Fishing The Fly Scotland
Index => Rivers & Lochs => Topic started by: Andrew Gilmour on 01/03/2022 at 17:08
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Nice to be back on the river this morning
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Robert M-L of this parish tied me up a few local fly patterns for this season. Today’s choice was the Tarves Terror.
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Great stuff Andrew - and some cracking photos :z16
Cheers
Mike
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Is the estuary beat still available to fish this year?
I believe it’s still up for sale.
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Had a couple of hours fishing the salt water this evening.
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Duncan
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:z16 cool. I should really try and get across to the estuary again. Makes for a fun session.
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Cracking troots Duncan :z16
They don't seem to be heading out of the salt and up river at the minute. Strange considering the Don is extremely low yet the sea trout are already at Kintore and Ardmurdo :z8 :z8
On a positive note the Ythan seems stuffed with parr. My last 2 visits i have been plagued by them.
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Probably best fishing the river under cover of darkness concentrating on the deeper pools.
There might be the odd fish creeping upstream.
Had a couple of fish off the Estuary tonight.They seem to be in great condition this year.
I was watching the terns returning to their nests with their bills packed with sand eels.No doubt the trout will be enjoying the sand eels too.
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Duncan
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Arrived at the Estuary this afternoon with some newly tied streamers and a fishing plan in my head.
I didn't expect the upstream hurricane which greeted me so the fly rod stayed in the car and out came the spinner.
The wind had churned up the water making it very dirty but somehow i managed to winkle out a couple of nice trout on the ever dependable Sutherland.
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Duncan
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Nice :z16
I can see the attraction in the salt in the current conditions. Must have been interesting with the wind down there though *smiley-tongue-out*
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Yes,tough going in the wind Sandy and I really didn't expect to catch anything yesterday.
Even when I blank on the Estuary I still enjoy fishing here. There's always something interesting going on with the wildlife.
With the rivers so low I won't fish for seatrout as they don't recover well when released, as I've learned from personal experience.
The estuary allows me to have some good summer sport.
Duncan
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I was in a will I go or won’t I go mood yesterday.
Was not going to go back to the Ythan until the river got a decent flush out. But Duncan said it is worth a go after a small rise.
It was Down to the bones again by last night. But i wanted to see more of the bits I had not fished.
As it turned out the stretch i fished was well sheltered from the wind. And after returning the usual haul of tiddlers it was just about the sea trout golden hour 10pm/11pm . I managed to winkle out a Braw wee Sea Trout.
Hopefully the Start of some decent fishing if we get some decent rain.
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Cracker Ivor.
Perseverance has paid off :z18
Duncan
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Nice one :)
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After a great week on the don before the extra low levels and high water temperatures returned, I’d officially hung up the rod the last few weeks until the rains arrive but my nephew expressed an interest in getting out, so decided the Ythan estuary was overdue a visit.
Headed along initially with him and my brother and we spun the high tide and I fly fished the drop.
The water was murky and a strong westerly made things difficult but a nice fish early for my nephew on a toby and once the conditions improved a real scrapper for me on a white ythan terror. It went airborne then took me straight to my backing which was a surprise given its size but pound for pound these ythan seatrout fairly go some.
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Second outing yesterday alone and I tried the south bank as the tide was low which resulted in plenty early action with the finnock liking the fast retrieved terror but the wind was turning against me, so headed upstream and encountered a few more in more sheltered conditions.
Then a quick decision to head over to the north bank and downstream where I discovered the wind had dropped completely and the incoming tide speed was working my fly nicely.
A few more feisty finnock kept things interesting with the occasional bigger fish showing and as the high tide was nearing, I set up the light spinning rod with a toby.
Several casts in and I connected with a beauty that gave me a serious run for my money and with a very interested seal spectating nearby, I finally got it to the net and released safely away from the seal, which dived and bow waved after it but thankfully came up shortly after empty mouthed.
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There was a small lull in the action with the seal present but it soon headed off and things picked up again and I surprisingly got another cracker.
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A fantastic action packed session which could only have been bettered if one of the big un’s was on the fly but at high tide I’ve learned it can mean you’re pushed to reach the better fish or it gets too murky and lends itself better to spinning.
