[Noel Kelly]

There was a brief surge of activity about 10 or so with olives and yellow mays on the water and clouds of small stuff in the air mixed in with the occasional sedge. Pool I was on several fish started rising and after an awful lot of work and fawlty towers type of incidents I managed one small trout. I'm giving up fishing and taking up full time drinking. 

[Mark Zhang]

Went to last night 7pm, saw plenty of fish rising, but didn't see a monster. Went to the beat 9pm. weather changed, no rising any more. Maybe I should go early tonight.

Tight lines.

Mark

[Mike Barrio]

Went to bridge last night 7pm, saw plenty of fish rising, but didn't see a monster. Went to the beat 9pm. weather changed, no rising any more. Maybe I should go early tonight.

Tight lines.

Mark

Hi Mark,
Please see post #1 in this thread and remember not to give specific locations on the river ........ thanks

So your post would have been equally interesting if posted as below:

Went down to the river last night at about 7pm and saw plenty of fish rising, but didn't see a monster. Went down again at 9pm and the weather had changed, no rising any more. Maybe I should go early tonight.

Tight lines.

Mark

Best wishes
Mike

[Ben Dixon]

Guys,

Mikes point above is very important right now. 

Coming over Kintore bridge last night I saw 6 cars and could see 8 anglers (one was Noel so call it 7 anglers).  Can't remember the last time I was out and did not see other anglers on the water.  After seeing that last night, I have decided not to write anything at all about trout fishing on the Don anywhere public, river is getting a lot of pressure right now.  I see there is another article in the angling press about the Don, just what we need!!


Cheers

Ben

[Noel Kelly]

 :X :X :X 
Personally I think my reports can only help to reduce angling pressure. Down the river last night, seen nothing, caught nothing. There's no trout in this feckin river. 

[Mike Barrio]

I'm not surprised that there are a few more faces on the river after work at the moment, it is the same every year, we have all been eagerly awaiting the weather to improve a bit and allow us the chance to get out for a cast in the evening

We soon get it out of our system though and things get back to normal

Just a couple of weeks ago we were still in thermals and gloves mode

Cheers
Mike

[Andy Finlay]

Ben, good point on the # of cars but is this not a factor of ADAA having a stretch now when previously it was private one side and shire the other. They aren't all on the shire side, I parked elsewhere and there certainly wasn't that number on the shire side.

[Andy Finlay]

Noel if it helps I saw naff all as well, was later and foggy though. Tonight looks not to bad though.

[Ben Dixon]

Ben, good point on the # of cars but is this not a factor of ADAA having a stretch now when previously it was private one side and shire the other. They aren't all on the shire side, I parked elsewhere and there certainly wasn't that number on the shire side.

Probably Andy in fact I'd say that was almost certainly the case.  I'm not that bothered about where the tickets were issued.  That amount of fishing pressure on one stretch can't be a good thing IMO.  I've had the same in the Kemnay area this season several times hence I've decided to keep my Don trout exploits private going forward.  The good thing about ADAA taking on that water is that there will at least be some control over the salmon fishing, I saw some pretty grim stuff going on down there early season when there was a syndicate on it.

Cheers

Ben

[Noel Kelly]

I agree that I've never seen anything like the amount of anglers on the river as there are this season. Walking to my chosen spot tonight I met a group of 4 guys coming off for example.
I also agree with Mike, that the weather is playing a part. Also everyone I've spoken to are finding the fishing tough at the moment so a lot of these folk will have a go or 2 but if they're not getting results will give up. Come August I bet it will just be the same few "characters" you know who you are...

[Iain Cameron]

Personally I think my reports can only help to reduce angling pressure.

I've got mixed feelings about this - I really enjoy reading others' reports, and like to reciprocate with a photo or a report when I've had an interesting trip.

I guess the reports here tend to be the highlights - the good bits, mostly - and maybe that gives people a skewed view of the river. The reports don't reflect the blank sessions, or hours of sitting on your backside watching flies:



I've had a couple of nice fish this season; I've also had plenty of blanks and long sessions where nothing happened. Recent evening, arrived at river at 9.45pm after a 20 min walk. Waited til 11.15 before having a cast. Horrible constricted location. Eventually cracked and had a cast just for form's sake. Hooked the tree behind me twice. Snarled the reeds. I think I had 6 or 8 casts in total, then went home in a grump!!

