[Sandy Nelson]

Here's an opener for 2017.

I had  a few finnock, both fresh and stale last week while spinning in the dirty water, but today the water was looking better and a decent colour. So i stopped playing pretend dryfly with the Bamboo flyrods and did a small cut job on a GT125 and attached a fast sinking tip.

Went for a swing through the river to see who was about

A few nice fresh bars of silver were very forthcoming and i managed to get 3 , all about 11"-12", to the net, and so begins the year of the bamboo proper



The fish were not grouped together in pods yet, all were found as individuals, but its nice to see them in the river and providing good sport already.



Sandy

[Sandy Nelson]

Dirty water today, so i resorted to the dark side.
Picked up a couple of Finnock, but not much happening, still lovely afternoon to be out.

heres one for Will



Most interesting thing was, for the second time in the last couple of days, there was a sprinkling of these little devils hatching off, sparse but still appearing  between 2 and 3.30.



Hopefully this bodes well for a fortnight time

Sandy

[Mike Barrio]

It's only got one tail

[Sandy Nelson]

It's only got one tail

Thats how i managed to catch him

[Duncan McRae]

Lovely reel Sandy.There's something special about these old Mitchell reels.

Fished the Methlick area  this afternoon using the 400 version but nothing doing.

Duncan

[Grant Montgomery]

Nice Harfin reel Sandy. Are they from Australia? 

[Sandy Nelson]

Hi Grant

Yes the Harfin's are from Oz, Ashleigh Dunsmore makes a superb product in some very cool colours.
That one is actually the very first one to have arrived in the UK, so i'm quite lucky
With the exchange rates they work out much better value than some of the high end American reels. Better quality too.
Well worth a look if you are in the market for a top quality disk drag reel.

Duncan, you are right there, there is definitely something about the older Mitchells. I love using that outfit as its my Grandads Sharpes Spinning rod ,1958 and all original. The Mitchell is also original and 1965, very tactile and sensitive which is perfect for Finnock hunting.

Sandy

[Grant Montgomery]

Nice one Sandy! Yeah, I had checked out their website and fb page a few months ago. Smashing looking reel.
You know me, Im always in the market!!

[Rob Brownfield]

I was digging through some gear yesterday and pulled out a couple of Mitchell 300's I use on my Sharpes cane carp rods.

Sorry, they are not wonderful reels, they are bags of spanners! But I would not swap them for anything

Also found my 3 centrepins as well, so I am very happy, and an old J W Youngs "Ambidex" reel which I did not even know I had.

[Will Shaw]

Lovely reel Sandy! 👍

I have a couple of later 410s and they're fab. I have some 300s and a couple of auto bail models. I know the drags aren't up to much, but the line-lay is excellent, and I like back-winding!

[Dave Robb]

Anybody been out recently? 

I crossed the bridge at Ellon on Sunday, obviously some heavy rain the previous day and the water looked like mud.

Monday would have been my chance to get out but gave it a miss due to what I had seen.

Hopefully now we're into spring the weather will settle down.

[Graham Allan]

Anybody been out recently? 

I crossed the bridge at Ellon on Sunday, obviously some heavy rain the previous day and the water looked like mud.

Monday would have been my chance to get out but gave it a miss due to what I had seen.

Hopefully now we're into spring the weather will settle down.

Hi ,Minamoto Ive joined the  Haddo House angling club this season I've never seen the water up there before yet alone fished it.  Ill be nipping up there today hopefully, for a wee look at the water .Ill be throwing the wt 3 in the boot if I've time I might give it a few chucks. Ill let you know how I get on .

Graham

Ok. Managed a wee run up in the Afternoon some nice bits of water with some good runs and pools. There was a strong bitter cold wind blowing down stream .The water looked quite low but carried a bit of colour   .
Tried a few casts at the Gight almost impossible with the wind tried a few runs the downside of Ythanbank not a fly was seen nor was a fin or rise of any kind .I just looked like one of those raw days when you know nothing is going to stir .
Tried mostly heavy nymphs upstream .
Hopefully ill get out again soon to explore a wee bit more.

Graham.

[Graham Allan]

Hi All.I had a wee go on the Haddo waters last Friday to learn the river a bit more for when the sea troot appear .It was a fine warm overcast day for the time of year with a stiff upstream  wind.
Took the wt 6 floater with fast sink tip the plan was to try for a finnock with the wets and cover water . Took a bonnie wee Finnock about 1300 on a wee Dunkeld double  on the dropper It hit the fly like a fish possessed so Im chuffed that is my Ythan season off and running .
On my last run of the day I hooked and released a Brownie of about 7"also on the Dunkeld.
Hardly saw any fly life so the wt 3 stayed in the car.

Question time ..Im away for a month again in about a week and fancy another go  How much longer can I expect to catch Finnock
? When would I expect to see the Sea trout appearing from Ythan bank upstream.
Cheers Graham.

[Sandy Nelson]

HI Graham

The finnock will hang around all year, you get them mostly in Feb-aril and again in sept-october, but you can catch them all year in the river, they seem to run up and down with the tides.
As for the sea-trout, they are already in the Don, so will be running the Ythan too, another couple of months for it to be regular and then they will be there right till the end of the season.

