[Hamish Young]

Folks,

Some of you may have seen information about this and it's all coming together nicely  

The first 'River Don Open Day' will be held at Castle Forbes on Sunday the 24th of May, a poster for the event is on the front page of this site http://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/news.html and further details will appear on www.riverdon.org.uk

The idea Well, it's pretty simple really.
Get all the relevant organisations in one place at the same time, throw in some well known angling 'faces', activities, casting tuition, competitions etc. Plus an auction of some excellent lots donated in aid of the River Don Trust plus local businesses (small and large) selling/demonstrating their products and crafts plus some kids stuff too and you have the first event of its kind on Donside.

The focus is very much River Don, for local anglers and those further afield, it will be a chance to put faces to names and more importantly to put your questions to members of the Trust team, the RDBTIA, DDSFB members and Jim Kerrs' team about what is going on with the river, what the future holds and how you might be able to help. Amongst other things, the new RDBTIA River Don roving ticket scheme (an affordable 1 day or 6 day ticket which gives access to many miles of the Don) will also be launched on the day.

It's a free to enter event; all we would ask is that anyone coming through the event on the day supports the Trust by bidding generously at the auction or with a donation. Not much to ask really  

There will be 2 marquees on the day, one for angling and one for the local businesses, an outside caterer and something for the kids - so a family event. Please do support the day and come along on the 24th.

I hope to see you then  

Hamish  

PS - If you'd like to help out on the day, donate something to the auction or would like to partcipate then email me rdbtia@btinternet.com NO LONGER VALID

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Hamish

Great work with the Don Open Day, I know how much work is going in to this

Best wishes
Mike ....................... on Haddo Hut Megaslowband    

[Peter McCallum]

Sounds good Hamish best of luck with it. I'd love to be there but it's my first weekend on this years marking so I'll need to blitz some then   . Hey Ho

[Ben Dixon]

Bring it with you Peter we will give you a hand and do it over a few beers after the event 

Ben

[Mike Barrio]

Sounds good Hamish best of luck with it. I'd love to be there but it's my first weekend on this years marking so I'll need to blitz some then   . Hey Ho

Hi Peter

We can help with the marking if you like, I've got a red pen ..... anybody else?

Cheers
Mike

[Mike Barrio]

Good thinking Ben      

[Peter McCallum]

Bring it with you Peter we will give you a hand and do it over a few beers after the event 

Ben

Unfortunately you can't mark in poblic - ooo missus . Still thanks for the kind thoughts

[Dutchfly]

Hi Hamish,

'Good' to read it's all over by the time we're in Scotland... 

Hopefully this will become an annual/bi-annual event, so we can keep it mind when planning a visit.

Good luck with the Ørgänizáziøn, as they call it at Dutch Flyfair. I know how much time and effort go into such an event.

CU

Jeroen

[Hamish Young]

Cheers Jeroen - there's an awful lot of work goes into these things and I hope it all pays off

Latest news is one of the principal lots of the auction in aid of the River Don Trust will be an Orvis Helios 9ft #4wt.
Details in the classified section 

http://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1849.0

Hamish

[Iain Goolager]

not quite a BUMP but should be a good day, with a good turn out.

Iain

[Ben Dixon]

There will be some more auction lots appearing here over the next few days.  Would be good to see all the forum members that are even occasional Don fishers at the event, weather permitting, it will be a good event.  Even if the weather is less than favourable, most of the attractions will be under cover and, admission is free.

Amongst other things going on will be.....

Casting demonstrations with an emphasis on techniques, set ups and tactics applicable to Don fishing for all species with both single & double handed rods, tuition from SANA instructors, flytying demos, and casting competitions.  The casting competitions must be won by someone, instructors, trust members etc are not allowed to enter, prizes are being donated by Orvis so, have a shot, you have nothing to lose!!
There will be many toys to play with on the day either on grass or on the water. 


Hope to see you there


Ben

[Dave Gordon]

A new initiative, “Friends of the River Don” will be launched at the River Don Open Day at castle Forbes on Sunday 24rth. To join the Friends, please click the link below:

http://www.adaasales.co.uk/shop/shop.asp?hdnCtrlPageNum=3&item=79&manukey=-1&deptkey=-1&srch=&sort=1&slct=&ipp=12&selmanukey=-1&seldeptkey=-1&srchTxt=&selsort=1&CtrlPageJump=3

A reminder that the River Don open day is to be held at Castle Forbes on 24th. May.

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Dave
Thanks for that, it will be interesting to find out more about this and maybe support it at Sunday's event

I'm not being funny ..... but why is it on the "adaa" website?

Best wishes
Mike

[Dave Gordon]

Hi Mike

Thats an easy one. We are selling "friends of the river Don" via the ADAA site because we get it for free, and because i set up the sales site for the ADAA! We would eventually like to host this on our own site but as you know web shops are expensive and we feel that using this partnership is in the best interests of the charity. We are always however keen to expand this, and if you are offering to also host this for us i would be delighted, will even buy you a burger and coke at the open day on sunday! May even make you our first friend!

