A spot of fishing might not be the most obvious activity to try in the Far North during a snow storm – but that is exactly what a group of hardy souls did yesterday.
The opening of the salmon season on the River Thurso was performed by Dr Mike Leach, who cast the first fly.
Dr Leach has fished the river for 35 years and was guest speaker at the fishery dinner the previous night.
Assembled guests were yesterday piped across the bridge over the River Thurso at the Ulster Arms in Halkirk led by piper John MacRae.
They went down to the Comlifoot Pool where Dr Leach opened the 2017 season.
Dr Leach, from Glasgow, fishes the river three or four times a year with parties of guests.
Tim Hawes, Thurso fishery river manager, then poured a dram of local Wolfburn whisky from Thurso into the river for good luck.
Mr Hawes said: “A few hardy souls went out and fished the river. It was a horrible day with sleet showers and high winds. It was very poor weather for the opening but 20 people came out for it.”
Last year 2,203 salmon were caught on the River Thurso. The figure normally averages at around 1,600.
Mr Hawes said: “Last year was well above our average.
“It was a wet summer, which helped. If you have rain the salmon will run the river, that helps enormously when we get a constant flow of water in the river.
“The management of the river also makes a difference. We are lucky that the north rivers are largely unpolluted, we have got quite a pristine environment.
“Our juvenile stocks of salmon in the river are very high. We are putting a lot of salmon and smolts to sea. The river is a good breeding environment. Because we have got a good stock of juvenile fish, more adult salmon come back from the sea.”
He added that the current three year moratorium on coastal netting would also have helped.
They expect 2017 to be as good as 2016, however, he did warn: “Nature can be fickle.”
