It will be interesting to see, with nobody fishing, whether there has been more predation with the predators getting free range of the river.
May is a good month on the Spey and it also brings the first of the sea trout. You don't see the same amount of people putting in the nightshift on a balmy summers evening waiting for the scream of the reel.
This is by far my personal favourite time to fish.
Next week was going to be a big one for me. 30 years on the river and 20 years married and I was all booked up to be in a much sunnier location drinking cool beer out of an iced glass. That will happen, but not this year.
I have seen massive changes on the river over the years from no catch and release to 96% being returned. Salmon were plentiful, poaching was rife, we pulled trees out the rivers - now I am putting them back in!
I witnessed the start of science and electro fishing and I am sure a lot of people will have their own views. My personal one is: if you look after the habitat, the fish will look after themselves.
I can see a slow return to local fishing when lockdown starts to ease but people travelling to fish, I am not so sure.
One thing is that, when we all get back to normality, it will be a changed countryside for at least the remainder of this season and maybe beyond.
