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.

River Don Opening Day

I took the day off yesterday to fish the opening of the River Don at Kenmay. Conditions were near as perfect as you could ask for a February day and we were sure a fresh fish or two would come off the Don system. The water height was hovering around the 2' mark and running clear which was encouraging given the heavy rain of recent days.

I arrived on the water around 9.30am and tackled up with a Scott Mackenzie intermediate shooting head and a 10ft fast sink tip. Fly of choice was the deadly Franc N Snaelda. Not long after starting the snow started and this was when most of the action occurred. I had 3 kelts in quick succession, one of which was a cock fish and I also landed a rawner (an un-spawned male salmon). I initially thought it was another kelt as he didn't put up much of a fight. Once landed I realised this was due to taking my double hook in both top jaw and kype. It looked just like a back end fish, slightly colured and sporting a big kype but was easily seen it was not a 2014 model. It was soon returned and the snow subsided but the fish seemed to go off the take when the snow stopped, however, I did have a good number of other offers but they were just grabs at the fly most likely coming from kelts. My friend Bill also had several kelts for his day but the fresh fish were playing hard to get.

Overall, it was a fine day for fishing and good to be out on the River Don again. Not heard of any fresh fish caught from the river as yet but it is very early days for the Don.

Here are a few pictures taken yesterday of the Aberdeen & District Angling Association beat at Kemnay.

Fishing down the Dooker in the snow. I got 3 kelts and a rawner in quick succession in here during the blizzard.

Looking upstream mid way down the Dooker Pool.

Bill puts out a good line on the Dooker Pool.

Looking downstream from the top of the Island Pool.

The School Pool. A lovely cast at this height and a good holding pool.

Looking upstream from mid way down the School Pool.

Looking upstream from the tail of the Bridge Pool. I had several offers in this pool but most likely from kelts.

River Don At Kemnay

As the River Don was rising from top to bottom today, I headed up to the ADAA's Kemnay beat. I arrived about 9.30am to see the water was slightly coloured and carrying some weed. I walked up to the top of the beat and started in the Bridge Pool.

I was trying out my new 42g Floating Mackenzie GTX G2 shooting head. Very Impressed! It was easy to cast and turned over no problem.

There was a few fish splashing mid way down the Bridge pool but they looked like Kelts. They were not interested in anything a put past them anyway. As the river rose sharply, I changed lines to my trusty Monteith Multi Tip line. I put on the 10ft intermediate tip and a 10ft 3.9 inch per second poly leader. I tied on a size 8 Musker's Fancy No.2 and covered the lies where the kelts were showing. Still nothing but as I pulled in line to re-cast, the line was pulled back out my hand by a big, strong Brown Trout. After giving a good account for itself, I landed a beauty of maybe 3 lbs. Would have been a really good battle on a single handed rod.

I fished all the way down and finished up my morning in the School Pool. Apart from the odd trout rising, I didn't see anything the whole way down stream. When I left the water was way up from the earlier and colouring up fast. Don't think it will be fishable tomorrow due to the colour but you never know.

Here are some pictures from a very wet Aberdeenshire!

The Bridge Pool. This pool holds a lot of kelts early in the season. One or two showing today further downstream.

A greedy Brown Trout which hammered my size 8 Musker's Facy No 2. Looks like it's been feeding well.

The Dooker. Nice looking bit of fly water. Didn't see anything show in here but a lovely cast.

Island Stream. Another lovely looking piece of fly water. You would expect it to hold a fish or two but again , nothing showing in here either. Needs a wee bit more water I think.

The School Pool. Named because Kemnay Academy is beyond the hill to the right. Another pool which usually holds a fish or two but nothing showing. Maybe the colour of the water was keeping them down. The was also some weed and debris coming down river too which is not ideal. I fished through here and headed home. Always next time.