PDAA NEWSLETTER 26th JULY 2014
Greetings to all members, welcome to the newsletter for August 2014.
Salmon fishing for 2014 has so far been disappointing, although there does appear to be a return of sea trout, to a certain
degree. Fish caught so far are:- Salmon 18, grilse 1, sea trout 13.
Membership at present is 151 which, is down on 2013, by approx. 25.
As everyone will know , the season has been governed by the bad weather, which produced extremely high river levels
for the first 3 months of the season, which did not allow access to the beats, early in the season , making fishing
impossible and the catches have suffered as a consequence. A few beats upriver, Stobhall, Taymount and Burnmouth did
very well, but most other beats produced very little, due to the high water.
The Fishing. Bolfracks produced 5 salmon for the time PDAA had the fishing. PDAA hopes to take up the fishing again in
2015, and reduced rate fishing is still on offer ,all season when available. Murthly spring lease did not produce any fish,
again due to high water. Upper Redgorton only produced one sea trout and no salmon for the spring and summer
permits. Findynate has produced only one salmon to date, although reduced rate permits are still available from David
Stirling. Stobhall in February produced two salmon for the three days PDAA fished there. Upper Delvine has produced 5
salmon and 2 sea trout so far . The summer permits at Goldcastle have been the best beat so far, with 2 salmon and 7 sea
trout. Logierait has produced 2 salmon and 1 grilse so far. Links Farm only 1 sea trout .
Season still to come. As July draws to a close the lower beats on the River Tay, will come into their own, namely Rome
Croy, Muirtons, Willowgate, especially if fished around high tide. The River Almond , Isla and Ericht are worth a try when
the rains arrive and will bring in the fish. It should be noted, however, that the uptake of permits , by members from
P.D.Malloch’s in Perth is particularly disappointing, most permits are split between the ballot and the shop to give locals
and others a fairly even chance to take them up, but this does not seem to be happening, and perhaps PDAA has too much
fishing for the membership to fully use, and economics may prove this should be reduced. Memebers please note:- When
fishing at Rome Croy and Muirtons in September and October, especially flyfishing on the Grainhead Stream, that the
correct protocol is maintained, there is a strict queuing code in place, when arriving at the start of the beat, ask who is at
the back of the queue and take your place behind them, any jumping of the queue will lead to swift rebuke from the locals
in the queue. Take a pace between each cast and keep moving, this is not the time or place to try out new lines and hold
the line up, you will be told, where to go and what to do ! Better to go to Rome Croy or Muirton in July/August before the
crowds arrive and perfect your casting and line handling techniques when you have the place to yourself. Note:- Rome
Croy sleeper road has a combination padlock fitted to prevent unlawful entry. Combination lock number on permit.
Goldcastle. In 2013 for the summer permit period, after discussion with I.Kirk of Stormont, it was agreed that PDAA could
fit a combination padlock to the gate to Goldcastle beat. This arrangement worked very well, and allowed PDAA, access at
all times for members. In 2014 the padlock was again in place, and used at the start of the summer permit period, but
someone removed the padlock which was found missing by the president fishing one day. To preserve the security of the
gate required by Stormont, a second padlock was purchased and fitted to the gate, but unfortunately and baffling, this
padlock was also removed by someone leaving the gate unsecured, at the end of PDAA summer lease expired. Why this
has happened is uncertain, the padlock could only be removed by a PDAA member who knows the combination, and if
some member feels they are protesting against locked gates by removing the padlock, then all they have done is remove
access for all PDAA members for 2015, and access will be governed by Stormont gillies who wish the gate to be kept locked
at all times, as it is not practical for PDAA to keep buying padlocks only to be stolen.
