[Alwyn]

Hi - grateful if anyone can answer the following questions as I'm toying with the idea of a few days on the Don in April or May:
1. What beat would best suit - I'm a reasonably competent river angler but will have 2 friends with me who have some basic skills but are essentially novices when it comes to rivers?
2. Which would be best, April or May?
3. How suseptable is the Don to rainfall / is there a high risk of the river being unfishable at that time of year?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Alwyn

[buntinbee]

From your letter I surmise that you are fishing for trout, on that basis I would aim to come right at the end of April or the start of May. At this time you will stand the best chance of good hatches of Olives or March Browns with trout rising freely to them.
As for which beat, I would plump for Parkhill which is on the lower Don. Details for visitors tickets can be seen here.
http://www.adaa.org.uk/Visitors.htm
I am sure that you will be advised to go to beats further up the Don, but in my experience, having fished practically every beat from Stradon to the tidal water, Parkhill will give you the optimum chance of sport for brownies.
If, on the other hand, you want to fish predominantly for salmon then I would suggest you fished further up the river. Somewhere between Inverurie and Alford, the Don Springers tend to run fairly fast and don't linger in the bottom 15 miles or so. April or May can be equally good for the salmon.
If you want to drop me an E mail closer to the time I can advise you of up to date conditions and what to expect.

John

[wildfisher]

I would agree fully with buntinbee. I (and many others I know) have found  the fish  lower down the Don  to be  far more free rising. Further up river it can be  very good if you are lucky enough to "hit it", but,  more often than not, it can be pretty dire -  a real problem if you are only around for a few days. If you fish up river be prepared  for very long periods of inactivity with perhaps a short spell of ½ hour or so when a hatch occurs, but even that is not  guaranteed. The middle / upper Don is not really a river for novices, so again lower down might suit you less experienced friends better.

[Alwyn]

Thanks chaps - really helpful.

I'm after trout by the way - I should've made this clear.

[Sandy Nelson]

Interesting comments

Personally i have always found the lower Don to be pretty useless before the middle of May, with the best of the trout action from Inverurie upwards.
I also know and have talked to many old boys who would say exactly the same.
Parkhill is great water for trout but end of May into June and onwards it comes into its own.

As for being tricky and moody of course it is , its a river with Wild fish (incidently one of the theories on why the lower river doesn't fish so well early season is it gets stocked at the beginning of April)

All the beats are good in their own right , but Monymusk - strathdon will provide a lot of the best trout fishing in april, but it does depend on the weather, this year the hatches were late and May saw the best of the hatches of Large dark olives and March browns, with some really good fish caught.The last few years the march browns have been finished by mid April and the LDO's by the first week in May. So its hard to Guess ahead.
Last week in april to the 3rd week of may should land you on a good hatch.

If i was travelling a long way to fish the river I would book onto Monymusk or Castle Forbes, they are a bit more expensive but really do represent what the Don is famous for, and you will have a great time.
But they are popular and restricted so book in advance.

Quite a few of us fish the river regularly so nearer the time any information you need just ask, someone will know something that'll help.

Have fun

Sandy

[buntinbee]

A couple of trout caught at Parkhill this year, I hope no one would disagree that Parkhill can produce the very best that the Don has to offer. Both are still there to be caught next year.

John

[wildfisher]

John, what truly wonderful  fish!  Great to have photographic confirmation that   quality trout on the Don don't have to come from the more exclusive and  expensive beats. The Association water is as good as anywhere for  trout and salmon.  Personally I would rather see my permit money go to the Association than to the ever increasingly expensive so called "prime beats", but  to each his own. You pay your money and take your chances.

[Alwyn]

Thanks again for the advice and for the fantastic photos. I'm now thinking that I may come for a week (wife permitting) and give both the upper and lower beats a try. The fishing looks truly spectacular, although I've done enough fishing for wild fish to know that it's rarely easy. I guess that if I'm really unlucky with the rainfall, I can always try some loch fishing.

[Mike Barrio]

Hi John
Thanks for the great photos! ....... Nice fish  

What tactics tempted these ones John?

I've seen lots of cracking photos like this from throughout the entire river system this year, it certainly has been a good year for browns!

Hope you don't mind but I've resized them to help with download times for folk with slower connections.

