LTS Explosive

I recently picked up one of the LTS Explosive rods from Sean Stanton at FrancNSnealda.com and I can't wait to try it out properly. I had an hours casting practise with it last week and I must say I was really impressed with what it is capable of.

The LTS Explosive 12ft 6in. Casting made easy!

I use smaller rods more than the big 14ft or 15ft rods and I will now have a real beast of a go to rod for my salmon fishing. It's a very powerful rod  for just being 12ft 6in in length. It certainly made casting effortless when I tried it out with a Rio Scandi and T Tip attached. I really can't wait to get out there and have a full day's fishing with it with the proper matching line from LTS. Hopefully it will be appearing in a number of my Blog posts this season with a salmon or two on the end of my line.

Sean Stanton, the head ghillie on the Ballogie Estate fishings has the full range of LTS rods as well as their lines, reels and clothing available from his on-line shop at Franc N Snaelda. If you are on the look out for a new rod then have a look at these. You won't be disappointed!

Tulchan - River Spey

Last Saturday I fished on the famous Tulchan Estate stretches of the River Spey as part of Ian Gordon's group and there were about 14 of us spread out over all four beats. The river was sitting at a nice height around the 9" mark and several kelts had been landed over the previous two days.
Ian instructed us to meet at the hut on C beat in the morning and what a hut it is! It has everything you could need, toilet, dining area, sofas, big wood burning stove, fully equipped kitchen and a fantastic view looking down the river.

The fishing hut on B beat.

After a meet and greet with the fellow rods and a cup of coffee I was allocated to fish B beat with Matthew Will. We were shown to the beat by Tom Brown and the beat ghillie, Roddy took us up to the upper pools which consisted of George's, Ghillie's and Stones.  My set up for the morning was my 15ft Mackenzie DTX shooting head rod, 44g float/intermediate shooting head and a 10ft 3.9ips tip. My fly of choice was a 5/0 Akroyd. On first glimpse of the water it looked stunning. Every pool had a lovely flow going though it and the water looked very "fishy".

Fishing down George's. My first cast at Tulchan. Not a bad place to start.

Ghillie's. Another lovely pool which fishes the fly superbly.

Fishing down the Stones pool on B beat.

I started in George's and was to follow Matthew down through Ghillie's and Stones. Despite the quality of the pools we were fishing neither Matthew nor I had a touch and we decided to try and fish a bit deeper and get down in front of any fish which might be there so I changed over to my 42g Hover shooting head and a 10ft super fast sink tip for the afternoon so it was back to the hut on C beat for lunch with the rest of the rods.

The fishing hut on C beat. Not bad!

As I said before, the hut on C beat is very homely and you could quite easily live in the place. The dining table was all set and lunch was cooked up by Dufftown butcher, Jock. His stovies, accompanied with oatcakes and beetroot went down a treat. The craic at the table over lunch was top notch with numerous stories and jokes told over a wee dram but it was time to get back to the river.

Ian and Tom have a chat over a dram in the hut at lunchtime.

After lunch, Ian suggested I went down to fish D beat with young ghillie, Philip. This was another fantastic looking stretch and the Cragganmore pool outside the hut, looked superb. I was to fish the Wood pool first of all and then down to the March pool.

One of the signs for D beat.

The fishing hut on D beat.

Cragganmore pool opposite the hut on D beat.

The Wood pool was another nice bit of water and was very easy to fish. Lovely pools and Tuclahn estate seem to go hand in hand. Philip accompanied me down the pool and pointed out likely lies etc and even this early in the season you just felt like the line could go tight at any time. I fished down the pool right to the end and unfortunately I didn't get an offer so we headed off to the March pool for a go before close of play.

Fishing down the Wood Pool on D beat.

Looking upstream in the Wood Pool.

The tail of the Wood Pool.

The March pool really was a cracking bit of water. I would love to see the place in May/June time when the ghille said the place comes alive with fish! Maybe one day if my lottery numbers come in then I'll give it a go. Philip suggested I changed fly to a size 6 double as he felt I was fishing a fly just on the big side for the pool so I picked out a Cascade and went up to the top of the pool and worked my way down. We tried all the likely lies but sadly I couldn't connect with anything but just the thrill of fishing these pools was enough.

Looking downstream in the March Pool on D beat.

I hope to return to Tulchan again some day and would love see the place during the peak of the salmon runs in May/June time. It must just be awesome to fish a wee size 8 or 10 through the pools and know that you are covering plenty fish and there is a good chance that one will grab your fly. Until that time comes when I win the lottery, I'll just have to look in from the outside and dream but knowing at least I'll have the satisfaction of now being able to say that "I've fished Tulchan" and for that I'm grateful to Ian Gordon and Tom Brown for giving me the opportunity to do so.

