Two Salmon From The River Dee

I had a day on the River Dee last Saturday for the first time in a few weeks. The water was sitting at a great height for the beat at around 1ft 4in on the gauge ad it was running clear. I was delighted to land a salmon and grilse for my efforts with both fish fresh as they come. The first fish I landed was around the 12lb mark and the second was a perfectly formed grilse around 6lbs. Both fish fought like tigers and had my Hardy Cascapedia reel singing a lovely tune!

Afresh salmon around the 12lb mark ready for release. 

A big scar on the salmon's flank. Most likely caused by a seal.

A lively 6lb grilse from the Bend taken on a Sunray Shadow.

Another photo of the same fish as above.

A Good Day At Commonty On The River Dee

I had a free Saturday last weekend and decided to venture out fishing at the last minute with my pal, Philip Black. It was a good decision in the end as between us we landed 3 salmon for our day.

A 9lber from the Bend taken on a small Cascade.

The water was sitting at 1ft 6in on the Potarch Bridge gauge and was carrying a heavy peat stain. Overhead conditions were good for the most part too. I set up two rods on the day. Both with floating lines but with different rated sinking polyleaders. One was rigged up with a 10ft slow sink and the other with a 10ft fast sink. My initial fly of choice was a Dee monkey but I chopped and changed numerous time over the course of the day.

Philip Black with a cracker from the Bulwarks at Ballogie.

Philip was first off the mark with a fresh fish around the 6lb from the Bulwarks at Ballogie just after 9am. The hard fighting fish put up a good scrap before finally being landed and carefully released after a quick photo.

The Bend. Was fishing really well at this height of water.

Philip's second fish of the day from the Bend at Commonty.

We headed down to Commonty at lunch time and not long after starting, Philip was into his 2nd fish of the day. Again, the fish fought very hard but it was soon landed and a cracking fresh fish around the 8lb mark posed for a photo before heading on it's way.

Another photo of me with my fish.

We didn't see many fish through out the day but we put it down to the water heavy peat stain in the water. The fish were certainly present in the pools though and they seemed to be in a cooperative mood. I had several good pulls on a Monkey fly but the fish just seemed to be nipping at it as it swung round through the current. It wasn't until I changed over to fishing smaller flies that it produced results when an older fish of around 9lb hammered my fly in the Bend. Being hooked at 4.30pm, it was certainly a welcome sight to see it on the bank. A small Cascade double doing the business.

Looking upstream towards Suicide Pool.

The Garden Pool.

With a bit of water coming down the Dee, Commonty can be very productive. There are few high water beats on the river that are as productive as Commonty. It also fishes well in low water too as it boasts several good holding pools which will fish at all heights. It really is a cracking place to fish and well worth a visit for anyone planning to head over to Royal Deeside for a fishing trip.

11lb Salmon From The River Don

I caught this cracking salmon from the River Don on Saturday morning. It took a #9 Cascade and fought like a tiger! It had me into the backing before I finally managed to draw it into the net. It measured 31" long and was estimated at 11lb. It had no sea lice present but it couldn't have been in the river long at all. Hopefully this will be the start of a good run of fish entering the river now. I managed to get some scales that were left in the net from the fish and I have given them to the bailiffs for reading. I will hopefully hear back soon and find out more about this fish.

A quick photo in the net before being returned to the river.

Returned safely to continue it's journey to the spawning grounds.

South Esk Springer

My good pal Bill Cook landed this cracking sea liced springer from the South Esk on Saturday. It weight in at 16lbs and was safely returned.

Well done Bill.

A beauty from the South Esk at Cortachy Castle caught by Bill Cook.

 

Franc N Snaelda Salmon Flies

I have been busy tying up a few Franc N Snaelda tube flies for next Spring as this pattern turned out to be my most successful fly I used in 2014. It accounted for 5 out of 11 salmon I caught this year and it shall be my "go to" pattern again next year.

The pattern was invented on the banks of the River Dee by Ballogie ghillie, Sean Stanton and it incorporates both Francis and Snaelda characteristics. These types of flies were extremely popular, not only on Deeside, but on all rivers, so Sean decided to marry these two deadly patterns together and so the Franc N Snaelda was born.

Some Franc N Snaelda tubes I've tied up recently.

Some Pink Franc N Snaeldas which did well for me during the back end of the season.

Blank and Yellow Franc N Snaelda. Very popular colour combo for Spring fishing.

Green Highlander Franc N Snaelda. Not a pattern I use much at all but like the look of it tied in this style.

Junction Shrimp Franc N Snaelda. This pattern served me well during October on the River Don.

Munro Killer Franc N Snaelda. I really like this pattern tied in the Snaelda style.

Cascade Franc N Snaelda. Had some success with this pattern back in August.

Willie Gunn Snaelda. A very popular pattern in the Spring months.

More Sea Liced Salmon For Bill Cook

It's been a good week so far on the River Don for my friend and prolific angler, Bill Cook. Firstly, landing a sea liced Grilse on Saturday but on Monday evening he ran into a pod of fresh run grilse and landed 3 out of 4 he hooked. Prior to that he landed a coloured cock fish in the pool above a few minutes earlier. All were taken on a small Cascade with 9" on the gauge. Not bad for an hours fishing!

Bill's 2nd fish of the day. A sea liced Grilse about 6lbs.

Fish No.3 Another sea liced Grilse about 6lb.

Fish No.4 Like peas in a pod! Sea liced Grilse also around 6lb.

Sea lice on the back of the fish. Must be running hard at the moment.

 On Wednesday evening, Bill was at it again when he landed a cracking fresh run hen Salmon of around 11lbs. He caught it using a fly of his own fly called the Highland Park Shrimp. Good going considering the water has dropped back to around 6" since Sunday.

