Robert Mitchell
For over 30 years Robert has been a salmon fishing ghillie on the River Spey.
Growing up at the Millbueis Country Park, close to Elgin, Robert developed a passion for the environment and for fly fishing, spending a childhood around the water and helping his family run the Millbueis Fishery. Starting his ghillying career as a 16 year old on the Tulchan Estate, he soon had his own fishing beat (D-Beat) to look after and helped guests from all over the world experience the magical connection with wild Atlantic salmon.
After 21 years, he moved on to become the ghillie on The Macallan beat for The Macallan. Starting his career there in 2015, he has elevated the beat to help it become one of the most unique and highly-regarded salmon fishing experiences on Speyside. Robert also works closely with the Spey Fishery Board to ensure that important knowledge and observation from the riverbank can inform wider conservation strategies.
During the fieldwork period of the Moray Firth Tracking Project and seeing a need to learn more about the impacts on young salmon smolts during their downstream freshwater migration, Robert proactively helped to connect the Atlantic Salmon Trust with The Macallan Estate and, as a result, underwater acoustic receivers were placed in the waters he looks after to gather important information on fish movements. As The Macallan Estate makes great strides towards sustainability and stewardship of the land, Robert’s connection to the River Spey and its wild Atlantic salmon is central to this.
As well as Robert’s ambassadorship with the Atlantic Salmon Trust, he is also an ambassador for The Macallan Estate itself, helping to promote salmon fishing and conservation on the River Spey via the worldwide whisky industry.
All of us here at the Atlantic Salmon Trust are delighted to welcome Robert to our ambassadors team.