime in Scotland and the discovery of the net highlights the importance of regular enforcement patrols across the district.

After two weeks of inclement weather and a rapidly disappearing window for installation, Fishery board staff, Whooshh Engineers (Seattle USA) and SSE managed a successful deployment of a 120m long smolt guidance curtain on Loch Meig.
This floating boom is connected to 90 vertical electrodes suspended 4m down in the water column and has been designed especially to guide smolts into the fish pass at Meig Dam using a very low voltage electronic system.
The study aims to test whether the guidance system increases number of smolts exiting from Loch Meig by comparing passage rates of PIT tagged smolts when system is switched on vs. switched off. As part of the study 1250 fish will be PIT tagged at the Meig rotary screw trap site.
Data to follow!

The start of April sees the beginning of the annual smolt migration across the district. To assist the fish as they head downstream the board operates three smolt traps. One is a fixed wolf trap and the other two are rotary screw traps. Salmon smolts respond to environmental stimuli which help trigger the migration urge. These are warming water temperatures, rising water levels and crucially the phase of the moon. At this time of the month the water remains cold and the numbers heading downstream to sea at the moment are quite small with just a few smolts having been trapped so far. Whilst in operation the traps are checked daily. In between trapping, patrols looking for illegal fishing have been ongoing.

A mixed bag of weather for board staff today whilst patrolling. It was lovely during the day, but very wet tonight. Should you go fishing during the easter break please ensure you have permission to fish for salmon and that you fish in a legal manner for freshwater fish. The bank holiday weekend has in the past been a busy period for us and we will be out and about patrolling areas of concern.

With the arrival of spring board staff have been busy with a variety of tasks this week. Salmon smolts will begin their annual migration to sea shortly, so in anticipation of that we have been installing our rotary screw traps. These in river traps catch the smolts as they migrate down the river to the sea. Once caught they are transported downstream and released, so helping them by pass two dams. In order to help the capture efficiency of the traps this year we have installed rock bags beside the traps. These bags fill the gaps between the river bank and the traps and will help guide the smolts into the trap by creating a concentrated flow in the middle of the river. Board staff have also conducted a canoe run down the River Conon in order to carry out our monthly sawbill count as well as continuing with our foot patrols looking illegal fishing

It has been a busy week for board staff. With low water levels the last of the salmon eggs were stocked out in to the River Blackwater. Now the hatchery is empty for another season, the hatchery troughs and egg trays were washed. With the hatchery work now complete patrols looking for illegal fishing are being increased with the Conon, Bran, Balnagown and Alness all being checked. So far all fishermen spoken to have been fishing legally. These patrols are carried out at varying times and are ongoing.

When we plant salmon eggs into the river we look for suitable sites to put them into. One of the criteria we look for is finding a spot which can be dug easily to make a redd. Unfortunately some streams, despite having good instream cover, have quite compacted river beds so digging a hole in which to put the eggs into is almost impossible. To overcome the problem we have in recent years started using bio degradable vibert boxes. The eyed eggs are placed in the boxes, which have slits in them, and the boxes are placed on the river bed. Once in situ, stones are placed around them, and these stones prevent the box being washed away. They have proved extremely effective in allowing us to use habitats that would perhaps otherwise have been difficult to stock. A description can be found with the photos

It has been a busy week for board staff as the annual mitigation stocking of eyed salmon ova has got underway. All of the stock in the hatchery goes into the upper River Blackwater, with the first of the eggs stocked having been incubating for just over 3 months. Each site for a redd is carefully selected, with the criteria being suitable substrate for the redd to be built into as well as good fry habitat downstream of the redd itself which the fry will emerge into. The process is time consuming, but relativly simple. A hole is dug in the river bed then a pipe inserted into it. Around the pipe is placed suitably sized gravel, and once the pipe is secure the eggs are poured down the pipe and allowed to settle. Whilst this happens larger stones are placed around the redd to protect it. Once the pipe is removed the redd is capped with larger stones for added protection. The structures built are robust and its quite common to find redds which were built last year. Descriptions of the the process can be found next to the photos.

Alness River opening ceremony this Saturday 17th. See Alness Angling Club page for details.

- A couple of photos from last year. Good luck to all on the river for the 2024 season!

Pop down and support your local Angling Club at the Bridge Pool this weekend. Best of luck to Brian Morrison & all on the day!

Join us on Friday 1st March at 7:30pm to watch the documentary "Riverwoods" followed by a Q&A session

Partly filmed in our local area, this film explores the
plight of the endangered wild Atlantic salmon and
how we can mitigate the effects of climate change on
its habitat to secure its survival. The panel will also talk
about the Kyle Riverwoods Project.

Free and all welcome! Tea, coffee and biscuits after the screening.

The fishery board operates a large salmon hatchery as part of a long term mitigation stocking programme. The adult salmon trapping operation in 2023 yielded around 780000 eggs, with the eggs stripped between the start of November to late December. We wait until the eggs have been incubating for 280 degree days before we 'shock' and 'wash' them, and many have now reached that stage in their development. This 'shocking' process makes any infertile eggs turn white and it also allows us to wash any surface peat off the eggs as well clean the egg troughs and trays etc. All of the eggs will be stocked out as eyed ova in to the River Blackwater.

The 11th February is the opening day of the salmon fishing season across the district, however as today is a Sunday no salmon fishing is permitted. Despite this, board staff were out patrolling on the River Conon to ensure no one was out fishing illegally with patrols carried out at various times throughout the day. It was a very misty start, but it brightened up as the day wore on. Please ensure that you have permission to fish before you go to the rivers within our district this coming season as the proactive fishery protection patrols will be ongoing.

The Rannoch burn is a tributary of the upper River Blackwater and it provides important juvenile habitat for salmon. Around 10-12 years ago board staff began to systematically plant native trees along both banks of the middle reaches of the burn. These trees, when mature, will provide important shade and nutrient input to this upland stream. The trees when planted were put in tree tubes to provide protection from deer browsing. With several recent storms sweeping across the north of Scotland board staff have this week been out inspecting the site and repairing any damage caused by the high winds. Whilst there, self seeded non native trees have also been cut down. These grow rapidly and can outcompete native trees for space and light. To imitate natural processes, trees where possible, were felled into the stream and left attached to the stump of the tree by a hinge. The large woody debris will provide important instream cover and shade for fish.