[Graham Nicol]

Well another season beckons and let's hope it is a good one. Tight lines to all those venturing out for that elusive unicorn the Springer

[Mike Barrio]

Nice one Graham, I hope you enjoy a good season 

[Gavin Stevenson]

had quick hour at parkhill today around 12.00, a few large olives but only occasional risers, missed one on large CDC olive 

[Sandy Nelson]

So my first couple of weeks have been a story of poor shift timing, with the river all but unfishable on my days off.  However I did manage the odd fish on the nymph as I didn’t see a rising fish until last Saturday. Despite there being a few March browns and Large dark olives about



Saturday however saw some excellent hatches of March Browns and a few feeding fish. All quite close to the bank but some pretty nice ones





Cdc spider with the partridge was the business



Sunday saw a nicer day, but a lot less flies And consequently less rising fish. I did manage to find some late afternoon again picking off the MBs





Monday was back to cold and miserable and an upstream breeze. By 2pm I thought it was a write off but then the odd fly appeared and from half 2 to half 3 there was a decent LDO hatch with a sprinkling of MBs.
The fish were tight into the bank and in the slack water at the edges of the streams picking off LDOs



The plume tip was the medicine this time, it makes a great searching fly too, but it worked a treat on these risers.





All great fun on the glass rod, which actually made light work of the conditions. A new best friend methinks 



And this morning I sit here watching the rain….again…….don’t you just love April 

[Michael Kearney]

Thanks Sandy, that is a first class fishing report. Great to read about your early season experiences.
Can you say a little more about the action and performance of your TMR glass rod, and the line you are using with it?

[Sandy Nelson]

Thats a question that deserves a post of its own Michael.
I'll put one in the Tackle Column 

[Andrew Boswell]

Love that artisan reel Sandy 

[John Wastle]

Some cracking fish there Sandy.

A question for the wider forum. I am planning to visit the Don for trout for a few days towards the end of the month. My knowledge is limited to a couple of previous visits and whats online. I'm looking at availability on Fishpal and have a few ideas but if anyone is willing to let me run  couple of thoughts by them via pm I'd be obliged.
Regards
John

[Steven Kidd]

I am hoping to star my campaign soon.......I am just never home when the river is right.....this weather is so frustrating!!

Steven

[Sandy Nelson]

In the past week I managed a couple of days where there was a fishable river, then we had some shocking weather 
Before it turned to shit I managed a few on March browns and LDOs including some crackers.





Even managed a blank on a day when the daffys were more welcoming than the fish



Fortunately work got in the way during the week and today was my first chance to get back out. I found a river at a lovely height and colour but still running at 7degrees.  LDOs from early afternoon brought a few to the top



However at 3.30 some March Browns started to appear and some of the bigger ones started to move, but they were hard to spot





Interesting that I took my last fish at around 4.45pm on a spent spinner.
Next few days look to be fairly stable so fingers crossed it becomes a bit more consistant

[Mike Barrio]

Nice one Sandy, fingers crossed for a bit of settled weather 

[Michael Kearney]

Interesting and enlightening to read that you caught an early season fish on a spent spinner, Sandy. We know that female spinners of both species return to the water to lay their eggs, otherwise we wouldn’t see duns the following year, but I think your report is the first reference I have read of an angler taking trout in April on a spinner pattern of either a Large Dark Olive or a March Brown. Did you see natural spinners on the water and any indications that fish were feeding on them?
Lovely to see daffodils in flower.
Thanks again for sharing details of your early season success.

[Sandy Nelson]

Hi Michael

During the afternoon I was watching the March Brown Spinners egg laying during the LDO hatch. and later when the March Browns started after 3.30pm I saw a few spent March Brown spinners in the water. The two fish I spotted rising sporadically late afternoon, appeared during the March Browns. the first one took the CDC and Partridge Spider which kind of works as an Emerger, cripple or spinner so I'm usually covering most bases. The other fish wouldn't look at it, I tried Olive dries and emergers and it wouldn't look at them either so I did wonder if it was feeding on terrestrials, however having seen the spinners earlier I thought i'd try one first. I only had spinners in 14-18 sizes so I though i'd try the 14, it was a touch small but the fish took it second drift very confidently, in fact I needed my forceps to get the fly out past the teeth. So the fish definitely wanted it. They were my best 2 fish of the day.
 

