River Don 2025

[Duncan McRae]

Cheers Mike
Really enjoying my 'return' to trout fishing.

[Duncan McRae]

Water level only 1" at Haughton combined with bright sun and gin clear water didn't make for the best fishing conditions but i had a day off and so headed out for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Fished a couple of spiders and picked up a fairly decent trout soon after starting. I then fished down through a couple of pools but nothing else.
Came across five or six trout feeding in a glide flowing into a fast stream. Tried them with the spiders but they were not interested so decided to change to dry fly.
Stuck on a parachute march brown and casted for what i guessed might be the largest trout of the bunch.

However, my cast fell short and was taken by a smaller but still fairly decent trout which i thought was bound to have spooked the bigger fish i was trying for.
Luckily, he was still there and i managed to tempt him into taking






The rise finished so i changed back to the two spiders and managed to tempt another good trout from a deep pot behind a boulder.



Decided to fish with a vintage Shakespeare Beaulite reel today. Made by JW Young for Shakespeare in the 1970s and still working as well as it did back then.

Duncan

[Mike Barrio]

Nice one Duncan 

Youngs are still making some really bonnie looking centrepin reels!

Can't remember what their last trout reel was? ..... but like many, I'd love to see them making fly reels again.

[Sandy Nelson]

I've managed to get out a few times in the last week or so.
Last week was initially a session for iron blues





At the end of the week they were fully keyed into the grannom pupa and I had some great fun once I got a bit deeper


This one gave one of the new rods a good testing 

Yesterday there were millions of grannom in swarms and as usual the fish ignored them, they did however start picking off the Olive uprights



With some careful watching I managed to  find some really nice fish poking their noses up



Beautiful colours in fantastic condition, post smolt run they are looking very healthy



Loads of spinners on the wing too, so might have a look down on an evening this week and see what is occurring

[Mike Barrio]

Nice one Sandy, cracking fish and some great photos.

[James Laraway]

liking the Ross Colorado Mr Nelson....

[Duncan McRae]

Some beauties there Sandy.
Amazing colouration.

Duncan

[Mike Barrio]

An enjoyable afternoon on the river with Brian yesterday. Nice and relaxed, simply wandering down the water popping a few spiders through likely looking water, rather than doing things seriously and looking for a larger fish or two.

A breezy afternoon of bright sun, no hatches of note that I saw, but lots of wee black midge on the go, and it looks like the smolts have moved on to continue their journey.

Life is good 

[Sandy Nelson]

The latter half of the week was tough.
Gazillions of Grannom adults forming swarms bigger than I've ever seen.
Fish ignoring the adults as usual. The olives and iron blues seem to have disappeared from the upper river along with the rising fish.
 Resorting to a small nymph (16) I set what must be another new personal  record



I think this is the smallest trout I've ever caught on a rod and line. I genuinely thought it was a minnow until it was in my hand
This weeks weather isn't going to be good for the fishing unless the evening hatches start.

[Matt Clark]

A bit of work but actually a good afternoon today plenty to the net with some ones pretty decent. Olive emergers & up wings and Greenwells spiders when they being a bit fussy.

[Dave Robb]

Reports of raw sewage entering the Don at Mugiemoss.

[Dave Robb]

First evening session this season, last night.

Wasn't sure what to expect giving how low the water is.  Seeing stones and parts of the banks exposed that I don't remember ever seeing before. 

Not ideal for end of May.

Anyway, once the rain cleared from 9pm onwards, the river came alive.  9-9.30pm was very good, then it went a wee bit quiet.  I stuck it out and once dusk really kicked in, the fish came back on, happy to attack Caddis patterns.

Unfortunately looks a bit blowy tonight.

[Sandy Nelson]

Well the fishing hasnt really been anything to write home about, but at least we are starting to get a little fresh water.
I have amused myself taking pictures of some of the beautiful wild flowers we have along the river bank, hope you like them too 







Plenty yellow mays about too

[Mike Barrio]

Pete Tyjas from Fly Culture Magazine came up to spend some time on the river last week.

For those that enjoy his podcasts, here are the latest two episodes.

Scottish Road Trip: https://www.buzzsprout.com/402997/episodes/17213907-scottish-road-trip

Sandy Nelson - Home Water: https://www.buzzsprout.com/402997/episodes/17195066-sandy-nelson-home-water

It was great to catch up Pete   

[Pete Tyjas]

Great to see you as always Mike, it had been way too long.

I still remember visiting you when you had the fishery and were starting with fly lines.

Where did that time go?

I have to say that I loved the area, the fishing and the Don. What a beautiful river it is.

Meeting so many people who are so passionate about the river was inspiring and I hope I did them justice on the recordings.

Sandy, it was great to be able to fish with you.

The planned evening session for a few hours turned into us walking back to the car close to midnight and then the further other 2 sessions were an extra bonus. Thank you.

If you listened to the podcasts, I hope you enjoyed them and the fun side note is that I started by saying I saw someone setting up to fish the Clyde on the way up and hooted and waved as I passed.
I got a message from the angler I saw who, it turns out, listens to the podcast and messaged me.

It's a small world!

[John Wastle]

I really enjoyed listening to those two podcasts. Thanks for linking them Mike.

I recently gave up a long term sub to T&S but I like a read so have ordered the Spring 25 issue of FC to give it a go.

[Duncan McRae]

Finally got back to the river last night after the long period of low water. What a relief

The water was still a bit coloured after the recent rise so stuck on a couple of wet flies. I had picked up a few smaller trout when suddenly i got a really savage take. For a brief moment i thought it was the trout of a lifetime but i quickly realised that it was a salmon which turned out to be a hen of around 10lb.

Not much trout rising last night but took a couple of decent fish late on.






Duncan

[Duncan McRae]

Decided to go back down last night before the water height becomes too low.
It was a great night.










Duncan

[James Laraway]

are one of two of those seat trout ?

[Duncan McRae]

Two

[Duncan McRae]

Just noticed that the sepa river level gauge at Parkhill is reading 0.780m.
Lowest ever previously recorded at that station is 0.784m
With no sign of rain the level will probably drop even further.
Very worrying situation.

Duncan

[Mike Barrio]

Although I haven't been fishing for a while, a wander down the river seemed like a sensible alternative in today's heat.

Had fun spotting a few fish 

[Duncan McRae]

Noticed that the river had risen by 3" on Thursday so decided to go down yesterday amongst the Brownies.
Tried out a Sharpe's 'Scottie' cane rod that i'd purchased recently and enjoyed a very nice couple of hours.

No large Brownies but plenty of takers. All looking well fed and a few taking on their Autumn colours.

I was also surprised to take a hen sea trout which was in good condition for the time of year.
My first sea trout using Bamboo 







Duncan

[Duncan McRae]

Went down to the river after work this afternoon to get some fresh air more than anything else.
Ended up taking three good sized sea trout which was a real bonus.
Two good conditioned hen fish and a coloured up cock fish.

Sea trout fishing on the Don in mid September is new to me and the sport is welcome ,but surely a sign of our messed up climate?







Duncan

[Duncan McRae]

With the clock ticking towards the end of the trout season i decided to venture out this afternoon.
There had also been a wee rise in water height which always gives a bit of hope.

Fishing a couple of small wet flies i had plenty of sport with mainly smaller trout but also a couple of better sized ones as well.

When the heavens opened i was just about to call it a day when suddenly i hooked a seatrout,followed quickly by another,then a third which did not stay on.
Think it must have been a run of seatrout which i had been lucky enough to stumble upon.

 






Duncan