[Graham Nicol]

Just finished 3 days on beats around Alford. Thursday saw a brown river to start with due to overnight rain but it cleared as the day went on. However, neither saw nor touched a thing. Next day river was in lovely condition and managed a small grille on a cascade. Final day, yesterday, saw the river down a lot and water was very clear. However, fortune smiled and my buddy had 2 on ally's and I caught one on a small bottle tube. Fish were all coloured and over the 3 days I saw only 2 fish when in past seasons at this time of the year they were showing everywhere. My fear is stocks are down but I hope to be wrong. Nevertheless a good brief trip

[Matt Henderson]

Glad you managed a few fish the rain on Wednesday was a godsend but we need more. I suspect that catches are limited by water levels, I hope not to be proved wrong next season if we get more rain!

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Graham

Pleased to see you had a few fish between you, that's the first time we've seen any colour in the water for a good while. I'm not surprised that there aren't many fish up there for the time of year.

Best wishes
Mike

[Mike Barrio]

Plenty of water flowing down the street just now, this rain should hopefully bring the river up a bit

Cheers
Mike

[Matt Henderson]

The river Don salmon can spawn without fear now.  Had my last cast for the 2013 season today.  Miserable conditions, although the river was in good condition there were a few coloured fish showing here and there.  In the end Dad and I gave up and went scone hunting instead!  Tight lines to the rest of you for the last few days of the 2013 season. 

Roll on February and plenty of rain and snow to give us water for 2014!

Matt

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Matt .... better luck next year

Cheers
Mike

[Jonathan Kerr]

Thats my season officially over too.

Saw a few coloured fish this morning, didn't connect with anything. Only fresh fish i saw was being carried along the bank by another angler.  Oh well,

Roll on next season!

[Mike Barrio]

It has been an interesting season, quite a few friends have commented on this proving to be one of their best years on the river

Cheers
Mike

[Mike Barrio]

I wonder what everybody's thoughts are about this past season of such low water conditions? Was it a bad season, or did we perhaps learn one or two things about the river from it?

Best wishes
Mike

[Iain Cameron]

I wonder what everybody's thoughts are about this past season of such low water conditions?

Certainly saw a few rocks and ledges that I'd not been familiar with - low water is good for revealing the river bed.

I'd a hugely enjoyable season on the Don, and was lucky enough to get out a fair bit.

A few wee highlights for me:

I made more trips (well, 2 minute scrambles down the hill) to the river near my house rather than jumping in the car and heading further inland. Sometimes just for casting, sometimes just for 45 mins, sometimes for a good long mooch around. Spotted, watched, raised, hooked and lost a decent brownie within eyesight of the house, That was cool, and it's nice to just pull on the waders and walk to the river.

All over the rivers, I saw a lot of otters this season, including one wee chap who came up with a rod's distance while I was hiding bankside.

Watched a couple of big trout hammering wee sticklebacks in inches of water just off a main seam, while I crouched in the reeds a couple of yards downstream. Cursed and swore that I only had a box of dries with me that day, with the one stray nymph pattern being taken and spat out before I could react. Great excitement, and I couldn't believe that I didn't spook the fish - i suspect that they were so focussed on the feeding that they couldn't care less. Tried to return to that spot a couple of times, but got chased off by cows. Not fun!

Watched, rose and hooked a kelt of 8-9lb on a DHE. That was fun on the 5wt.

Got to play with Sandy's Epic. Fun, and an interesting diversion.

Solved a couple of fishy challenges with simple fly inventions - one, a red spinner with deer hair wings for sipping late night trouts - it proved tasty to many trout during the day too. I'll tie a couple up and post the pattern. And late on, frustrated by wee trout clearly nymphing (I could see them from an elevated position), I enjoyed the challenge of creating just the right size & profile of spider pattern (18, black thread, partridge) to get immediate takes (after going through the whole range of fave/trusted patterns with no success on successive sessions).

So, was the low water an issue? Well,  we didn't get flooded out, the weather was pleasant for normal people (ie, not us rain loving anglers) and since we cannot change the weather, we just have to roll with it and make the best.

So, maybe no lunkers, but lots of great fish and lots of varied locations Donside too; roll on 2014!

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Iain, I enjoyed reading that

Cheers
Mike

[Sandy Nelson]

Well 2013 has been the best season i've had on the river since i was a loon, granted i'm a trout man I have managed quite a few PB's

I've fished quite a few beats over the course of the season, although once i got past july i have leaned towards the Ocean going variant and with the low water have tended towards the briny. I've had some fantastic company on most of my trips and have shared in some fantastic fishing, especially back in April/May when the River really did fish very well. I have met a lot of great fisherman both local and international and have noticed that the KISS principle comes though strongest with the best of them. I have also enjoyed some solitary sojourns to settle the mind and just experience the river in its purest form.

Perhaps now as an Adult and without the overwhelming urge to get the line wet, i have managed to employ many of the tips and advice i've received over the years. This has meant much more attention to the water and actively trying to hunt out the fish. When i have done this over the years i have always done well, but this year i have managed to be disciplined enough to employ the technique on all my trips. It really makes so much difference

The other thing i have been trying this year is limiting my selection of flies, after many of the pre and early season discussions on the forum, and many years of knowing that the fly selection is not a big issue as long as you get the proportions and shade about right and can present it correctly. It has really paid off and i i think i have only used 4 basic flies all season for trout.
On the suggestions of many of you i have persevered with the DHE and it has been consistantly my best fly all year, accounting for quite a lot of good sized fish. I have fished it in a 12,14 with deer hair and a 16 with Snowshoe, just as Bob reccomends, tied in a dark and light variation it has been my goto fly in every day time hatch and has been received confidently on every occasion. It was responsible for the best days Dryfly fishing i've ever had when i managed to fish the whole day with just 1 fly and caught more good sized trout in the one day than i did in many of my early seasons
Fabulous fishing
Pre hatch and post hatch and sometimes during the hatch i have had quite a few fish on the waterhen bloa in a 12,14. This includes the largest river trout i've hooked on the fly, which i subsequently lost at the net and the biggest trout i've landed from the river since 1991, both took the Spider
On an evening i've found the CDC and elk to be an awesome compatriot (another top notch recommendation ), along with the SHE and a tiny black klinkhammer. And have had some great fishing on beats that are new to me again in some great company.

I think limiting the flies has meant i've concentrated more on fishing (as many of you already know ) and this has made a huge difference to my days out.

August/September i have spent almost exclusively on the Ythan but thats another story of PB's

So my season for the river has be magic, so big thanks to all those who kept me company and inspired confidence in decisions that have given me some of the best fishing i have had anywhere in the world

The plan for the winter........ to make some ammunition

Sandy

[Iain Cameron]

... and without the overwhelming urge to get the line wet...

great post Sandy.
 
And your point about sometimes keeping the line dry, and thinking, watching, waiting is worth repeating.

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Sandy, I enjoyed reading that

I spent hours walking the banks and watching too ...... I had great plans for this year, but didn't go often enough or at the right time

Cheers
Mike

[Allan Liddle]

Great post Sandy 

[Marc Fauvet]