[Iain Goolager]

Had a trip to some of the Association water today, starting off at Kemnay. Lovely morning but had to call it a day at noon as I had a severe ablution issue
Saw one fish around 2lb cruising about but no rises of note and a smattering of LDO's & MB's. Really wanted to wait around for a decent hatch but had to go. Did manage one fish around 3/4 lb on a MB spider - chock ablock with parr.

12:30ish and I was on the lower Don (already tackled up with spiders) and a decent hatch of LDO's brought surface activity in some fast water from some Parr and obviously larger fish.
A few casts over the rising fish brought a nice 1lber to the spider. This was quickly followed by another, and another........



Moving to another fast run with fish feeding on Olives I proceeded to contact a few more fish in the 1 lb range.

Fortunately the hatches were reasonably prolonged and allowed me to search out some more fast runs which seemed to be where the fish were showing more confidently.




I tallied 12  in total, all stocked  but in fighting fit condition and keen to rise.

Iain

[Hamish Young]

Nice to see you 'educating' the stockies Iain 
Tough job, but someone has to do it 

H 

[Michael Buchan]

Well done Iain  

Had an enjoyable night a kintore yesterday nothing much happening then i came across an 8 inch genius, spent half an hour trying to get him he finally took a cdc olive dun.  There were a few olives coming down the water around 8:30 but nothing moving to them.

PS Loving the lack of cows at kintore just now  

Michael

[Iain Goolager]

Loving the lack of cows at kintore just now

Too right Michael, enjoy it while you can though.

Iain

[Noel Kelly]

Was down the river last 2 evenings. This evening I walked the bank looking for surface feeding fish and saw one tiddler which had the cheek to refuse my offering.
Yesterday evening I fished a wooly bugger and had half a dozen small trout. This is the first year I have fished the river of an evening in april and I still think its still way 2 early for that approach, but with the conditions the way they are, gotta try different things because it seems to be all turned on its head this year
 

[Mike Barrio]

Same at the loch Noel, conditions feel right in the evening, but the trout are not ready yet ...... I think it will probably be a couple of weeks before things start to kick off in the evenings.

Nice to see quite a few Hawthorns about today.

Cheers
Mike

[John Reid]

Same at the loch Noel, conditions feel right in the evening, but the trout are not ready yet ...... I think it will probably be a couple of weeks before things start to kick off in the evenings.

Nice to see quite a few Hawthorns about today.

Cheers
Mike

Its the same on the Clyde.  I was out last night for a couple of hours and there were still duns coming off but very little surface activity.  There was one rising fish which kindly accepted my sparkledun but it was nothing to write home about.  I am heading back to the river now so will hopefully get a decent hatch and rise before lunchtime.

[Michael Buchan]

Was out last night.  While the sun was out it was dead but from 8-9:30 there was a steady trickle of flies coming down and quite a few fish rising to them.  Got a couple on a size 14 black klink 

Hopefully thats them starting to wake up as had a great night.

Will have another crack saturday as im one of the few poor sods having to work today 

Michael

[farrochie]

Ye were probably better off at work! I couldnae even have the wireless on for the drivvle and tripe they were spoutin.

Jimmy

[Richard Tong]

Despite our better judgement we shot up the road from Dundee yesterday morning(after a blank visit to a desperately low Annan) as forecast was for cloud around Monymusk area. The weathermen had got it wrong again and it was wtw sunshine-saw plenty of big fish (some very big ones) but mostly they were lying doggo though saw 3 rise intermittently whilst cruisin around. Did not really cast during the day,had dinner at 6pm and were back on river by 7ish. There was a very monor hatch of Olive Uprights but nae fish stirred, also was a bit of a niggly cold easterly. Did not cast at all in the evening so we both blanked without really wetting a line in anger.

We were up at 4am and shot down to the Eden where the wind was blowing a gale. However eventually found a sheltered spot and were treated to an amazing spectacle of  over 20 Trout going crazy for the Black Gnats blown onto the water in one pool, where we both had fish over to over 2lbs.

