[James Laraway]

if we are right then someone has popped an invasive species into the don.....suppose at least the big trout will like them !

[Sandy Nelson]

There’s been gudgeon in the river for as long as I can remember, not often you see them though. Very pretty wee fish.
Technically I believe minnows are an invasive species too.
When I was a kid we used to catch perch fairly regularly, I’ve not seen one of them for well over 30 years

[Duncan McRae]

Great to the see a wee gudgeon again.
There used to be huge shoals of them on the Inverurie water when I was a kid in the 70's.
I always assumed that the goosanders had wiped them out.

Like Sandy,I remember taking perch as well but not for very many years.

There was also a good stock of pike on the Kemnay water but i don't know if there are any there nowadays.

Duncan

[James Laraway]

I'd never heard off or seem gudgeon in the Don. When I fished the kemnay water I heard that people used to catch perch in a deep pool that has a massive eddy like area. I also heard of pike caught on the manar beat but never say one personally

[Terry Coging]

I have a soft spot for the humble gudgeon. It was the main fish that I caught, as a boy  on the Trent in Nottingham. When I moved to Staffordshire many years ago  the gudgeon were plentiful in the local rivers and canals. They are now gone! Various predators are given the blame - goosanders, zander and crayfish. The local canal has become a 'predator' water with pike, perch and zander being the target fish.

[Paul Adderton]

Terry,

I was saddened to read what you had to say about the gudgeon on the River Trent in Nottingham. I too as a boy used to fish the Trent at Clifton Grove and Beeston Weir and the humble gudgeon was a keepnet filler and yet, as you say they are now all gone. How sad and is it all down to predators as you suggest?

Since my daughter left the Nottingham Evening Post working as a journalist I haven't been back and living here in Aberdeen for 40 years my fishing is now for salmon and trout though I still have a soft spot for rekindling memories of roach dave and bream on the Trent

[Stevie Rennie]

An evening mission to a pleasant part of the don some may recognise.



Not much surface action to be seen but a real serene setting.



I managed a couple of smolts (strange at this time of year?) & bonnie little brownies on a greenwells wet while awaiting the last hour of light.



Realising the southerly wind, low gin clear water and lack of stealth was against me, I decided to fish on into the dark, saving my last light efforts to change leader & put on a wooley bugger which I planned to strip through a deep dark pot.

I’ve tried this pot a few times since getting one big hit there and knowing that it must hold a monster but was tonight the night?

An over hanging tree marks the start and a few upstream casts were made to allow enough line sinking time just under the branches and to commence covering the head of the pot.

Not a thing, so I began gently wading down a shingle bar to just past the tree to continue casting and covering.
Allowing a little more sinking time to reach the depths I then stripped a few feet of line back then felt the rod buckle over and the full thumpy weight of said monster.

Booom! It must be all of 10lb’s, the brownie of my dreams.

The 100,000 casts I’ve made in the hope of connecting with such a magnificent creature and finally I’ve got him on.

Could I be the best angler on the don 

Hold on a second, he’s not fighting, no tell tale big brownie head thumps, no reel screaming runs, no airborne leaps?

Then the bitter realisation that it wasn’t him at all and I gently reeled in a 10lb clump of loose ranunculus.



Achweel, good practice for when it happens 

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Steve, I like the wee duck resting in the grass 

As for the weed, we've all been there 

Cheers
Mike

[Sandy Nelson]

Funny you mention the Smolts, Steve, we have had a couple of those in the last couple of weeks too. Very interesting to see what appears to a second batch working their way downstream.

We had a go yesterday again and it was a similar story, had to resort to nymphs to see any fish and then there was nothing over the 10" mark.
All bonny fish though

There was however quite a few fish rising to a rather decent Small Dark olive hatch

Lovely little flies that kept hatching from the 9.30 to 2pm session we fished

We got some interest to emergers, but nothing consistent or of any size. We can play spot the fish in this picture 

Some rather cool sedges kicking about, but nothing to interest the fish, just the photographer

The sight of a number of decent rising fish is encouraging and hopefully the good couple of weeks that we sometimes get at the end of septmeber is on its way.

Sandy

[Sandy Nelson]

Found a couple of better ones this afternoon, while dredging a nymph.
Consecutive casts from the same spot. Both decent size girls, one ready to shed her load and the other already relieved.
Just a couple of inches difference in length but 2lb+ in weight!!! one has more than a hint of coloured Seatrout about her





So thats me sorted for the end of the season, anything else is now a bonus 

[Stevie Rennie]

Quality close ups of the flies there and well done on the twa crackers 

Interesting to read of you encountering smolts too and surprised that one of your big un’s had spawned already. Would you say that was uncommon & early?