Game Fair . PDAA decided to lease a trade stand and marquee tent at the Scone Conservation Game Fair held on 4 th,5th
and 6th July 2014 at Scone Palace. The tent and stand was manned, each day and decorated with illustrated articles of
PDAA fishing available. A large map of the River Tay, was made up on a stand, and illustrated with photographs from the
PDAA website of catches etc. This display was made up by committee member Allister Wallace. The manning volunteers
were all wearing the green PDAA polo shirts with the new PDAA logo embroidered on the shirts, to give a ‘team look ‘ to
the stand. In all, the display and stand, had a very professional look. The members who took part were:- Ted Eadie, John
Cook, Allister Wallace, Sarah Cane, Dennis Robb, Agnes McMillan, Iain Marshall , Dennis Robb, David Garner, Iain Bain,
John Dewar, Peter Backhouse, Fiona Backhouse. Dave Brown and Chris Connolly , assisted from the inside, as part of the
game fair building team, and thanks go to all volunteers, for giving up their time and assisting with the event. The event
was well attended, and PDAA ran a competition to’ guess the number of flies in a jar’. This was well received and 120
people entered the competition, with the winning number of flies being 648. The first prize went to MARC RITCHIE, who
won membership to PDAA for 2015, second prize went to JOHN WARK, who won membership to PDAA for the remainder
of 2014, third prize went to KERRIE ROSS, who won, a day’s fishing for two at Upper Delvine, during the River Tay
extension period,16th Oct to 31st Oct 2014. By running this competition, PDAA have accumulated a large data bank of email
addresses, which can be used in 2015 to propagate interest in PDAA, and hopefully attract new members. As mentioned
previously, the volunteers were dressed in polo shirts with the new PDAA logo embroidered on them. If anyone is
interested in one of these shirts, they are available from Amazon, to buy privately, and then send them to the logo
company, who will embroider any item of clothing with the PDAA logo for approx. £5 per time. The address is :- Logxpres
Ltd Stirling.
At the Game Fair it was decided to offer membership for the rest of 2014, at a reduced price of £90 which produced some
new members. This was a ‘one off’, offer and not to be repeated.
Membership. One of our youth members, Robert Fyfe, has been chosen to represent Scotland in the Scottish Youth
International Fly Fishing event at Grafham this summer, and PDAA has offered £100 sponsorship to Robert for this event.
It was sad to report the demise of members, Dave Edby and John Keay earlier in the year. Dave had only been in PDAA a
couple of years and enjoyed it immensely, John Keay was an honorary member, and had been a PDAA office bearer for
many years in his younger days. Another honorary member was Willie Elder, who was reported missing from his home in
Pitlochry around January 2014, and not been found since, a sad case with no end in sight.
Trout Fishing. Loch Horn, a new boat was purchased, at the beginning of the season, to replace the original boat, which
was well worn and cracked along the line of the keel, and not economical to repair. A price of £600 was paid for the new
boat.
River Tay trout permits, PDAA informed Kercock that they would no longer act as agents for these permits and no longer
be available in Mallochs, or Birnam Spar. The reason for this was because of the continual declining access and availability
of these permits by restrictions placed by Kercock on the conditions. I believe Kercock handle these in house now.
Angling Development Board of Scotland. A new position of regional development officer for Tayside and Fife has been
made and John Hood appointed. The aim of this board is to attain a UK level of coaching for angling, which can be used in
schools and clubs in general. So far two of the committee have done the level 1 coaching weekend, and submitted their
papers for confirmation of their certificates. For any members who wish to participate in this course or wish more
information, please let me know. It is envisaged when this is rolled out to all schools in Scotland, that there will be a
shortage of qualified coaches. A level 3 coach can earn good money at this!
PDAA Website. I would advise all members to regularly check the home page of the PDAA website, the headline news is
updated regularly with the latest topics. For non- computer owners, I would urge you to visit the library in Perth, where
approx. 50 computers are available for use by library members for free. Also check ‘the fishing ‘, section for descriptions
and directions to the beats on offer. If any member would like to contribute with photographs and tips, on how to fish a
particular beat , please send in and these will be added to the fishing sections. If anyone has any requests, for improving
the website, please send in to the president.
Ted Eadie, President PDAA.