Deveron Festival Day 3 - Dunlugas

My final day of the 3 days free fishing on the river Deveron saw me drawn to fish Dunlugas. On the Monday I had fished opposite on Mountblairy so I had a fair idea what to expect.

I arrived at the beat just after 9am and headed down to the hut. The water was down a wee bit from yesterday and a lot of the colour was out of it too which was good. There was a good rise of trout just in front of the hut so I decided to tackle up with my 10' 6" single hander and try a bit of dry fly fishing. I attached a tiny black Klinkhammer to my cast and within a few minutes I hooked a small trout about 10" long. It has been a long time since I cast my single hander so I was chuffed to get a fish not long after starting. That was it though as my dodgy casting spooked quite a few fish and they stopped rising. Think I stick to my double hander!

On Monday whilst fishing at Mountblairy I never fished the bottom half of the beat as it was a good walk from the car park but today, on the opposite bank, I got to fish the lower stretch. There are some cracking pools down this end and good for fishing the fly. I set up my 15ft Vision Catapult and spooled up my Monteith line with the intermediate 10ft tip. On the business end I opted for a #9 Cascade. I worked my way down the pool without seeing or touching anything but it was a nice pool to swim a fly in. 

The next pool down was opposite the bottom hut. All the flow came round the bend down my side of the river and just off of the curent is where you might expect to find fish lying before making their way through the faster water above. As it was quite deep here I attached the fast sinking tip to my line and decided to give a 1" copper GBWG (Gold Bodied Willie Gunn) a soaking. I fished from the hut all the way down to the next bend without a touch. Never seen a fin move in here either.

The bottom pool which came off the outside of the bend on my bank was another nice streamy looking pool which again had a bit of depth to it. This pool is just above where Tiny Morison caught her famous British record fly caught Salmon. I went for a Sunray Shadow and tried to stir up any fish in the pool. Well it didn't work. Not even a flicker at it. I continued all the way down to the end of the beat with the same result.

At lunch time I headed back to the top hut as there was a nice fish landed there yesterday. I gave it a run through with the Sunray but no joy. As I was fishing down one of the other rods asked if I would help him get his car out a ditch. We took the rope for the life belt out of the hut and went up where his van was. We managed to pull his van free but he was very lucky as there was a wee burn running inches behind where he managed to stop. He was very appreciative and went back up the top of the beat to try and winkle out an elusive springer. Since the old saying goes "one good turn deserves another" I give it one last go it the corner pool just above the Mest where Tony landed a nice Sea Trout on Monday from Mountblairy. I tied on a good old Ally Shrimp and worked my way down the pool but to no avail. My good deed was not rewarded with a Deveron Salmon anyway.

It has been a pleasure fishing these beats and would recommend it for anyone wanting to give it a go next year. Although I never seen a salmon for the 3 days, plenty have been caught this week. I'm sure more will follow for the remainder of the week too.

Finally, I would like to thank and congratulate The Deveron Trust and Frank from Turriff Tackle for his organising of this event. Frank has worked tirelessly to make it the success it has been. Every morning he is in the Turriff AA hut greeting all anglers and giving directions to their alloted beats. You would really struggle to find many of them without his help. So Frank, Thank you very much for a great 3 days fishing. See you next year hopefully.

Here are some pictures of the Dunlugas beat.

Heading down to the Dunlugas beat in the morning. Nice view from the top of the hill.

This pool is called Canada from the other bank but not suee if it has a name from the Dunlugas side. This is where a springer was landed yesterday. I had a wee trout from here on a dry fly. This pool was stuffed with Brownies.

Looking upstream from the pool beside the bottom hut. Nice bit of water. Also quite deep at the neck of the pool.

Downstream view of the same pool. Nice flow comes off the croy. A few trout rising in the back eddy created behind the croy.

Looking downstream to the bottom of the beat. The well maintained banks make it a pleasure to fish. Again, another nice pool to fish.