Sandy

[Graham Allan]

Cheers Sandy. Hopefully there will be a few on the go next time Im home ,early May into June .
The Hot orange JC Dunkeld was the closest thing i had to Yer SSS

Cheers Graham.

[Dave Robb]

I wasn't fishing but did have a look at the river whilst in Ellon yesterday.

Thought it looked quite low but fairly clear.  Maybe it was just that section at the car park but a lot of visible weed just under the surface.  Looked good though.

Typical my days off coincide with school holidays.  Be a while yet until I can get back out.

[Duncan McRae]

I wasn't fishing but did have a look at the river whilst in Ellon yesterday.

Thought it looked quite low but fairly clear.  Maybe it was just that section at the car park but a lot of visible weed just under the surface.  Looked good though.

Typical my days off coincide with school holidays.  Be a while yet until I can get back out.

Yes,the water is clear and I think that makes the water look deceptively low.

Managed to get out with the single hander for the first time this season,for an hour at dusk.
Took a very lively Finnock of 13" and three small brown trout.A very enjoyable but brief session.
Wish I gone out with the single hander earlier in the season instead of chasing very elusive silver tourists elsewhere.

Duncan

[Dave Robb]

Went out to Ardlethen tonight for a couple of hours.  Saw it through to darkness but nothing doing.  Fairly cold wind that just wouldn't go away.

Set up with a couple of wee doubles and didn't change as I couldn't be bothered what with the darkness looming, but probably wasn't going deep enough giving the conditions.

[Graham Allan]

Hi All.
Its been very quiet here .
I see the water is up just over a meter today and starting to drop again already hopefully this will encourage a few troots up the river a bit.
With it being the first wee rise in months i suppose the water is like soup with lots of crap coming down,Has anyone had a look?
Might have a wee chuck tomorrow as im away on Friday .
Not very hopeful as even the estuary has been very slooo .


Regards Graham.

[Graham Allan]

Managed  5 hours  On Thursday water was dropping and clearing nicely.
Never touched or saw a fish .
Fished the Tarvis beat .
There were 2 other rods who faired the same all spinning.

Cheers Graham.

[Kevin Bell]

Headin up to Peterhead next month to see my auld Ma and hopefully squeeze a day/night or two on the Ythan or maybe the Ugie depending on conditions. Not fished either for probably 25yrs now so it would be a nice trip down memory lane.

Got a nice seatrout yesterday off the Earn at 3lb 6oz so still keeping my hand in

[Dave Robb]

Haven't been out at all for a few weeks so was really looking forward to getting out tonight.  Wish I hadn't bothered.

I went to Ardlethen but the banks are ridiculously overgrown with some bits seeing the grass up over my waist.

River looked nice enough but God knows how you would get a decent fish out of the water if you got one.  Trying to get close enough to the water to net a fish would be near impossible in most areas.

The ADAA seriously need to get someone out to cut it back.  And the bridge still isn't fixed yet.
 
Packed up in a bad mood in under an hour.  Plenty of small fish splashing about but little else.  The old quarry water on the far bank looked very pleasant.   What a waste that is just sitting there, especially with the landscaping that's been done.  Looks primed for a fishery to open again.

Drove through Newburgh to have a look at the estuary.  Tide was out but saw a good few fish of various sizes right out in the middle so there are definitely some going about. 

I've never fished the Machar Pool and tried to have a look tonight but I think I must have drove past it as I ended up back at the roundabout in Ellon. 

If I do give it a go there (if I ever find it), am I best fishing when the tide is in?  Is it hard going with wading in mud?

Cheers

[Liam Stephen]

Waist high grass!? Pah, that's nothing. You want to try fishing some of the Don stretches that aren't frequented by the salmon fishers. You need a bloody machete to hack your way through it. 6-7ft tall living walls!   

Never fished the Machar pool but have heard it can be dangerous if you don't know it. Maybe try to fish with someone who has experience fishing it.

 

[Rob Brownfield]

The ADAA seriously need to get someone out to cut it back.  And the bridge still isn't fixed yet.

Been a lot of complaints about the banks of many of the ADAA beats.

I witnessed an older gentleman fall and hurt his back on one of the high banks at Garthdee and I myself ended up face first where the wee burn comes in at the Pump House as I did not see the drop through the grass. First time I have ever fallen in!

Whilst I understand that its a never ending job and a thankless task, as the gentlemen said, someone is employed to stay on top of the issue.

[Dave Robb]

It is annoying when we pay fees to fish particular beats, only to turn up to find some are unfishable.

The thing is, I've fished parts of the Don where the grass was high, but at least if you made it to the waters edge there was usually a gradual gradient as you entered the water and you could wade through the pool.

Not so at Ardlethen.  If you misjudge the edge due to the overgrown grass, it's several feet until you hit the bottom.  A guaranteed soaking at best.  There is no gradual entry into the water.

It's also annoying when you hear the ADAA are sitting on a healthy lump of money.  Numbers are already dwindling and seeing unfishable beats will just continue to turn people away when it comes to renewing their season ticket.