Once again the Ythan has sufficiently fulfilled my seatrout desires :z18
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Great stuff Stevie >)
Believe it or not, I've fished many stretches of the Ythan over the years, but not the estuary!
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Great stuff Stevie >)
Believe it or not, I've fished many stretches of the Ythan over the years, but not the estuary!
Highly recommended that you pay it a visit soon Mike, it’s an exciting way of fishing the ever changing tidal conditions for high quality quarry.
A real gem to have near our doorstep, especially now the Don’s out of action.
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Great story and well told 👍
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After such rewards on my last visits, I encouraged my buddy to head to the adaa estuary stretch and see if it was as productive for him there but he went and never saw a thing.
Feeling a tad guilty, I took him the next day to the estuary stretch which was forecast as calm conditions and a low high tide of 3.5mtrs.
Determined to fly fish the lower levels, I started a few hours before him catching half the falling tide and wading gradually forward as it waned.
I was fast running out of ythan terrors due to them getting hit so hard & their basic construction of single chicken feather but had one left, white with a black tinge on the feather and standard silver wrapped bodies.
I fished it steadily on my ultra cheap but surprisingly sturdy #6 daiwa with sinking line until success came. A few knocks here and a finnock or two there but the fly never seemed to have the same appeal in the clearer conditions as previously.
There were a few guys slightly upstream of me from morning, which I assume had thrown countless terrors at them, so I had to select something appealing they definitely hadn’t seen.
Several options in my box that would be normal go to’s for seatrout on the river but my eyes landed on a black n blue flash damsel. Crazy I thought but I’ll give it half an hour.
3 casts and a steady strip retrieve with an occasional pause to let the tail flicker saw 3 follows and plucks from the finnock, next cast I changed to a steady twitching retrieve and enticed a solid grab from this beauty.
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Amazed at the response the damsel was receiving, I confidently recast but soon snagged hard on a sharp barnacle covered rock just a little too far out to retrieve and lost the magic fly :X1
Back into the box and the best I had to replicate it was a mini damsel with a fritzy type blue & black body, on it went and it seemed to work in attracting attention but not quite with the same consistency as the lost one.
My buddy had arrived and began fishing traditional wet type flies above me but after having limited success, I waded up and suggested he switch to a damsel on the point.
The look he gave me suggested I’d absorbed a bit too much salt water but I explained the interest it was generating and the now departed groups that had been chucking chicken feathers earlier.
Off he went visibly unsure, as I watched on eagerly above him. A few finnock showed interest quickly and with his confidence now building, he lifted into his first proper lump of a seatrout.
A serious tussle with one of the ythans finest ensued with the fish pulling line so fast through his fingers that it tore through the skin until as instructed he got it safely on the reel.
It gave a great account of itself and to see him buzzing with excitement during the encounter and after, finally admiring its beauty in the net made both our days.
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A few quick pics and away she went.
We continued on with steady success and I lost a couple of bigger ones but had a few like this.
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Including a surprise that proved trickier to handle than expected.
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Another cracking day on the Ythan estuary for the memory bank.
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Nice photos, looks like a great day out :)
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Great story Stevie. Funnily enough a mate of mine was fishing the Eden beat of the deveron a few years ago. There were no salmon about so he thought he'd try for trout. I'd given him a size 6 wooly bugger with and orange bead head and what did he get? A cracking seat trout!
So using trout lures is not as mad as you think....
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Great story Stevie. Funnily enough a mate of mine was fishing the Eden beat of the deveron a few years ago. There were no salmon about so he thought he'd try for trout. I'd given him a size 6 wooly bugger with and orange bead head and what did he get? A cracking seat trout!
So using trout lures is not as mad as you think....
Agreed James,
I’ve often had great success by stepping away from the traditional patterns, not always intentionally but a very memorable example would be while out trouting and seeing a fresh grilse jump below me and changing quickly from nymphs to the only non natural looking fly I had in my nymph box.
A hot head purple fritz of all things that I found at a rainbow fishery. Cast across and swung it directly in front of the grilse and have never experienced a wilder take and fight, before or since.
There’s method in the madness *smiley-tongue-out*
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Cracking fish.
Looks like the Estuary could be on for its best season in years. Strange they don’t show the weekly totals on fishpal or have a monthly report. I can understand it when it’s poor but not when it’s fishing well.
