[Allan Liddle]

Strange the fish weren't interested in the duns, although to be fair i was only really concentrating on the slower or 'flatter' water, as for angling prowess, nah sorry i'd always rather be lucky than good.
BTW you can almost see where i was on one of the pics 

[Loxiafan]

Same today on Don Allan. Watched a lunker 'bulge' and roll at something, yet Dun after Dun that went right over it were ignored. A size 14 Waterhen Bloa would have been a better option yesterday, but tbh I would have struggled with take detection in that popply water. Maybe next time.

Speaking of next time, will bring my thermal imaging optics next time and we'll send the dogs oot fir ye ! 

Were you on the beat above perchance ?

Lindsay

[Iain Cameron]

Tempted to take my old man out on the Deveron now....

You can get arrested for that kind of thing Hamish...

Deveron does look good - great to see the reports coming in

[Allan Liddle]

Yup sure was, easy to spot really i'm the one with the two labradors in tow, a chocolate one and a gold one, both with blackened faces and full camo gear. 

[Rob Brownfield]

Yup sure was, easy to spot really i'm the one with the two labradors in tow, a chocolate one and a gold one, both with blackened faces and full camo gear. 

Do they have "black sticky" across there eyes in any photos incase they are recognised?

[Allan Liddle]

If i tell you they'll have to kill you. 

[Allan Liddle]

Another good session yesterday with the water all to myself, judging by the reports and pics on the Don thread i can see why now. 
Mid river beat which, as far as i'm told, hasn't seen much rod pressure as yet, certainly not with trout anglers.

Anyway another cracking day with eight troots, a few missed and lost  but none that mattered with another two 'Trophies' to add to the score and a noteable sea troot kelt (2lb 3oz) that was keen on the DHE, although in some camps this one dosen't count  .

Best of the day ran 3lb 8oz (season best so far), and my last fish weighed in at bang on 3lb.  Spotted another Rod Bender on the far bank whilst working away on the 3 8, but by the time i'd sorted this one out it had sat down again, but i know where it is 

Good hatch of MB's with LDO's before and after so flylife certainly getting to where it should, although fish are still kind of in 'pods' but signs are this is changing and they are starting to show a more widespread interest.

Allan L


Three Eight



Growlin At Ye



Only Other Two I Saw All Day



What A Way To Finish

[Iain Cameron]

Another good session yesterday with the water all to myself, judging by the reports and pics on the Don thread i can see why now. 

Hi Allan

looks like a grand day out on the Deveron too. That's a cracking collection of fish for a day. And nice dogs too!

iain

[Sandy Nelson]

looks like a grand day out on the Deveron too. That's a cracking collection of fish for a day.

I'll echo that, very nice

Sandy

[Noel Kelly]

Awesome Allan, that's better than I did all of last season

[Allan Liddle]

Thanks guys, always a good feeling when it all comes together. 

[Allan Liddle]

Bit further upstream this Sat and late getting there (coaching kids football which is good but a pain in the erchie at the same time).
Hatch in full swing when we arrived (Broontroot from the Scottish Anglers site was with me for this one) with MB's being mopped up and plenty rising troots, although none seemed to be of Rod bender proportions.

First three fish attempted and three misses (bad angling  ) i blame the rush to get onto them before the hatch died away. 
Graham wasn't doing much better (at least it wasn't just me  ) and missed / lost a few before finally securing his first river troot of the season (sprightly 3/4 pounder) chuffed and big smiles all round.

Managed a couple after settling down a wee bit and taking the required time best about pound and a half, the other a nice pounder 
Hatch died quickly and fish were not too keen to show much after that so we bailed out about half four.

Fish seem to be moving more widespread (although still not it the faster water) and more of them, also speaking to other anglers out they were on the top pretty early so looks like i'll need to get there sharper next time.

So no trophies to report but another cracking couple of hours and great fun, troots were still pretty good anyway. 

[keith talbot]

Hi Guys,

Im heading to the Deveron next wednesday to try for a few brownies, on teh Huntly anglers stretch from wed -fri then forglen on sat. any tips or pointers on particular areas to try, or anyone any experience in these stretches?

Any help much appreciated.

Keith

[Allan Liddle]

Huntly water good Keith but better if you stay away from the town section and look towards upstream.  Park at the 'Tesco' car park (you'll nkow where i mean when you see it, river comes right down to the road) and work upstream from there.  Lots of very good water, you'll know it when you see it.  Good hatches at the moment to i'd stick with the dries and prospect for fish.

