Castle Forbes - River Don

Last year I organised a day on the Castle Forbes beat of the River Don. Despite the low water we managed to catch 3 fish for our day so I decided to book the same day for this year. There were some coincidental similarities from our day this year compared to last year. For example, the river was around the 4" mark, we got rain the night before, and we had 8 rods fishing. I'm not superstitious but I had a good feeling about the day because of this.

The River Don at Castle Forbes.

L to R. Charlie, Bill, Nicky, Andy, Kenny, Philip and Paul.

We arrived at the Castle Forbes about 8.15am and I introduced any unacquainted rods with each other. As we are all, what could be only be described as obsessive fishermen, it wasn't long before we all got chatting about the state of salmon stocks and tales from seasons past and present. Some rods had driven several hours to be there but these meets are always worth the travelling even if nothing is caught. As the river was very low and running crystal clear it was a case of using light rods and floating lines. I was using my 13ft rid and a floating AFS shooting head with a 5ft intermediate tip. Fly of choice was a #9 Kinermony Killer. Incidentally, the same set up and fly that did the business for me here last year.

Lower Bankhead on Beat 4.

An Osprey hovering over the Fir Tree Pool on Beat 4.

Looking upstream from the tail of Lower Auchreddachie. A cracking wee pool.

The Castle Forbes beat is roughly 4.5 miles double bank with a Keig Bridge crossing the Don about half way. We split ourselves into two groups with three rods above the bridge and five below for the morning session. Philip, Charlie and I were allocated the upper pools and as neither Philip or Charlie had fished the beat before it was down to me to point them in the right direction. Charlie opted for the  upper most pools of the beat and Philip and I started in the Upper Auchreddachie and Lower Auchreddachie respectively. The sun was high in the sky but a strong breeze had kicked up and this made casting difficult at times. Despite our best efforts and fishing the deeper and more likely spots, we couldn't temp a salmon but Philip did have a brief encounter with a good trout.

Fishing my way into the Broom pool.

Looking down Philips pool. A bit on the low side for in here but a few trout were rising.

Philip Black fishing the Sawmill Pool.

Looking upstream from Keig Bridge into the Bridge Pool.

Lord and Lady Forbes were kind enough to give us a room in the Estate office to have lunch in which was appreciated by all anglers. It was good to sit down together and chat, especially the guys who hadn't met before. I'm sure there have been some new friends made from this which is the whole point of these meets. Sadly, there were no fish caught up to lunch time by any of the rods unlike last year when we had two on the bank by this time. Nobody had seen any sign of a salmon either but this was understandable given the low water conditions. It's just the way it goes sometimes when booking fishing so far in advance.

The Hydro Scheme on the Craig Pot. Not sure it is doing the pool any good to be honest with the extra flow it creates.

Looking downstream from the Craig Pot with the old "shankin' brig" over the pool.

Charlie fishing down Lower Deepstane.

Looking upstream from the Lower Deepstane pool.

The angry goose which took offense at my fly line and chewed through it!

A few of the rods decided to call it a day after lunch but myself, Charlie, Philip and Bill stuck it out. We all opted to fish the lower part of the beat with our efforts concentrating on the Craig Pot, the three Deepstane pools and Phemie. Charlie and I fished the right bank whilst Philip and Bill fished opposite. We covered plenty water with several different approaches but we couldn't temp any salmon. I did nowhere have an encounter with an angry goose! I was fishing down the Nursery Pool when a goose came swimming upstream and took a dislike to my fly line. It grabbed the line in its beak and began to shake its head. I quickly pulled the line away but on closer inspection afterwards, the goose had chewed my line and almost cut it in two! I had only used it about four times and it was now in need of a serious repair. We made our way back to the car park at the Craig Pot for a chat before heading home. We left the beat about 5.30pm with the Sun still slitting the sky.

Donside's most famous landmark; Bennachie

It was great to meet everyone again on the Don. Just a pity the weather and fishing gods were against us this time but we all gave it a good go regardless and covered all the likely areas and pools. There was just a lack of water to encourage any fish to run up river as I firmly believe we would have caught salmon if the water was up a few more inches. Still, it was good to see the beat again and I will look forward to my next trip here and I will also look forward to meeting up the the lads again on another meet somewhere in the near future.

