The 11th of February signals the opening of the Salmon fishing season on the River Don here in Aberdeenshire. I ventured out for a cast to the Aberdeen and District Angling Association beat on the middle river at Kemnay with my pal Bill Cook.
A hard frost over night saw the river drop several inches which isn't really ideal for the Kemnay beat but it was still sitting about 11" on the gauge and carrying a little snow melt colour. My tactics for today were my 15ft Mackenzie rod, Hover/Sink1 shooting head and a 6ft 2.6ips versi leader. Flies varied from Gold Body Willie Gunns, Chartreuse Franc N Snaelda and Ice Maidens.
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Looking downstream into the Dooker pool. |
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Fishing down the Dooker into the "hotspot". |
I arrived at the beat about 8.30am and the ground was frozen solid by a hard over night frost. After a chat with Bill I made my way upstream to the neck of the Dooker pool. Bill had already landed 2 kelts and a sea trout kelt before I arrived so I was eager to get going. I stripped a few yards of running line off my reel and began with a short cast. As my fly swung round, I had a very subtle take. The fish seemed reluctant to move with the fly so I had to wait, what seemed like ages before setting the hook. I lifted into the fish and no sooner was it on, it was off. My very first cast of the 2015 Don season saw me hook a fish! Unfortunately, it wasn't on long but it was a promising start, even if it was just a kelt. As I fished down the pool into a well known lie, I had another take. This time the fish was well hooked and I soon released a well mended kelt. The rod rings were constantly freezing and this made cast tricky at times but I persevered and soon had another offer. This time it was only a trout and I managed a long range release which I was glad about as it saved me from re-casting all my line again. We both fished on down the pool without another offer so we headed downstream to have a cast in the Academy Pool.
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Bill fishing the Academy Pool. |
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Looking downstream near the tail of the Academy Pool. |
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Looking upstream from half way down the Academy Pool. |
The Academy Pool has given up its fair share of opening day fish in its time but sadly not this year. Bill and I both fished down through the pool without so much as a pull to show for our efforts. We were surprised as the pool is normally a holding place for kelts and with the water a good height for the pool, we just couldn't tempt any fish from it.
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Fishing mid way down the Upper Chapel pool. |
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Looking upstream at the tail of the Dooker. |
Although we didn't get our opening day fish it was great just to be out on the River Don again. To see it in such good ply was pleasing, just a pity it didn't yield any fresh fish for us. So far, I've not heard of any springers off the Don yet but with these conditions I don't think it will be long before the first fish is landed.
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