[Noel Kelly]

Was also out last night, what a difference a week and a half has made it was dark at 10.30 whereas last time i didnt come off the river until midnight:cry loads of surface activity on the pool i chose, some huge sedges about including the biggest I have seen on the don.
There were several fish feeding on the surface including a few in the less than 1lb category one a bit bigger and one a lot bigger.
Of course both better fish were out of reach so I eventually went for one of the smaller rises which was a lively 3/4 lbr which jumped a few times and put everything in the pool down and they stayed down
Feckin fish.
Didnt see any lightning ???

[John Reid]

Did you get the fish on a sedge Iain?  Maybe it was a UFO I spotted over Udny!!!! 

I am just en route to the Ythan at Ellon to try for brown trout but anyone I have spoken to so far has no experience of them on.

[Iain Goolager]

John, I am not An Chuellioggs

Iain

[Noel Kelly]

Hi John black klink with orange thorax size 16 always picks up one or 2 when they are feeding hard. TBH I don't think fly choice matters that much, its more getting something edible and natural looking to come into their field of vision which can be quiet small when they are high in the water.   

[Iain Goolager]

Had a couple of hours t'other night.

Multitude of Sedge species flying about over the water and some large buzzers emerging too but very  few rises.



3 bigger boys showed face infrequently but were too far to reach from the bank & wading, even in this low water, was impossible.

Had to satisfy myself with covering reachable fish in the 1/2 - 1 lb range. Which was frustrating in calm water so I opted for fishing a micro caddis on 1.75lb Orvis double strength tippet.

A couple of casts at a decent ringed rise seen this welcome blighter sip down the fly.


Quite challenging but still exciting.

Iain

[Noel Kelly]

Recently have seen a few large fish rocket high out of the water and drop back with an almighty splash. Only happens once and each time has been towards the head of the pool. Have seen it clearly twice and both looked like browns. Any ideas what this is about?
Also how likely is it that fresh sea trout are still coming into the river, had a chase from a fish of about 1.5lbs last night, bright silver.
 

[Noel Kelly]

Nice pics Iain especially that emerging buzzer

[Iain Goolager]

Thanks Noel, the buzzer was taken while moving away from me in the slow current and from a fuhrer distance than I would have liked (by the time I got the camera out and switched the settings,etc.)

Really wished I'd a bandy net and a decent camera as the fly life was amazing - I'd really like to be able to see photo's of the sedges in flight as I think you'd get a better feel for their colours, shape & possibly, species.

Iain

[Ben Dixon]

Superb Iain,

Brave using 8x tippet mate    I think that caddis is a sandfly, not got the latin name to hand.  Nice pics.


Cheers

Ben

[Iain Goolager]

I took his picture as he stood out from the crowd. I was looking at the ADAA fly calendar last night and I did wonder about the Sand Fly - purely from it being a sandy colour perspective which is hardly scientific  (I guess if you are from Tennerife then it's not sandy coloured  ).                          Rhyacophila Dorsalis

I just thought that I'd give the fine tippet a bash and as the fly was tied on a size 20 OE nymph emerger hook, which is very 'pliable', I knew that I'd be taking things easy - although everthing was fine I think I'll stick to a min of 8X................but it was fun.

Iain

[Matt Henderson]

I can't quite beleive that nobody has commented on this.  Iain WTF is that you are wearing?  Have you been raiding the bargain bin at your local tweed shop?

(It's good to be back!)

Matt

[Jim Eddie]

Matt

You think thats bad you should see him in the Burberry one 

 

Jim

[Iain Goolager]

Laugh away you dweebs - It won't look so funny when I'm wearing it & cradleing some awesome Salmonoids.
 
Matt, are you still wearing your Pietro Del Adonis fishing waistcoat?

Nice!

Fishin' Chav

[Matt Henderson]

Matt, are you still wearing your Pietro Del Adonis fishing waistcoat?

Eh? I have no idea what you mean. 

 I'm more of a man at george type of man myself.  Although I am known to cut a dash in a skirt..

[Iain Goolager]

Out last night and there was a reasonably steady showing of fish in the 1/2 - 1lb bracket with two or three larger fish showing over the other bank 

Casting was a little tricky especially with the high veg & a steep bank behind. I'm positive the fish could see my fly so something must have been wrong!
Dropping to 2.75lb OSS tippet I fished with a little more confidence, for a while.

