Edyradynate, Tay (11 July 2014)

Edradynate was a last minute booking, as I had intended to take a 2 (fishing) day trip on the thursday and friday, but was unable to arrange anything in time. My initial thought had been to head to the West Coast - and to Wester Ross, specifically - if there had been enough water. July had been another dry(ish) month, following on from a dry May and June, and so this wasn't possible unfortunately. A trip to fish the Badachro, Kerry and Ullapool will have to wait, for the time being. Ultimately, I settled upon day trips to Burn Estate, on the North Esk, and Edradynate - who had had an 11 or 12lber the day before.

Pictured: One from Burn Estate, North Esk - Cement Pool, to be precise.

While my day on Burn Estate was enjoyable, it is perhaps the more obvious of the two destinations; it generally fishes well all year and has a consistent level of rods on the beat from when fishing starts (roughly March) until the close of the North Esk's season in October. Edradynate is the more interesting case of the two and so I'll write a little bit about why this I think this is.

I had previously read-up on the various Upper Tay beats, in search of ideas for locations for trips. However, I had until this point only fished an evening on Newtyle and a day on Dalmarnock by way of River Tay salmon fishing. I had an impression, from various different sources (none of which were 'word of mouth' of those that had fished the beat, incidentally), that Edradynate was a lesser stretch of the river, under-fished for a reason. I was quite wrong.

On arrival at the beat at around 10:30am (I was very generously sharing my day with non-fishers), I was welcomed by a beautiful stretch of remote Perthshire riverbank, in a clearing amongst the woodlands. A small wooden gate, with the character gained only by a half century or so on a salmon fishing beat, opened onto a beautifully mown lawn leading to the hut. I sat with my sister and her friend on the picnic bench overlooking the vast Church Pool, waiting to meet Willie - the ghillie (at least on the day in question) - before they set off for a day's kayaking, leaving me to try my luck. My sister took a photo of me with the pool in the background and, perhaps fittingly of its reputation, a salmon leapt in the background and made it into my photo collection. My excitement for the day ahead was growing.

Pictured: A well kept beat.

On arrival, I began chatting about the beat with Willie and he told me about how the beat had been bought over in March 2014 with the hope that it would be fished more consistently and would be accessible to all. He opened up the newly-improved hut to fetch the oars for the beat's new boat, allowing the fisher to fish the croys spread down the Church Pool's right bank with a gentle Double-Spey. I was told it was even possible to fish the pool 'on the dangle' from the boat. For £25 (for each day of the season), a day on beat on a prime river with a boat and a hut was already good value for money; but what about the fishing?

I started with a brief cast from top-most croy on the left bank of the Church Pool . The pool is shallow at the neck and, in the low water, there was only four of five casts up here. I did have a take, probably from a brownie, before moving on, however.

Pictured: Church Pool from the left bank.

Next up, I made use of the oars to glide across in the boat and moor up behind the second-topmost croy of the right bank. I worked my way down the croys, wading the gaps in-between, with a 7.5.' intermediate tip with 2.5' of T-11, 10' of leader and a small Black and Yellow Ally's on the end. Even in low water, I like to make sure I'm getting the fly down to the fish, especially if there will be residents amongst them. Fish were leaping at the tail of the pool's right bank and also in mid-stream around half-way through the pool. I had lost count, so it was a question of catching one rather than of whether there were any.

Pictured: Church Pool from the croys on the right bank. The faint boils at the end of the croy show where the little flow in the pool was.

The aforementioned low water did not lend itself to fishing a fly through a big, deep pool such as the Church Pool. While a small section of flow (probably a 'glide', to be correct) allowed the fly to move round nicely, the rest required a figure of eight retrieve and even then it was difficult to achieve movement across the pool. I gave this a try, though, before covering the upper stretch of the pool with a Sunray Shadow fished high in the water column. I gave the tail of the pool a quick covering, fishing from the boat, before moving on. This all took perhaps 2 and a half hours, by which point it was lunchtime.

As ever, I was eager to take in as much as possible during my time and so I made sure I had the full-afternoon session to try the beat's streamier water. I had been informed by Willie that 75% of the beat's fish come from the runs and pools below the Church Pool and so I'd have been a fool to ignore this.

Picture: The run below the Church Pool. There are 3 or 4 runs and pools before the downstream limit.

The run immediately below the Church has a heavy flow, taking time and distance to calm down. By this stage, I was fishing a very small Silver Stoat, which was flashing across the currently quickly in the flow. Near the tail of the first run, moving downstream, I had a heavy take at the far bank in front of a fallen tree. At perhaps 2lbs, I had decided that this was a brownie, but as the fish was drawn closer, I realised it had no red spots and was in fact a Sea Trout. In typical Sea Trout manner, it then took off, thrashing around on the surface before unhooking itself. Encouraged, I moved on downstream.

The whole stretch to the bottom of the beat is comprised of interesting fly water and truly beautiful Highland scenery. It is quite similar in character to the nearby River Garry.  It does however have a principal feature; the Glide Pool. This is a big, wide pool of consistent depth. It has a series of croys down the left bank, allowing ease of casting - something like a smaller, inverted 'Steps' on Newtyle. This is a great stopping point before the ascent to the Church Pool, which has little shelter in its heavier flows. I picked up a couple of brownies, as are so often incidental to fishing a small Silver Stoat (I picked up 10 or more while fishing Fairnilee late in the evening, early this month). There is also one key feature at the bottom of the beat, after the Glide Pool; a fallen tree in a run between pools provides a glassy, sheltered spot, perhaps 10 to 15ft long on the far bank. I had been told to 'fish hard' here, by Willie. I did and had great confidence of a take with every swing of the fly, but nothing came of it this time, unfortunately.

Pictured: Glide Pool - surviving in the low water, but probably a greater prospect in high water.

Pictured: Derculich, the beat downstream.

I had a quick look downstream to the Derculich beat below (which, incidentally, looks beautiful), before heading back upstream to meet my sister and her friend. It was 4:45pm and the day had flown by. The result of this is that Edradynate is now near the top of my list for a re-visit. It is a beat that deserves far more attention than it gets and can surely provide one of the best chances of a big fish in the area - both Glide Pool and Church Pool look like the sort where a 20lber would 'hole up'. I'd certainly anticipate that this beat will become more prominent on the salmon fishing scene, at least locally in Perthshire, in the next while. I'm certainly looking out for an opportunity to return, probably sooner, rather than later.

Tight lines.

Calum