                       

Deveron Festival Day 2 - Eden

Day 2 of the Deveron Fishing Festival saw me allocated to fish the Eden beat. It's situated about 4 miles upstream of the mouth of the river at Banff . The day was hosted by Willie Banks and Jim Fearn of Vision.

I arrived at the beat around 9am and the water gauge was reading 2' 9". It steadily dropped away all day but it was carrying a lot of sediment which made the water clarity quite poor. There was also a lot of thick fog around but the sun soon burnt it off to produce a cracking day albeit with a nasty wind sometimes.

After introductions and a look around the most beautiful fishing hut I've ever seen, I set off upstream to fish the middle part of the beat. With the water being high and coloured chances would be quite slim but I plugged away. I didn't see or touch anything. I fished all the way down the bottom of the beat with the same result.

At lunch time I was speaking to Gordon the ghillie and was picking his brain about where to fish. I decided to start at the top of the beat and work my way down back to the hut. Again didn't see any fish moving but I did land a wee Brown Trout about 8". Not really what I was after. I fished all the way down some beautiful looking pools back to the hut but same results - nothing seen and nothing touched. By this tme the water had dropped about 6" but was still coloured.

I spent a large part of the afternoon talking and trying out lines etc with Jim Fearn and Willie Banks. I have learnt a lot from these guys and I was trying out the new Unispey line which is almost like a longer bellied shooting head. Nice line to cast.

Here are some pictures from today. I managed to get my face sunburnt today but Im left with white eyes where my shades have been! My face is scorched!

The fishing hut on the Eden beat. Beautiful!

A picture of the dining area. There is about 14 chairs altogether but thought I would show the fire and tv in the picture.

Didn't get any of the pool names today but this is the pool at the top of the beat. Lovely piece of water and the fish are all over to the Eden bank here at this height.

Another nice pool. The ghillie said that most fish are to be caught from the middle over to the far side.

The pool running along side the fishing hut. Fish run up the far bank to cut the corner just out of shot. There was a fish seen in here during the afternoon. I also witnessed an otter swimming downstream here.

The bottom pool of the beat from this bank. The beat is fished from both banks and it continues on for another 300 yards or so below the hut in the picture.

An upstream view of the same pool. All the flow is along the far bank down most of this pool but there is one or two croys that maybe hold fish in the slacker water. Not at this height though.

If anyone knows the pool names please leave a comment and I'll update the captions.Many Thanks.

Deveron Festival Day 1 - Mountblairy

Had my first day of the Deveron Festival fishing the Mountblairy Beat. It was a lovely stretch of water and some good looking pools to fish the fly. There were 5 rods fishing the beat which was probably about 2.5 miles long. I was sharing my rod with fellow Aberdeen District Angling Association member Tony Wolk.

We arrived at the beat about 9.30am and we started in the Mausoleum Pool just above the island. The beat gauge was reading 1' 6" and the water was a nice colour. After only a few minutes after starting, Tony hooked into a fish. Turned out to be a greedy wee Brown Trout but nice start to the day.

Mid Morning, we headed up to the top of the beat. Here we had some beautiful streamy water and a couple of nice holding pools. We fished all the way down taking turns to fish each pool. We didn't see any fish showing but you just felt like the line would go tight at any second. Tony had a pull from a fish but apart from that, that was it for the mornings efforts. The top pools were called Points and Greenbanks.

After lunch we fished Boghead Pool. Half way down the pool Tony's fly got hammered by a livley Sea Trout. After a spirited scrap a fish around 1.5lbs came to hand. Not sea-liced but very fresh. By this time the water was on the rise and starting to colour up a tad. Never the less we carried on down the pool but didn't touch anything else.

The next pool we fished was Mest. A lovley long glide of a pool I was told "one of the best on the whole river." We didn't see or touch anything in here but well worth the effort. It fishes best at the back end of the season I was told by an estate worker who was working near by.