Deer hair Emerger 12-14, olive Klink 12-16, F Flies, Greenwell Parachute, Dirty Duster, and a couple of March Brown dries all you need at the moment.  Spiders and a few small weighted nymphs to back this up.
Forglen a wee bit different as river a bit bigger here (although still not a big water to be fair).  Again prospect with dries, area around the hut pretty good.

Hope you're returning any trophy trout, these fish are too valuable to be caught only once.

[keith talbot]

Thank you very much for the reply, i shall post to let you know how i get on. absolutely couldnt agree more, far rather these special fish live to fight another day.

Keith

[Allan Liddle]

Struggled on the Deveron Mon / Tues this week despite the reports of big big hatches from tail end of week previous, fly life was very poor.  Fish were hard to come by as a result with very little to report on that front.
Feel a bit bad as i had Jedi and another mate out on Monday and fish didn't respond, however great fun had by all and we all caught, just no trophies as hoped.

Tuesday on a lower beat and again fish were difficult.  Well they were as the day progressed as i hit the water 9.30 and fish were on, or at least the smaller ones were, with a fiew up to a pound keen on the DHE.  Eventually found a better fish which took the DHE first chuck and weighed in at 2lb 8oz which made the day a bit better (not that it was bad in the first place  )  Shows how greedy we get for trophies when you finish with over a dozen fish, one a good Noteable Fish (NF), some decent surface sport, suntan and relaxing day but you're still disapointed. 

Roll on next time. 

PS photies to follow as per usual once i can be arsed taking them off the camera. 

[Iain Goolager]

Trophies, Rod Benders and now NF 

Pity about the flylife but still a decent return.

Looking forward to the photo's

Iain

[Allan Liddle]

Dread the time it's a wee letter nf, that means 'nae fish' 

[keith talbot]

I thought I'd let you know how i got on with the Deveron. It was a challenging few days, the weather was not the kindest and most of the time there was a cold wind that was killing off any fly life. The first 3 days on the Huntly Association water I managaed to catch double figures of trout each day though most were just parr! All to searching with a small dry fly, the occasional fish that was seen rising was invariably caught though there were no real rising trout to speak of. I worked upstream from the tesco's bridge and covered just about all of the deveron that HAA offer, though didnt work the Bogie.



The last day i was at Forglen, the Deveron is a very different river here. There seemed to be a few more flies hatching, mostly olives. I caught steadily throughout the day and the average size was better probably around 8 oz, then at around 4pm a good rise started in one pool and i had 7 fish in 20 mins with four around the 3/4lb - 1lb mark. It was a difficult little pool to fish as the trout were rising in a central fast current with a back eddy between me adn them so drag set in quickly. No sign of anything bigger and then the rise was all over. So an enjoyable few days, I will definitely try again not sure if it was my inexperience on this river or the weather that meant i didnt see any evidence of anything larger.
Thank you all for your help.

[Allan Liddle]

Excellent yesterday good hatches of Blue Wings and a smattering of LDO's increasing as day progressed until reaching epic proportions which was still going (although dying down a good bit) when i left. Normally i'd have stuck it out 'till the bitter end but was well warned and threatened a fishing ban (fate worse than death  ) if i was late home as family Liddle were heading out fur tea.  Luckily i wasn't that late and sneaked in a few wee 'last casts'. 

Fish mostly in the fast water and keen to hit the dries, best one nudging 2lb 1oz, several pound plus and loads 6-12 oz.
Soaked but happy angler with two soaked but very happy labradors headed home for a well earned bottle of beer, swift shower and mad dash to the pub.  

Size 12 Olive DHE best fly, and yes the two dry set up worked very well once more  




Stealthy Wading




Feeding Hard




Result

[Iain Goolager]

Nice one Allan. 

Iain

[Mike Barrio]

Great pics Allan .... thanks for sharing

Cheers
Mike

[Sandy Nelson]

Cracking pictures Alan

Sandy

[Allan Liddle]

Thanks Guys 

[Iain Cameron]

had a daunder up the upper Deveron today. Who ordered the gale force winds? And the hailstones. I mean, really, end of May, and freezin' my hands off in the hail? 

Fishing was really a non event today, the wind was brutal, very cold and strong, and straight downstream for most of the morning/afternoon. Ah well, one wee guy of about half a pound saved the day from a total blank. Think it would have been an interesting beat to fish - little pools with pockets and probably nice holding lies to cover - BUt today was not the day for fishing.

And a decent smattering of upwing beasties - when they hatched the shot off downstream and upwards in the wind at some click - a good hatch that might have brought a lot of fishes up on a calmer day. curses!