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.

River Don Today

I made a last minute decision to divert my commute home and have a cast on a stretch of the Aberdeen and District Angling Association's water of the River Don. It proved to be a good one as I was lucky enough to land a nice salmon around the 7lb mark and my biggest River Don sea trout which was roughly 5lb in weight.

Caught this cracker today. My biggest River Don sea trout. Estimated at around the 5lb mark. 

The River Don, despite the lack of angling effort, is fishing really well at the moment.And with the 2018 season into is final few weeks time is running out to get out there and give it a go. It's certainly not all doom and gloom as any would have you believe. Go on, give it a go. You might just be surprised!

Fresh 14lb Salmon From The Don Today

My Dad was out for a couple of hours this afternoon and timed it to perfection as he landed this beauty of about 14lbs. No sea-lice present but this Hen Salmon could not have been in the river long. He also lost a good fish which he didn't see after playing it for 5 minutes or so he and missed another take too. This was all in the space of 30 minutes so a run must have been moving through the pool. He was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Not bad for a few hours on the river. Has the Autumn run started to appear? Let's hope so!

A quick photo before being released. A cracking fresh fish from the Lower Don.

9lb Salmon From The Don Today

I was out on the Don for an hour during my lunch break today and I was lucky enough to land a cracking fish around 9lb from the Parkhill beat. It was one of the hardest fighting fish I have ever caught and it pulled me all over the pool. I had to clamp hard on the reel at one point to stop it taking off under the old railway bridge! I would have most certainly lost it then as there are two arches and it wanted to go under the furthest one from my bank. Several minutes later I eventually managed to hand tail the fish and noticed my #9 Stoats Tail was hooked perfectly in the scissors. The fish was missing the lower part of it's tail but looked like an old wound and it certainly didn't hamper the way the fish fought, that's for sure! It swam off without a problem and will continue it's journey up the Don to spawn this winter. Here a few pictures. Due to the high bank behind me, my pictures are not great but you can clearly see the tail damage to the fish.

A fresh 9lb Salmon from the Parkhill beat on the River Don today.

  

The tail damage on the fish. The fish seemed none-the-worse for it and swam away fine.

Off to continue it's journey to the spawning grounds.