The trust is now off and running, with Jamie Urquhart starting as our first biologist early next month. He will start to make the differences the Don needs and we will start running up costs, as we plan to start easing obstructions to fish migration and improving habitat immediatly. We will have a very small office for him to work from soon we hope, and will need to equip this. Obviously this will be open to anglers and interested parties to see what works are being undertaken and to have a brew!

We are trying to source a microfiche system to be used for scale reading, along with a microscope, this will run alongside our genetics survey, DNA testing salmon from throughout the catchment to identify the various groups of fish in the system and to see where for instance springers spawn, so we can target habitat improvements, to target the most underpressure stock components. Information on this and our other projects will be placed in the Friends section on the website as they happen (riverdon.org.uk) This will be a password protected friends area where they will get the most up to date information on the system, its inhabitants and our works.

As you can see, all this costs and the more we can protect our funds for projects, whilst still getting all we need to get, helps us spend money on the river, where it is needed.

Dave

[Hamish Young]

Some more fishing lots for the auction folks:

A box of flies tied by Paul Procter (guide price £50)
A box of assorted flies tied by Magnus Angus (guide price £50)
A dozen salmon flies tied by Ross MacDonald (guide price £50)
A days fishing on the Don on the Colquhonnie House Hotel beats
A days fishing on the Don at Fetternear
A days loch fishing (including dapping instruction) in the Inverness/Highlands area with Hamish Young (guide price £50)
A box of half a dozen dapping flies tied by Hamish Young (guide price £25)

Non-fishing lots

A days goose shooting
A day deer stalking

More goodies to come on the day

If you'd like to place a bid in advance for some of the items please send an email to me at rdbtia@btinternet.com
The unique Orvis Helios 9ft #4wt will start at whatever price it reaches on this site, but a generous bid in excess of £800 might just secure it in advance

Hamish

[Hamish Young]

..... and there's more.

Courtesy of Mike Barrio we have:

Exclusive use of Haddo Trout Fishery for a day (Guide price £200)
A Barrio floating fly line of your choice.

Hamish 

[salar35]

It's a free to enter event; all we would ask is that anyone coming through the event on the day supports the Trust by bidding generously at the auction or with a donation. Not much to ask really  There will be 2 marquees on the day, one for angling and one for the local businesses, an outside caterer and something for the kids - so a family event. Please do support the day and come along on the 24th.

Hamish
I've happy memories of Castle Forbes (springers and some gorgeous trout) but haven't fished it for a couple of years. Would have come to the Open Day this weekend but have a family commitment (ill father) up north. Wish you all the best with the whole event. Dave

[Hamish Young]

Thanks Dave, shame you can't be there.

Other fishing related auction lots:

A long handled wooden trout net (guide price £25 ).

An unboxed selection of 15 salmon flies tied by Sandy Nelson (guide price £20).

A days guided fishing with AAPGAI instructer Ben Dixon (guide price £120).

More to come 

Hamish 

[Mike Barrio]

Hi folks

So ..... who is coming along tomorrow then?

I'll be there, I'm taking along a wee table and some of my fly lines, so you'll hopefully find me in the tent. I'll take the demo lines too, so if anybody wants to bring their rod along and try them out, please do. Anybody buying a line tomorrow will get a free spool of Fulling Mill Copoly with it as a special offer ..... unless I run out of copoly

I've been really looking forward to this event and it should be lots of fun. They might even let me have a go in the casting competition ..... cause they know I'll come last again
Hope to see plenty of forum members
Best wishes
Mike

[Iain Goolager]

I'll be there tomorrow, really looking forward to it.

I'm even going to enter the casting competition so if anyone wants to buy a wooden spoon for their wifes birthday I'll have one to raffle.

Hope to see a good turn out.

Iain

[Dave Gordon]

Mike

I think i will pop along, what do you think!

I was out today, and the venue is fantastic, the tents are huge and each stand will have plenty of room, and as for the casting area, again plenty of room, looks great. We managed to get a number of additional Auction lots as well so plenty to do tomorrow.

It should be fun and i am looking forward to discussing the river and Trusts works with people and getting their views.

D

[Peter McCallum]

Really upset that I can't make it, the gods have conspired & marking and SWMBO playing in her band trumps any fishing day

Anyhoo hope everything goes well - the weather forecast looks excellent - and that it's going to be an annual thing

Peter

[Mike Barrio]

Sorry Peter, I know how much you wanted to come along

Re: hope that it's going to be an annual thing ........ I guess that might depend on how things go tomorrow? So here's hoping lots of folk come along to support the event. They have put a lot of effort in to putting this together and I hope as many local anglers as possible will turn out

Best wishes
Mike

[Hamish Young]

All go for tomorrow

Hope to see lots of folk through the gates....... the auction has some really nice stuff up for grabs

Right now I'm off to my bed, early start in the morning. Pics and a review of the day will follow at some point

Hamish 

[Jim Eddie]

  Enjoyed the day , nice to see a few faces from the forum , Paul Proctor was amazing 

The weather was fantastic , we won the league  all is well with the world 

 

Jim