Best wishes
Mike

( Could all forum members try to keep their photos to 500 pixels by 500 pixels max size please )

[Sandy Nelson]

John

Fantastic fish nice net

But i did note the dates on the photos.As i said before Parkhill is  a superb stretch but not till later on.Mind you i had a few last year on the czech nymph early season, but i prefer the dry.
For the record 2 of my largest trout came out of lower parkhill on the dry.(in july)
The others were caught at inverurie, but then i've fished it for donkeys years so the law of averages would suggest that anyway. :

thanks for sharing the pics though, makes me real sad the seasons over :

Soon be next april :

And Fred , i would rather give my money to one of  the richest associations in the country, with the most clout rather than the smaller proprietors who are far more personal and actually adopt the enviromental suggestions, What a hippocrite : i'm surprised especially given your recent comments about magazines. :

Sandy

[wildfisher]

Now now Sandy no need to  personalise things, surely we can all have our opinions and accept that others may hold different ones to ourselves?  Rich association or not, the ADAA  makes some of the best fishing  in Scotland  available to ordinary anglers at affordable rates and for that I  respect them. Perhaps  they are not perfect  but then who or what is?  I'm not,  are you?   I guess if  I lived in their  area  and was   a member  I would no doubt disagree with aspects of their management and politics – that's a fact of life in a less than perfect world.  Can't say I have heard that many of the other river proprietors are struggling and there are a few that spring to mind that are anything but small. If  some  are struggling then perhaps, like any business,  they should evaluate  what they are doing – within the  rules and spirit of the PO of course.  I don't know about you but if I am asked for an opinion or for information on fishing I try give it honestly based on my own (and others I know) experiences and not on hype or reputation. That your opinion  differs from mine  does not trouble me at all.  That's what forums are all about.

[Hamish Young]

Jings - go away for a couple of days and things get spicy  

To answer your question Alwyn I think it's horses for courses, as with all trout fishing on rivers there are no guarantees and in all honesty you'd be best leaving off booking any water or setting firm ideas on any particular stretch until much nearer the time  :idea:
The Don - particularly for the dry fly fisher - is a case of being in the right place at the right time (but isn't it always :  : ).
If you can, set yourselves up reasonably centrally and be prepared to travel to the fishing relying on this forum and other contacts to find out where's "fishing".

Personally (although there is some cracking water available to the day ticket holder) I'd not plump for ADAA waters myself as they will likely be busy even mid-week and are hard fished - especially when the stockies go in - although that operation may have ceased by now.
I'd strike for Monymusk myself, probably early May which in MY opinion is the area of the river most likely to see consistent rises. The upper beats, of which our ADAA chum seems relatively dismissive, are perhaps best left to the determined and experienced fisher. Big fish there, but they are fickle and a fruitless day there can put off a novice - of which you are bringing two. So I'd plump for the 'lower middle' river.

For Salmon fishing, look to the Inverurie area  :idea: and have a squint at the column in a well known angling magazine - always found the Don correspondents suggestions are almost personal  :  

Opinion will always differ on the Don but please do ask what's what nearer the time and I'm sure you will get the best advice possible from all sources on this forum.

[wildfisher]

Excellent post Hamish! Aren't forums  great, for  diverse opinions.   :

Alwyn, just to let you know that wild trout fishing opportunities are limited around here compared to the rest of Scotland, but there are other places you can go if the Don is one of it's more usual moods. The Deveron is quite close and some say it is a better and more reliable river all round. Do bear in mind however that if the rivers are in flood when you are here your options for pursuing  wild trout will be severely limited and you may have a wasted trip.

On the other hand,  if you are not 100% set on Aberdeenshire, there are some great places a   little further afield that might  suit beginners better and offer a wider choice.  If a mix of river and loch fishing appeals you could do worse than  Perthshire. There  you have the Tay / Tummel system – great value for money river fishing  – not easy I know, but then neither is the Don. There, if the rivers are not playing game or are in flood,  you could visit Dunalistair which  arguably offers the best "trophy"  (what a truly  dreadful word to describe a beautiful wild creature!)  wild trout fishing in Scotland and is almost unbelievably inexpensive. Around that area there are numerous other waters that   offer beginners a very good chance of a fish or two.

As Hamish says, do not book anything yet, wait until nearer the time.  If you do opt for the Don, you will have no trouble at all getting on the river at short notice. Other than on the ADAA waters, local demand is not high, even the council controlled waters around Alford are like the Maree Celeste most days.  Keep your options open.

[Sandy Nelson]

HI Guys

I have been thinking about this one for a few days now, and opinions aside I think the advice is not such where to fish the river but how.

