DETAILS
Kinnaber is numbered among the top fly beats in Scotland, thanks to it being a streamy beat located above the mean spring tide mark. At all times therefore comes the chance of catching a licer straight off the tide. Quiet one moment the beat can come all aboil the next. It is the river’s front hall, the plaything of winds and tides, rains or sun to be fished in accordance.
The lodge was custom-designed for the beat to make a great party location overlooking the lie where fish stop on their way in on the tide, with fish rising a mere cast away from the bar windows. Mod cons include drying cupboard, chest freezer, dishwasher, clothes washer, microwave, icemaker, oven, hobs, hangers, lockers, wader-welcoming floor surfaces, wood stove, etc.
The lodge is sited on the north side of the beat which is the preferred side for fishing by having private vehicle access to all the pools. In the evenings one can enjoy a dram and drive back to the pools without recourse to a public road. But a road bridge crosses the river to the south side at midpoint bringing rods to an upstream and to a downstream access point. The pools are all very close together, there being almost no non-fish bearing water in between.
Traditionally the North Esk is a good spring river. The Government’s North Esk fish counter shows the spring run increasing. Sea trout tend to start early at Kinnaber coinciding with the best runs of spring salmon. The incomparable July and August experience at Kinnaber is to hitch tiny tube flies and skate them fast and across the stream. A rod took a dozen grilse that way one August evening at low summer level.
