A group of teenagers got to learn from some of the most experienced and the best during an angling and rural skills course. Nine pupils from Speyside High were invited onto the two-day course.

On hand to teach them how to Speycast was Ian Gordon, an ex-ghillie who’s a former world champion at the art.

They also heard from Richard Whyte, the Spey Fishery Board’s head water bailiff, about how and why the area is patrolled to prevent poaching.

Meanwhile, the biologist Brian Shaw came along to speak about how his team goes about measuring the health of a river. This involved the teenagers helping with the useful tasks of electrofishing and kick-sampling.

The first involves stunning tiny salmon fry, then measuring and weighing them as well as counting their numbers.

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