[Richard Tong]

With the inclement weather for the time of year(or maybe not) we have had to cancel numerous 'possible' trips to the Don. We may come up tomorrow night for 3 days but depending on which website I look at it varies between heavy and light rain for tomorrow. Does anyone know what is forecast for the Don catchment tomorrow? It still looks a wee bit high looking at the FishDon website but if there is not prolonged heavy rain then it still could be okay or am I clutching at straws?

Has anyone been out and seen any significant surface activity or is the water still too cold with snowmelt? Normally the March Browns would be petering out but I guess that they may still be coming off with the season delayed.

Any feedback would be appreciated and if anyone has taken the water temperature I would be interested to know what this is,

Many Thanks,

Ricardo

[Hamish Young]

Worth a visit I'd say  Big, but not too big 

Hamish

[Iain Goolager]

Ricardo,

Fished the Don at Kintore today and although there's been a bit of rain recently the conditions were near perfect -water slightly coloured and running slightly higher but well fishable - I even managed to hook and lose a Salmon  . There were lots of flies on the water and quite a few Brownies showing even had a few pulls from some of them myself. None of the dozen or so anglers today were out for trout but I'm sure it would have been a productive day for anyone out for Brownies.

Iain

[salar35]

Water temp on the Don near Mossat last Saturday was 41F and the air temperature was nothing to shout about with a chill wind. The lunchtime hatch (mainly large olives with a sprinkling of march browns and some iron blues) lasted a good ten minutes (!!!!). With snow melt still suppressing the water temp, it's definitely a case of having one rod set up and ready for the dry fly, and making full use of any window of opportunity.

[Steven Kidd]

I visited the Don at Kintore yesterday......and what a day it turned out to be.  The temperature was 20degC and there was an abundance of fly life on the water late morning and then again around two o'clock......

I was fishing at the islands across from the golf club, saw three trout rise, and I managed to catch all three....wouldn't look at a march brown or a blue dun......but a size 14 greenwells glory did the trick!!, biggest trout was around a pound and a half , and on a 3wt rod it was a hellava fight.

I ended the day chatting to another fellow Barrio rod, never caught his name but he had Barrio number thirteen......we stood at the gate at the golf club and watched a brown trout rise three/four times.....so I decided to re-tie my leader and have a go.....five or so drifts past the spot and bang he was on!!, this was a big brown......he took of down stream like a bullet, I gave him all my slack line up to the reel and then expected to have him on the reel........but my drag was locked and ping he was gone!!

All in all a cracking day, although i'm a bit burnt by the sun today!!

[Iain Goolager]

Excellent stuff Steve,

was planning a trip down yesterday myself but work got in the way. Yes there are some cracking Browns there and it looks like you were right 'in amongst it' ,nothing quite like fishing the dry on light tackle.

I ended the day chatting to another fellow Barrio rod, never caught his name but he had Barrio number thirteen

Mike has a lot to answer for
I am not a number I am a free man

Iain

[tag13]

Hi Skidd,

I'm the Barrio 13. It certainly was an excellent day.  Its my first season and I've been trying for salmon these past 3 weeks but nothing doing so when I saw the trout rising I set up the #3 and tried a dry March Brown.  Hooked a trout with the first cast just upstream from where you hooked yours.  Unfortunately in my haste to get going I did'nt tie the fly on well enough and lost it.  I've got a lot to learn.

Iain,

You may remember me from the day you were up with your wee lad (he wasn't feeling well) - I was trying for salmon up millstream

[Iain Goolager]

Tag13,

I knew I'd met #13 before but for the life of me couldn't remember where....sorry. Good to hear your into the trout & as for the Salmon, well it's just perser..  perciv..  persevea ... keep on trying.

Knots are an important factor when anyone starts out & although there is much to learn about fly-fishing but I honestly think that this is one of the most vital skills to learn. I don't know which one you use - I use the Grinner knot almost exclusively for tying on the fly and it doesn't let me down.

See you down the Don sometime

Iain

[Mike Barrio]

I wonder how Richard is getting on?

It's been a bit bright, but the hatches should hopefully be good for him

Cheers
Mike

[Hamish Young]

Richard and chum left yesterday evening after a 3 day stint.
I'm hoping to be getting some photos from him shortly which should help answer that question Mike 

[Richard Tong]

I wonder how Richard is getting on?

It's been a bit bright, but the hatches should hopefully be good for him

Cheers
Mike

Hi Mike,

Well it was VERY bright  Hatches were sparse and due to the hot weather they were kicking off a lot earlier than usual. We arrived at 10am on Monday and went straight down to the Don to see a good fish rising but had to go to the Grant Arms and by the time we had then got back and tackled up 30 mins later it had virtually ceased rising so I missed 'my' opportunity.

'Hatches' were sparse with regard to upwings-there was a smattering of March Browns which must be tail end Charlies,Large Dark Olives and we also saw Olive Uprights which will no doubt get into teh full swing shortly. On the Monday there were a lot of Large Stoneflies and yesterday we also saw a few Small Yellow Sallies.

The main 'activity' was starting 10am and lasted anything from 30-60mins.From then on there were upwings coming off but not enough to get the fish going.

We managed to land Trout over 2lbs on each day which given the sun,heat and brightness we were well pleased with.Not all the good fish were taken during this period-in fact the 2 biggest were taken by walking the banks looking for a feeding fish.In fact the second largest was taken with the last cast of the day with a Klinkhamer by Paul after agreeing to make our way to the car when he spotted what he thought may have been a rise.

For the record the large fish were 52.5cm 3lb 6oz(foam beetle)-spotted by me but Pauls turn to go for ,49cm 2lb 10oz(Klinkhamer),47.5cm 3lb 0oz(Paradun)-this was a very heavy fish for its weight, and 46cm 2lb 4oz. All large fish were weighed in a McLean net which was then in turn weighed with the fish in it by a set of accurate scales.We caught quite a few fish between 1lb and 2lb and most were taken on Paraduns.

The difference between this week and Spring 2007 which was also hot was that over the last 3 days the river was a good height and was falling slowly. No doubt at all it would have fished a lot better given good cloud cover but you can't have it all good!!

We hope to get back in a couple of weeks but it will only be for 2 days due to other commitments.Three of our mates are up the back end of next week so it will be interesting to find out how it is fishing then.

Will send some photos to you and Hamish tomorrow so you can put on them on this is you like,

Richard

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Richard

Thanks for the great reply with lots of interesting "pointers" ........ it looks like you have enjoyed your visit

Well done

Best wishes
Mike

[Mike Barrio]

Hi folks

Here are some photos that Richard sent me ......... Thanks Ricardo

The first two shots are of Paul with a 3 lb 6 oz River Don Brownie and the third one is a nice 3 pounder.

[Hamish Young]

Goes to show if you're patient, know what you're doing and persistent then there are plenty of trout in the Don 

[Iain Goolager]

Richard,

Cracking report and pictures. Any pointers on the successful flies - pictures or dressings as I have no problem with plagerism (maybe just my spelling)

I really need to get the wee rod out.

Iain