Thursday 30 May 2019

River Don Springers

The River Don has been having great Spring this year. In fact, it is the best start to a Don season since 2005 with over 200 salmon already recorded. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take advantage of the resurgence in the spring run and was lucky enough to land a couple of nice fish on Saturday. The first one was an older fish around 8lb from the ADAA water at Kemnay and the second one was a fresh fish of around 6lb from the beautiful Kildrummy Fishings. It was great to land a Don springer and just like buses, two came along at once!

A nice fish around the 8lb mark from the ADAA water at Kemnay.

Ready for release.

A wee beauty from Kildrummy.

Back to fight again another day.

Wednesday 29 May 2019

A Salmon From The River Conon

I made a flying visit to the beautiful River Conon a couple of weeks back and my early start and long drive were rewarded with this cracking salmon. The 5 hour round trip was certainly worth the effort. The fish pictured below was estimated around the 12lb mark. It couldn't resist a #11 Kitchen Sink and gave me a cracking scrap!

12lb of River Conon silver ready to be released. 

Littlewood - River Don

Back on at the end of April I decided to have a day on the Littlewood beat of the River Don. Littlewood is situated between Alford and Kildrummy and consists of 4.5 miles of fishing on the left bank of the river. There are some lovely glides and runs between the classic upper Don holding pools.
Looking downstream in the Inshdonald pool.
The water level was sitting at 6" on the Bridge of Alford gauge for my day which was a reasonable height for the beat. Some pools would fish better than other but as I was just there for the day I decided to fish the beat from top to bottom in search of a salmon or two.
Looking upstream in Inshdonald.
I started off my day in a pool called Inshdonald. I know this pool fairly well having fished it front he opposite back a few years back. It is a cracking wee pool with a nice flow which run down the Littlewood bank before centring out about 20 yards down from the neck. I just felt it was a little on the low side for the pool despite there being a nice depth to it up in the neck. I fished through it with a floating lien, intermediate tip and a size 9 Kinermony Killer. Nothing to report so I moved off down stream to fish the pool there.
Looking upstream from the tail of Upper Foresters.
Lower Foresters.
I fished a couple of small pots and runs before the next major pool on my route. The pool is called Forester's. It has an upper and lower part to it. Both lovely casts and looking very fishy. I immediately had a small brown trout around 10oz in the Upper part of the pool. I carried on into the lower part which look more likely to be a slamon holding pool than upper. I changed fly to a Sunray Shadow just to try and see if there was anything lurking in the pool that was willing to give up it's location. I fished down the pool without moving a fin until I was around half way down. I cast square across the pool and slowly began to strip the fly through the current. The fly reached about 1/3rd of the way over when it was hammered by a nice sized fish. Unfortunately, that was as close as I got to it as it let go almost immediately. Still, it was nice to know I was covering fish. The rest of the pool proved to be fruitless so it was off to the next part of the beat.

The upper most pool on the beat -- Invermossat. 
After walking back to the car (there's a lot of walking involved at Littlewood!) I set off to try the upper most pool on the beat - Invermossat. Again, it looked a little on the low side for the pool but I thought  I might as well give it a go since I was up there. My initial; thoughts were right and the pool just didn't fish that well in the current river levels so I quickly made my way else where on the beat to find a pool better suited to the conditions.
Looking upstream towards Bithnie Brig.
Looking downstream from Bithnie Brig. 
Next up was the pool at Bithnie Brig. The water didn't really suit this pool either but there is a deep channel that runs off the opposite bank which may just have held a fish in the current conditions so I covered it as best I could but there didn't seem to be anything there willing to take my fly so I moved on again.
Looking upstream from the Rock Pool.
The tail of the Rock Pool.
There are plenty pool on this beat but as I had covered a fair bit of ground already I thought the next pool I would fish would be in easy access. The Rock Pool is one of the lower most pools on the beat and a cracking holding pool. This fishes really well and I know it well from fishing the opposite bank at Breda regularly a few years ago before it was no longer let. This pool was in good ply but despite my best efforts, I couldn't temp a fish to take any of my offerings on the two runs I made down the pool.
Upper Pond Ash.
I had a quite bite to eat after fishing the Rock Pool then after re-fuelling I decided to head upstream again. The next pools I fished were the Pond Ash Pool. It was a bit of a walk through a ploughed field to get to them but as you can see in the pictures it was worth the walk. Upper Pond Ash did not have the same appeal to a salmon angler as the middle and slower parts so I concentrated on these pools. I changed back to the size 9 Kinermony Killer and worked my way down the pool covering as much of the water as i could. I was about half way down when I had a good offer and lifted into a fish. It was soon apparent that it was just a trout so I quickly go it to the bank and released it with minimal fuss. It would have weighed around 1lb.
Middle Pond Ash. 
The rest of the pool didn't provide me with any additional sport nor did the Lower Pond Ash. I was confident there was something in there but it was not to be on this occasion so I headed off down river again to fish another pool I know well - Laird's.
Looking upstream from the tail of Laird's.
Laird's Pool is another nice holding pool on the beat. It looked inviting and not long after starting up in the neck of the pol there was a nice fish around the 6lb mark show in the fast current as it headed for Corgaff. This was the first showing of a salmon I had seen all day so it spurred me on to try a bit harder instead of just going through the motions. I fished the pool down with a bit more confidence and as I approached the tail, I began to work my fly through the ripples to see if there was anything lying along side the boulders. My fly was immediately grabbed by a nice fish and I lifted into it. Fish on! The fish headed over to the far bank and as it did this, it leapt from the water to reveal itself. It was a slightly older looking fish around the 7lb mark. However, as it made it's leap for freedom, it had the desired effect and my fly was ejected from the clutches of it's jaws. Not the result I had hoped for but at at least it got the blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing.
The tail of Laird's.
I carried on down to fish Smith's Brae but there was no further action in here so I hot footed it back into Laird's for one last cast before heading home. I changed fly to a small Monkey bottle tube and worked it through the pool. This produced no reactions until I neared the tail of the pool again. Almost in exactly the same spot as before, something grabbed my fly. This time it managed to let it go almost as soon as it grabbed it but I was certain it was another salmon. It may even have been the same one. Who knows? I followed the same routine as before and fished through Smiths Brae again before having another go in Lairds. This time though, there was nothing to report so I packed up and headed home around 6pm.