Agree 100% with keeping locations private, but I'd still like to read folks' reports and flies and tactics and grumps and groans.
cheers
iain

[Mike Barrio]

Excellent post Iain

Best wishes
Mike

[Sandy Nelson]

I'm not surprised that there are a few more faces on the river after work at the moment, it is the same every year, we have all been eagerly awaiting the weather to improve a bit and allow us the chance to get out for a cast in the evening

I'm not surprised either its been a long time coming.
I would be inclined to suggest that as Iain puts it, the reports reflect the good days, Don't all reports
As long as specifics are not bandied around then i can't see what is going to change or what is wrong with letting people know how we are all getting on, every day's a school day and some of the tips are great.
If people read and take on board what the guys are posting, then they will have more successful days, but most people's patience doesn't hold out that long, if it does, then good luck to them and i look forward to reading more about it on here .
Sustained pressure is not going to happen from a small increase in a few guys fly-fishing for trout using "trout hunting" tactics, all the fish are going back and are cared for , it goes with the territory and the mindset required to succeed in finding and then catching them. It is also well spread out along many miles of water and as most of us sit and watch for hours, perhaps it reduces the amount of speculative and potentially pool disturbing fishing.

The only pressure on the river will come from an influx of people who are fish-mongering or using bait, both of which are pretty much against the river code of practice and if they are doing this then they are likely to be fishing illegally anyway and should be an issue for the Bailiffs and proprietors. I can see how these kind of people might use this resource as encouragement to go and catch tea, but if the location specifics are not there, what difference is there to any other day. They are still around, always have been and will still try to do these things anyway . All we can do is not give too much away about where they can go.

We all feel like she is our river sometimes, and she is , but we also have to share otherwise the sport will die and that includes the fact she is a moody and temperamental bitch at times, so ask questions, spend time watching and learning and it will all come good. if it doesn't, try again

Sandy

[Scott Cumming]

The Don on it’s day can produce some fantastic sport, but more often than not it can be very dour. I've been out a lot this year and have had more blanks than I would care to mention.

Yeh, we will probably see more faces in the fine evenings but it doesn’t usually last.

The Don is still a great trout river but in my opinion there's not the same abundance of fly life and the rises are nowhere near as good as they use to be.....Aye, when I was a lad...

I’m usually lucky enough to catch a few decent trout each year, only because I put the hours in (maybe not quite as many hours as that Irish chap I keep bumping into) but you know what I mean...!!!

Cheers
Scott

[Rob Brownfield]

Interesting one this.

This website gives a, excuse the pun, forum for people to share their catches, both in the River Don Forum and also under catch reports. The biggest (numbers of anglers available to fish) owner of fishing on the Don, the ADAA, publishes catch reports each month. This forum also has items such as the Sexyloops Strathdon trip which clearly show areas of river and it only takes 5 minutes of research to know where, within a few miles or even to the very bit of bank, they were fishing.

So, what is the answer? This place would be extremely boring if all of that stopped. Even not naming a stretch makes very little difference over all, because a vast majority of the reports on here come from people I have bumped into on certain beats, so it does not take a genius to work out where they do most of their fishing or indeed, just through knowledge of what clubs/associations they are in, you can put two and two together.

Also, even just putting a report in the River Don forum means that people are alerted to the fact that fish are being caught. It could have been caught way up in Strathdon or right in the middle of Seaton Park, it does not matter, people will still go, "Oh, the Don is fishing, I had better get out".

Secrecy in fishing is pants. It promotes rumours and distrust. I have no problem with not adding a location, but I firmly believe that people will still go out and fish if they know fish are coming off, its just that they may be fishing a bit that is "wrong", but they are still fishing.

And lastly, I would rather have 7 anglers fishing the dry fly and returning the fish than one angler fishing the worm and killing everything.

ps. This is certainly not a dig at the forum, Mike, the ADAA or anyone who posts reports or does not post reports...its purely an observation open for discussion since the subject has raised its head.