River Dee - Little Blackhall & Inchmarlo 21-06-14

On the 21st June I was delighted to accept an invitation to fish as a guest on the Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo beat of the River Dee. It was good to be back there again after the last time I was there yielded a nice sea liced springer of around 6lb in March. This time the water was much lower and was sitting around 6" on the FishDee website gauge. My set up for the day was my 13ft Hardy Uniqua and a Airflo QuickSpey floating line. Flies ranged in size from 10-14.

I arrived at the fishing hut at 8.30am and was met by ghillie, Terry Paton and fellow river Dee enthusiast, Paul Pritchard. After a quick cup of coffee and a good natter about the fishing with Terry, Paul and I set off to our pools for the morning. I was to start in the House Pool and Paul headed up river to fish the top part of the beat.

The fishing hut at Inchmarlo.

A look inside the well equipped fishing hut.

On my walk over to the House Pool there was a nice looking fish showed in the fast waster about half way down the pool. This got the excitement going even more than usual and I was eager to have a cast for it. Terry said that if there was a fish in the pool I would either get in on my first three casts or my last three. Well, after only two casts I had a fish take my #11 KS Shrimp! I soon realised it was just a wee brown trout and not the nice fish we saw as we arrived at the pool. At least I knew the fly was swimming nicely. The rest of the pool provided no more action so I made my way down to the next pool which was the famous Roe Pot.

Where I started my day. The House Pool looking downstream.

A greedy wee brown trout which hammered my fly just a few casts after starting.

Mid way down the House Pool.

The Roe Pot is one of the most famous pools on the whole River Dee and is mentioned in John Ashley Cooper's book "The Great Salmon Rivers of Scotland". It fishes in most heights of water and holds fish through-out the season. As parts of the pool were quite slow and required the fly to be worked, I changed over to a Collie Dog and stripped it just below the surface to try and induce a take from a fish. The only take I got the whole length of the pool was again from a greedy trout of similar size to the first one. After I finished the pool I headed back up to the top for a quick cast with a conventional fly just before lunch but nothing doing with that either.

The Roe Pot. Looking downstream from just below the neck of the pool.

Looking upstream towards the hut from about 2/3 the way down the pool.

The tail of the Roe Pot.

Looking upstream from the tail of the Roe Pot towards the hut on the Little Blackhall side.

After lunch, it was my turn to fish the top half of the beat with Paul fishing the lower half. Terry accompanied me as we made our way up river. He pointed out all the likely areas that would hold fish as we looked into the crystal clear water from the high bank. It was good to see the pools in low water, not really from a fishing point of view but it gives you a good idea of the areas to concentrate on when fishing it in higher water. It was also good to see the lie in which I caught my springer from the Nellie Hogg pool back in March. The water was 4ft 6in that day but you could see why fish would stop here when the water was high. We reached the top of the beat and Terry suggested a Sunray Shadow might be worth a cast as it had not been tried for a couple of weeks in these pools. I fished through all of the likely spots in the pools but didn't get an offer from neither trout nor salmon.

Looking downstream at the top of the beat in the Ice House pool.

Fishing down trough the Holly Bush into Nellie Hogg and Sandy Bay. Just where the bank kicks in is where I got my springer back in March.

Looking upstream into the pool which is called Seat from the opposite bank.

Carrying on downstream through Sandy Bay and into the Fawn pools.

The River Dee was like a mirror, reflecting everything from the banks. The water was also crystal clear and you could see every stone in the pool.

A concrete walk way makes the pool easy to fish and cover the lies from the bank.

Although I didn't catch any salmon this time at Inchmarlo, it was good to see the beat in low water conditions. The clear water revealed many of the lies which will hold fish in the higher water. Terry the ghillie knows his beat extremely well and is always on hand to help with setting up rods etc. I was very grateful to him for opportunity to fish here again. Like most of Royal Deeside, it is set in tranquil surroundings and you wouldn't know that the main road is only a few hundred yards away. I will look forward to returning again one day in the future and hope that there is a salmon waiting for me when I do.

Orton - River Spey

Charlie and I were lucky enough to be back on Speyside yesterday, this time fishing the famous Orton beat. We arrived slightly late due to getting lost trying to find the beat but it turned out we were just a few hundreds yards away. A helpful police man and local resident pointed us in the right direction.

