Headinch And Cambus O' May - River Dee

Thanks to ghillie Craig McDonald I had a day on the scenic Headinch and Cambus O' May beat last Thursday. The water was in good order and had dropped away nicely after a rise earlier in the week. It was sitting around the 9" mark on the beat gauge and had a tinge of peat stain. At this height though every pool was fishable and I was to fish from the South bank as it was more suited to this height of water.

The beat gauge reading 9"

My set up for the day consisted of my 13ft Hardy Uniqua rod, Rio Scandi Floating Shooting Head and a 10ft slow sink tip. Due to the peaty colour of the river Cascades and Black Bear Flamethrower type flies were the choice of the day as the orange and yellow combo shows up well in the darker water.

Fishing down Peter Ogg and into Holly Bush.

Fishing down Holly Bush looking across to the hut on the far bank.

Craig suggested I start my day off in the Holly Bush and then fish down through Peter Ogg after I had done that. neither pool produced any salmon although I did briefly hook a decent sized trout which came to a Sunray Shadow just opposite the gauge but it came off as I wound my line onto my reel. Both pools fished very well though and one or two splashes from salmon kept the concentration levels up.

The hut which looks onto the Tassachd Pool.

Fishing down Tassachd. Was a few fish moving in here but none were tempted by my offerings.

The next pool I was to to try was Tassachd. This is a classic Dee salmon pool and fishes the fly beautifully. There were one or two fish showing in here too but tempting them was a different matter. I fished the pool down with a #9 Cascade first but without success and my second run down the pool was with a Sunray which also proved fruitless. After fishing these pools it was lunch time and a chance to regroup and plan for the afternoon.

Sheerless. Moved a couple of trout in here on a Sunray Shadow but no salmon.

After lunch Craig suggested giving Sheerless a cast as there had been a few fish showing in the pool earlier in the week. I was eager to fish Sheerless as I had never done so on my previous 3 visits to the beat. I opted to fish the Sunray first and I made my way down the pool varying the speed in which I stripped the fly in. Several different speeds produced the same result with the Sunray and I couldn't tempt any salmon but a greedy trout about 1.5lb took a liking to it and which was safely returned.

I was joined by Paul Pritchard later on in the day and as he had never fished the beat before he was eager to get going. He was to fish Tassachd and I headed up to the upper most pool on the beat which was Kate's.

Looking upstream from Kate at the top end of the beat.

Rockies looking downstream.

Looking downstream into Black Neuk and Bankie.

Kate is another nice piece of water and again, it's ideal for fly fishing. The views are not too shabby either! I fished my way down through the pool and continued on into Rocky without a touch but I did see a few fish showing half way down the pool. Try as I might, they just weren't interested in my fly.

The hut overlooking Glashan.

Fishing down the Glashan Pool. A really nice pool for the fly.

Paul Pritchard fishing the stunning Glashan Pool.

Next up was Glashan. This pool has to one of my favourite pools on the beat. It's a pleasure to fish and every cast you are just waiting for that pull from a salmon. Sadly, neither Paul or myself could get hold of an elusive Dee salmon but we gave it a good try. Paul decided to call it a day after a wee mishap involving his car so I headed off back down stream to give Tassachd another fling before heading home myself. Unfortunately, there was nothing doing down in Tassachd and I headed off home around 7pm with my first ever blank day on a Glen Tanar Salmon beat! :( 

The beat is one well worth visiting though and the amount of water available to just 3 rods is fantastic. Each and every pool is a delight to fish and the scenery is first class as well. The water did rises nearly 2" during the day and the heavy peat stain which darkened the water maybe didn't help my chance any either but despite not catching any salmon, it was a good day regardless. A couple of brown trout to show for my efforts wasn't what I was after but if catching salmon was that easy, would it be as addictive? Perhaps not. 