It raises a few questions for me as I’d always assumed they spawn in late october & november.

Anyway here’s hoping for an excellent last two weeks 

[Sandy Nelson]

Hi Stevie

We have found over the last few years there are two distinct spawning patterns for the Don fish. The bigger ones seem to run up the river in august and have been seen spawning in mid august to early September, they then drop back and feed voraciously until the end of October, these are the ones you tend to get at the end of September and the ones the salmon guys pick up in October.  I have a theory that the seatrout run in July triggers this. These fish are also why we get good conditioned fish from March onwards.
There is another run to spawn in November and these fish are the ones who are in poor condition in March as they didn’t get to feed well after spawning. they feed hard in the spring and are generally the smaller fish.
The same behaviour has been registered on the Deveron too.

Sandy

[Stevie Rennie]

Fascinating and insightful stuff as always Sandy   

Every aspect of that makes perfect sense when broken down like that.

Now just to encounter one of these big voracious feeders 

[Mike Barrio]

A wee bit of colour in the river yesterday morning, but by the afternoon it was like a chalkstream again, the water clarity has been amazing this year 

[Noel Kelly]

Hi Stevie

We have found over the last few years there are two distinct spawning patterns for the Don fish. The bigger ones seem to run up the river in august and have been seen spawning in mid august to early September, they then drop back and feed voraciously until the end of October, these are the ones you tend to get at the end of September and the ones the salmon guys pick up in October.  I have a theory that the seatrout run in July triggers this. These fish are also why we get good conditioned fish from March onwards.
There is another run to spawn in November and these fish are the ones who are in poor condition in March as they didn’t get to feed well after spawning. they feed hard in the spring and are generally the smaller fish.
The same behaviour has been registered on the Deveron too.

Sandy

Great post Sandy 👍

[Mike Barrio]

OK ..... who did the rain dance? 

[Steven Kidd]

This bodes well for the weekend......that's if its stops after today, 

Looks like a lot of rain this week, shall wait and see.

Steven

[Iain Cameron]

OK ..... who did the rain dance? 

dunno, but they didn't hold back

[Hamish Young]

I have big feet, what can I say 

[Eddie Sinclair]

H,

Where were your big feet and the rain dance at Balmakewan?

Eddie

[Stevie Rennie]

Looks like the last few trout days might be a write off, with higher water, heavy wind and absolutely baltic.

Not fully disappointed though as my last trout outing saw 3 casts and a nice fish around 2lb and to my surprise another gudgeon    this time taken in backwards by my nephew 





Chasing silver the last few days and likely here on in but wish I’d had the trout rod as there was plenty fly life and visible risers wed/thurs in the last hour.

Here’s the closest thing I got to a salmon today 

[Sandy Nelson]

Nice Fish Stevie

I had a few fish this week , but only one needed the net and he wasn’t huge.

Mostly these guys on dries and nymphs



Last of the season on the dry yesterday afternoon



This morning I expected to be washed out, but the sun was shining so I had to go visit a few favourite spots before I hang up the trout rod.





So I plinked around with a nymph and had some good sport.



Spent a lot time staring at the water and rather enjoying it



Just 163 days to go  you never know I might even go and have a deliberate attempt for a tourist 

Sandy

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Sandy .... nice pics 

[Steven Kidd]

Sandy,

Lovely shots, , not long to wait.....

I think I'll head out Saturday and have a cast for the tourists as well, probably Inverurie as I notice Kintore and Kemnay not on Fishpal in October, 

Steven

[Stevie Rennie]

Nice pics Sandy

Similar reflective thoughts being had by me on the river bank.



I was hoping for one last day at the trout but content with the previous 2lb’er opted to try my luck at a salmon.

Now this will likely be a tad controversial and I considered not posting this here but I reckon you guys will be able to look past the method/madness and appreciate the beauty of a don specimen in striking colours.

Being useless with a double hander and in mental wind conditions, I was spinning using a tasmanian devil with a single black zulu fly trailing an inch behind.
So technically fly fishing but not as we know it



Up a steep bank, I cast upstream of a known rock and swung into the path of this beauty.



I initially thought it was a coloured grilse as it splashed then bombed for weed cover, I then had to slide bear gryll’s style down the bank into a seriously precarious position to net it, sinking into silty mud.

It was surprisingly lightly hooked, kept submerged, photo’d quick and released back strong to fulfill its destiny.



The photo’s don’t do it justice at all as I was elevated and wary of both sinking further and dropping my phone but could gauge it around 22/24” with the rim of my gye net.

Delighted to have encountered a fine don trout in its fully dolled up and ready for action jacket.

Next post will hopefully be of my first double hand rod caught salmon, perhaps on a black zulu