After the usual meet and greets, the ghillies Kevin and Andrew showed us to the pools. Andrew took Charlie and I down to start in the Lower Cairnty. It is a big, long pool and holds fish the whole length and in most water heights. The water height was 7" on the gauge and the river temperature was a quite cold 35f. Not long after starting I landed a small kelt and on closer inspection we noticed the underside of the fish was golden, almost like a brown trout. The fish was certainly a salmon kelt but the colouring puzzled both myself and the ghillie. Charlie headed off to fish the Arns and I carried on fishing to the tail of the Cairnty. I lost a kelt and had a couple more pulls but nothing landed, Charlie likewise.

Once Charlie had fished the Arns he headed off to the Willows and I went into the Arns. Just as I got to the tail of the pool my fly was grabbed by a fish but it took it as I was mending the line and the hook hold was not great. It was off seconds later. I backed up the pool to cover the same lie again as the ghillies told us that it is not really a kelty pool so I was eager to see what took my Monkey as it swung round the lie. Several casts later my fly was taken again from the same lie and after a dogged scrap Andrew arrived just in time to net a big kelt. Probably the same fish that took the fly first time past but who knows?

Andrew suggested to go and try the Willows before lunch and as we were walking up to the pool I received a phone call from Charlie informing me that he had just lost a springer. The fish took one of his deadly SS Assassin sunrays. This fly landed Charlie many fish last year and on it first out this year took another but unfortunately it didn't stick. Never nice to lose a fish especially in the Spring but I'm sure there will be plenty landed soon enough. I fished down the Willows without a touch and we headed back to the hut for lunch at 1pm. 

After lunch, Charlie and I were to fish the Upper Cairnty. I stared right at the top opposite the wee pine tree on the bank and Charlie started just off the single slightly further down. Andrew had informed us that 3 fish were taken here last weekend and it was a good bet to be hold fresh fish. Not long after starting, Charlie landed a big sea-trout kelt which was very well mended. It would have probably been about 6lb fresh which would have been a beauty. The afternoon was slighly colder and the wind picked up which seemed to bring the fish on the take. I landed 6 kelts between the two boats and Charlie landed a kelt from the same part of the pool. We just couldn't temp a springer that might have been resting in amongst, which must have been hundreds of kelts.

The elusive Springer still eludes us but we will keep trying that's for sure. The first springer of the season was landed at Manar on the Don yesterday so they are creeping up the Don which is a good sign.

Here are some pictures from our day on the Spey yesterday.

Lower Cairnty. Looking downstream. Looks slow and featureless but it was fishing the fly quite nicely

Arns. A cracking wee pool were I landed a kelt just at the tail. The ghillie said it was not really a kelt holding pool so it got the blood pumping until I seen the flanks and realised it was another kelt.

Willows. Charlie fishing the tail of the beautiful Willows pool shortly after losing a springer. Cracking piece of fly water.

Cooperee. We din't fish this pool as it is a low water summer pool. Looks like another nice bit of water though.

Upper Cairnty. A good holding pool for Springers but all it produced for Charlie and I was kelts today. Again, another lovely pool to cast a fly on.

Yours truly fishing the Upper Cairnty in the wind and rain after lunch.

Annual February Outing At Park

I had my first outing of the new fishing season on the Park beat of the River Dee yesterday. The water was sitting at a nice height of 22" on the gauge and the water temperature was 34f. I started off my day in Beat 1. The pools on this beat are Silver Spoon, Park Inn and the Boat Hole. Not long after starting, the rod on the South bank lost a fish but it didn't surface and I'm not sure if it was a fresh fish or a kelt. Still, at least there was a sign of fish being present in the pool. I fished down through the Park Inn and Boat without a touch and Keith the ghillie thought it might be worth fishing Silver Spoon as the water was getting to a good height for that particular pool. This I did but came out with the same result as the previous pool.

Around 11am I swapped pools with another rod called Euan and this put me in the Castleton Pool. Keith informed me that 8 fish so far this week have all come out of this very pool and I couldn't wait to get going. About half way down the pool, just opposite the Park South hut,  I had a good pull on my and draw of the line. I lifted into it but as I did the fish let go of my Kinermony Killler Snaelda  and I didn't hook it. The way the fly was taken, I could have sworn it would have set the hook but it was not to be and the Salmon wins again. It was still early in the day so I was not too bothered by this and I fished down through the rest of the pool without a sniff.

At lunch, one of the rods, Sean who had a good few days on the beat, told us he had landed a beauty of 8lbs from the Upper Kirks. It was his 3rd Springer of his 3 day trip to Deeside. Great result!

