Two Grilse From The River Don

The grilse keep on coming on the River Don and I was fortunate enough to land two last week in howling gale conditions. I hooked four salmon in the space of one crazy hour but unfortunately two of them came off. I was more than happy to land two of them though. Hopefully the fish keep on coming and we see a good back end run to bolster what has been a big improvement on the River Don this year.

A well conditioned grilse around the 5lb mark from the River Don last week.

Another fresh grilse comes to hand on the River Don. I hooked 4 in the space of an hour but only landed 2 of them.

Malloch Trophy 2018

It's not everyday you get a call from one of your pals to say he has won the Malloch Trophy with a fish that was caught on a fly you tied up for him. That's just what happened to me last week when Philip Black called me up to say he was the official winner of the prestigious Malloch Trophy with a stunning fish he landed from the Lanrick Estate on the River Teith back in March.

Philip Black and his Malloch Trophy winning salmon from the River Teith.

I remember that day he caught the fish well as I was fishing the Dee at Carlogie and I had just got off the phone from him to let him know I had just returned a nice fish around the 13lb mark. Not to be outdone, Philip returned my call soon after to say he had just landed a large fish which broke his rod in the process of drawing it into the bank! He didn't put a weight on it; he never does but he said it was a very big fish and I could tell by the excitement in his voice that it was a special fish. The fish took a Monkey type fly of blue, yellow and silver colours which Philip named the Craig Fleming Special after landing his prized fish.

The smile says it all!

Well done again Philip and it was a pleasure to know that one of my creations had the privilege of fooling the salmon that won the Malloch Trophy! Look out for the full story in next month's Trout & Salmon magazine. I am currently in the process of tying some more creations for Philip so lets hope for a repeat performance next year.

ADAA XMAS FLY FEST

River Don Grilse For My Dad

My Dad finally broke a 2 year long wait for a River Don salmon when he managed land one a couple of weeks back. He lost one just 2 or 3 cast prior to this one taking and when it fell off I feared his chance was maybe gone. Undeterred, he cast the fly straight back in and was rewarded for his patience with a coloured cock fish around the 4lb. It took a size 10 Red Ally's. I was almost as delighted as he was when I got my hand round the tail of the fish.

Hopefully it's not another 2 year wait for his next one!

My dad about to release his salmon back into the River Don.

Pitlochry Angling Club - River Tummel

Last Saturday I had a day on the Pitlochry Angling Club stretch of the River Tummel. The water was sitting at 1ft 10in on arrival to the beat and there were a few fishing showing as I tackled up in the car park on the Port-Na-Craig bank. My set u for the day was my 15ft Vision Catapult with a Guideline Scandi shooting head with a 10ft 4ips poly leader. My initial fly of choice was a 1" Park Shrimp tube.

Looking downstream from the Pitlochry bank of the River Tummel.

The fishing at the beginning of the week had started off well with 6 on the Monday followed by another 2 the next day. However, things slowed up towards the end of the week and the fishing proved to be tough going for my day. The water was still on the cold side for the time of year though and this seemed to be slowing down the arrival of the salmon in their usually prolific numbers.

Starting my day on the Port-Na-Craig bank.

The same view as above but a few hours later as the sun came out.

I begun my day at 6.30am on the Port-Na-Craig bank and things started off well with a nice brown trout taking my fly within the first couple of casts. This was quickly followed by another which would have tipped the scales roughly at 1lb in weight. There were good numbers of salmon showing and I thought my chances were pretty good, especially after a discussion on tactics and lies with well known local angler, Ally Gowans who is world renowned for creating the famous Ally Shrimp and Cascade salmon fly patterns. Unfortunately, the fish stopped showing in any real numbers once the sun had came out by 9am and for whatever reason, the were not in the mood to take any of the rods offerings during the morning session.

Looking upstream towards the Pitlochry Hydro dam.

At lunch time I paid a visit to the viewing chamber of the the fish pass which allows fish to access the loch behind the dam. The counter was reading 21 fish through the pass and this was up only 1 from the previous couple of days. Sadly, my photo of the counter and viewing chamber didn't come out!

Another view of the Dam.

Looking downstream from the Dam. Note the fish pass on the right of the photo.

Looking upstream from below the footbridge on the Port-Na-Craig bank.

It was a similar story in the afternoon. The fish were reluctant to show themselves and the ones that were showing seemed to be moving further and further down the pool as the day progressed. I suspect this was due to them being constantly covered by anglers from both banks and getting away from the lines passing over their heads.

Looking across to the Port-Na-Craig Inn from the top of the big rock which is situated just above the foot bridge.