Bill's 11lb sea liced Salmon from yesterday. Perfect condition and covered in sea lice.

Pictures courtesy of Bill Cook.

Sea Liced Salmon From The Don

Here are a couple of fresh salmon landed from the River Don on Saturday. Both were carrying sea lice and were caught just over an hour apart but from two separate beats. Bill Cook landed a 3lb grilse from Kemnay and Charlie Robertson landed a 7lber from Manar. Both fish also seem to be showing signs of red vent.

There must have been a run of fish entered the Don as I was hearing reports of sea liced fish being caught up around the Castle Forbes area. With good water levels (1ft 3in at Alford as of 31/8/14) hopefully this is the start of a good back end for the Don.

Bill Cook's 3lb Grilse from the Upper Chapel pool on the ADAA Kemnay beat.

Charlie Robertson's 7lber from the Long pool at Manar taken on a Sunray Shadow.

Park - River Dee

Last Saturday past was my annual August day on the Park beat of the River Dee. The week started pretty well for Park with some good catches on Monday and Tuesday but like the river level, catches dropped away as the week went on. The river height on Saturday was reading 7" on the gauge and the water temp was 59f.

Just the one salmon landed by either bank and a sea trout was landed first thing from the South bank. I never had any luck myself this year and the majority of the rods out were the same. Slim pickings on the Dee at the moment. Hopefully things pick up soon and there is a good back end run.

Here are a few pictures from Saturday. Unfortunately, just more shots of the pools and scenery I'm afraid! Hopefully we can get some silver posted again soon when we get a lift in water on the Dee and Don.

On my way down to the beat in the morning.

The Park North fishing hut.

Greenbanks pool where I started off my day.

Castleton. The Park South hut on the far bank. Too slow here at this height.

The tail of Castleton and into the House Pool.

Duffers. The first pool of beat 6 which I fished after lunch.

Bakebare. Keith suggested I had a run down before heading back to the hut at 5pm.

The Bridge Pool with Park Bridge in the background.

Long Pool. At 5pm I went up to fish on beat 2.

Upper Kirks. Timed this photo well when a wee fish showed just in front of me.

Lower Kirks. Looking upstream towards the hut on the South bank.

Some Flamethrower Flies

I had a few spare hours tonight and spent them at the vice tying up some Flamethrower flies for the coming months. As well as some of the more popular Flamethrower patterns like the Willie Gunn or Cascade I tied up a few different ones such as the Thurso Dog and the Munro Killer.

Thurso Dog Flamethrower

Black Bear Flamethrower

Willie Gunn Flamethrower

Munro Killer Flamthrower

Cascade Flamethrower

Ghillie Fly. Not a Flamethrower but I had one #12 Gold Esmond Drury Treble left and the Ghillie fly suit these hooks down to a tee.

A Day On The Dee At Park

I've just had my annual August day on the famous Park beat on the River Dee. I had been keeping a close eye on the water heights because apart from this trip, every other time I've been to Park the Dee has been in spate! I was to be lucky today though as the water height was only 9" on the beat gauge. The catches for the beat this week have been really good so I was full of anticipation and was eager to get going.

I arrived at the hut about 8.30am and after the usual cup of coffee and meet and greets I tackled up with the same tactics which were successful last week at Kincardine. This set up was a RIO AFS intermediate tip shooting head, a 10ft slow sink polyleader and a #13 Cascade. I was allocated Beat 3 in the morning and Beat 6 in the afternoon. I set off up to Beat 3 and was to start in the Greenbanks. The Greenbanks is a cracking pool with a really nice streamy run coming off the faster water at the neck. There were plenty fish showing just off the run and most of them looked fresh. After 45 minutes or so, the rod fishing in the same pool but on the South bank landed a nice fresh grilse so that was encouraging to see that they were at least catchable today. Keith Cromar the ghillie arrived with the owner of the beat to inspect some eroding banks and just as they made their way back to the cars my line was drawn away and I lifted into a lively fish. After 5 minutes or so of storming runs and a cartwheels, Keith slid the net under a 6-7lb bar of silver covered in sea-lice. Nice way to start my morning. And to land it in front of the future Laird of the estate too. I fished on through the Greenbanks and the top part of Castleton without another touch but the South Park rod did manage anothe small grilse from the neck of the House Pool.

At lunch time, after exchanging stories of catches etc, it turned out that all the fish were caught in the space of an hour or so which was to end up, apart from a 10lber from the Celler Pool caught late in the afternoon, to be the only time the fish were really in a taking mood all day.

I headed down to Beat 6 after lunch to fish the Bridge Pool and Keith's Pot. The Bridge pool is a fantastic cast and I was just waiting for the line to go tight every time my fly swung through the pool. Although there were plenty fish showing I didn't connect to any which was frustrating but that's fishing for you. This is why we anglers keep coming back and trying to catch these wonderful creatures.

About 6pm I headed up to fish Beat 1 to fish all the way down to the hut before heading home. Again there were plenty fish in evidence especially in the Park Inn but they were running quickly upstream and were not in the mood to stop and take my fly.

I always enjoy fishing at Park and will return early next year to try and land the most prized catch of all, a Dee Springer. Here are some pictures from my day yesterday.

Greenbanks Pool. A lovely cast and a pleasure to fish.

Good start to the day. A sea-liced Salmon from the Greenbanks landed about 10.15am. Always good to get a fish early on.

The Bridge Pool named obviously due to the Park Bridge in the background. First time I have fished on Beat 6 but I really liked it so hopefully next time the water will be in my favour again because it only fishes in lower water.

Keith's Pot. This is the pool belwo the Park Bridge and always has fish splashing in it when I pass over the bridge. Today was no differant but they were not interested in my flies unfortunately.

A nice view looking downstream from Cooper's into the Long Pool then furthest away, Upper Kirks.