Will be back up to Don but only when there has been a significant rise in the river level and hatches (and fish) are back to normal. It's been grim this year so far...

Richard

[Noel Kelly]

Up at 4 am  good effort.

[Matt Henderson]

My Dad and I headed to Monymusk today to avoid the wedding.  As everybody else has been mentioning the river is very low and extremely clear.  The beat we were on was split in the middle with a road bridge so we parked up at the bridge.  We fished upstream of a bridge in the morning and caught a few tiddlers, fishing a nymph and spider combo.  The old man claimed to have moved a few fish but not actually connected with any.  After some coaching Dad changed his tactics after lunch.  Fished down stream of the bridge in the afternoon. There were some unidentifiable black flies coming off the water in the afternoon and also what appeared to be olive uprights but I'm not at Iain's level of insect spotting!  There appeared to a few fish rising but it wasn't obvious whether they were taking flies off the surface or below the surface.  I tried a black Klink but with no success so switched back to nymph and spider.  Interestingly we did spot a monster trout when it made a massive splash.  It refused the nymph and spider and the klink.  By the splash it made I think it was chasing fry rather than an insect.  Dad hooked into the largest fish of the day but subsequently lost it, interestingly enough on an Alexandra which might fit in with Ben's current trout theory!

Took some pics but the camera has died so hopefully they will be on the memory card.

Cheers

Matt

[Noel Kelly]

Dad hooked into the largest fish of the day but subsequently lost it, interestingly enough on an Alexandra which might fit in with Ben's current trout theory!
Matt

I don't like Ben's current trout theory.

[Matt Henderson]

Fry is where it's at Noel! 

Also think something that looked like a stonefly landed on me a couple of times.  Can anybody recommend an idiots guide to river bugs and when they appear so that I can gain some bug knowledge?

[Ben Dixon]

Hi Matt,

Matching the Hatch is a good first book and Goddards Waterside Guide is also good but a bit in depth for a first read. 

Went out tonight for a few hours but didn't even make a cast, saw parr moving and nothing else.


Cheers

Ben

[Iain Goolager]

Since Matt ditched me for his Dad I fished on the lower Don today on me own
Although it was quite pleasant while ‘tackling up’ it got quite cold and overcast as I reached the river, even threatened to rain with a few spits here and there.
Fished the nymph and spider,  Waterhen Bloa this time as it was LDO’s in prominence on the previous outing.  Although there were a reasonable amount of, what I think............... Medium Duns? (Baetis Vernus)




Managed a stocked 1lb fish on the PTN relatively early on but had to work a bit (and sit about a bit) for the next two in what was a dour morning, small fish were rising freely to both emerging and Duns of the LDO persuasion.

Midday and I went for a wander, finding larger fish rising to what turned out to be a trickle, although very prolonged show of upwinged flies. Again both duns and emergers were being taken.
This was more like it, and with a mind on the theory I heard recently that CDC flies may appear to receive more positive takes than say traditional or Klink type dries on slow calm water – on one went. Now I’m not a great believer / user of CDC flies, not due to their effectiveness but due to their lack of industrial strength (always needin’ pampering) but I had in my possession a tube of Veniards CDC oil (as described by Bigtrout in the close season ) and was keen to give it a try...................... 100% impressed. I used three different patterns and their fishability was a revelation, nice one Baz!
I lost count of the fish I caught on these ‘dries’ but it was one of the best days (couple of hours) dry fly fishing I can recall, almost every fish that showed within reach and reason was at least risen. Only 1 wild fish though @ 3/4 lb.


I think the highlight was fishing a lovely pattern which I saw in a T&S article then radically adapted – ‘MB Emerger’  March issue.

More than a little worse for wear


Quite a bit of fly life today with lots of cranes, a few sedges, wee moths, midge, etc on the go along with a fair showing of olives - didn't see a MB though.



