Set out below are the salmon and sea trout fishing records for the River Blackwater at Croick since 2004. In looking at these records please note the following points:
1. Croick Estate is part of the Kyle of Sutherland Salmon Fishing Board, which strongly encourages catch and release, and requires fishing by fly only. There is no spinning or worming on any of our river.
2. Much of the fishing is done by guests staying at the Old Manse. This was not available for let during 2008 and 2009, hence the small number of fish caught.
3. The Blackwater is a typical Highland spate river, and the fishing depends on a good flow of water. But several guest parties have had in excess of 10 fish in a week when the water has been kind.
4. To all intents and purposes fish start to come into the Blackwater in numbers during May and the river wishes right through to the end of the season (30 September).
5. These records do not count the many trout caught on our hill lochs.
| Croick Estate – Salmon and Sea Trout records | |||
| Total | % | Total | |
| Salmon | Released | Sea Trout | |
| 2004 | 19 | 84.2% | 8 |
| 2005 | 5 | 80.0% | 0 |
| 2006 | 5 | 80.0% | 0 |
| 2007 | 4 | 100.0% | 3 |
| 2008 | 7 | 71.4% | 0 |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 34 | 91.2% | 0 |
| 2011 | 27 | 88.9% | 3 |
Croick Estate 
Hi. We used to go to Croick manse back in the 80’s. There was a fishing ledger that we always kept up to date. The numbers of fish were amazing. We caught mostly sea trout but a good number of salmon also. We also had access to some of the hill lochs through knowing people at Aladale lodge. The numbers of small brown trout taken were into the hundreds. It was a fantastic place to holiday as a child and we pretty much ran free for 2 weeks. Fantastic place. I believe the father of my friend who rented the manse also kept personal records of the catches we took. Do you know if the old ledger still exists?
Thank you for your note. I’m afraid to say I have never seen the old ledgers. They were probably taken away for safe keeping at some stage, and are now lost. The lochs are still prolific and sea trout are still plentiful. Unfortunately few of the guests who take the Manse these days are keen fishers, so the river is under-fished.
Is it possible to update the catch records?
Apologies. Will try and do so over the next few weeks.