Highland Sojourn ~ Day 11: River Spey, Gordon Castle, Upper Brea Beat

Charlie with his Saturday morning salmon.

I woke to a foggy High Street in Fochabers and walked down to the Co-op for a quick coffee while waiting on breakfast at the Gordon Arms Hotel. Afterward, I settled into a proper Scottish breakfast and fell into conversation with a couple of working men staying at the hotel. One was helping build an underground gas line across the river. As part of the project they had shocked the river and yielded 36 Salmon and trout in one 50 meter stretch. Another had just landed a large-scale nursery project, supplying millions of trees for reforestation. Both were good company, and it made for an interesting start to the morning.

Soon after breakfast, David arrived in the car park. We chatted for a spell with two gentlemen visiting from London, Ben and Charlie, who run an Instagram channel called Two Men and a Willie Gunn. They would be joining us on the river for the day.

Our ghillie, Ian, soon arrived and led us across the Spey countryside, passing crofts, spring-green fields, and rich worked earth before entering the estate. Red deer grazed in the fields as part of a commercial venison operation—stags and hinds scattered across the hillsides. Giant hares loped through the grass, and pheasants hurried into the lush undergrowth as we made our way toward the river.

Our first look at the Upper Brae beat showed a medium-sized river with broken, promising water. The sky was blue, the air mild, and spirits were high. Ian quickly had us re-rigged with intermediate sinking tips and tied on flies of our choosing. Before long, we were in the classic riverboat, being rowed across the across the river. Ian had been working this beat for 34 years and it was clear he ad done this before.

Another fisherman named Jimmy joined us, a semi-local who had fished the beat before. We were ferried to the eastern bank, where I was taken upstream to a pool called the Flats and began fishing from the right bank. Ian walked alongside me through that upper stretch while David started working down through the Rock Pool—a long, handsome piece of water stretching at least 300 yards, fishable from both sides.

After finishing the Flats, I stepped into the head of the Rock Pool. As I worked my way down through the water, I saw three separate fish break the surface. Two came completely out of the river and appeared to be somewhere in the 6 to 10 pound range. Seeing fish is no small thing on a salmon river, and it was enough to keep a man’s attention sharpened.

By 1 PM, we were ready for lunch. Ian ferried us back across the river to the well-appointed hut, where we took a much-needed break on the porch. A cool breeze moved through, and after a morning of tricky wading, it felt good to sit, eat, and visit with Ben, Charlie, and Jimmy.

The afternoon began on the west side of the river. I worked down through the Rock Pool while David began fishing the high bank of the Ewe Pool. I eventually joined him there, and we finished the afternoon on that fine stretch of water. David had caught two and lost one fish there on a previous visit, so it carried a little extra hope.

Around 5 PM, Ian departed and left us to finish up the last run of the day. We said our goodbyes to Ben and Charlie, then drove back into Fochabers for a chippy before David dropped me at my vehicle in the Gordon Arms car park.

From there, I made the 40-minute drive back to Nairn and checked into the Newton Hotel. It had been a long, full day on the river, and sleep came quickly.

Update: It is Saturday morning, David just sent word that Charlie got a fish on the Lower Brae.