As the day wore on I decided to give the spinner a try just to mix things up a bit. I rigged up my spinning rod and opted for a 28g silver Toby. This allowed me to cover more water than I could with the fly rod. My change of approached didn't have the desired effect though and the salmon still remained elusive, not only for me but for all 6 rods on the beat. This was despite the appearance of what looked like a few fresh fish entering the beat around 4pm. They just weren't for catching unfortunately and I decide to pack up not long after and begin my long journey back up the A90 slightly earlier than planned.

Looking upstream from the Pitlochry bank as the sun shines brightly down the pool.

Despite the lack of success on the day it was still a pleasure to fish the PAC water on the Tummel again. The members who I spoke to on the day were only too happy to help and advise and both Ally and Jimmy are a credit to their club. One thing is for sure, when conditions improve, someone is in for a good time on the beat.

The upper part of the beat from the Pitlochry Bank.

For more details on fishing the PAC water on the River Tummel please follow the link to their very informative website. Pitlochry Angling Club

Castle Forbes - River Don

I annually organise a day on the Castle Forbes beat of the River Don. This is well attended by 9 keen salmon anglers from the Salmon ProBoard Forum and various other forms of social media. This year we couldn't have asked for better conditions with the water dropping nicely after a 2ft spate earlier in the week. As we arrived on the beat the water was sitting at 1ft 1in. Over head conditions were promising with plenty cloud cover and just a slight breeze. There had been fresh fish caught down stream earlier in the week so to say we we keen to get started was an understatement!

The customary group photo. L/R: Charlie, Kenny, Mel, Bill, Me, Kevin, Sean and Callum. Photo taken by Alan.

After the meet and greet in the estate office car park, it was off to our allocated beats. I was to fish beat 1 and I couldn't wait to get going. My rod of choice was my 12ft 6in Guideline LPXe matched with a floating Scandi shooting head. Fly of choice was a 3/4in Monkey on an aluminium tube.

Looking downstream in Upper Deep Stane.

I decided to head to the Upper Deepstane pool first and fish down from there. The Deepstane pools are good holding pools and often produce fish throughout the season. The water was in great condition and it fished the fly perfectly as I covered the boils and glides down the pool. Disappointingly though, nothing took a liking to my offerings but not long after starting I had a text message from Kevin to say he had lost a good fish estimated to be in the high teens of pounds. Despite the fact he had lost it, this was encouraging news as we knew there were fish in the beat.

Middle Deepstane.

The next pool down was the Middle Deepstane pool. This was another cracking bit of water and it also fished really well at this height of water but I suspected it fished better from the opposite bank at this height as all the depth ran directly down the left bank. I almost always prefer to fish from the shallow water into the deeper stuff. Again despite trying all the likely parts of the pool I couldn't find a salmon willing to take my fly so it was off down to the Lower Deepstane.

Lower Deepstane.

Lower Deepstane has been kind to us during our previous visits to Castle Forbes and I was hopeful that there might be a fish or two resting in here. The inside of a bend is always a good shout when the water is high as the fish tend to move into the quieter water. Every cast in this pool was made with thoughts of expectancy but sadly, nothing came of them. I actually went back and covered the pool again with a Cascade double just in case I missed one. It really did look and fish that good. My second run through didn't produce anything either so myself and Callum headed up to the top of Beat 1 to fish the Boat Pool.

Bridge Pool

I left Callum to fish down the Boat Pool and I headed up stream a bit further to fish the Bridge Pool and was to follow him down through the Boat. The Bridge Pool is actually on Beat 2 but nobody was fishing beat 2 so I wasn't "poaching" anyone's water. I fished on down the Bridge Pool without a touch.

Boat Pool. Kevin lost his big fish in here.

Kevin lost his fish in the Boat Pool after struggling to get it landed due to a tree on the bank. Kevin had no option but to pass his rod round the tree which resulted in the fish getting away. There is nothing worse than losing a good fish through no fault of your own. I followed Callum down through the pool without a touch and we headed back to the Craig Pot car park to meet the rest of the lads.

Looking upstream the the Dam Pool from the left bank.

During lunch we discovered that Bill had lost a fish in the Island Pool. Bill is a very good angler and has a knack of finding a fish or two. This time was no different. The fish was played well but was lost right under the rod tip as Charlie waited with the net. A very unfortunate scenario but losing fish is just one of those things that comes part and parcel with fishing. Still, it was good to know that the fish that were running were willing takers of the fly and we all headed off to our pools raring to go again and with a renewed confidence.

Fishing down the Island Pool after lunch. Bill lost his fish right at the tail of the pool.

After lunch, I took Sean up to the upper pools of the beat to let him see the water as he had not fish Castle Forbes before. We stated at the top of Beat 4 and worked our way down. The pools on Beat 4 are a bit more open to the elements than the pools on Beat 1. A wind had whipped up and made casting difficult at times. Sean and I fished down through the Island Pool and Upper Auchreddachie without a touch so I went further downstream to have a cast in one of my favourite pools on the beat - Lower Auchreddachie.

