River Don 2017

« **Reply #250 on:** 27/06/2017 at 12:01 »

I had the same happen on Saturday. Luckily I was with someone.

There was some sort of junkie/alkie convention going on. I think had I been on my own there could have been trouble.

« **Reply #251 on:** 28/06/2017 at 16:52 »

Fished there last night and no such excitement for me however I did get a real scare from a ferocious beast I found lurking in the undergrowth, didn't hang around too long to see if it was pissed, spaced oot or just sleeping

On the plus side troots were responsive and had a cracking wee evening with the dries (proper fishin) and no wee boys methods used

No 'Jakies' or 'Zoomers' were harmed in the making of this evening

« **Reply #252 on:** 04/07/2017 at 16:42 »

It has been quiet both on here and the river of late. Hatches have been iffy and the rises have mostly been poor or very short lived. I've never timed it right and stumbled across anything sizeable yet.

The daytime action has been pretty good fun. Bouncing nymphs down the really fast water mainly with the occasional riser to throw a dry at. Nothing huge has been landed by myself of late. Guys I've had out have had some nice fish and I landed my first trophy for some time yesterday.

Now where to head tonight.....?

« **Reply #253 on:** 05/07/2017 at 09:08 »

Cracker Liam

« **Reply #254 on:** 19/07/2017 at 09:37 »

Interesting evening on the river, I found a few good pods of fish, but I think they must have been nymphing on something just under the surface as no matter what size/type of dry I tried I couldn't get any interest at all ...... probably just bad angling

Was anybody else out and did you find the answer

Cheers
Mike

« **Reply #255 on:** 20/07/2017 at 09:04 »

Quote from: Mike Barrio on 19/07/2017 at 09:37

Interesting evening on the river, I found a few good pods of fish, but I think they must have been nymphing on something just under the surface as no matter what size/type of dry I tried I couldn't get any interest at all ...... probably just bad angling

Was anybody else out and did you find the answer

Cheers
Mike

Hi Mike! I know this problem very well! I've faced it many times this time of year and I know how frustrating it can be. I didn't find a solution either despite trying every approach I could think of.

« **Reply #256 on:** 20/07/2017 at 09:59 »

Maybe I should've tried spiders Noel .............

« **Reply #257 on:** 20/07/2017 at 12:28 »

Spiders didn't work for me in those situations, nothing did! It used become my trigger for a break from the river for a few weeks! I'd love to hear of anyone having a successful approach to the scenario.

« **Reply #258 on:** 21/07/2017 at 22:27 »

It's just not fishing well, hasn't been for a while now.

« **Reply #259 on:** 26/07/2017 at 14:22 »

A few days of cooler temperatures and a bit of rain too ....... things should be looking up on the river

« **Reply #260 on:** 26/07/2017 at 17:31 »

Hopefully things are changing for the better!

« **Reply #261 on:** 26/07/2017 at 17:34 »

Quote from: Liam Stephen on 26/07/2017 at 17:31

Hopefully things are changing for the better!

Cool ..... you are still fishing Liam, I thought you'd given up, or simply disappeared

Yes, the fish do seem a bit more active again

Cheers
Mike

« **Reply #262 on:** 01/08/2017 at 12:40 »

The last 2 months could be special. Daytime hatches are back on and the fish are looking up.

I'm actually tying dries again!

« **Reply #263 on:** 01/08/2017 at 12:44 »

That's a bonnie fish Liam

« **Reply #264 on:** 02/08/2017 at 22:40 »

Went out for a couple of hours tonight despite the weather. Hadn't been on the Don for a good few weeks as I've been hammering rainbows during the warm weather, so I was determined to get out.

First hour wasn't actually too bad, a few fish were moving about. I was fishing dries, hooked a fish close to the far bank which quickly buried down and it was soon off again. It felt reasonable.

As darkness approached, the wind and rain really picked up and killed it.

Hopefully we get decent weather through to end of September.

« **Reply #265 on:** 08/08/2017 at 00:03 »

Was out again this morning for a few hours. The water was absolutely bubbling around lunchtime, fish of all sizes feeding well at the surface.

