Mackenzie DTX And Orvis Demo Day

On Sunday, the Aberdeen District Angling Association hosted a demonstration day for Orvis and Mackenzie DTX at their Bothy on the banks of the Dee in Aberdeen. There was a good turn out to see 3 times World Spey Casting Champion Scott Mackenzie give a very good presentation on his range of lines and rods. He was also on hand for most of the day to give advice and casting lessons to anyone who needed. Ben Dixon from Orvis, Banchory was there too and he was showing the many youngsters who turned out how to cast single handed rods. He, along with Scott Mackenzie were involved in the distance casting which was good to watch. Some huge lines were being thrown across the Dee by some talented casters both amateur and pro. Regular Trout & Salmon writer, Paul Proctor was due to give a demonstration but he was held up and couldn't make the event which was a shame. In the Bothy itself, there was fly tying demonstrations by the Orvis fly tiers. Always interesting to watch and to pick up new skills and ideas from two very good fly tiers. The youngsters seemed to enjoy being taught  how to tie up their own flies.

As always Stuart, Julia, Jim and John put in a lot of effort to make the day possible. The bacon and sausage butties always go down well along with a cup of tea or coffee. These people give up their spare time to put these events on and a big thanks to them for a good day.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

A selection of the many rod and line combos available to be tried out.

Scott Mackenzie gives ADAA member Eddie Allan some advice about his shooting head lines. He was only too happy to help and was on hand all day to answer any queries.

The ADAA Bothy. I took this photo as I was leaving about 2pm. Still a good number of people taking advantage of the free casting lessons and advice.

Deveron Fishing Festival 2012 Open Day

I headed up to the Turriff Angling Association water to attend the Deveron Fishing Festival Open Day. There was a very good turn out to watch demonstrations from some of the best casters in the business. Stalls run by Turriff Tackle and Glasgow Angling Centre to buy any lines or tackle tried out on the day. Brands such as Hardy, Vision, G Loomis and Mackenzie were all on hand to offer casting of the latest rods and lines etc. I will be fishing the 3 free days starting tomorrow and with the water looking perfect there was a few confident ghillies saying there will be fish caught so here hoping. Here are some pictures from todays event.

The impressive line up of casting demonstrations for the day.

Guide Flyfishing's team. Willie Banks (left) and Jim Fearn (right). Two top blokes who are always willing to help out with casting instruction which I like to take full advantage of! As my main fishing rod is a 15ft Vision GT4 Catapult im always interested in what lines go best and if any new ones are worth getting so I had a wee go with the Vision ACE shooting head Float/Sink2 and a 5ips tip attached. I must say it was a dream to cast. You wouldn't even know it was a heavy sink tip on the end. Very easy work with.

Blair Banks of G Loomis is a River Spey ghillie on the Brae Water Beat 5. I had a short casting lesson from Blair with a 15ft G Loomis NRX matched up with a 55ft prototype G Loomis Spey line. After finding a wee fault in my action Blair corrected me and I was soon getting a nice line out with ease. Once I get used to the alteration in my casting it should pay dividends.

Scott Mackenzie with my fellow Aberdeen District Angling Association member Tony Wolk. Myself and Tony spent a good few hours milling around the rods trying them all out. We were both very impressed with the Mackenzie shooting head rods. Especially the 14ft version. What a casting tool! Scott was only too happy to share his knowledge of his rods and he gave us a few pointers on our casting too.

Andy Murray of G Loomis and River Tweed ghillie giving his demonstration this morning. I enjoyed watching him cast as he mad it look so effortless. As all the caster did.

The trade stand in the tent on the banks of the river. I took this picture about 4pm when I think most of the stalls had packed up! Should have taken one sooner. Never mind at least it shows where the stalls had been.

We missed Eion Fairgrieve's demonstration as we were playing about with Scott Mackenzie's stuff but we did get a cast with the new Hardy Zenith Sintrix rod. We used the 14' 6" 9 weight rod matched up with a Hardy Mach 55 spey line. What a combo! Out of all the rods we tried today this was up there. Way out of my price range but a dream to cast. Even into a strong wind. I would not say no to any of the rods we tried out today though. They were all pretty special but will have say the Vison Catapult will do me just fine.

River Don At Kemnay

As the River Don was rising from top to bottom today, I headed up to the ADAA's Kemnay beat. I arrived about 9.30am to see the water was slightly coloured and carrying some weed. I walked up to the top of the beat and started in the Bridge Pool.

I was trying out my new 42g Floating Mackenzie GTX G2 shooting head. Very Impressed! It was easy to cast and turned over no problem.

There was a few fish splashing mid way down the Bridge pool but they looked like Kelts. They were not interested in anything a put past them anyway. As the river rose sharply, I changed lines to my trusty Monteith Multi Tip line. I put on the 10ft intermediate tip and a 10ft 3.9 inch per second poly leader. I tied on a size 8 Musker's Fancy No.2 and covered the lies where the kelts were showing. Still nothing but as I pulled in line to re-cast, the line was pulled back out my hand by a big, strong Brown Trout. After giving a good account for itself, I landed a beauty of maybe 3 lbs. Would have been a really good battle on a single handed rod.

I fished all the way down and finished up my morning in the School Pool. Apart from the odd trout rising, I didn't see anything the whole way down stream. When I left the water was way up from the earlier and colouring up fast. Don't think it will be fishable tomorrow due to the colour but you never know.

Here are some pictures from a very wet Aberdeenshire!

The Bridge Pool. This pool holds a lot of kelts early in the season. One or two showing today further downstream.

A greedy Brown Trout which hammered my size 8 Musker's Facy No 2. Looks like it's been feeding well.

The Dooker. Nice looking bit of fly water. Didn't see anything show in here but a lovely cast.

Island Stream. Another lovely looking piece of fly water. You would expect it to hold a fish or two but again , nothing showing in here either. Needs a wee bit more water I think.

The School Pool. Named because Kemnay Academy is beyond the hill to the right. Another pool which usually holds a fish or two but nothing showing. Maybe the colour of the water was keeping them down. The was also some weed and debris coming down river too which is not ideal. I fished through here and headed home. Always next time.