Fishing down the tail of Upper Auchreddachie and into Lower Auchreddachie. 

A stunning River Don Brown Trout. Pity it was caught on salmon tackle and not my trout rod.

I have fond memories of Lower Auchreddachie as I was fortunate enough to land a nice springer from the pool a few years back. It is always a pool I look forward to fishing and this time was no different. I stuck to using the 3/4in Monkey and made my first cast in the pool. I just started pulling the running line in when the fly was engulfed by a fish. It immediately came up to the surface and showed itself to be a lovely brown trout. I played it hard and quickly had the fish on the bank as not to disturb the rest of the pool. It was a cracker of around 3lb so I took a quick photo and returned the fish to the water. I fished on through the remainder of the pool without another offer so we made our way back to the lower beats for a cast in the Dam Pool.

Fishing down the Dam Pool. I had another good trout about 1 1/2lb at the tail of the pool.

The Dam Pool is another nice holding pool, this time on Beat 3. The fish have to negotiate the hard water below and then get over the dam itself before meeting calmer water. This slow moving pool is the ideal stopping point for a running fish and Bill managed to catch one from here last year. There was no sign of any salmon present as we fished down the pool but there was a good hatch of flies coming off and numerous brown trout were making themselves known. I reached the tail of the pool and started stripping in my Monkey fly when one of these hungry trout grabbed my fly. It was a nice fish around the 1 1/2lb mark which put up a spirited fight for it's size. It was swiftly returned and I finished the rest of the pool without another touch.

Bill Cook having a final throw in the Craig Pot.

By the time we arrived back at the Craig Pot car park it was just after 4pm. There had been no other contact made with a salmon by any of the other rods during the afternoon session. This was really surprising as the water was as near perfect as you would want for this beat at this time of year. This rise in water had obviously drawn some fish into the river but as there was no real numbers present before the rise, there wasn't many fish to move up from the beats below. I'm sure there will be salmon moving through now because as I write (1st May), the river levels remain in good shape so I'll look forward to hearing of good catches this week.

Fishing down the Craig Pot on Beat 3 shortly before calling it a day.

It was good to be back at Castle Forbes again. We really couldn't have asked for better conditions. If someone had offered me 1ft 1in on the gauge after a 2ft spate at the beginning of the week then I would have bit their hand off! It was just a pity that those two fish didn't stick as it would have made it a great day again. Still, it's better to have hooked and lost that not hooked at all. It was also encouraging to know that there are fish running the Don, especially after what can only be described as two of the worst salmon fishing seasons the river has seen in recent times. I really hope the Don bounces back soon as it is far too nice a river not to have anglers out enjoying what is has to offer. I for one will be out on it's banks plenty more times in the coming months trying to land a salmon or two and I'm sure there will be plenty other doing likewise.

Scale Sample Results

Every season I try to collect a few scale samples from salmon I catch and these scales are kindly read for me by River Don bailiff, Martin Webster. Last season I managed to get scales from three fresh run salmon which I caught during the summer months. All three fish were 10lb or above and the scales read as follows:

Fish No.1:

14lb Salmon from the River Spey at Tulchan C

This 14lb hen salmon was caught on the 25th June 2016 from the Tulchan C beat of the River Spey. The scale reading from the fish pictured above shows 2 sea winters growth and some growth last year. It spent 2 winters in the river as a juvenile before smolting to sea. The scale reading confirmed this was a summer salmon. I for one am glad this beauty made it back to the river as it was my first ever River Spey salmon.

Fish No.2

A cracking 10lb River Spey salmon also from Tulchan C 

This 10lb salmon was caught from the Tulchan C beat on the same day as the 14lb salmon above and was as fresh as they come. The scale sample read it was a 2 sea winter fish and it also sent 2 years in the river as a juvenile before smolting to sea. The scale reading confirmed this was a summer salmon.

Fish No.3

10lb summer salmon from the Rver Dee.

The final scale reading was taken from a fish caught at the Ballogie beat of the River Dee on 5th July 2016. It was roughly 10lbs in weight and was very fresh. The scale confirmed it was a 2 sea winter summer salmon which spent 2 years in the river as a juvenile before smolting to sea. 

It's always really interesting getting the information back from the scale readings. Hopefully I'll catch a few more salmon this season and get the scale readings done again. Big thank you to River Don bailiff, Martin Webster for taking the time to read them for me and providing such detailed feedback. It's much appreciated. 