After lunch I was to fish Beat 4. I started in the House Pool and as I was nearing the bottom of the pool, I had another pull of the fly but it didn't take much line and let go as quick as it grabbed it. I carried on down to fish the Celler Pool but didn't see or touch anything in here. The next pool down is one of my favourites on the whole river, the Durris Stream. I love fishing this pool but it turned out to be a fruitless run through it. I was really surprised to see very few kelts splashing about at the tail of the pool under the wires. Keith instructed me just to carry on into Beat 5 and fish the Ash Tree pool. There were plenty kelts showing in here but apart from 2 plucks at my fly that was it.

I always look forward to my February day at Park and although I had nothing to show for my efforts, it was great to be out on the river fishing again. Not quite grasped how to use my new camera yet so apologies for the  quality but here are some pictures from my first outing of 2013.

Park Inn. This is the pool I started my day in on Beat 1.

Silver Spoon. This is the top pool of the Park beat. A nice cast and easy to wade.

Castleton. I had my first offer of the day opposite the
hut but it didn't stick.

House Pool. Another nice cast and had a pull near the tail of the pool.

Durris Stream. This is a cracking pool and produces a lot of fish through-out the season from both banks.

River Dee @ Middle Drum 03/03/2012

My friend Charlie and I had booked a day on Middle Drum back in December and had been looking forward to it since then. It is always a pleasure fishing with Shane Christie the ghillie. He is great company and always up for a laugh and a bit of craic. He also knows his beat inside out, having been there since he left school.
Prior to going Charlie and myself had our pre-trip phone calls as the excitment grew. Discussing tactics, flies and the post fishing pints in the Irvine Arms! A vigilent eye was kept on the FishDee website all week and we were buoyed by the fact Tilbouries opposite had a fish on Thursday.
I picked up Charlie on Saturday morning and was welcomed in as usual and treated to a bacon buttie and a cup of tea. We set off and arrived at the beat about 8.40am and tackled up. We met Shane at his hut along with Jim who we have fished with a few times before. After discussing tactics we were alocated our pools for the morning. I was to fish the Lawson with Jim and Charlie headed up to the Island and Cairnton. There were lots of kelts showing and a few Springers showed too. We both tried as best we could to cast a line into the driving rain and gales, try as we might though, it was not happening. We had to re-cast between gusts and even then it was coming right back at us!
None of us even had a touch for the morning and it was to be the same story in the afternoon. Conditions were much better after lunch and the rain finally stopped too. I fished all the way down from the Island, through Cairnton, Lawson and Kelpie pools without eevn a pull. Charlie was the same. The fish just were not for catching, even the kelts were pre-occupied with something else.
We had a great day out, although none of us hooked anything. It was good to catch up with Shane again as it's a beat I have enjoyed fishing everytime I've been and will do again. Here are some pictures from our day.

Looking upstream from the tail of the massive Lawson Pool. Fishing from the bank all the way down.

Looking upstream from the Kelpie Pool. This is a cracking low water pool and has accounted for a few 30lb plus fish.

The rain has gone and Im fishing down the top pool, the Island Run. Another good wee pool. You fish it by wading the top part and off the bank after the tree mid way down..

Cairnton Pool. Wading is essential here unless water is very high. The Tilbouries hut in the background.

Having the final few casts on the Lawson at dusk.

Ghillie Shane Christie and myself. Good guy and great company.

Three Days At Park By Charlie Robertson

I had my annual 3 day trip to the Park beat on the Aberdeenshire Dee this week. I fished from Monday to Wednesday. The river was in good nick and was up slightly from the weekend. There was 5 (Jerrys) Springers caught during my 3 days. A beauty of 18lb out of the Boat pool from the North bank on Wednesday by a very good angler. It was dripping with long-tailed sea lice. There was also another angler who landed his first ever fish. It weighed 15lbs and had shoulders like a brick layer! Hope he doesn't think it's that easy all the time! I finished up with 13 kelts but the springers were playing hard to get. I did hook one in the bum and it took off like a steam train. Tearing all my line and backing from my reel and leading a merry dance down the pool. I finally got it under control and it came in tail first. When I first hooked it, I thought it was a prized Dee springer but not to be. Fairly got the ticker going though. Had a lovely few days and Keith Cromar is a topper of a guy and a class ghillie to boot. Here are some pictures from my trip and hope you enjoy them. Be back next year to try it all again. Charlie Robertson.

13 kelts for my 3 days. Keith Cromar fairly spurs you on. Great Ghillie.

The concrete path down Park Inn. Im using a int/sink1, 10ft fast sink tip and a 1.5" Monkey. Looking into the Boat Pool.

Two anglers making their way down the Durris Stream in hope of a Dee springer.

Fishing the Bridge Pool on beat 6. You wade out to the shingle bar and fish over to Jim Paton's Upper Drum/Lower Durris bank. Lovely cast. The bridge in the picture is Park Bridge.