River Don 2024

« **on:** 12/02/2024 at 08:15 »

Well another season beckons and let's hope it is a good one. Tight lines to all those venturing out for that elusive unicorn the Springer

« **Reply #1 on:** 13/02/2024 at 13:31 »

Nice one Graham, I hope you enjoy a good season

« **Reply #2 on:** 17/03/2024 at 18:08 »

had quick hour at parkhill today around 12.00, a few large olives but only occasional risers, missed one on large CDC olive

« **Reply #3 on:** 02/04/2024 at 08:45 »

So my first couple of weeks have been a story of poor shift timing, with the river all but unfishable on my days off. However I did manage the odd fish on the nymph as I didn’t see a rising fish until last Saturday. Despite there being a few March browns and Large dark olives about

Saturday however saw some excellent hatches of March Browns and a few feeding fish. All quite close to the bank but some pretty nice ones

Cdc spider with the partridge was the business

Sunday saw a nicer day, but a lot less flies And consequently less rising fish. I did manage to find some late afternoon again picking off the MBs

Monday was back to cold and miserable and an upstream breeze. By 2pm I thought it was a write off but then the odd fly appeared and from half 2 to half 3 there was a decent LDO hatch with a sprinkling of MBs.
The fish were tight into the bank and in the slack water at the edges of the streams picking off LDOs

The plume tip was the medicine this time, it makes a great searching fly too, but it worked a treat on these risers.

All great fun on the glass rod, which actually made light work of the conditions. A new best friend methinks

And this morning I sit here watching the rain….again…….don’t you just love April

« **Reply #4 on:** 02/04/2024 at 12:18 »

Thanks Sandy, that is a first class fishing report. Great to read about your early season experiences.
Can you say a little more about the action and performance of your TMR glass rod, and the line you are using with it?

« **Reply #5 on:** 02/04/2024 at 15:40 »

Thats a question that deserves a post of its own Michael.
I'll put one in the Tackle Column

« **Reply #6 on:** 02/04/2024 at 17:25 »

Love that artisan reel Sandy

« **Reply #7 on:** 06/04/2024 at 12:30 »

Some cracking fish there Sandy.

A question for the wider forum. I am planning to visit the Don for trout for a few days towards the end of the month. My knowledge is limited to a couple of previous visits and whats online. I'm looking at availability on Fishpal and have a few ideas but if anyone is willing to let me run couple of thoughts by them via pm I'd be obliged.
Regards
John

« **Reply #8 on:** 07/04/2024 at 18:45 »

I am hoping to star my campaign soon.......I am just never home when the river is right.....this weather is so frustrating!!

Steven

« **Reply #9 on:** 20/04/2024 at 20:30 »

In the past week I managed a couple of days where there was a fishable river, then we had some shocking weather

Before it turned to shit I managed a few on March browns and LDOs including some crackers.

Even managed a blank on a day when the daffys were more welcoming than the fish

Fortunately work got in the way during the week and today was my first chance to get back out. I found a river at a lovely height and colour but still running at 7degrees. LDOs from early afternoon brought a few to the top

However at 3.30 some March Browns started to appear and some of the bigger ones started to move, but they were hard to spot

Interesting that I took my last fish at around 4.45pm on a spent spinner.
Next few days look to be fairly stable so fingers crossed it becomes a bit more consistant

« **Reply #10 on:** 20/04/2024 at 22:03 »

Nice one Sandy, fingers crossed for a bit of settled weather

« **Reply #11 on:** 20/04/2024 at 22:45 »

Interesting and enlightening to read that you caught an early season fish on a spent spinner, Sandy. We know that female spinners of both species return to the water to lay their eggs, otherwise we wouldn’t see duns the following year, but I think your report is the first reference I have read of an angler taking trout in April on a spinner pattern of either a Large Dark Olive or a March Brown. Did you see natural spinners on the water and any indications that fish were feeding on them?
Lovely to see daffodils in flower.
Thanks again for sharing details of your early season success.

« **Reply #12 on:** 21/04/2024 at 08:28 »

Hi Michael

During the afternoon I was watching the March Brown Spinners egg laying during the LDO hatch. and later when the March Browns started after 3.30pm I saw a few spent March Brown spinners in the water. The two fish I spotted rising sporadically late afternoon, appeared during the March Browns. the first one took the CDC and Partridge Spider which kind of works as an Emerger, cripple or spinner so I'm usually covering most bases. The other fish wouldn't look at it, I tried Olive dries and emergers and it wouldn't look at them either so I did wonder if it was feeding on terrestrials, however having seen the spinners earlier I thought i'd try one first. I only had spinners in 14-18 sizes so I though i'd try the 14, it was a touch small but the fish took it second drift very confidently, in fact I needed my forceps to get the fly out past the teeth. So the fish definitely wanted it. They were my best 2 fish of the day.

