The past week could be best described as a bit of a strange one, with the river settling down nicely from the previous week expectations were high, but for the most part the fish did not read the script, with endless stories of brief encounters and pools stuffed with fresh grilse refusing to show any interest. As the week progressed we lost the cool northerly breeze and it was replaced by humid conditions with little or no wind and periods of bright blue skies which undoubtably contributed to the fish being fickle. 

 Looking back at the month of July as a whole it has been very encouraging and with one day remaining we are well above our 5 year average and just above our 10 year average. Fresh grilse and summer salmon continue to enter the river every day and with loch More holding up well this past week prospects for August look good.

Looking at the catches this week some familiar names were in about the catches, Sir James Graham caught a fresh 8-pounder first thing on Monday morning from the Froth pool on beat 6, John Wood had two from beat 9, Chris Adcock and his 16-year old son Will had one each for their week, Robert Johnson picked up two as did Bill Taylor in a day from beat 8

Antione T'Kint from Belgium did well with four fish in three days, Tim McFarlane and Bob Mason had five between them, father and son team Harry Edmonds senior and Harry junior picked up a few as did John Gordon and Guy Galbraith, Lana Richardson was rewarded with a fish for her short visit. 

And the story of the week must go to Simon Michaels who had five fish for four days on his maiden trip to the Thurso. 

Tight lines next week.