Brae Water - River Spey

I had 3 days fishing on the Brae Water beats of the River Spey last week with my pal Charlie. The water was on the high side for the lower beats the water temperature was hovering around the 48f mark. We were fishing Beat 5 on the Thursday, Beat 3 on the Friday and Beat 4 on the Saturday.

Beat 5

The Beat 5 fishing hut.

We arrived on Speyside full of the usual optimism before any trip away and we were greeded by the ghillies who we meet in the Gordon Arms Hotel car park on the morning on every day. We were introduced to the new beat 5 ghillie, The river was sitting at 1ft 7in on the gauge and was crystal clear. The sun was splitting the sky as well but despite conditions seemingly against us we fished hard. I did see a couple of fish through out the day, one in Lilley's and one in the Grilse Pool. One of the rods also had a good take in the Upper Dipple which didn't stick unfortunately.

The Dipple. Beautiful piece of water and

Lilley's. I saw a fish show in here down near the tail of the pool.

Bulwarks. The Fochabers Bridge in the backgorund.

Neither Charlie nor I had a touch for our efforts but we gave it our best shot. Despite the water being on the high side the pools fished very well and new beat ghillie, David, who has moved down from Beat 1 made sure we fished the likely lies and kept the encouragement going. I'm sure he will be an ample replacement for Blair Banks who has moved downstream to the Castle Water.

The Dipple pool from the opposite bank.

Looking upstream in the Grilse Pool. There was a fish showed in here just below the boat.

Looking upstream in the Upper Dipple. Another lovely cast.

Beat 5 is a cracking beat and has some fantastic pools. It was the first time I have had a cast in the Upper Dipple and I thoroughly enjoyed fishing it but I can't see past the Grilse Pool which is my favourite cast on the beat. I will look forward to fishing it on my next visit.

Beat 3

The view looking upstream into the Otter's Cave pool from the hut on Beat 3.

Our second day on the picturesque Brae Water was on Beat 3. Head Ghillie Ian Tennant is always good company and his enthusiasm for the Spey after 33 years in the job is infectious and he keeps your spirits high even on the quietest of days. This make the day much more enjoyable and it's always a pleasure chatting with him during the day.

Ian and Charlie pose for a photo with the red cliffs of the Lord March pool in the back ground.

Charlie and I on the Lord March pool.

The water height on our second day had risen about 2in from the day before due to snow melt and was now sitting at 1ft 9in on the gauge.The water temp was still around the 48f mark and we had the bright, cloudless skies to contend with for a majority of the day again. Charlie and I fished the lower half of the beat in the morning and this included the majestic Aultdearg Pool with the stunning red cliffs over looking the pool. Sadly it didn't produce any salmon but I managed to connect with one of the many sea trout kelts in the pool. They were feeding on the ample supply of upwinged flies that hatched every afternoon but one fish took a liking to a Sunray Shadow.

Aultdearg with the cliffs overlooking the pool just after starting about 9.30am.

Charlie and I fishing down Aultdearg around mid morning time. The cloud cover didn't stay for long!

The tail of Aultdearg basking in the sunshine.

 After a nice lunch and some good craic with fellow rods Iain and Rab it was off for a crack at the Lord March pool. Charlie and I bith had several ruins down the pool with out a touch and I had a run through the Lower Ewe with the same result. I did however have a cast with the dry fly for trout and managed to hook a few but I'm a bit out of practice with striking the trout and I managed to miss the lot of them!

Looking downstream in Otter's Cave from outside the fishing hut.

Fishing down the beautiful Lord March pool.

Looking upstream into Beat 2 from the Lower Ewe pool.

Beat 3 is another lovely bit of water which fishes the fly very well indeed. The Aultdearg pool as I have mentioned before is stunning and the scenery surrounding it makes it all the better. The red cliffs are a prominent feature on several beats on the lower Spey and it add to the character of the place. Sadly, again we didn't manage to winkle out a springer but I have blanked in much worse looking places!