[Matt Henderson]

Fished the lower river on Friday and on Tuesday night.  Not a lot moving and caught nothing.  Had a guide on Friday who was putting out a very nice line with his switch rod, was extremely knowledgble about his local stretch and makes a braw cup of coffee too!  It's a bit of a mince photo due to the light and I think the lense steamed up a bit after being inside my waders!



Fished in the evening last night, must remember to put my headtorch back in my jacket!

Cheers

Matt

[Iain Cameron]

hi Matt - it was a good day's wandering around the lower Don last friday. Shame the fish didn't appear keen.
Loving using the 6wt switch rod at the moment - as a light spey-style double-hander it feels just right for the low water late summer conditions.
cheers
iain

[Steven Kidd]

I am going to try the following methods for the broons tonight for the first time.......

Czech Nymphing
French Nymphing
Polish Nymphing

I'm going to also try finding a Nymphomaniac.

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,

Skidd

[Noel Kelly]

Now you've done it. Iain will no doubt be down the river in a skirt tonight looking for you!

[josh]

Yeah I think I have common sense mike hense me saying lol at the end makes it a joke if u have common sense lol

[Iain Goolager]

 ???

Anyway, hope you are not referring to me Trig.

Good luck Stevie.

Iain

[Noel Kelly]

Ahem...of course not Iain. Nor you either Iain. It's that other Iain I'm on about the upstream nymphomaniac

[Steven Kidd]

Well the nymphing went well, never caught anything, but I now understand how it works.  I won a sage ESN on ebay by mistake and am now figuring out what it is for??.

Anyone use either nymphing methods on the Don with much success?

I am loath to go the whole french set up with no fly line, anyone tried it?

Cheers,

Steven

[Iain Goolager]

Typical, warm days and evenings and the season is fading.

Been out a few times over the last week and surface activity has been worth the trip although the larger fish have been few and far between (also, either oncers or patrolling an area too large to chance speculating in calm conditions).
Dry fly has been the order of the day as there are pods of 1/2 - 3/4lb feeding fish to be found, and spooked, with the chance of a 1lb or so fish in their midst.

A couple of photo's from the last few trips and a poor camera phone shot from tonight.










Steve,
I tried the leader to hand set up about a month ago and although it was enlightening to see that you can actually cast a 30 odd foot leader it wasn't for me, or should I say that I would prefer to 'upstream nymph' the Don with conventional kit and a 12" section of Hi Viz backing as an indicator, but what do I know........................I haven't hung the gear up by any means, just need a more suitable venue.

Iain

[Loxiafan]

Good stuff there Iain, you are certainly outgunning me just now big time, though weekday evenings are now off for me due to plank spanking duties  . The rising fish I am encountering are really finicky. Yes, French Leader stuff clearly works (see Fish On Productions vid)......but on a slow, deep flat Don 'glide' ? I am not so sure. As Bones might say: "It's fishing Jim...but not as we know it" !

Allan, I got some of your GREEN Maxima, looks good but is real "chunky munkey" stuff (3lb is 0.15mm). Looks great for 14's and 16's though. FYI the BROWN crappy stuff actually makes good tapered leaders, certainly for the first couple of sections due to it's stiffness. I think that stuff is plutonium enriched - in all my years as a kid I was never broken on Chameleon at any thickness.

Lindsay

[Noel Kelly]

Lindsay,

Dare I ask...Plank spanking???

Noel.

[Loxiafan]

Dare I ask...Plank spanking???

Nothing to do with "spanking the monkey"....though I suppose I have been called a w*nker many times..... Ask Goolager - he has been known to "spank the plank" Some of us have the privelege of doing it for a living  Ooohhhh, Matron !

L

[Iain Goolager]

was going to spank the plank tonight but the loon is in his bed sleepin'

Iain

[Matt Henderson]

I checked Urban Dictionary. It didn't explain it either Noel..

[Alex Burnett]

A lot of famous people been known to Spank the Plank...on a fairly regular basis 

Alex

[Loxiafan]

The greatest "plank spanker" of all time:



L

[Matt Henderson]

Anybody get out tonight? Should have been almost perfect, nice and steady water level, warm during the day and not too windy.

[Loxiafan]

Nice evening, had a few up to 10 oz or so, all on size 16 DHE.

First fish on (another) new Rod courtesy of Orvis (shockarooney, pic sorry):



Lindsay

[Iain Goolager]

Aye Matteus I'll bet it was

Lindsay,
nice rod, nice fish, shocking photo! 

Was there a few rising fish?

Iain

[Loxiafan]

Was there a few rising fish?

A few Iain, mostly small though and still taking something just beneath the surface. Photo, yep not one of my better efforts - must have been blinded by the "bling" of the Helios ( and a very nice rod it is too....).

Lindsay

[Iain Goolager]

9' 4 wt mid?

[Loxiafan]

9' 4 wt mid?

Helios 104-4 (10' 4 wt). Trying to get a rod that "does it all", as much as that is possible (spiders,nymphs and dries.....boat, even float tube). Doesn't feel or look like a 10 footer, but is crisp and responsive. The current pre Helios 2 price reductions were just too tempting ! 

Lindsay

[Iain Goolager]

Nice 

[Hamish Young]

Helios 104-4 (10' 4 wt).

Good choice, my personal favourite  SLX on the reel there by any chance:?

[Loxiafan]

Good choice, my personal favourite  SLX on the reel there by any chance:?

Hi Hamish,

Kevin Muir (his fav rod too ?) did his best to talk me in to buying it in July but  I went with the Access 9', as the Helios was well pricey then. Probably should have listened to him.... ! Yes SLX in a #4 but I also tried my Mallard #4 which also felt pretty good, nice and slick (the head being smaller diameter ?) but perhaps more "pile ups" for me on miss-timed forward casts !    Might also try an Olive SLX next season as they are so good.

Lindsay