In the Spring the hatches are very specific both on the Don and elsewhere.
You get Large dark olives and March browns , olive uprights and iron blues, and some grannoms and stoneflies.
 The hatches really are at midday for the species the trout target ,namely the upwings on the Don. So being on the river from 1100-1500 is about right to catch the hatch, but even on the best beats the hatches are localised to specific stretches of the water.
For example if you are after good trout in the spring i would look for a deepish riffle about 100-200yds downstream of a shallow fast stretch, when the hatch comes on, the March browns especially, start to hatch in the streamy water and get carried downstream, by the time they reach the riffle you are at they are either drowning,struggling to hatch, cripple or have flown away, this is where the best fish sit and pick off the flies at their leisure, This is where to fish.
Feature such as large rocks, trees,eddies will hold the fish although search the water for often the biggies come out into open water at the this time of the year.(they seldom do this in daylight for the rest of the year)

The LDO's are often found below this stretch in the glides or in among the march browns depends where you are. So the same spot will usually suit you for both species.If you find the LDO's then you will catch good fish.

Many of the Experienced trout guys on the river search the water by starting at the bottom of the beat in the morning and walking its length noting the spots like the ones i have mentioned.They will explore but rarely cast until the fish come on, and they will often wait at a spot till the hatch starts as it often only lasts for about 30min.They will fish the spot till the hatch stops and then exlore the river casting dries into likely spots or at the odd rising fish, this is a very successful technique and a must on the Don in spring when you never quite know whats round the corner.

The iron blues on the Don in spring are tiny so if the fish are rising to invisible flies this is likely to be it and a size 18 snipe and purple is great, this only seems to happpen on certain beats though, so is very localised.
The uprights start when the LDO's finish and the trout will take them out of habit but the fishing is never as good as when the LDO's are on the water.

Hopefully this helps, it will go for all the beats.

The other bits to try are Manar and Fetternear (which i think is accessible now) The river is a bit bigger here but has much perfect LDO and MB conditions and seldom gets fished for trout.

Sandy

[wildfisher]

A very positive post Sandy. The only  thing  I  would  add is  don’t take some of the more exotic stories you may have read about the river too seriously and  be realistic in your expectations.

[Sandy Nelson]

  FRED

[buntinbee]

Hi Mike,

the first photograph was actually of a trout caught on the salmon fly on the last day of the trout season. The next trout was on a nymph fished Czech style in a fast run, it weighed 6 1/4 lb.
As for which beat to fish, I stand by my original choice of Parkhill. I have, as previously mentioned, fished most of the beats from Strathdon down to the sea, particularly spending a lot of time on the beats between Monymusk and Inverurie. I have hardly seen a decent hatch of flies let alone a rise on any of these beats in the last 10 years in the spring. This contrasts with Parkhill, where most days from mid April to mid May can be counted on to produce a hatch with the corresponding rise of brownies. These are mainly March Browns and large Olives. The only hatches of any consequence I have seen in recent years further up the river have been Grannom and I have yet to see the trout taking advantage of these.

One other thing Spiderman, I don't really understand what you mean  when you said "incidentally one of the theories on why the lower river doesn't fish so well early season is it gets stocked at the beginning of April" Why should a beat that is stocked fish badly?

John

[Irvine Ross]

John

You need to get out and about a bit more. There are regular hatches of March Browns and Dark Olives every spring well upstream of Alford. They were late this spring because of the cold weather and cold water but normally from mid April on to late  May they are there between 1pm and 3pm. Some days the fish chose to rise, some days they don't, but the hatch of flies is fairly reliable as long as the weather is not cold.

My diary for 9 April 2005 noted a big hatch of olives from 1.30 to 3pm and not a fish rising. A week later the hatch lasted from 1.30 to 4pm and I took 5 fish. The following week another hatch and I only got one half-pounder.

Where are you seeing the Grannom? Never yet seen any this far upstream.

Irvine

[Sandy Nelson]

John

Welcome to the forum, sorry I bit the last time, but i can be a bit like a brownie in Springtime with a crippled dun, when it comes to the river.
Its my favourite place in the world.(opinion)

It has been discussed here before and elsewhere, that many people had noticed a lot of flies on the lower river early season, but not so much rises.
The thinking was that the introduction of fish upset the natural balance for a while and the only fish people were catching were stockies.I can only speak from personal experience and what i have discussed with anglers on the river and the information was very much the same.
However it is very interesting to see you have a very diffferent experience of these beats.Just proves the point in going fishing.
In fact going by what you're saying your experience of the last 10 years or so has been almost the opposite to mine, mind you from the photo i dont recognise you so i guess we have always been in different places at the same time.
Have to agree with the Czech nymphing part though, once i learned how to do it properly my catch of bigger fish rose dramatically, i still prefer dryfly/spiders though.

I still don't believe on a river such as the Don there is any need to introduce fish, especially as most of the fish are returned.If it was a put and take take fishery perhaps, but its not.

Anyway thats back to opinions and i reckon we have swung round to experiences so lets keep it there.

