Carlogie - River Dee 28-30th July 2014

This week saw me fishing one of my favourite beats on the River Dee at Carlogie. I had looked forward to it for months, especially after the bumper spring this part of the Dee had enjoyed but as the spring turned to summer, the catches tailed off dramatically. Although we got a slight rise in water on Monday morning, this dropped away within a matter of hours and was back down to summer lows as quick as it came. The gauge at Potarch bridge was reading about 3" for a majority of the trip with water temps in the high 60s which is not ideal if you are in pursuit of salmon. Still, I can think of a lot worse places to spend a few days.

I had the pleasure of fishing with a great bunch of lads who I have met through the Salmon Fishing Forum. Many people can't stand the forums, and I can understand why at times, but when you meet the people behind the screen names there are some really good lads in these places. During my 3 days the craic was great and the drams flowed from morning until night most days! The fishing was tough going to say the least, but when you are in company of like minded people, it makes you realise that there is far more to fishing than just catching fish. Good company is important too.

On Monday morning we started bright and early 7am and not long after starting, party leader Ade Warburton landed the first salmon of the trip. A coloured fish of around 8lb from the Pitslug pool on a size 14 Crathie. This was a good start considering the conditions. Philip Black was not far behind and landed a 2.5lb sea trout from the Boat Pool. Paul McIntyre lost a lively sea trout in the Mill pool and I had an offer in the Calm pool which came to nothing. I did land a nice wee brown trout about 1.25lbs which nailed a tiny Crathie fly from the same pool. On a brighter note, I don't think I have ever seen so much parr and juvenile fish in the river before. If you let the fly come too far round and into shallow water a parr was hammering your fly on almost ever cast. It was really pleasing to see the river was in good health in regard to immature fish. Having said that, it's not really what you want to see occupying the salmon lies because, to me anyway, it signaled a lack of salmon around which would usually fill these lies, instead they were hosting parr.

Tuesday produced nothing however, Phil Black lost fish in the Calm pool which took a size 20 Stoat's tail. We saw very few fish in the pools and the ones we did see looked to be resident fish. The Calm pool and the Mill pool seemed to be where these fish decided to camp in until spawning time. They showed sporadically through out the day but were proving almost impossible to temp.

Wednesday saw the arrival of Neill Sproull and Dave MacDonald to fish the beat. Fresh looking fish were spotted in the Mill pool and the Calm pool during the morning which was encouraging. It wasn't until after lunch that a fish was caught with Ade landing a fresh grilse from the Rossachs which took a size 10 Jeannie. Just goes to show that trying something bigger than the normal 12s and 14s we had been using, can produce results. This was the last action of the days as the fresh fish came and went.
We certainly gave it a good go and fished hard. We must have covered almost every inch of the beat in the process! That's just the way it goes sometimes.

I had a great time at Carlogie and can't wait to return again in February next year. Here are some of the Carlogie pools from the top of the beat to bottom.

Alan's Pool. The upper most pool on the beat.

Long Haugh.

Pitslug. Ade got a coloured fish from here on Monday morning.

Sean Stanton did tell me the name of this run but I've forgotten it. Was Henry's Pot or something along that lines.

Rossachs. Ade got a nice fresh grilse from here on Wednesday.

Mill Pool. A famous pool on the River Dee.

Jock Rae.

River Dee Board member, Dave MacDonald fishing a Hitch fly in Jock Rae.

March Pool. A rod on the Kincardine side got a small grilse from here on Tuesday.

Calm Pool. Seemed to be holding one or two resident fish but not many.

Ade Warburton throws out a good line in the Calm pool.

Clay Pot.

Boat Pool. I saw a cracking fish in here on Monday. 20lb plus at least and fresh looking too.

Village Pool.

Fraser's Pool. I got a nice 8lb fish from here back in February.

Dram of the Day: The Balvenie.

Feather Wings For The Spring

Having been inspired by a couple of books I've read recently I thought I'd tie up some patterns on single hooks. I tied up a few Blue Charms, Akroyd and Logie flies to use on the Dee and Don this coming Spring. I've always wanted to try and catch a Salmon on a traditional pattern tied on a single hook but I've only ever landed a kelt. This March I landed a big kelt on the Don which had taken my Musker's Fancy at the tail of the Manse pool.

