First Outing Of The Season - Park On The River Dee 11/02/2012

Fished on the Park beat of the River Dee yesterday. I was drawn Beat 5 before lunch and Beat 1 after. Conditions were perfect, rising river temperature, nice height, clear and no wind. Sadly no fish either. A ghillie from the Spey's Wester Elchies beat landed a springer about 6lbs under the wires in the Durris Stream from the South bank. The beat was fished by some top class anglers on both banks(not me!) yesterday. Plenty kelts caught through-out the day and I could only lose 1 in the morning from Durris Stream and had another on and off later on. I tried various lines from a Guideline H/I/S3, Vision ACE S1/S2, an intermediate AFS and an AFS floater. A varied range of tips and many different flies of all sizes and weights. Nothing worked for me yesterday, just one of those days I think. I'll have to wait until the 23rd and try it all again. Here are some pictures from my day.

Fishing down the Durris Stream. The fisher on the South bank had a 6lb Springer about 5 minutes after I took this picture.

Making my way down the top of the Celler. Cracking pool to fish.

A photo of the hut at Park from the middle of the Celler.

Working my way down the Celler Pool. Most of the fish showing were over at the far bank and required wading out and a good long cast to cover them.

I started my afternoon in the Silver Spoon pool which is named after the spinning lure. Interesting to hear how pools get their names.

Looking down stream towards Bulwarks from the Park Inn hut. Fished all the way down from Silver Spoon through the Boat pool and Park Inn without a touch. A rod on the South bank landed a kelt from the Boat pool.

Keith Cromar the ghillie told me to fish Upper Kirks for the last hour before dark. I fished it all the way down to Lower Kirks but day light disappeared quickly and I called it a day about 5.15pm. Had a wee pull just off the stones but that was all for my afternoon's efforts.

Dangle A Carrot!

I have been at the vice tonight in preparation for my coming visit to Park this Saturday and have been inspired by Ballogie Ghillie Sean Stanton's blog http://theballogiebeats.blogspot.com/ . I have tied up some Red and Black Francis tubes and a Red Snaelda. Not nearly as good as his but enjoyed tying them up. Practise makes perfect as they say. Here are a few pictures of my tyings. Hope you like them.

Red Francis. Tied on copper and aluminium tubes.

Black Francis. Also tied on copper and aluminium tubes.

Red Snaelda. Tied on a 1" aluminium tube.

Group shot on my home made fly hedgehog!

Park Beat River Dee 13-08-2011

Had a day on Park today. With the rise of water on Wednesday it was falling away nicely until last night when heavy rain caused the river to rise a few feet. After the beat having 8 fish yesterday I thought with all the extra water my jinx was going to strike again! When I arrived at the hut around 8.15am the river was rising. I was allocated beats 2 and 4. I stared in 4. The gauge was reading 56". I had a few little plucks in the Durris Stream but nothing came of them. One of the rods Gerry had a nice wee Grilse about 1 1/2lbs covered in sea-lice not long before lunch on a small stoats tail. After lunch I was shown the top of the Park beat. Gerry who I was sharing the beat with, thought it would be a good idea to have a cast in the Boat Hole. Good advice because after only a few cast I hooked into a lovely wee Grilse of about 2 1/2lbs which was also dripping in sea-lice. The fish took a self tied Black Bear Flamethrower size 13. By now the gauge was hovering about the 50" mark. Another rod, also had 2 small Grilse from the Durris after lunch but the river began to rise again back up to 56". South Park had an 8lber from Bakebare and a coloured sea-trout. I left the beat around 8pm with the gauge at 50" and dropping. Great day in unsettled high water and looking forward to going back in February. Here are some pics from today.

The Durris Stream where I began my day. I had a couple of pulls just off the point mid picture on a size 9 Park Shrimp. Didn't hook up though. The water was pretty big first thing.

Looking upstream in the Cellar Pool. Didn't have a touch in here.

After lunch I was shown the Park Inn Pool so while up here it would be worth having a cast. After only 2 or 3 cast I was into a fish just in the faster water opposite the hut. Keith, the Ghillie, arrived on the scene just in time to net a sparkling wee fish about 2.5lbs.

Not the biggest fish in the world but welcome all the same, especially as the water was so high for this pool.

Just a close up shot of the sea-lice on the gill plates. There was sea-lice along it's back too.

A quick pic for the scrap book and back it went.

Fished down through the Upper and Lower Kirks without a touch, but by this time the water had risen about 6" back up to 56".

After tea with the water quickly dropping again I headed up to fish the Castleton Pool. Didn't touch anything and fished all the way down to where I began my day. At around 8pm I headed off home. Good day just a pity there was so much water but Keith the Ghillie is good craic and we had a good laugh in the hut at finishing time. Looking forward to going back in early Spring.

First Outing Of The Season At Park Today

The famous Park beat hut on the Aberdeenshire River Dee.

Looking downstream in the Castleton Pool. I got 2 sea trout kelts at the bottom of here on a Monkey fly.

Looking downstream in the Durris Stream.

Looking upsream from the Durris to the bottom of the Cellar Pool.

Here is a few pictures from my day a Park today. The water rose a bit last night after heavy rain and the gauge read 43" this morning. No springers from the the beat today but plenty kelts.  I managed 2 sea-trout kelts which was fine to get the heart racing again and to put a bend on the rod. Both fish took a 1 inch copper Monkey just before the fly came on to the dangle in the Castleton pool. It was very wet and windy in the morning but it turned out a fine afternoon. Nice to meet the other rods. A fine bunch of lads. Keith the ghillie is also a topper of a guy. Had a good day out. Hopefully next time I'll encounter a nice Dee Springer. I will be back to try again!!!