[Mike Barrio]

Hi folks

Thought we should also have a thread for forum members to post about their days on the Deveron

Best wishes
Mike

[Allan Liddle]

Thanks Mike, i'll try my best to remember and post 

[Ploddy]

Fished the Deveron near to Turriff today. My companion landed one kelt and another couple were seen jumping about.

Davie P.

[josh]

  Mike for having a deveron thread. I wrote last season saying there should be one so its good to see. well me and a mate were up at the manse pool on wednesday but was too bright and far too clear but still a nice day to be out,never seen any fish neither. So after a few hours we decided it just wasnt a good day so checked out some beats at rothimay and huntly which look really nice and were dying to try out once the trout begin.

[Loxiafan]

Will be out on a mid-upper Deveron beat on Monday, looks like it is going to be very hard going ! Water levels are staying stable but strong winds coupled with -6 windchill does not bode well for hatches and a chance on the dry fly ! Looks like nymphing and/or spiders 'across and down' then !

One thing's for sure, it's gonna be cold ! 

Lindsay

[Sandy Nelson]

Well..........................

Sandy

[Hamish Young]

Indeed - rubs chin - not been much news....... 

H 

[Iain Goolager]

c'mon Lindz,

either you caught nowt or you were caught up in some debacle with the locals who thought that you had 'a purty mouth' ?! 

Iain

 

[danbruce]

Well since Lindsay hasn’t posted a report on how our day on the Deveron went I guess I will stick a post up about how my days fishing went.

We arrived at the beat around 0930 (beat located on the middle to upper of the river) the weather was pretty much how it had been for the last week or so, cold, dull and snowing, although not too heavy. I have to say the beat looked great, with a very comfortable fishing hut and great vehicular access for the full beat.

With the river running very cold but at a decent height I decided to start off fishing a weighted nymph and spider on a 10’ 3wt. I fished through some very inviting looking water hoping to hook and land a fish quickly to get the thought of a dreaded blank off my mind, you would think I would be used to blanking by now. Having thoroughly went through a few decent stretches of water without as much a nip at my flies, I decided at try a couple of nymphs on a short line upstream through some of the faster water.
As this is something I have never done before it took me a while to get into a rhythm. But once I got going I was fishing deep and covering the water well, once again no fish to show for it.

Having well and truly frozen my nuts off in the cold water I decided to return up stream for a well earned drink and something to eat. With the time now after midday, the sun decided to put in a fleeting appearance, getting our hopes up for a brief afternoon hatch. So off went the nymphs and on went a single size 14 DHE. The plan for the afternoon was to walk up stream in the hope of finding some rising fish. Our hopes of finding rising fish and a hatch of some sort were soon dashed by the sun buggering of and the snow coming back on
Undeterred I prospected with the DHE through some fantastic looking water but again nowt to show for my efforts. With the day having been and gone I decided to call it a day and pack up.

So one hard days fishing in freezing temperatures with no fish to show for it. Not all bad though as it was good to be back after the brownies, fishing new and unknown waters and fishing in good company.
I am sure Lindsay will be along with his report soon.

Next time I will really have to take my camera with me, sorry for the lack of photos.

Cheers
Dan

[Iain Goolager]

Thanks Dan 

New season on a new water, sounded like fun even though the weather was against you.

Can't wait to get back out again myself.

Iain

[Loxiafan]

Great to be out again and always good fishing with Dan 

On a beat between Huntly and Rothiemay  Water gin clear, but I was concerned at lack of flow and depth through most of the beat with only a couple of likely bits that could hold a lunker or two.

I too started with upstream nymphing, fantastic water, pockets, could see the indicator, all looking good....except no fish, and I mean not even a sucidal 6 oz troot ! This was perturbing as I was fishing short and could see if the indicator moved. I systematically worked all the creases, seams, pockets and nada. Snow flurries were abounding constantly except at luchtime when some Stoneflies were active. Those were the only flies I saw, Dan had a couple of Duns on the water. Neither of us saw an actively rising fish.

Completely knackered and phuked off by nymphing I switched to the good old 'blind' dry with a size 12 DHE. Managed to rise a sucicidal troot in good streamy water with a great big rock  but it missed the flee. It didn't rise again.

So, cold conditions, lack of water, lack of insects and lack of fish....of any size. Very little veggie stuff for Baetidae, probably good for MB's and Hepts, cased Caddis and obvioulsy needle fly type Stoneflies. Needs more water to bring the big boys upstream for a feed ??? Low water possibly makes fish susceptible to natural predation in years like this ??? Or.....I am crap. Likely the latter. But I like my new Orvis wading boots and Streamflex !