The water was nice and clear and I managed to catch this image

« **Reply #13 on:** 21/04/2024 at 12:02 »

Thanks, Sandy. I look out for the spinners of March Browns and LDOs early in the season and carry a few spinner patterns just in case, but I’ve not yet found spinner feeders in April. As your report demonstrates, it is certainly worth attempting to discern the range of food items available at the surface when trout are up and rising and taking time to change fly to give them what they want.
Good to see wild fish in fine condition.

« **Reply #14 on:** 22/04/2024 at 22:49 »

Enjoyable afternoon on the water today in good company ..... not ideal conditions, quite a brisk/cold wind with a bit of rain thrown in to keep it interesting ...... but there were fish to be caught during the sporadic hatches

« **Reply #15 on:** 23/04/2024 at 07:14 »

had some success lower Don on wet fly, Greenwell, pn Saturday and Sunday. Same observation Mike that risers were sporadic

« **Reply #16 on:** 24/04/2024 at 21:49 »

Hi all. I don't get up to the Don so often these days, but a visit to my bruv in Aberdeen at the weekend left me with an opportunity. I visited a stretch I've fished a few times before, but usually later in the season. Getting away at all in spring is difficult due to work commitments. Anyway - arrived around 11.30 in light drizzle, but practically no wind. I wandered downstream intending to fish back up to the car. Turned out I stayed on the same long slow pool for three hours! After midday the odd riser appeared. A while after that, the odd upwing drifted downstream. Then a few more. Pretty much an ongoing on and off trickle hatch of March Browns and LDO's for the next hour and a half or so. It was a lovely afternoon! First fish took a big spider with gusto, and I probably should have stuck with that but I'm a sucker for rising trout so switched to a big DHE. Lots of ignored presentations, but enough acceptances to make me stay with it. As the trickle of fly slowed there was still one committed riser midstream. By this point I'd switched to a #14. And lo, it worked. I don't have a huge number of big Scottish river brownies under my belt, and this was the second at this weight. Well chuffed

« **Reply #17 on:** 24/04/2024 at 22:54 »

Nice one Al

« **Reply #18 on:** 25/04/2024 at 06:44 »

Great Stuff Al

Been the story of the last few days (read 3 weeks) that. Sticking it out in good looking water to spot a couple of rising fish during some of the small bursts of flies. Worth it though

« **Reply #19 on:** 25/04/2024 at 13:04 »

So I managed to hit the only sustained hatch I’ve seen on Sunday for an hour.

Steady flow of March Browns

Led to a few nice fish to the net

Monday saw me downstream for a nice afternoon with MrB.
Back to sporadic bursts of fly and a biting wind. Still a few fish to be found in certain spots.

Tuesday was horrible and I never saw a fish rise so buggered off after a couple of hours.

Wednesday was warmer and I managed to find some stretches out of the breeze where the MBs were popping off.
I sat on a pool where I’ve spent several hours on a particular fish in the last few days. Having spooked him on two previous occasions, this time he accepted my offering

Definitely worth the effort

« **Reply #20 on:** 25/04/2024 at 13:22 »

Great stuff Sandy - gotta love how you're not feared to get your camera under the water

« **Reply #21 on:** 25/04/2024 at 15:34 »

Lovely fish above, and encouraging as I have a pass to fish the Don a couple of days this weekend

John

« **Reply #22 on:** 01/05/2024 at 16:57 »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2qvdr3zq3xo

Oil spillage at Dyce.

Not good.

« **Reply #23 on:** 02/05/2024 at 08:02 »

I've been watching that one to Dave.
Not the first time unfortunately, hopefully they get it cleaned up soon.

I've had a couple of great sessions upstream this week , with good hatches of LDO's and March browns on Monday afternoon.

Yesterday I went out early hoping for some Olive uprights at long last as they seem to be quite late this year. it was only LDO's on the go early doors

However from 2pm onwards we had a fairly steady hatch of OU's

This lead to quite a few nice fish coming on a steady rise.

last fish of the afternoon was a real bruiser, well chuffed.

So a really good week so far and now the OU's have started we should get some cracking dryfly action for the next 2 to 3 weeks.

« **Reply #24 on:** 02/05/2024 at 10:00 »

Great stuff Sandy

Feels like a good time to study the Olive Upright in the photo, the Large Dark Olive you posted on the Stream, and perhaps a bit of revision.

Natural Flies Of The River Don https://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/river-don-natural-flies.html

Sandy's River Fly Box https://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/sandys-river-fly-box.html

Tactics for the River Don https://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/river-don-trout-tactics.html