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Strange thing to say but a good season might not be in our best interests with the Estuary still up for sale.
I still recall when the Estuary was time shared in 1990 and we more or less lost the fishings for the next 21 years.I was gutted.
Hopefully now we will always have decent access to the fishings regardless of who owns them.
Went down for an hour this evening, and just as the tide turned, i was rewarded with my best fish so far this season.
She swam away slowly after a tremendous fight but i think she was ok.
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Duncan
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Cracking fish, well done.
Eddie
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Where do you get permits from for the estuary these days, is it still that Audrey Clark in Newburgh?
The pages I’m looking at don’t seem to be the most up to date.
What’s the cost of a permit?
Thanks.
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Hi Dave
You have a pm
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She’s a beauty Duncan :z18
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Cracking fish Duncan.
If the Estuary fishing rights is for sale I think that may be a positive. Fairly sure it is USAN that has it and wanted to set up a netting station again. They wanted to harvest a 1000 trout a year.
If they are no longer wanting it. I guess they don’t think that netting is going to start up again. Hopefully 🙏.
If I remember correctly the Dee Don And Ythan boards paid USAN a large fee to keep the nets off.
Ivor
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Vintage tackle night on the Estuary tonight :)
Daiwa rod from the 80s and Magnum reel from the early 90s.
Both were once temporary replacements for damaged more modern tackle but they work fine so i've just stuck with them.
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Duncan
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Duncan,
Nice fish and yes the vintage stuff does work. I used similar rods and reels for years with no issues.
Eddie
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Nice to see a vintage combo still in use and the fine results you achieve with it :z16
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Its a genius business model.
Buy the rights to something you know nobody wants you to do then get them to pay you not to do it.
Its a total scam.
Cracking fish Duncan.
If the Estuary fishing rights is for sale I think that may be a positive. Fairly sure it is USAN that has it and wanted to set up a netting station again. They wanted to harvest a 1000 trout a year.
If they are no longer wanting it. I guess they don’t think that netting is going to start up again. Hopefully 🙏.
If I remember correctly the Dee Don And Ythan boards paid USAN a large fee to keep the nets off.
Ivor
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Its a genius business model.
Buy the rights to something you know nobody wants you to do then get them to pay you not to do it.
Its a total scam.
Indeed James.
I seem to remember the agreement was around 15-16k 🤷🏻♂️.
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Managed to winkle one out late Friday night in the low water.
Not going back until it gets a decent flush out. Looking like another dry week 🤨
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Nice fish Ivor.
If we could get a good rise in water,I think that we would be in for some fine fishing.
Duncan
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There seems to be quite a lot less seatrout on the go now.
I suppose that most have now left the Estuary and headed for their respective local rivers.
I did see a few Salmon splashing this afternoon.
Hopefully,we will get some water and let them move upstream before the seals get hold of them.
Took a cock seatrout this afternoon which is a real rarity for me.
I've caught very few male seatrout over the years and most years it's 100% Hen fish i catch.
I don't know why there's so few about?
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Duncan
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Duncan,
I am not surprised about your ratio of hen seatrout to cocks. On the river Cowie in Stone haven we never really see anything other than hens. Adrian Hudson the Dee biologist told us that the wee cock burn trout spawn with the sea trout hens and that this is quite common on burns that don’t have the feeding available to sustain a population of large adult brown trout.
Eddie
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Nice fish Duncan,
Very interesting to learn of the rarity of male seatrout.
I managed two recent visits to the estuary with a buddy and we had a great time on both occasions.
Low wind on day one meant fine fly casting conditions and a nice flat surface where there seemed to be plenty bigger fish showing but an obvious quietening of the finnock.
A few salmon were louping on arrival which got our attention and after me catching 3 small seatrout around 1lb in quick succession on the now staple damsel and with my pal still at zero but receiving pulls to the tail, he switched to an orange shrimpy salmon fly and got instantly rewarded with a bonnie male seatrout with very similar markings to Duncans.
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It gave us the runaround for a bit doing 360’s round my pal and me in hot pursuit with the net but a quick click for the memory banks, gentle recovery and away he went.
Almost next cast the jammy bugger was straight into a grilse.
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A few more crackers were played and lost over the course of the day but a few thankfully stuck and were dually released.