Looking upstream in a nice pool that I cannot for the life of me remember it's name!
There are a number of pools in the middle section of the beat but there were a few torut anglers on the beat during the day so I left them to it as I had plenty other water to cover. It's always a good excuse to return again to dish the pools I missed! Although, I didn't manage to land any salmon, it was great to fish a beat that has been on my bucket list for quite some time. For whatever reason I had just never got round to fishing it. I am glad I now have and I will be back later on in the year to try again. I would love to see it with a bit more water on the pools to maybe hold one or two fish back from running upstream. I'll certainly look forward to giving it a try.

Littlewood Fishings

Sunday 26 May 2019

3 Days On The Dee At Ballogie

Back at the beginning of March I had my annual three day trip to the Ballogie beat of the River Dee. This year there was no repeat of the "Beast from the East" we had to endure last year. In fact, it was the opposite. Bright sun, low water and warm air temperatures made for some tricky conditions but we plugged away in the search to land the most prized fish of all - a spring salmon.
A fine day on the River Dee at Ballogie.
The first day began with a nice dull day. The gauge on the Potarch Bridge was reading 1ft 1in which was a little lower than we would have liked but we were raring to go given that we didn't get any fishing done at all last year as the river was frozen from bank to bank.
Looking upstream toward the Potarch Bridge on the Thursday morning.
After meeting at the Potarch hut on Thursday morning and discussing tactics over a coffee with Sean Stanton, Charlie, Philip and I set off to our allocated pools. I was to fish the lower part of the beat which included Lower Inchbare, Kelpie and the Bulwarks. These are 3 pools I know well and I was itching to get my fly in the water. I tried various depths, flies and tactics but unfortunately I couldn't find any fish willing to take my offerings although I saw a belter of around 15lb jump out the water right in front of me in the Bulwarks. This was all the motivation I needed to give it a good go in the afternoon.
Looking downstream from Lower Inchbare. One of my favourite early season pools.
Looking upstream from Lower Inchbare,
The afternoon session didn't fare much better for me of Charlie. Neither of us managed to get a pull but Philip did temp a few Kelts in the Sands. The low water prior to our arrival wasn't doing us many favours but there we still had 2 days left to get something.
Looking upstream from the Sands.
Looking downstream from the neck of the Sands Pool.
Looking upstream from the New Pool.
Day 2 saw us up early and ready to go again. The water had dropped over night and was sitting at just 1ft on the Potarch gauge. Nursing hangovers was not was going to slow us down as we were all eager to get onto the water again. I was allocated the middle beat as I finished off on the top beat yesterday. This was from Flats down to Upper Inchbare.
Looking downstream from outside the Potarch Bridge hut.
Day 2, for me anyway, continued in the same vain as the first day. I had very little to shout about but as I begun to fish the Flats, I ha had a good solid take in the fast rush up in the neck. This wasn't your typical kelty spot and I initially thought I might be into a springer. The fish fought gallantly in the current and I got a nice glimpse of it's flanks as it turned in the stream out in front of me. It then turned and shot across the current back it's lie mid river. At this point I was getting a bit more nervous as I though it may just be the springer I was after. The longer the fight went on the more convinced I was that it was a proper fish however, the fish was now tired and I drew it in towards the bank. Upon beaching it, it soon became clear that it was just a big, well mended kelt and not the springer I was hoping for.
Fishing down the Sands. An iconic salmon pool on the River Dee.
The rest of the day proved to be fruitless for me but Philip and Charlie did manage to land a few more kelts between them. Conditions made for difficult and our enthusiasm was starting to waiver a bit as the day went on.
Looking upstream in the Top Gannet.
Middle Gannet.
A nice view upstream into the Top Gannet. A lovely part of the beat.

Day 3 started the same way as day 2 but we were eager to get out and fishing despite another hangover. Bill literally had a sore head but the least said about that the better! Phil, Charlie and I headed down to our allocated beats but just like the hangovers, the fishing was the same as the day before with just several kelts to show for our efforts.
Looking upstream from just above Potarch Bridge towards the falls.
Despite the low water and lack of success, I think it's fair to say we all had a great time. It was good to just get fishing this year after the ice and snow of 2018. We will be back again in 2020 to do it all again and hopefully we will have some nice fresh run Dee Springers to show.