Annual February Outing At Park

I had my first outing of the new fishing season on the Park beat of the River Dee yesterday. The water was sitting at a nice height of 22" on the gauge and the water temperature was 34f. I started off my day in Beat 1. The pools on this beat are Silver Spoon, Park Inn and the Boat Hole. Not long after starting, the rod on the South bank lost a fish but it didn't surface and I'm not sure if it was a fresh fish or a kelt. Still, at least there was a sign of fish being present in the pool. I fished down through the Park Inn and Boat without a touch and Keith the ghillie thought it might be worth fishing Silver Spoon as the water was getting to a good height for that particular pool. This I did but came out with the same result as the previous pool.

Around 11am I swapped pools with another rod called Euan and this put me in the Castleton Pool. Keith informed me that 8 fish so far this week have all come out of this very pool and I couldn't wait to get going. About half way down the pool, just opposite the Park South hut,  I had a good pull on my and draw of the line. I lifted into it but as I did the fish let go of my Kinermony Killler Snaelda  and I didn't hook it. The way the fly was taken, I could have sworn it would have set the hook but it was not to be and the Salmon wins again. It was still early in the day so I was not too bothered by this and I fished down through the rest of the pool without a sniff.

At lunch, one of the rods, Sean who had a good few days on the beat, told us he had landed a beauty of 8lbs from the Upper Kirks. It was his 3rd Springer of his 3 day trip to Deeside. Great result!

After lunch I was to fish Beat 4. I started in the House Pool and as I was nearing the bottom of the pool, I had another pull of the fly but it didn't take much line and let go as quick as it grabbed it. I carried on down to fish the Celler Pool but didn't see or touch anything in here. The next pool down is one of my favourites on the whole river, the Durris Stream. I love fishing this pool but it turned out to be a fruitless run through it. I was really surprised to see very few kelts splashing about at the tail of the pool under the wires. Keith instructed me just to carry on into Beat 5 and fish the Ash Tree pool. There were plenty kelts showing in here but apart from 2 plucks at my fly that was it.

I always look forward to my February day at Park and although I had nothing to show for my efforts, it was great to be out on the river fishing again. Not quite grasped how to use my new camera yet so apologies for the  quality but here are some pictures from my first outing of 2013.

Park Inn. This is the pool I started my day in on Beat 1.

Silver Spoon. This is the top pool of the Park beat. A nice cast and easy to wade.

Castleton. I had my first offer of the day opposite the
hut but it didn't stick.

House Pool. Another nice cast and had a pull near the tail of the pool.

Durris Stream. This is a cracking pool and produces a lot of fish through-out the season from both banks.