River Don 2011

« **Reply #50 on:** 09/04/2011 at 07:49 »

Quote from: Goolager on 08/04/2011 at 21:15

...my new adapted bandy catcher

I have a plan though..............

Iain

is the plan to use the bandy net to take up butterfly collecting?

how do you cast a size 1/0 red admiral anyway?

« **Reply #51 on:** 09/04/2011 at 15:53 »

Sunny and windy today. Was on the river for 11 and a hatch of olives started at 11.30. Fish responded straight away with about 5 moving in a fast run. I picked out the better looking ones and landed 2 best one weighing 1lb

The hatch was short lived and despite eventually moving to another beat didn't see any more hatches or fish. I did see this little fella hitching a ride downstream

and I met this crazy guy splashing about with a bandy net

Met 2 muppets flinging mepps

had a word and apparently they were told at Sloanes that this was perfectly fine

I didn't bother getting into it with them but phoned the river bailiff to let him know.

« **Reply #52 on:** 09/04/2011 at 16:06 »

Quote from: DJG1984 on 08/04/2011 at 21:59

Are you the gentleman i talked to this afternoon by any chance? Did you come up from Stonehaven?

Dave.

Yes, Dave, I came up fae Stonehaven and I spoke to you a couple of times.

Jimmy

« **Reply #53 on:** 14/04/2011 at 12:33 »

Just a wee note that when I was fishing at Inverurie last Saturday I managed to loose my shooting head!! Noticed earlier in the day the plastic around the welded loop of the running line way cut and the inner core was starting to fray......an hour later.....fishing about 20 yards above the boat pool in the fast water when it snagged under a rick.......a few good strong pulls.....gone! intermediate line so wasnt on the surface to catch and pull out!!

It was a factory loop.....any ideas on how to solve this?? weld/lash/glue perhaps for extra hold?

Any of you guys manege to land a line....let me know

cheers!

« **Reply #54 on:** 16/04/2011 at 20:43 »

Headed down to the river just before 11 this morning - It was quite cold and a little drizzly so I didn't muck about & threw on a nymph and spider. Picking a likely run I set about seeing how Mikes new GT 90 WF4F felt . I didn't get much time to evaluate as within the first half dozen casts the lines progress downstream was checked and I lifted into a nice trout to kick the day off.

10-15 min's later another nice wee trout came to the MB spider.
A few Olives and MB's could be seen but these were very sparse and didn't stir much trout. Eventually I did see one trout that was up thrice in the same line so I hastened out of the water and did a quick change to a hares' ear emerger. I did rise him once but didn't prick him

I continued to switch between nymphs and dries for the next few hours in some kind of misinformed impotent fiasco as the upwings trickled past now and again but with no real spark from the trout.

Photo's of MB didn't come out properly

I did see a few smaller trout rise in a familiar spot so threw on a reversed parachute emerger and saw it nailed as soon as it hit the water.

(just a wee fish but photo is to show the hooking position on the reversed para emerger)

The next cast rose another small fish but again no contact.

I stopped at the tail of a long pool to speculate with the dry even though nothing was rising. Half a dozen fruitless casts and I decided to muck about with some wiggles just to see how much I'd need to let a dry fish as long as it could. Surprise, surprise, a little dimple under the emerger and I lifted into a fish that proved to be larger than I anticipated.

A couple of other trout came to the MB spider so I guess it wasn't a bad day although the dry fly activity was poor and I seriously wished that I'd had two rods out today due to the chopping and changing (something that I never thought'd happen).

Bumped into a 8524gavin and had a nice wee chat – he had a couple of nice wee plump fish.

Pleased with the line Mike

« **Reply #55 on:** 16/04/2011 at 20:47 »

Good shit Iain, thought today would have been good.

I went out tonight to see if anything was moving as there was the odd fish taking midge into the evening last night after work. Nothing doint so blind fished a big black Klink up one of my favourite pools and nailed two bandys. Saw nothing move, not suprised, quite a cool breeze.

CHeers

Ben

« **Reply #56 on:** 16/04/2011 at 20:55 »

I fished the Don at Inverurie yesterday between 11 and 3, caught 5 wee troot all on the march broon spider. i even climbed a tree to get my flee back , well didn't want to lose the flee the fish were taking.

Dave.

« **Reply #57 on:** 16/04/2011 at 20:57 »

Great stuff Iain and some cracking photos!

Cheers
Mike

« **Reply #58 on:** 16/04/2011 at 21:00 »

Thanks Mike 'mushy pea' must be a lucky colour.

Dave, are you the guy from Inverness that I spoke to today (and have spoken to at Inverurie a fair few times last season)?

Iain

« **Reply #59 on:** 16/04/2011 at 21:06 »

Quote from: Goolager on 16/04/2011 at 21:00

Thanks Mike 'mushy pea' must be a lucky colour.

Dave, are you the guy from Inverness that I spoke to today (and have spoken to at Inverurie a fair few times last season)?

Iain

Nope, sorry. I'm a Huntly loon. Too many of us Daves' on the go.

As the saying goes "everyone knows a dave".

dave.

« **Reply #60 on:** 16/04/2011 at 21:23 »

Ah well Dave, no problems.

Spent a wee while today trying to catch & photograph what was going about but I need a bigger net, a better camera (preferably waterproof) and some rohypnol to keep the buggers still. Fair few Hawthorns about but they went north as soon as I tried to net them.

Turned over one stone last week and these two big 'uns tried to make a fast getaway

A fair mouthfull - any thoughts on the Hepta? MB?

Iain

« **Reply #61 on:** 17/04/2011 at 05:47 »

Quote from: Goolager on 16/04/2011 at 21:00

Thanks Mike 'mushy pea' must be a lucky colour.