I didn't bother with the next pool as it was very deep and slow but Tony fished it down without a touch. I was busy taking photographs of the beat for this blog.

We finished our day below the Island Pool where we started the day but by this time the water was heavily coloured and still rising. The was a Salmon caught from the beat today in  the morning onn a Toby before it behgan to rise and colour. Hopefully it will be ok for day 2 tomorrow. Here are some pictures for today.

Thanks to Turriff Tackle owner Frank we found the beat easily but it is very secluded. Glad he gave good directions.

Looking down to the Island Pool. The is a good looking lie just in front of the big stones at the top of the island. That where the Brown Trout grabbed Tony's fly.

Looking downstream from the top of the beat. Points Pool and Greenbanks. Didn't see anything in these pools but look very "fishy".

Bogheads Pool. Just around the bend is where Tony hooked his sea trout. All the current is down the far bank but is easy to fish.

A nice Sea Trout from the Bogheads pool. The fish took a Cascade Alistair just as it came round on the dangle.

The beat hut on the Mest Pool. Nice looking pool. Didn't see anything in here but gave it a good going over.

Canada Pool I think and into Rat Tail Pool. The Dunlugus hut is just out of shot on the far bank to the left of the picture. I didn't fish this pool but looks ideal for spinning due to the slow river flow.

Deveron Fishing Festival 2012 Open Day

I headed up to the Turriff Angling Association water to attend the Deveron Fishing Festival Open Day. There was a very good turn out to watch demonstrations from some of the best casters in the business. Stalls run by Turriff Tackle and Glasgow Angling Centre to buy any lines or tackle tried out on the day. Brands such as Hardy, Vision, G Loomis and Mackenzie were all on hand to offer casting of the latest rods and lines etc. I will be fishing the 3 free days starting tomorrow and with the water looking perfect there was a few confident ghillies saying there will be fish caught so here hoping. Here are some pictures from todays event.

The impressive line up of casting demonstrations for the day.

Guide Flyfishing's team. Willie Banks (left) and Jim Fearn (right). Two top blokes who are always willing to help out with casting instruction which I like to take full advantage of! As my main fishing rod is a 15ft Vision GT4 Catapult im always interested in what lines go best and if any new ones are worth getting so I had a wee go with the Vision ACE shooting head Float/Sink2 and a 5ips tip attached. I must say it was a dream to cast. You wouldn't even know it was a heavy sink tip on the end. Very easy work with.

Blair Banks of G Loomis is a River Spey ghillie on the Brae Water Beat 5. I had a short casting lesson from Blair with a 15ft G Loomis NRX matched up with a 55ft prototype G Loomis Spey line. After finding a wee fault in my action Blair corrected me and I was soon getting a nice line out with ease. Once I get used to the alteration in my casting it should pay dividends.

Scott Mackenzie with my fellow Aberdeen District Angling Association member Tony Wolk. Myself and Tony spent a good few hours milling around the rods trying them all out. We were both very impressed with the Mackenzie shooting head rods. Especially the 14ft version. What a casting tool! Scott was only too happy to share his knowledge of his rods and he gave us a few pointers on our casting too.

Andy Murray of G Loomis and River Tweed ghillie giving his demonstration this morning. I enjoyed watching him cast as he mad it look so effortless. As all the caster did.

The trade stand in the tent on the banks of the river. I took this picture about 4pm when I think most of the stalls had packed up! Should have taken one sooner. Never mind at least it shows where the stalls had been.

We missed Eion Fairgrieve's demonstration as we were playing about with Scott Mackenzie's stuff but we did get a cast with the new Hardy Zenith Sintrix rod. We used the 14' 6" 9 weight rod matched up with a Hardy Mach 55 spey line. What a combo! Out of all the rods we tried today this was up there. Way out of my price range but a dream to cast. Even into a strong wind. I would not say no to any of the rods we tried out today though. They were all pretty special but will have say the Vison Catapult will do me just fine.