Scierra Folding wading staff - £30 or so – absolute 100% hit, had to use it in anger earlier in the day and it saved me a soaking. Ultra light, strong and folds into a pouch which you’ll easily forget you have on.

Iain

[Sandy Nelson]

Nice photo's Iain

Looks like you are now spending your day on the river the way i used too
I love looking at the bugs.

Cheers

Missing spring on the river but perhaps not for long

Sandy

[Noel Kelly]

Good post Iain.

[Iain Cameron]

I think the highlight was fishing a lovely pattern which I saw in a T&S article then radically adapted – ‘MB Emerger’  March issue.

liking the chewed & abused flee pic!

i saw lots of hawthorns in flight yesterday, but didn't clock any being blown onto the river. a lot of big stoneflies zooming around, many of them landing on my head - from where they were flicked onto the stream and noisily chomped by the trout.

mostly caught on partdridgey spiders yesterday, but that's because that's all that I fished with... self-fulfilling prophecy!

[DJG1984]

I managed to fish The Don at Inverurie between 10am and 1pm before i had to go to work.

 Just as i was leaving my car an old lady out walking her dog stopped and spoke to me, she told me there was a man Shampooing his bloody dog in the river and had told him to stop but he didn't. How stupid are some people? Fair enough let your dog have a swim (provided its not disturbing any anglers) but shampooing the beast in the river, releasing chemicals into the eco-system.

As for my fishing, I caught 7 tiddlers and a salmon parr, all caught on MB spider. Lost one better fish on an olive klink. As others have said the water is very low and too clear right now. Got sunburt and suffered a mild dose of sun stroke all day at work.

Dave.

[Ben Dixon]

Out for a few hours tonight, fishing was pants but managed a few small fish on streamers.  There was a lot of fly life on the go, several type of midge, the odd spinner (could not get close enough to see what they were but not enough about to be significant), crane flies, hawthorns and Grannom.  First time I've seen Grannom this year, they were over the banks and in the grass until the wind ceased at about 8PM then they were hovering (laying) on the water.  Things looked like they were going to go down tonight for about 20 mins, no wind, warm flies over the water and the odd small fish starting to move.  Wind started up again and temp dropped fast, that was the end of that!!

Ben

[Noel Kelly]

Was out for a few hrs early saturday morning. Loads of fly life but didn't see anything actually hatching. Saw a few small trout rising and one lunker that must have been 4+lbs. It only rose once and I waited for about an hour. The wind got up about 10 am and seemed to kill any activity so another blank for me. 

[Ben Dixon]

There was a few small fish moving this afternoon to grannom, lasted for about an hour and started about 2.  Went back out later on and there was again a few small trout moving, nothing worth casting at really.  A lot of fly life, same as yesterday with the odd Olive Upright about too.

Ben

[Iain Goolager]

Eager to try out a couple of new CDC ties I sneaked in an hour yesterday (lower Don) late afternoon after work.



Weather was fine although there was a slight nip to the breeze & every now and again a fish would show as a puckle olives came by.
Rose and pricked a few fish but had a frustrating time getting numerous swirls from three decent trout lying along a narrow run. Frustrated I waded to the edge of the run & then had an interesting time watching them try to drown flies two or three times before finaly taking them  
Even fishing at very close range, 3 feet of fly line on the surface, checking for micro drag & trying heroically to 'not lift' when a fish swirled I finaly gave up and went for targets that should have been less difficult.

Managed a few and lost a few

A swift check of the clock and I decided to fish to a few rises over the other bank which was slacker water over a tongue of faster stuff but I wasn't to fussed about spooking anything by now.

One rise and momentary weight - then slack.  

Try further down and POP! on flies a very acrobatic trout - three 2' jumps in rapid succession allowed me to see enough to convince me it was a wild fish, and that it was.




Iain

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Iain

Reading back through your previous post ..... I can't believe the river is being stocked again!

Cheers
Mike