I used the dressings for the Akroyd and Blue Charm from the book "A Guide to Salmon Flies" by John Buckland and Arthur Oglesby (1990). The Logie dressing was taken from the book "Salmon Fishing, The Greased Line on Dee, Don and Earn" by Frederick Hill (1948). As some of the materials used in the original patterns are too precious to be wasted by me I have used alternatives in my tying. I have the utmost respect for the tiers of Classic salmon flies as they use so many different materials and take amazing skill to construct. These flies are quite rightly classed as an art form and to tie them in hand without a vice would take unbelievable talent. It took me all my time to tie them in a vice with modern materials! I like to read this cracking website about all types and tying of Classic Salmon Flies. It can be found by clicking on this link. http://www.feathersfliesandphantoms.co.uk/vintage_flies_4.html

As this is my last post of 2012 I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and Tight Lines for 2013.

Blue Charm. Made famous by A.H.E Wood on the Cairnton beat of the Dee. This fly accounted for hundreds of salmon during his time there.

Logie. To quote Frederick Hill from his book, "One of our most deadly flies from early April onwards."

Akroyd. A classic Dee pattern which has all the colours we associate with modern Spring flies today. I have tied this with a white wing but it's also tied with a cinnamon turkey wing.

Salmon Fishing And The "Musker's Fancy."

I stumbled across some extracts from a book in the Carlogie fishing hut this February. The book was called "Salmon Fishing, The Greased Line On Dee, Don And Earn" by Frederick Hill.

The author of the book was a ghillie on the Carlogie beat to Captain Musker in the 1940's. He give detailed descriptions of all the pools at Carlogie and interesting tactics for every condition possible. I purchased a copy of this wonderful wee book a few weeks back. It maybe dates back from the 1940s but some of the author's observations are still used today and it's well worth a read if you can get your hands on a copy.

In his book Frederick Hill says that his favourite fly to fish in low water was a fly called the Musker's Fancy. It was created by Captain Musker and used to great effect on Carlogie during his time as fishing tennant there.

Last week I bought myself some single hooks and decided to try and tie up a couple of these flies because, at the moment the water here is so low anything was worth a cast! I took the dressing for the fly from the book and searched online for a picture of the fly which I found on a cracking website dedicated to traditional Salmon flies. It can be found at http://www.feathersfliesandphantoms.co.uk/vintage_flies_4.html

I took my newly tied flies out on the Don this Saturday past for a test run. The Don, like the Dee is almost down to it's bare bones so I was not too confident in hooking anything. I started at the Manse Pool which incidentally Frederick Hill mentions in his book as one of the best holding pools on the whole river Don and it's still true today. I started at the top of the pool and about 5 casts later I hooked a fish! It took off like a steam engine and I thought to myself, "Surely the fly is not this good!". After a few flashes of silver and a big leap I realised it was a large kelt I'd hooked. Still, at least I knew my fly swam and looked ok to the fish. After a spirited fight another angler netted the fish for me. It was sporting a big Black and Gold Rapala wedged in it's jaws! No idea why it would take a fly with that embedded in it's jaw but it did! Maybe it was clever and realised I would remove both the rapala and fly for it. After removing 2 trebles of the rapala and my size 5 Musker's Fancy the fish swam off no problem, probably glad to have a big 13cm rapala removed from it's mouth.

Just goes to show, you should never fish too light in the Spring. More for the safety of releasing kelts quickly. I fished on for a few more hours but didn't touch anything. As the morning fog lifted the sun was bright and warm so not ideal for fishinig low water. I packed up and headed home to tie up some more Musker's Fancies. Here are a few pictures of the fly and the big kelt.

"Salmon Fishing, The Greased Line On Dee, Don And Earn" by Frederick Hill 1948. Cracking wee book and very interesting read. I love reading all these old books and stories from days gone by. The author tells of a pet blackbird he fed which returned to him every March after the winter had passed.

"Musker's Fancy No.2" This is the fly which a big well mended kelt took a liking to.

"Musker's Fancy No.1". I tied these on doubles as I had no Black singles. Looks ok on doubles. Ordered up some black singles for next time!

A group shot of the flies. I will be using a lot more of these during low water in future. Hopefully something fresh will take a fancy to them next time.

The fish which took my fly. It would have been glad to see the big rapala removed from its jaw I bet. Would have been a lovely fish last year and hopefully next year too. Good to see a well mended kelt on it's return journey to sea.