2014 Salmon Fishing Highlights

Despite the obvious lack of salmon running many rivers in the Northern Hemisphere this year, my catches have been reasonably good considering. I had a few Spring fish which was very pleasing, not so much luck during the summer months but I finished my season off with a number of fish which I was grateful for. I did however, have to put in the hours for my fish as the blank days by far outnumber the successful ones.

One pleasing aspect about my 2014 season has been catching fish from several beats I had never fished before. These included a cracking Springer of around 8lb from the Castle Forbes beat on the River Don in April. Then I got two fresh, back end fish of 4lbs and 15lbs from the famous Ballogie beat of the River Dee in September and I fortunate enough to land two fish in October weighing 5lbs and 9lbs from the Don on my first ever visit to Semeil Farm.

Spring

The Spring for me was very good in terms of fish caught considering the Spring run was well down on previous years. I managed to catch salmon in February, March and April. Not landing a fish in May prevented the full house.

A particular highlight for me was landing my first February Springer from Carlogie on the River Dee. I had lost a good fish not long after starting on the Thursday morning and hardly had a touch, even from a kelt, until 4pm on the Saturday when I landed an 8lber from Fraser's Pool which was the perfect way to end my 3 days there for anther year.

My first February springer from the River Dee at Carlogie.

In March, I was lucky enough to get an invitation to fish the River Dee at Inchmarlo and was delighted to land this sea lice Springer of around 6lb in a very high water.

A nice sea liced springer from Little Blackhall & Inchmarlo in March

Another highlight was hosting a Salmo Proboards Forum Meet on the River Don at Castle Forbes along with my friend Bill Cook. We booked the whole beat for the day and there was 8 of us fishing which included some rods who had never fished the Don before. Despite low water, we landed 3 springers for our day which was a fantastic result. I got 1 and Bill got the other 2. We took a bit of stick as we were local lads and the ones who got the fish but we had a great couple of days. Good company, good craic and good fishing. What more could you want?

A cracking River Don springer from Castle Forbes in April during the Forum Meet.

Summer

Summer salmon fishing for me was almost none existent in terms of catches. I spent more time fishing for Brown Trout on the Don than anything else and landed a few good ones along the way. I did however, land a salmon from the River Don at Manar on the 23rd August in a high water. A coloured fish around 7lb came to the net after losing a bigger and cleaner fish just a few minutes earlier.

Summer Salmon from the River Don at Manar.

A sea liced grilse from the Don caught by my pal, Charlie Robertson in August.

A nice sea trout from Headinch and Cambus O May which got a good tune out of my Uncle's old Sharpes Aquarex reel.

A nice sea trout from the Spey taken on a small Monkey tube..

Back End

The back end of the season was very kind to me this year and I had a several good days on the river. A small clean Grilse and a cracker of 15lb from the Dee at Ballogie on the 22nd September is a particular highlight. Both taken on small Red Francis double.

A wee grilse from Ballogie in September.

A cracker of around 15lb also from Ballogie.

During October my catches seemed to come in pairs and I landed another two fish on the 11th October, again from the Dee, but this time at Inchmalo. These were both coloured fish which were estimated at 5lb and 14lb. 

A coloured Grilse from Inchmarlo in October.

14lb hen Salmon from Inchmarlo also during October.

A few days later, I was out for an hour or so after work on the 16th and was lucky enough to land a nice, clean fish of around 5lbs from Lower Fintray. My first salmon off the ADAA water this season. Better late than never I suppose.

A bright October Grilse from the Don at Lower Fintray.

Later in the month, I booked a last minute outing on the Upper Don at Semeil Farm and was rewarded with two fish which were roughly 5lb and 9lb respectively. It was my first time on the beat and I really enjoyed it.

A coloured fish about 5lb from Semeil.

My second fish from Semeil. A heavily coloured hen of around 9lb.

My friend, Bill Cook's 13lb Salmon from the Don at Kemnay.

I am just in the process of booking up my fishing for the Spring and I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully it will be a better year for the Salmon this time round and we see decent runs through-out the season.Whatever happens, I'll be out on the river in the search of Silver!.