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The silver toby made an appearance and brought me my largest of the day at high tide.
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I think this may have been my best Ythan day so far with great fishing in great calm conditions and great company.
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Imagining that after the first taste of rain the estuary would be a very different place, we took our only chance and ventured out again on monday with high hopes and were rewarded kindly once again for our efforts.
I had arrived 15 mins before my pal and was straight into a cracker around 2 1/2lb on the damsel, no photo due to it bolting the net as I fumbled with my phone and wet fingers :X1
10 minutes after my buddy started he was rewarded with this handsome chap of 3lb. A theme starting here?
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Conditions as I’ve learned can often change fast at the estuary and it soon became challenging to cast from our north bank but being trapped by the high tide meant we had to stay put and slog it out.
My buddy kept at it doggedly with the fly rod and occasional fly to the back of the napper but I reluctantly retired the #6 and succumbed to the dark art of spinning at high tide and over the next hour lost 3 bumpers as quickly as they connected.
We worked our way down to a slightly more sheltered stretch and the now outgoing tide seemed more suited to the fly again with a calmer inner seam producing a few finnock mainly to his bloody butcher dropper.
As darkness neared I got my last seatrout of the day and likely the season of around 2lb and with sheer determination just before dark, so did my pal.
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Twa crackers on starting and another two to close, with a few lost in between was more than appreciated and truly grateful to have encountered a few more Ythan beauties.
Works now calling my name, so I’ll miss the excitement the next few weeks should bring but tight lines to all fishing the upper stretches.
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awesome.
Makes me want to drive though for a couple of days fishing.
Id have thought they would mostly have run upstream by now ? Maybe the low water al year has kept more in the estuary ?
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Great stuff Stevie >)
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awesome.
Makes me want to drive though for a couple of days fishing.
Id have thought they would mostly have run upstream by now ? Maybe the low water al year has kept more in the estuary ?
A long drive past countless quality fishing for you to get there James but if it was two weeks ago, I’d have highly recommended it.
Now we’ve had some desperately needed rain, I can only estimate that it has decreased the estuary numbers dramatically. As you suggest the low levels maybe kept them there in greater numbers awaiting the run on their respective rivers.
I’d imagine that upstream of the estuary would truly come alive today onwards but I have no real experience of fishing the upper stretches.
Looking forward to seeing the next posts of success upstream.
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Great report Stevie.
Some nice fish there.
No doubt some fish will move upstream but the water's still very low.
Could be doing with a real deluge.
Duncan
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Could be doing with a real deluge.
Duncan
Cheers Duncan,
I was surprised to see just how little an increase there was on the Ythan, where as the Don came up 8”.
Not quite the deluge they need but a good cool down until it arrives.
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I'm beginning to wonder if we'll get any river fishing this season :z8
The fish are starting to colour up now in the Estuary.
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Duncan
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Some serious dimensions on that bruiser *smiley-shocking*
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Wild,windy conditions on the Estuary today.
Almost decided not to tackle up but the water was still fairly clear so just went for it.
Ended up a productive couple of hours.
As well as seatrout, i caught a couple of crabs and a Blenny(i think).
All released unharmed :)
Highlight of the day was a seasons best seatrout.
A real whopper and yet another male.
I'm just wondering if the males arrive in the Estuary a bit later than the females and i've missed them in previous years.Normally i would be off the estuary and on the rivers by now.
Managed a snapshot just before he took off!
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Duncan
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Great stuff Duncan :z16
Congrats on the season's best, interesting thoughts on the later run of males.
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A thumper that one Duncan 👍.
Any gossip on the Estuary how much have been caught this year.
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Well done Duncan, looks a cracker :z16
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Thanks guys.
I'm very lucky that I can be on the water ,in a few minutes ,at the drop of a hat.
Haven't heard anything Ivor.
Probably have to wait until the river reports at the end of the season :(
Duncan
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A wee hen salmon today on the single hander.
A nice end to the season after what has been a dismal season on the river due to lack of water.
Please let there be rain next year!
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Duncan
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A nice fish to end on Duncan :z16
Here’s hoping for reasonable levels next year.
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Nice one Duncan :)
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Nice wee fish Duncan. Great condition.
Hopefully a few of his mates put in a late appearance to fill up the spawning burns