Flies For The Spring

I've been busy at the vice lately and have been tying up all the usual patterns for fishing the Spring on the Dee and Don. Tying flies is a great way to pass time during the dark nights and to restock the fly box for the season ahead. As usual I have tied up plenty, probably more than I'll use, but when fishing deep  early in the season, there is always a chance of snagging up and losing your fly. Here are some flies I've tied. They are tied on a mixture of Copper, Brass and Aluminum tubes, bottle tubes and plastic tubes. Some with cones, some without. Hope you like them.

Dee Monkey. This has been tied on a silver Yuri Shumakov bottle tube and has a black Eumer cone head. The Scandinavians introduced this pattern to Scotland and I'm glad they did! Catches lots of fish and fishes well all season, not just in Spring.

Willie Gunn Snaelda. Tied on a 1/2" Copper tube, it also has a black Eumer cone head for added weight and stability.

Kinermony Killer. I've tied this on a 1 1/4" brass tube. A proven catcher of fish on the River Spey. Not fished these in the Spring but will be giving them a swim this February coming.

Tummel Monkey. Devised by expert angler, Donnie Whiteford to replicate the deadly Orange/Gold Rapala lure. I've tied this on a 1 1/2" copper tube. Ross Macdonald had this as his fly of the month in the Trout & Salmon magazine last month. It would not be in there if it was not a catcher of Salmon.

Gold Bodied Willie Gunn. Probably the most famous fly ever and one that catches scores of Salmon through out the season but it's particularly deadly during the Spring months. A must for any fly box.

Alistair. A fly designed on the Helmsdale river and one that catches plenty fish all over. I know a few good anglers on the Don who use nothing more than this fly during Spring and do very well. I love the simplicity of this fly and one I will be using a fair bit in 2013.

Black And Yellow. Another must have pattern for the Dee in Spring fishing. This fly accounts for numerous fish every year on every river. The old ones still hold their own against the new patterns.

Park Shrimp. Last but certainly not least! This fly has a huge following and was designed by Ross MacDonald. It catches tons of Salmon and is found in nearly every Salmon fisherman's fly boxes. It's a fly I've done well with and I always carry a few where ever I'm fishing.

Deveron Festival Day 1 - Mountblairy

Had my first day of the Deveron Festival fishing the Mountblairy Beat. It was a lovely stretch of water and some good looking pools to fish the fly. There were 5 rods fishing the beat which was probably about 2.5 miles long. I was sharing my rod with fellow Aberdeen District Angling Association member Tony Wolk.

We arrived at the beat about 9.30am and we started in the Mausoleum Pool just above the island. The beat gauge was reading 1' 6" and the water was a nice colour. After only a few minutes after starting, Tony hooked into a fish. Turned out to be a greedy wee Brown Trout but nice start to the day.

Mid Morning, we headed up to the top of the beat. Here we had some beautiful streamy water and a couple of nice holding pools. We fished all the way down taking turns to fish each pool. We didn't see any fish showing but you just felt like the line would go tight at any second. Tony had a pull from a fish but apart from that, that was it for the mornings efforts. The top pools were called Points and Greenbanks.

After lunch we fished Boghead Pool. Half way down the pool Tony's fly got hammered by a livley Sea Trout. After a spirited scrap a fish around 1.5lbs came to hand. Not sea-liced but very fresh. By this time the water was on the rise and starting to colour up a tad. Never the less we carried on down the pool but didn't touch anything else.

The next pool we fished was Mest. A lovley long glide of a pool I was told "one of the best on the whole river." We didn't see or touch anything in here but well worth the effort. It fishes best at the back end of the season I was told by an estate worker who was working near by.

I didn't bother with the next pool as it was very deep and slow but Tony fished it down without a touch. I was busy taking photographs of the beat for this blog.

We finished our day below the Island Pool where we started the day but by this time the water was heavily coloured and still rising. The was a Salmon caught from the beat today in  the morning onn a Toby before it behgan to rise and colour. Hopefully it will be ok for day 2 tomorrow. Here are some pictures for today.

Thanks to Turriff Tackle owner Frank we found the beat easily but it is very secluded. Glad he gave good directions.

Looking down to the Island Pool. The is a good looking lie just in front of the big stones at the top of the island. That where the Brown Trout grabbed Tony's fly.

Looking downstream from the top of the beat. Points Pool and Greenbanks. Didn't see anything in these pools but look very "fishy".

Bogheads Pool. Just around the bend is where Tony hooked his sea trout. All the current is down the far bank but is easy to fish.

A nice Sea Trout from the Bogheads pool. The fish took a Cascade Alistair just as it came round on the dangle.

The beat hut on the Mest Pool. Nice looking pool. Didn't see anything in here but gave it a good going over.

Canada Pool I think and into Rat Tail Pool. The Dunlugus hut is just out of shot on the far bank to the left of the picture. I didn't fish this pool but looks ideal for spinning due to the slow river flow.