When all seemed lost I threw the fly at a rising fish which landed 20" or so upstream of it's rise then bang FINALLY one was on. He was a fine golden fish of about 1 1/4lb. I did take a couple of photo's but when trying to download them yesterday the SD card played up and I pressed re-configure or something and they were wiped.................silly boy.

So you'll have to make do with the fly


I trolled the banks as the evening wore on but there wasn't anything within my presentation capabilities to aim for.
Moving back to where I caught the first fish I saw one worth tackling. Fading light and a small fly had me guessing where the fly was and lifting on every rise. Just when I was considering retiring to the fridge another fine Trout sipped down the fly, this time he was smaller at about 3/4lb but a nice way to build up thirst.

Iain

[John Reid]

Decided to go out tonight to try out my new rod and reel as I couldn't wait to get out (literally was like a kid with a new toy).

Was a fair few fish rising about 8pm but I was not having any luck with big fish but got one around 1/2 lb on a size 20 midge.  When it was getting grey dark I changed to an olive Klink (size 16) which  tempted my best brownie ever , I estimated it at just over 3lb.  I thought I had covered a smaller fish but after its first run I knew I was into something good.  I am still beaming from ear to ear as it put up a fight Tyson would be proud of.  I was also really happy with the mirage reel as the drag was really easily to adjust when playing the fish.

I must admit I was nervous as I was on 6x tippet and a 12 foot leader which was in and out the eyes and I had visions of it going twang.

I am away to ebay to get myself a cheap camera to keep in the waistcoat pocket as the iphone is useless in the dark.

[Iain Goolager]

Hi John,

What rod did you buy?

Well done with the Brownie  Yes a camera is a must.
Sometimes it's very difficult to tell the size of the fish by the rise and to begin with I'd cover anything that you KNOW isn't a parr.

Well done again with a great Brownie on the dry.

Iain

[John Reid]

Managed to get out yesterday afternoon in the sunshine for some peace and quiet at Kinaldie.  There was not a lot rising, i managed one small fella about 3/4 lb which really brightened up my day.  I even managed a picture on my phone before I stuck him back.

[Iain Goolager]

Pictures at last - nice Trout Johnny

Reel's ok too I guess 

Iain

[Ben Dixon]

Got out today for a few hours.....

Lost a salmon at the net, another one after about 2 mins fight and moved several to Sunrays, none of which were hooked.  No fish on the bank but good fun, plenty of fish about just now.  May get a few hours in tomorrow afternoon too 

Cheers

Ben

[Matt Henderson]

Got out today upstream of inverurie. Great conditions for it. I lost a fish. But the beat had eight fish! Great day out lots of fish showing. Should be a good back end!

[Hamish Young]

Good news indeed 

H 

[Noel Kelly]

Went down the river tonight armed with a rather large streamer. Seen two large trout taking fry but no pulls. It nearly makes me wanna   to think there is only 2 weeks left in the brownie season.

[Matt Henderson]

Managed about an hour and a bit today on the Don today.  I found the only bit of the beat was vaguely sheltered from the wind but an hour was enough.  The wind was swirling so what at one point as a downstream wind was an upstream wind within a few seconds which mid cast is more than a little disconcerting.  It was a day for double speys and circles/snap Ts.  Single spey casts were out because the anchor was blown away! Had one good pull, took a few yards of line and then nothing.  There's always tomorrow.

[Ben Dixon]

Some success over the last three days.....

Fished on Wednesday for a few hours on the upper river without a touch from any salmon although I did get a nice trout of 3lb on a Sunray.

Yesterday on another upper beat we had a fish each and moved a few more, clarity was good when we turned up at about 12PM although the river was still raging through at over 2' above normal level.  Few pics from yesterday


Lee into a fish on the 6wt

And the fish, coloured hen fish of about 6lb


Fished today, weather was really grim but river was in perfect shape until it came up and coloured at about 3PM.  Managed two fish, both on pulled Sunrays.

Grim weather, rained hard all day.



First fish was a cock of 12lb, skillfully folded into the Maclean trout net by Lee


Second another cock of about 5.5lb.


If anyone is thinking of heading out tomorrow I would go fish as far up river as possible.  The river was fishable at the top end yesterday when it was bank high at Kintore & Inverurie.


Cheers

Ben