[Graham Nicol]

Well another season beckons and let's hope it is a good one. Tight lines to all those venturing out for that elusive unicorn the Springer

[Mike Barrio]

Nice one Graham, I hope you enjoy a good season 

[Gavin Stevenson]

had quick hour at parkhill today around 12.00, a few large olives but only occasional risers, missed one on large CDC olive 

[Sandy Nelson]

So my first couple of weeks have been a story of poor shift timing, with the river all but unfishable on my days off.  However I did manage the odd fish on the nymph as I didn’t see a rising fish until last Saturday. Despite there being a few March browns and Large dark olives about



Saturday however saw some excellent hatches of March Browns and a few feeding fish. All quite close to the bank but some pretty nice ones





Cdc spider with the partridge was the business



Sunday saw a nicer day, but a lot less flies And consequently less rising fish. I did manage to find some late afternoon again picking off the MBs





Monday was back to cold and miserable and an upstream breeze. By 2pm I thought it was a write off but then the odd fly appeared and from half 2 to half 3 there was a decent LDO hatch with a sprinkling of MBs.
The fish were tight into the bank and in the slack water at the edges of the streams picking off LDOs



The plume tip was the medicine this time, it makes a great searching fly too, but it worked a treat on these risers.





All great fun on the glass rod, which actually made light work of the conditions. A new best friend methinks 



And this morning I sit here watching the rain….again…….don’t you just love April 

[Michael Kearney]

Thanks Sandy, that is a first class fishing report. Great to read about your early season experiences.
Can you say a little more about the action and performance of your TMR glass rod, and the line you are using with it?

[Sandy Nelson]

Thats a question that deserves a post of its own Michael.
I'll put one in the Tackle Column 

[Andrew Boswell]

Love that artisan reel Sandy 

[John Wastle]

Some cracking fish there Sandy.

A question for the wider forum. I am planning to visit the Don for trout for a few days towards the end of the month. My knowledge is limited to a couple of previous visits and whats online. I'm looking at availability on Fishpal and have a few ideas but if anyone is willing to let me run  couple of thoughts by them via pm I'd be obliged.
Regards
John

[Steven Kidd]

I am hoping to star my campaign soon.......I am just never home when the river is right.....this weather is so frustrating!!

Steven

[Sandy Nelson]

In the past week I managed a couple of days where there was a fishable river, then we had some shocking weather 
Before it turned to shit I managed a few on March browns and LDOs including some crackers.





Even managed a blank on a day when the daffys were more welcoming than the fish



Fortunately work got in the way during the week and today was my first chance to get back out. I found a river at a lovely height and colour but still running at 7degrees.  LDOs from early afternoon brought a few to the top



However at 3.30 some March Browns started to appear and some of the bigger ones started to move, but they were hard to spot





Interesting that I took my last fish at around 4.45pm on a spent spinner.
Next few days look to be fairly stable so fingers crossed it becomes a bit more consistant

[Mike Barrio]

Nice one Sandy, fingers crossed for a bit of settled weather 

[Michael Kearney]

Interesting and enlightening to read that you caught an early season fish on a spent spinner, Sandy. We know that female spinners of both species return to the water to lay their eggs, otherwise we wouldn’t see duns the following year, but I think your report is the first reference I have read of an angler taking trout in April on a spinner pattern of either a Large Dark Olive or a March Brown. Did you see natural spinners on the water and any indications that fish were feeding on them?
Lovely to see daffodils in flower.
Thanks again for sharing details of your early season success.

[Sandy Nelson]

Hi Michael

During the afternoon I was watching the March Brown Spinners egg laying during the LDO hatch. and later when the March Browns started after 3.30pm I saw a few spent March Brown spinners in the water. The two fish I spotted rising sporadically late afternoon, appeared during the March Browns. the first one took the CDC and Partridge Spider which kind of works as an Emerger, cripple or spinner so I'm usually covering most bases. The other fish wouldn't look at it, I tried Olive dries and emergers and it wouldn't look at them either so I did wonder if it was feeding on terrestrials, however having seen the spinners earlier I thought i'd try one first. I only had spinners in 14-18 sizes so I though i'd try the 14, it was a touch small but the fish took it second drift very confidently, in fact I needed my forceps to get the fly out past the teeth. So the fish definitely wanted it. They were my best 2 fish of the day.
 

The water was nice and clear and I managed to catch this image

[Michael Kearney]

Thanks, Sandy. I look out for the spinners of March Browns and LDOs early in the season and carry a few spinner patterns just in case, but I’ve not yet found spinner feeders in April. As your report demonstrates, it is certainly worth attempting to discern the range of food items available at the surface when trout are up and rising and taking time to change fly to give them what they want.
Good to see wild fish in fine condition.

[Mike Barrio]

Enjoyable afternoon on the water today in good company .....  not ideal conditions, quite a brisk/cold wind with a bit of rain thrown in to keep it interesting ...... but there were fish to be caught during the sporadic hatches