A Couple Of Salmon From The Don

I had the day off on Monday and spent fishing the River Don up near Alford. The river was sitting at 20” on the gauge following a 2” rise the day before. It was frosty in the morning on arrival but once the air temperature warmed up a bit this seemed to bring the fish on the take.

An Autumn hen salmon from the River Don. 

Ready to go back. 

My set up was my 12ft 6in LTS Explosive with a floating line and a 6ft 7ips tip. My fly of choice was a size 10 Red Ally’s. This combo worked well and I was fortunate enough to land two fish. The first being a 10lb hen Salmon and the second being a 5lb cock Grilse. Both fish were safely returned.

A feisty grilse posing for a photo.

Back he goes

The Don has fished well this season and hopefully the improvement in salmon numbers will bode well for the seasons to come. Here hoping it’s a good spawning year too.

Springer From Carlogie

I had an hour's fishing on the River Dee at Carlogie this afternoon thanks to ghillie, Sean Stanton and I was fortunate enough to land a lovely springer of around 6lb from the Boat Pool. My set was my 15ft Mackenzie DTX Shooting Head rod with a matching floating line and a 3.9 inch per second tip. The fish took a 3/4" Monkey Fly tied on an aluminium tube on what was only my 3rd cast after starting! The river was sitting at around 1ft 10in on the Potarch Bridge gauge and the wind was blowing a gale!

I seem to be enjoying a lucky streak at the moment and long may it continue. It makes all the difference being in the right place at the right time when the fish are running and there were plenty fish running through the beat whilst I was there. Hopefully they'll keep on coming!

A lovely fresh fish from the Boat Pool at Carlogie.

The Monkey Fly wedged in the scissors of the fish.