L

[Jim Eddie]

Never Mind guys at least you braved the elements and got out 

 

Jim

[Loxiafan]

either you caught nowt or you were caught up in some debacle with the locals who thought that you had 'a purty mouth' ?! 

That do ya mucker  wtf is a 'purty mouth'  ??? !

Always hard fishing a new beat and river especially in difficult conditions - you don't have 'local' knowledge and are going on raw instinct/intuition. The Don can be a fickle mistress but at least I know where there are fish holed up and that I am covering them ! This beat seemed barren to me (on this day) - upstream beadhead nymphs and downstream spiders = nothing, then there is no fish or they are on hunger strike !

L

[Iain Goolager]

This beat seemed barren to me (on this day)

Possibly just due to this cold weather 

wtf is a 'purty mouth'

Have you never seen 'Deliverance'? 

5 days and counting.....................
Iain

[Loxiafan]

Possibly just due to this cold weather 

Have you never seen 'Deliverance'? 

5 days and counting.....................
Iain

Nah, lotta 'thin' water, nae food ( nae small fish for big boys to eat !). Last season two big brownies were caught on this beat...in high water.

Not seen Deliverance since we finished filming it ( I also play banjo)

R you out Monday ? I will be at my usual haunt ! Think it will be just as hard as Monday past.

L

[Iain Goolager]

Up to my eyes with stuff at the mo but here is a taster of the day.....................



























Hopefully Lindzer will post a story.

Iain

[danbruce]

Nice one guys, looks like a great day was had by the both of you. 
Some great photography as usual Iain.

 
Dan

[Jim Eddie]

Looks like you had a decent day guys 

 

Jim

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff guys .... thanks for sharing!

Cheers
Mike

[Michael Buchan]

Nice one guys  
I was out on the deveron today as well great to get back to some proper fishing. Was apparently one of Dryflee Alan's haunts was told he took 62 in a day there which was 61 more than me.  No fish seen moving all day and maybe saw 5 Duns all day did manage a 2lber which saved the blank.  Good day to be out roll on next weekend.

Michael

[Iain Goolager]

Well done Michael 

We had a constant trickle, and I mean trickle, of LDO's from about dinner time until I guess 3:30 ish

We fished nymphs and spiders early doors until things warmed up then wandered in search of fish for the rest of the day. Lindz was in his element as we had a few fish to target.
We had some Sea-Trout kelts to the DHE too.

All in all I though we did well on the dry considering the amount of showing fish. Even though I think we should have given the nymph more airtime but Big Lindz is not to be messed with.

Iain

[Noel Kelly]

Awesome guys

[Allan Liddle]

Sooperb guys has me put to shame, will need to get the rods out and get on with it. 
Good to see some movement happening at last.

[Eddie Sinclair]

Great pictures Iain, looks like you had a fun day out amongst the troots. I was after the silver vermin as you called them on Friday but more of that when i get round to a Dee report later on.

Excellent report 

Eddie.

[Loxiafan]

Thanks to Iain for a great day on the Deveron, absolutely magic, and great pics too What a river, Allan you are one lucky dude with that on your door stop ! This particular beat had it all, riffles, pocket water, glides and even Don like 'canal' bits (that were just as productive  ).

'Nice' ! :



I didn't manage to match Iain's superb nymphing skills and big troot but we both a had great fun on the dry with plenty of sub-pounders and a couple of good ones on, then off. I believe Iain may now also be a paid up disciple of Mr. Wyatt ? 

Iain's masterclass on nymphing comes to fruition:




Lessons learned:

1) French Nymphing is for poofters - my 8 " braided sighter was causing a helicopter hinge and casting was awful. We both switched to conventional nymph technique independently and at the same time ! Say's it all really. Not sure I can be arsed with all this. Fad. A Tenkara setup probably would have been more effective (and more fun !).

2)  Don't do direct upstream nymphing ala Ollie Eds on the Deveron....in fact anywhere ! It is not the most productive method on wide-ish river - fine on a chalkstream. All I'll say is Iain has the correct technique nailed and spending 10 minutes on the bank watching him (whilst hypothermic) gave me much more useful things to think about with nymphing technique.

3) Floppy tipped Streamflex rods are crap at setting the hook for dries at any distance over 20 feet. I didn't convert nearly enough fish that hit my dry. We both were using 3 wt Streamflexes for dries and were both rueing leaving out luvely Orvis Helios and Access rods in the car.

4) The 'all in one' leader is not working for me. I will try Sandy's solution as that seemed logical ! A whole lotta hingeing going on today.

Cheers again Iain, magic day and a few wee bends in the rod to get things started !

Linz