Roll on 2015!

Headinch and Cambus O May - River Dee 01-08-2014

I was kindly invited up to fish the scenic beat of the Dee at Cambus O May on Friday by ghillie Craig MacDonald. The water had risen to 1ft 2in on the beat gauge over night due to the heavy rain and although it was carrying a bit of colour, the river looked in good ply. Craig is only just into his second season as a ghillie on Cambus O May but he knows the beat very well and took the time to point out all the likely parts of the pools where we might encounter a fish. As the beat is 5.6 miles double bank, a ghillie is almost essential to point you in the right direction because it would take several days to cover all the water if you didn't know where to start.

Craig suggested we head to the Long Pool and Tassachd as these pools were good holding pools and they had a population of resident fish in them. Not long after arriving at the Long Pool a small fished showed just off the current on the inside of the bend which was encouraging. As the water was a bit coloured bigger flies and sink tips were the order of the day. I opted for a fast sink tip and a #8 Kinermony Killer. The first run down the pool proved fruitless so I changed over to a H/S1 line and a Black Bear Flamethrower fly. This also produced nothing so we headed off down stream to Tassachd. Craig pointed out all the best taking points and I went down the pool with the H/S1 first as this pool was carrying a bit of speed in it's flow. Again, I couldn't temp anything so Craig suggested a run through with a Sunray might stir things up a bit. The top half of the pool was a bit fast so I started mid way down where we saw a few fish showing first run down. Craig went off for lunch and he was only gone 5 minutes when I had a thumping take on my Sunray! Several minutes later I landed a coloured sea trout between 2-2.5lbs. I didn't touch anything else so headed upstream to fish the Mill Pool.

A few years back and also in August, I landed a 14lb hen fish from this pool when the water height was also sitting at 1ft 2in. Conditions were very simialr to Friday so confidence was high. I started right up at the neck where I landed the fish last time but I didn't touch anything except a stunning wee brown trout about 8oz. Not a big fish by any stretch of the imagination but I don't think I've ever caught a trout as golden as this one. Craig suggested we try the Glashan pool from the Headinch bank so we made our way round through Ballater and down to the hut which looks onto the pool. Craig said that this pool was jumping with fish just a few days prior to the rise in levels so I was looking forward to giving it a run through. Although we did see several coloured fish show, I didn't connect with any of them so Craig took me up to the top of the beat to show the the pools up there. I decided to just take the one rod and fish the Sunray all the way back down to the hut. I did move a coloured fish at the tail of Kate's and another couple during my second run down through Galshan but nothing stuck so I called it a day around 7pm.

I really enjoy fish Headinch and Cambus O May. It's such a quiet and secluded part of Royal Deeside with some truely fantasic pools for fly fishing. It must be great to fish the in May time when the Spring run is in full swing. Craig's knowledge of the pools and his advice really made the day more enjoyable. Unlike my last visit here, I didn't have to try out all the pools to find the best ones to fish for the conditions etc. He made sure I was in the best possible spots and took a lot of time to point out lies and show me all the pools of the beat which was much appreciated.

Here are a few pictures of the beat.

Fishing down the Long Pool. A few fish showed just inside the bend.

The tail of the Long Pool. There is a good lie over by the huge boulder mid stream.

Tassachd. A lovely pool which also held several fish. I landed my sea trout from here.

I took a quick picture as I was playing the sea trout.

A lively sea trout poses for a picture before being returned.

Looking downstream from the high bank above Tassachd.

Looking upstream from the same positions as above picture.

Think this is a Slow Worm? nestled down in the grass on the bank of the Mill Pool

Looking upstream in the Mill Pool.

Glashan. A stunning pool and very secluded. Moved a couple of fish in here with a Sunray Shadow but didn't hook up.

Kate's. Another cracking pool and had another fish have a go at the Sunray in here too. Same result as the other ones though.

Lochnagar in the background of the photo. A majestic part of Deeside steeped in Royal history.