After many years of visiting the Aldbar Beat of the South Esk each Whitsun we decided to see it in it's ‘Autumn glory' (hopefully) and pay it a visit during the last week of the season. This fortunately coincided with the school half term break. Having a wife who is a teacher means that we are a bit restricted as to when we can visit.

On traveling up through the Borders we were beginning to wonder whether it was a wise decision – all the rivers were in flood- the Tweed was like chocolate. Still we hadn't invested a fortune on the fishing and there is always plenty to do once we got there as we both enjoy walking and seeing the wildlife, which the area is rich in.

On arrival we were relieved (I have always had trouble passing water as my niece once said as I stopped at every bridge whilst on holiday) to see that the South Esk was nowhere near as high as the other rivers we had seen and was, in fact quite fishable. Alas it was Sunday so we would have to wait a while.

Unfortunately heavy overnight rain meant a swollen river by Monday morning so at best we might be able to do a bit of spinning by evening. We went for a walk up the picturesque North Esk at Ganochy Bridge. We watched an angler catch a salmon on a worm. Sadly for him, in the space of a few minutes, he realized firstly it was coloured and secondly it was foul hooked in the dorsal fin. Worst was to come because as he tried to land it his rod broke. We wondered if he had hooked a monster as it was giving him so much trouble to land. That's one days fishing he'll remember for a long time to come.

Having seen very few fish on our beat we decided to spend Tuesday walking in Glen Clova. We wondered if the high rainfall had meant that most of the Autumn run of salmon was high up in the glens. The tales in the Glen Clova Hotel was of plenty of fish but very few takes. In the evening we fished for a few hours and saw a few red fish but with high clear water it was difficult to decide whether to spin or fish the fly.

On Wednesday, with good weather forecast we decided to walk above Loch Lee in Glen Esk. After walking well into the Glen we were fortunate to hear the red deer stags roaring and then to see large groups of hinds together with 2 or 3 stags – a memorable experience. We also saw several grouse and a pair of mountain hares in their winter colours. We stood for a while and watched what we thought was a golden eagle but at such a long distance it was difficult to be sure. On our return salmon could be seen cruising with their tails out of the water in the shallow headwaters of the North Esk-we presumed they were preparing to spawn.

Sadly on Wednesday night the rain came again and made the river virtually unfishable on the Thursday and Friday. No fish but a very enjoyable break. No doubt we'll be there again in June 2005 to try for the sea trout.