September fishing on the Creed was slow with only the occasional small rise that allowed salmon and sea trout to enter the system. There was enough water to allow fish to run into Loch Clachan and the loch offered the best chance of sport through September.

It was all change in October. We had a good rise in water on the 1st October which encouraged the good numbers of salmon that had been building up in the lower pools to start pushing upriver. These salmon took the fly well and 69 salmon were recorded on Fish Hebrides for the 13 fishing days in October. The fish were almost all very coloured and  there was no influx of fresh salmon in October.

There was, however, a very good run of big sea trout (1.5 - 4lbs) in late September and early October. But, like the earlier running sea trout, they were poor takers. Anglers on both the river and Clachan reported seeing big silver sea trout jumping "all over the place" but could not catch them.

The final catch return for the Creed will show an average year for salmon and a poor one for sea trout. However, the system holds a good stock of both salmon and sea trout and the weather in summer 2008 can be blamed for what would have been a good year if we had better angling conditions.

CATCH RETURNS ARE NOW DUE

Please take the time to fill in your catch returns and return them to the Secretary as soon as possible.