Dave, are you the guy from Inverness that I spoke to today (and have spoken to at Inverurie a fair few times last season)?

Iain

Iain,

That would be me you were chatting to again, good to see you had a few more later in the day.

Andy

« **Reply #62 on:** 17/04/2011 at 17:42 »

Could anyone list a few trout flies that are proving effective?
Thanks

« **Reply #63 on:** 17/04/2011 at 17:58 »

LDO's & MB's on the water today, fish moved for only about 30 mins from about 12:30. Not a big hatch, sparse but there were a few fish nailing duns.

CHeers

Ben

« **Reply #64 on:** 18/04/2011 at 21:03 »

I was out on the Don at Inverurie today, caught a couple of small trout, didn't really get a decent hatch today. Took a couple of pictures of this wee beastie though.

Dave.

« **Reply #65 on:** 18/04/2011 at 22:01 »

Out today again.....

On the water by 10:30 managed a few fish on nymphs & spiders.

Switched to dries about 11:45 in anticipation of a hatch which didn't really happen. Only a handful of MB's on the water and a few more LDO's, very few fish moving and nothing of any decent size. Had a couple on an olive klink but rises were infrequent as would be expected with the lack of fly.

Very bright all day and the breeze got up about 14:30 which killed everything so I switched to wooly buggers and had a few more including a trout almost the same size as the fly.. Fairly disappointing day after a good hatch yesterday.

Not a write off though, with the bright sun & low clear water I could see every stone on the bottom from the bank and saw quite a few fish including some nice trout just milling about in the pools, spent more time just watching the water and trout going about their (non feeding) business than fishing which was just as good.

CHeers

Ben

« **Reply #66 on:** 19/04/2011 at 16:54 »

I was out on the Don at Inverurie today between 11 and 4, caught 23

wee trooties the day, the one decent sized fish i caught got away (typical)

. There were plenty troot rising between 11:30 and 1ish after that it went quiet.

Photo of the day- Mr. G. Heron showing me how its done.

Dave.

« **Reply #67 on:** 19/04/2011 at 18:23 »

Good to hear that fish were being caught today. I was fishing kintore at around the same times and nothing. Plenty of fish rising and on the odd occasion one took my fly I couldn't set the hook on time

.

« **Reply #68 on:** 19/04/2011 at 20:13 »

Quote from: DJG1984 on 19/04/2011 at 16:54

I was out on the Don at Inverurie today between 11 and 4, caught 23 wee trooties the day, the one decent sized fish i caught got away (typical) . There were plenty troot rising between 11:30 and 1ish after that it went quiet.

Photo of the day- Mr. G. Heron showing me how its done.

Dave.

Hi Dave,
I was also on the river from about 11:30 till 17:30. I only got a couple of wee troot (or they may have been salmon smolts).
The great thing was though I got one on a fly I tied myself, a wee black thing, not tied to any standard pattern.
I saw four salmon or sea trout jumping, one swimming along in front of me with its dorsal fin showing.
A nice day out though, not at all spoiled by the wee shower mid-afternoon.
There was a wee bit of a rise around 5 to 5:30 near the toon bridge.
Jimmy

« **Reply #69 on:** 21/04/2011 at 22:10 »

Had a bash at Kintore this evening very little happening. Managed to land a couple tiddlers on spiders. Was a cold evening only flylife i saw were a few stoneflies kicking about.
Highlight of the night was watching a 2-3lb fish swimming in a big back eddie, wasnt interest in my fly

Hopefully will have more luck on Satuarday

Michael

« **Reply #70 on:** 21/04/2011 at 22:29 »

I managed an hour and a half (2:30- 4pm) at Inverurie this afternoon between my shifts at work, I managed to catch 8 tiny little troot, the smallest being a mere 2 inches long

. Still it was nice afternoon and alot better than sitting doing nothing between my shifts.

Dave.

« **Reply #71 on:** 23/04/2011 at 22:38 »

Last 3 visits to the river have not been very fruitful. Same story each time, very few fly hatching, spooking fish at distance in the very clear water and refusals or short takes from the few regular risers I have seen. Have stuck with drys when I know other tactics would no doubt yield a few smaller fish. Have not seen any big fish which is unusual for this time of year. Perhaps the bright weather and clear water is making them shy.
Think a few inches of rain to add some colour to the water would help.

« **Reply #72 on:** 24/04/2011 at 10:52 »

Aye Noel, the river is as clear as I've ever seen it and a few spots af rain and a bit of colour wouldn't go amiss.

The hatches have been sporadic and apart from a couple of 3" - 4" parr I haven't witnessed any trout taking Dun's on the last two outings so the rises could be to emergers or some of the other tiny stuff on the surface.

Sadly the only fish to an emerging MB (Brown Klink).

Noel eagerly awaits a second rise from a nice trout - it first rose 3 hours ago!

Yesterday seemed to be more MB's than LDO's on the go but still in no great numbers. Lots of Hawthorns about couldn't catch any but did pull one from a spiders web.

gonna try another location next to see what's happening elsewhere.
Spiders and nymphs were creating the usual stir amongst the wee fish, two at a time on occasion

Iain

« **Reply #73 on:** 24/04/2011 at 19:24 »

Tried a new beat on Saturday shame the fish werent in the mood as the beat looked good will be back soon.

Saw only one fish rise between 9:30 and 2

No real hatch to speak of there was the odd MB dun comming off but not in any numbers. A few small fish started rising aroud 2:30 managed to take the only 2 steady risers on a CDC march brown emerger

Going to have a bash tommorow night at Kintore

Michael

« **Reply #74 on:** 24/04/2011 at 21:53 »

Nice pictures Michael

Things will kick off soon

Iain