The water was nice and clear and I managed to catch this image

[Michael Kearney]

Thanks, Sandy. I look out for the spinners of March Browns and LDOs early in the season and carry a few spinner patterns just in case, but I’ve not yet found spinner feeders in April. As your report demonstrates, it is certainly worth attempting to discern the range of food items available at the surface when trout are up and rising and taking time to change fly to give them what they want.
Good to see wild fish in fine condition.

[Mike Barrio]

Enjoyable afternoon on the water today in good company .....  not ideal conditions, quite a brisk/cold wind with a bit of rain thrown in to keep it interesting ...... but there were fish to be caught during the sporadic hatches 

[Gavin Stevenson]

had some success lower Don on wet fly, Greenwell, pn Saturday and Sunday. Same observation Mike that risers were sporadic

[Al Greig]

Hi all. I don't get up to the Don so often these days, but a visit to my bruv in Aberdeen at the weekend left me with an opportunity. I visited a stretch I've fished a few times before, but usually later in the season. Getting away at all in spring is difficult due to work commitments. Anyway - arrived around 11.30 in light drizzle, but practically no wind. I wandered downstream intending to fish back up to the car. Turned out I stayed on the same long slow pool for three hours! After midday the odd riser appeared. A while after that, the odd upwing drifted downstream. Then a few more. Pretty much an ongoing on and off trickle hatch of March Browns and LDO's for the next hour and a half or so. It was a lovely afternoon! First fish took a big spider with gusto, and I probably should have stuck with that but I'm a sucker for rising trout so switched to a big DHE. Lots of ignored presentations, but enough acceptances to make me stay with it. As the trickle of fly slowed there was still one committed riser midstream. By this point I'd switched to a #14. And lo, it worked. I don't have a huge number of big Scottish river brownies under my belt, and this was the second at this weight. Well chuffed

[Mike Barrio]

Nice one Al 

[Sandy Nelson]

Great Stuff Al

Been the story of the last few days (read 3 weeks) that.  Sticking it out in good looking water to spot a couple of rising fish during some of the small bursts of flies.  Worth it though 

[Sandy Nelson]

So I managed to hit the only sustained hatch I’ve seen on Sunday for an hour.



Steady flow of March Browns



Led to a few nice fish to the net





Monday saw me downstream for a nice afternoon with MrB.
Back to sporadic bursts of fly and a biting wind. Still a few fish to be found in certain spots.



Tuesday was horrible and I never saw a fish rise so buggered off after a couple of hours.

Wednesday was warmer and I managed to find some stretches out of the breeze where the MBs were popping off.
I sat on a pool where I’ve spent several hours on a particular fish in the last few days. Having spooked him on two previous occasions, this time he accepted my offering



Definitely worth the effort

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Sandy - gotta love how you're not feared to get your camera under the water 

[John Wastle]

Lovely fish above, and encouraging as I have a pass to fish the Don a couple of days this weekend   

John

[Dave Robb]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2qvdr3zq3xo

Oil spillage at Dyce. 

Not good.

[Sandy Nelson]

I've been watching that one to Dave.
Not the first time unfortunately, hopefully they get it cleaned up soon.

I've had a couple of great sessions upstream this week , with good hatches of LDO's and March browns on Monday afternoon.







Yesterday I went out early hoping for some Olive uprights at long last as they seem to be quite late this year. it was only LDO's on the go early doors



However from 2pm onwards we had a fairly steady hatch of OU's



This lead to quite a few nice fish coming on a steady rise.





last fish of the afternoon was a real bruiser, well chuffed.



So a really good week so far and now the OU's have started we should get some cracking dryfly action for the next 2 to 3 weeks.

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Sandy 

Feels like a good time to study the Olive Upright in the photo, the Large Dark Olive you posted on the Stream, and perhaps a bit of revision.

Natural Flies Of The River Don https://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/river-don-natural-flies.html

Sandy's River Fly Box https://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/sandys-river-fly-box.html

Tactics for the River Don https://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/river-don-trout-tactics.html