New Season Approaching

Firstly, I would like to wish everyone a happy new year and I hope the fishing gods will be smiling on us all in 2017. Secondly, and more importantly, the new salmon fishing season in Scotland is almost upon us again! Rivers in the North of Scotland such as the Naver, Helmsdale and Thurso open their doors on the 11th of January and the River Tay follows soon after on the 15th. My local rivers the Dee and Don open on the 1st of February and the 11th of February respectively.

A fine opening day springer from park on the River Dee in 2016. It turned out the be the largest fish caught on opening day.

The River Oykel. One of the finest salmon rivers in Scotland.

I really can't wait for the season to start. It has been a long, but mild winter but I was really hoping for a bit of a cold snap just to bring back to some sort of normality for the salmon after the far from normal warm and wet Decembers of the last few years. Hopefully it will cool down in the early months of the year though and a bit of snow and frost wouldn't go a miss just to cool the river temperatures and slow down any of these early running fish.

A still from my GoPro of a lively 14lber from the Ballogie beat of the River Dee.

My first outing of the season is nearing ever closer where I'm on the River Tay just one week from now. The customary tying of flies and tidying out the the tackle boxes has been done and the online chats and messages are in full swing. As the anticipation grows, the days seem to get longer and run up to that first fishing trip of the year feels like it takes forever! I'm looking forward to sharing my fishing experiences with you again. Tight Lines to anyone lucky enough to be out on the river in the coming weeks.

A selection of salmon tubes for the early Spring. From left to right- (L) and (C) Gold Willie Gunn (R) Black & Yellow.

An annual necessity. Lines all cleaned and reels serviced ready for the new season.

River Don Salmon

Finally opened my account on the River Don today and not unlike buses, two came along at once! I normally have a Don fish in my book long before now but with no water for months it was finally good to see the Don with a spate running off and to get out fishing knowing you had a chance of connecting. The water was carrying a heavy peat stain but was otherwise in very good shape.

Both fish were taken on a 14mm Junction Snaelda fished off a floating line a 7 inch per second poly leader and were released quickly. The second fish I caught today made my total for the season pass last year's total so it was very pleasing to see it in the net.

My first fish of the day. A hen fish around the 5lb mark. Junction Snaelda did the trick.

My second fish of the day. Another hen fish but about 7lb. Junction Snaelda did the trick again. This fish made me pass my total of last year.

Wester Elchies - River Spey

Wester Elchies that way!

On the 16th of this month I had a day's fishing on the lovely Wester Elchies beat of the River Spey with my Dad. We were blessed with a rise in water a few days before our arrival and hopes were high that we might connect with a fish or two. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be despite the pool holding good numbers of resident fish. The fish, as per usual this time of year on the Spey so I'm told, are not keen on taking a fly but we covered plenty of them as best we could. Although we caught nothing we had a great day and it was the first time my Dad had fished the Spey in 20 years. As neither of us had any joy, I won't bore you with a long winded report so I have just wrote a comment below each photo giving the name of the pool etc.

Throwing a long line across the Brock Pool. My set up here was my 14ft 9/10 Hardy Demon rod and a 55ft Carron Jetstream Spey line.

Water height for our day was 11". The river dropped about 6" over night.

Wester Elchies pools from top of the beat to the bottom.

Looking upstream to the upper most pool on the beat, Delbreck.

My Dad and I fishing down Brock just before calling it a day in the evening.

Horse Hole.

Just a small pool/run at this height but I'm lead to believe it fishes well in high water.

Clarnicks pool sign.

Looking downstream from Clarnicks.

Looking upstream into Clarnicks from midway down Delene.

Fishing down Delene. A lovely cast and a pleasure to fish the fly through.

My Dad fishing down Pol Ma Cree with the Delagyle beat hut on the opposite bank. 

Looking down Pol Ma Cree.

The top fishing hut at Wester Elchies.

Looking upstream into the Delagyle Pool from the lower hut.

The lower fishing hut at Wester Elchies.

Looking downstream into Gene Tree from the lower hut.

Fishing down the Ryhind with the Big Pig stone mid picture. The wading in here is very tricky in places but well worth the effort. 

My Dad fishing LittleTurn

Another photo of my Dad fishing down the Little Turn.

Looking downstream in Pol Shuan.

A bit further down Pol Shuan.

Looking across to Aberlour and Craigellachie from the road leading down to the Wester Elchies beat.

Looking downstream from the Boat Pool towards the suspension bridge over to Aberlour.

For more info on fishing at Wester Elchies please have a look at their website by following the links below. Sam Bremner, the ghillie is very helpful and will do his best to put you onto a fish. It's well worth a visit and the fishing can be fantastic during the Spring and Summer months. I shall certainly be looking forward to my next visit to the beat in the near future. Tight lines!

http://www.wester-elchies.co.uk/


FishPal - Wester Elchies