What type of Czech nymph did the 6lber come out on, its a truly awesome fish, i've only seen one that size from the river before, but i didn't catch it.Looks like it was a really bonny day too, what time of the day was it caught?

Sandy

[Sandy Nelson]

Irvine

Lots of Grannom around the mid beats , Inverurie-alford, but never seen the trout taking them.
But my diary for the year shows large hatches too but only after the start of May, and very localised, didn't fish the lower river at all so perhaps it did better this year seems so, i'm glad to say.
Did get some great fish though.
roll on next year

Sandy

[wildfisher]

I have hardly seen a decent hatch of flies let alone a rise on any of these beats in the last 10 years in the spring.

Exactly my experience over the years. This  year, for example,  above Alford I saw 1 olive spinner  in 6 trips, no march browns  and only a few Iron Blues. Hardly a fish rose at all over these visits (long very hard fished days)  and during several massive grannom hatches no fish rose at all. In contrast, in years past,  fishing at Kintore and on a beat just above Fintry there was plenty of insect life and lots of rising fish.  My mate John also fished Kintore regularly 2 seasons ago, right through the spring and  summer and had good sport  with reliable rising fish. The lower Don might lack the scenic qualities of beats further up river but they seem to be reliable. Through my own forum and contacts I have recommended the middle / upper Don to a lot of anglers and one of them in particular  is probably  a more experienced and better  fly fisher than most of us will ever be. All   had very limited success in insect -free conditions and I would now hesitate before recommending it to anyone else. I know my posting this  will not please everyone, but you have to say it as you believe it to be, that's the point of the forum.



A Massive Grannom Hatch May 2006-  Don Above Alford

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Alwyn

I am sure that you were not expecting such "passionate" replies when you posted your question  :

But then the Don is a river that produces such passion .........  

[Mike Barrio]

Must confess that I don't understand these lack of insect life comments  :

Spending most of my time at the fishery, I haven't been able to get on the Don much this year  

But on the one day that I spent on a Monymusk beat, I saw olives, I saw a good march brown hatch ( which produced some lovely browns for my companions ) and .......... when we sat on the bank for lunch I was amazed at the number of large stoneflies that joined us!  

Best wishes
Mike

[wildfisher]

Mike, I have    put in  a lot of hours on the Don  over the years including this year. This year I was out  in all weathers from diabolical to perfect, always above Alford, all  day and a few evenings. Apart from  grannom and the (very)  odd iron blue  there was no fly life worth speaking of. Plenty of biting midgies!  There were one or two stone flies but nothing moving to them, some say that trout prefer these in the larval stages and tend to ignore the adults.  

Add to that numerous non-fishing walks along the river at Alford (no fishing distractions so really looking for up-winged flies) and it is hard to dismiss the possibility  that all might not be well  in Donside ephemerid circles.  

Speaking to a  chap who retired as a head keeper on the river   a few years back, he reckoned the fly hatches are  not what they were and thought it might possibly be due  the activities of farmers. Perhaps it is an upper /  mid river problem and by the time the waters reach Parkhill the effects have been diluted?  The experiences I have had over the years correlate  with those of buninbee and many many others I have spoken with.

I still enjoy my day though, really like the river,   and will go back. If it's poor   it's not a big deal if you only live along the road! Not so sure I would be as happy if I had travelled a long distance or if it was my main fishing holiday though.

Anyway, these are just my own experiences and those of most , others I know / have spoken with.  Other folks will have had, no doubt,  different ones. That's the beauty of forums compared to say – magazine articles-   a  wider contributor  base. At the end of the day, as a visitor,  you find out what you can,  pay your money and take your chance!

[Irvine Ross]

Out of curiosity I have checked my diaries for the 7 years I have fished the upper Don near Glenkindie. This year was particularly poor, but then we had a lot of snow in March and the water was cold. I still managed to catch 1 fish per 3 visits to the river. Normally I do better.

Over the other 6 years, 2000-2005 inclusive, my diary records a hatch of olives and/or March browns on every visit except when the weather was  particularly cold. Often the hatches are localised and you can walk a long stretch of river and see nothing so you have to know where to look. Sometimes the hatch was confined to a bit of the river sheltered from the wind but it was there.

Now maybe compared to the halcion days of 20 years ago, this is so poor as to be described as no "fly life at all" but in the literal sense of the words, it doesn't describe my experience.

I certainly agree that the upper river is not a location I would recommend to anyone who has spent a lot of money on travel and accommodiation. I get a lot of blank days but the cause is normally the lack of fish rising to the hatch I'm watching. Somedays they are there, somedays they are not, and I wish I knew why.

Irvine