[Sandy Nelson]

Grant

The flies don't really care about the beats, you will find the same patterns will work wherever you are, provided you are roughly matching the hatch. Taking the time to walk and find the fish is the key to getting the bigger ones.
Not many secret patterns, i mention the ones i use all the time, as do many others and we re-wrote the Don fishing guide this winter to reflect the new patterns we have been using. For any specific advice, then feel free to contact any of us by PM i'm sure we would all help point you in the right direction. 

Cheers

Sandy

[Sandy Nelson]

Cracking day for it today
Lucky me, i got out on a great beat with Mr B (finally dragged him away from the computer)
Some cracking fish.



Water is fantastically clear at the moment, which makes thing a bit tricky, but is helping the photo's



Scaling down the tippets, is a risk with the fish we chase, but seems to help, although a few tourists about today too, quite happy to pick the plume tip off the top.



The march browns looked particularly big today, and upsizing to a size 10 dry was the job.



The hatch ran right through till 4pm with selected fish still picking off the hatching flies when they appeared.



Sandy

[Mike Barrio]

Great photos Sandy ..... what a cracking day to be on the water, I really needed a day off

Cheers
Mike

[Ali Mcewan]

Tough day , covered miles, but rewarded with this bonny fish and a few around the 2lb mark.

[Sandy Nelson]

Doh! Stupid me, figured out why the March Browns looked big. They were Large Brook Duns.
I checked some of my other photo's from yesterday, the Forelegs are too wide and they have the purple stripes on the abdomen .



I thought the wings didn't quite have a big enough clear patch in them, so i checked this morning. Pretty sure the fish didn't mind either way and they did seem to be taking the bigger ones even though its early for LBD's

Sandy

[Allan Liddle]

Excellent stuff guys, one thing though, is there any wee fish in our rivers this year ?   

[Mike Barrio]

Excellent stuff guys, one thing though, is there any wee fish in our rivers this year ?   

Here's one I released yesterday Allan

[Iain Cameron]

plenty of fish, big and small, in the Don. 

I was in right places at right times to find a couple of 3lbers the other day. The first one dove into a weed bed and tangled us up for a while, much the amusement of a passing dog walker (who kindly cheered and gave a thumbs up when i finally coaxed the trout into the net).

The second one was feeding hard, and clocked in at 3 1/4, and around 18" and a bit, but was still very skinny; you can possibly see lack of depth/firmness in his belly, particularly around the dorsal fin. Compare that to the bruiser that Scott posted recently!  Guessing this lad has spawned, and been slow in chowing down.








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[Sandy Nelson]

It was a lesson in the Class of Grass and Glass today.



Lovely day to be out, but not many rising fish, so it ended up being a day of picking pockets with Tungsten. Worked though



Liam had his biggest so far this year



But for once, i managed to go one better, and broke my PB 



So an awesome day all round, the fish were all in superb condition, deep and solid, who needs to fly half way round the world

Sandy

[Mike Barrio]

Awesome ....... well done guys
Maybe I should have tagged along today instead of yesterday    

[Ali Mcewan]

Well done guys 👍🏻 Quality troots!!

But sandy, I parked on the bridge for 5 minutes just after lunch & saw 3 different fish rising in the pool infront of the cottage 🙈 come on, just admit it, young Liam's turned you 😂😂

[Sandy Nelson]

Not quite Ali, i did get on the dry today too 

he is trying though, its very funny

Another nice picture from today

[Eddie Sinclair]

Cracking fish, well done on the PB.

Eddie

[Liam Stephen]

I've almost broke him Ali! Another couple of good fish will see those dries up for sale. 

 

[Scott Cumming]

But for once, i managed to go one better, and broke my PB 

Congratulations   

[Dave Robb]

Do you guys just spend every day fishing?

[Liam Stephen]

When I'm not at college yes. I fish as often as I can, wouldn't have it any other way.


 

[Sandy Nelson]

Thanks for the comments guys
It's taken me 25 years to break that PB. So I'm still buzzing, I smashed it as well , by about a pound and an Inch. 

Sandy

[Liam Stephen]

Truly an awesome fish. Something that you'll never forget I'm sure.  The memory of seeing it surface and roll mid stream will stay with me for a long time. The bend in that rod was crazy, netting it was quite a laugh as well.

Proper chuffed for you, in case that wasn't clear today!   

 

[Dave Robb]

With work and a young family I'm lucky if I get out once every other week.  I'm jealous. 

Still haven't made it out on the Don yet this season but hopefully get out for a few hours on Monday pending decent weather.

[Sandy Nelson]

Good luck when you do get out
My son is nearly 20 now so I don't have to book school holidays any more, hence having most of April off so it gets better

Sandy

[Dave Robb]

To be fair once the proper light nights are in I will stand a better chance to sneak out when their in bed,

[Ali Mcewan]

Getting sick of being pestered by these wee fish 🙈
PB Smashed 😎
It's in my 26" salmon net

[Scott Cumming]

Another day, another PB...
Cracker 

[Mike Barrio]

Nice one Ali