[Liam Stephen]

First of the season 



Had another couple around the same size along with a sea trout (kelt) and lost a cracker of 2-3lbs. Good hatches but a horrible wind, a fairly nice first day out though. 

Liam

[Colin Sunley]

Off to a good start Liam, Well done, 
I only managed the one, and would have been his smaller cousin to yours,  Much smaller cousin, 
Still its a start, roll on the week-end,

Col

[Sandy Nelson]

Liam, you were on the opposite side to me

It was quite cold out there, i had a few but nothing over 11" and didn't see anything of any real size moving apart from quite a lot of tourists (some looked rather fresh)

I did think i had opted for the wrong bank or the wrong rod as i saw a couple of good fish come out from the other side.

Going to try again tomorrow, maybe further upstream.

There was a steady trickle of LDO's from 1130 through to about 1330 and then it changed to March Browns, seemed to dry up about 1500 so i went home.

Still think it was little cold and the easterly wind definatley didn't help

Sandy

[Liam Stephen]

Sandy I didn't realise or else I would have shouted over. 

Your bank was the bank to be on, that wind was a right twat! The older chap that was fishing above me said he had one of around 2lb.

If you are out tomorrow try round the corner 

Yeah a fairly sustained hatch today and lots of interest in the sheltered spots.

It was cold though!

Liam

[Sandy Nelson]

Your bank was the bank to be on, that wind was a right twat! The older chap that was fishing above me said he had one of around 2lb.

I saw him get that one. it gave a good account of itself. A guy on my side took an 8lb salmon on the dry, quite a hoot
But i just didn't see anything in RB size at all on that side, they all seemed to be across with you

I might recognise you next time Did you find they liked em big

Sandy

[Liam Stephen]

It's funny that I was sure they were all on your side 

Likewise Sandy and yes I was fishing a size 12 Olive variant  . I'll post a fly pic later.

 
Liam

[Sandy Nelson]

Likewise Sandy and yes I was fishing a size 12 Olive variant  . I'll post a fly pic later.

Size 10 DHE's for me as i had more better fish after the olives finished and the March Browns Started

Sandy

[Scott Cumming]

Nice start Liam, shame you lost the bigger one!

I thought a blank was on the cards today - I spent too much time stalking a trophy that came up 3-4 times but he wasn't playing ball. Caught one late afternoon @3lbs, kindly netted by Iain Cameron.

Cheers
Scott C

[Liam Stephen]

I bloody knew it!  Well done Scott, the first of many trophies for you I'm sure 

Liam

[Sandy Nelson]

Nice one Scott

Bonny fish, in great condition

Sandy

[Iain Cameron]

Bonny fish, in great condition

Scott's fish was a belter, absolutely lovely, and well deserved after he had stalked another fish for a good couple of hours.

I had a cracking day out - as well as catching up with Scott and Richard, I had browns of 2lb 4oz, 1lb, and 1lb 12oz. And a sneaky sea trout kelt also 2lb 4oz. The two big browns were lovely. All came to a simple cdc f-fly/emerger thing.

First fish of the Don season - 2lb 4oz. nice.


If you love em, let em go:



And a nice bonus, late rising fish, around 4pm. 1lb 12oz, solid fish


we were possibly lucky with wind, wasn't too bad. A sparse hatch, kicked off maybe around 12 ish with some LDOs. I didn't see MBs until much later. Rises were few and far between, but apart from one lunker that Scott stalked, we had a good crack at those rising fish we did see. Great day, cracking way to kick off 2014

i,

[Liam Stephen]

Nice one Iain. Looks like ....... was the place to be today  

Liam

[Scott Cumming]

Great start to the season Iain, well done again!

Cheers for the pic, nice one!

[Eddie Sinclair]

Cracking fish guys, good start to the season.

Eddie.

[Noel Kelly]

Well done gentlemen some great trout there! Roll on the wend when us working class types can have a shot.

[Allan Liddle]

 

[Irvine Ross]

Well done gentlemen.

No so good further up the river. A thin hatch of LDOs from about 13:00 to 14:30 but no rising fish anywhere I could find. No takers on the spiders either so my first blank of the year.

Irvine

[Jonathan Kerr]

 

cracking start to the season it looks. great to see some pics too.

[Andy Finlay]

Well done gentlemen some great trout there! Roll on the wend when us working class types can have a shot.

I'm with you on that, stuck offshore for the start of the season but will hopefully get a shot at the trout this weekend.

[Liam Stephen]

I was out again today. Caught some nice brownies.







I also netted a fairly nice Sea Trout, a bit on the thin side but perfect fins and tail.




A good hatch again today although a little later than expected with the most activity between 1- 2.30pm. My best fly today was an old favourite of mine, the CDC n Elk.

 
Liam

[Sandy Nelson]

Great stuff Liam, nice fish

I had a similar experience this afternoon, hatch was later but better

I finally managed to find a small pod of decent sized fish feeding today , awkward to get to and a bit precarious standing on rock pocket picking at distance, however i managed to get a few good drifts

The nearest fish to me turned out to be a Sea-trout kelt of about 1.75lbs, put up a good scrap and i released it mid river, somewhat difficult to photo, but i tried



The next one out never moved station and continued to feed, so i kept at him and eventually got a drag free drift, up he came and all hell broke loose
After a major scrap through the rapids and around quite a few rocks i netted my best Brownie for a while
4lb8oz on the weigh net and in fantastic condition



He swam off strong when returned, but not before giving me a wink



I sat for a while after this one, as the shaking took a while to slow down, awesome fun

I rested the pod for about an hour and had a few smaller fish around the 10-12" mark from further upstream, no babies today But a much better rise than yesterday.

When i returned the remaining 2 fish were still sipping the odd fly, the forward one i spooked by striking to quick but looked like another sea-trout kelt.
The last one was the hardest to reach and i eventually got a full length cast and a drag free drift to get him to come up, again all hell broke loose and fish was jumping all over the place, looked to be about 2.5-3lb, when he took off down the rapids i lost my balance and thought i was going after him, but i dropped the rod tip and regained my balance, unfortunatley the hook fell out
Anyway I can't complain, i didn't fall in and i had a great afternoon

Size 12 DHE did the business today



Cheers

Sandy

[Liam Stephen]

Sandy you lucky so and so! 

Awesome fish and great pictures. You heading out tomorrow?

Liam

[Scott Cumming]

Nice plump trout Liam, well done. Thats a cracker Sandy, in great condition too

My day was similar, Hatch was a good bit later than yesterday. I caught one thin sea trout kelt, one brown at 1lb, lost a lump of a brown shortly after - it was a belter Finished off the day with a fairly lean brown of 2lb 8oz.

cheers
Scott

[Iain Cameron]

Liam, Sandy, Scott

Superb fishes and reports! 

A nice brace for Liam, and a belter for Sandy - that's some lump you tempted!
Scott - shame about the belter you lost - wonder if it was the one you waited for yesterday. At least you tempted him up to take...

Cracking starts to the season, brilliant!

cheers
iain

[Eddie Sinclair]

Guys,

hats off to all of you those are great troots well done.

Eddie.