But could I get any to take any of my offerings?

Got to the the point I was getting frustrated as I would cover fish, just for them to seemingly move by a few feet. I became increasingly careless with the presentation as a result.

Loads of fish though which was a good sign.

That's me been out a few times now in recent days but struggling to tempt anything bar a couple of small fish.

« **Reply #266 on:** 09/08/2017 at 22:01 »

August can be a tricky month on the river, the fish can be feeding on just about anything in my experience and they've so much to choose from ......... possibly the most difficult month for working out the puzzle?

Of all the months in the year, this is possibly the one that requires the most observation?

Am I alone with these thoughts?

Cheers
Mike

« **Reply #267 on:** 10/08/2017 at 10:51 »

The 'little black beastie' Corn Lice are around in huge numbers in Inverurie just now ...... loads of these are bound to end up on the water too.

Cheers
Mike

« **Reply #268 on:** 13/08/2017 at 11:03 »

Well after 10 weeks, i finally got my arse in gear and popped down the river last night.
Lovely night to be out.

It was tricky old evening, with the usual suspects proving elusive until much later on, plenty fly changing going on.

A good hatch of Blue winged olives, in amongst the sedges seemed to be the focus of interest.

Although they seemed to get bigger later on and once they started appearing to be about a size 14, then the fish started to feed steady, mind you it was right at the death from about 9.30 onwards. Some good ones too, but the weed is a nightmare for trying to land anything substantial

Sandy

« **Reply #269 on:** 13/08/2017 at 20:22 »

I packed up just before 9pm, but there was certainly plenty moving early evening a little further down.

Struggled to tempt anything once again though. Plenty of fly changes indeed to no avail.

« **Reply #270 on:** 22/08/2017 at 13:52 »

Was out last night for the first time in over a month and a half at least.. work commitments have meant my head has been out of the game as of late. Nice rise last night on a local beat, small olives and some huge sedges brought up some nice fish in tricky places just as the sun was setting. Managed to spook one or two rather big fish

but did land a fish in total darkness on the dry - a first for me on the river

Cast, listen, strike

Ash

« **Reply #271 on:** 09/09/2017 at 21:13 »

Hmm, still not got the hang of this photo malarkey. I got it uploaded into my personal gallery from my phone, expected the photo to appear above and it's only a link.

Anyway, went out today despite the weather which at times was bloody awful. Wasn't surprised not to see anyone be else.

Water was murky early doors but did start to clear around mid day. Very little seen moving on top, caught quite a few small trout plus the one in the photo. Not a monster but giving the conditions come afternoon I was grateful. Lost a slightly bigger fish moments before I caught that, think it might have been a sea trout as it was definitely more silver in colour when it lept out of the water only to slip the hook.

« **Reply #272 on:** 10/09/2017 at 08:33 »

Dave - that should be it sorted now, it had been added to a personal gallery rather than 'add image to post' gallery

H

« **Reply #273 on:** 10/09/2017 at 10:10 »

Thanks for that.

More rain forecast for today and tomorrow. Wonderful.

« **Reply #274 on:** 14/09/2017 at 08:00 »

Fished a very soggy upper Don with my boss yesterday. Never stopped raining and the river was on the rise. Managed 6-7 small fish to about a 1.5 lbs from some very interesting pools. Mt boss still remains fishless

Three biggest trout to woolly buggers, the rest on dries (although they were wet before I had even tied them on!!) and tungsten PTNs. Probably had about a dozen fish actually on, but the smaller fish flipped off the barbless hooks.

Liam Stephen

Allan Liddle

Liam Stephen

Allan Liddle

Mike Barrio

Noel Kelly

Mike Barrio

Noel Kelly

Ali Mcewan

Mike Barrio

Liam Stephen

Mike Barrio

Liam Stephen

Mike Barrio

Dave Robb

Dave Robb

Mike Barrio

Mike Barrio

Sandy Nelson

Dave Robb

Ashley Thomas

Dave Robb

Hamish Young

Dave Robb

Rob Brownfield