Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Mike Barrio

The Don Today
« on: 11/02/2007 at 13:56 »
Took a brief trip down to the Don Bridge in Inverurie this morning to see what the water was like, as it sure was wet last night  :z6

I expected the river to be over its banks, but it wasn't. It was a tad brown and it was rising steadily. I took a couple of photos and one photo shows one of three of the usual "visitors" ........ these birds are getting out of hand, they are everywhere  :shock:







Best wishes
Mike Barrio
 :z2

Jay Scott

The Don Today
« Reply #1 on: 11/02/2007 at 14:09 »
Nice pics Mike, i don't think i've ever seen a cormorant in the River Don, is it unusual?

Jay

Mike Barrio

The Don Today
« Reply #2 on: 11/02/2007 at 14:59 »
Hi Jay

No. not nowadays. There were three of them "working" on the stretch in between the briges this morning.

Best wishes
Mike

ajsaw

The Don Today
« Reply #3 on: 11/02/2007 at 16:41 »
Lots of snow here thawing fast .
Sure it will be well up tomorrow.
By the way hello and thanks for a speedy activation .

Jay Scott

The Don Today
« Reply #4 on: 11/02/2007 at 17:05 »
Hi ajsaw,

Welcome to the forum!

Jay

The Don Today
« Reply #5 on: 11/02/2007 at 19:07 »
HI
those birds are getting quite common with us down at pitfour too, seems to be more and more of them about and no preditors to keep the numbers down. Worse thing about them is the amount of fish they eat they will take 2 or 3 2-3lb fish a day
I suppose its humans that have caused them to come inland looking for food with boats trawling along the coast taking the there natural food of sand eels for fish meal. to feed farmed fish and some animals and to use in gardens.

gunner100

The Don Today
« Reply #6 on: 11/02/2007 at 20:31 »
Quote from: "ANDREW BEBBINGTON"
HI

I suppose its humans that have caused them to come inland looking for food with boats trawling along the coast taking the there natural food of sand eels for fish meal. to feed farmed fish and some animals and to use in gardens.


It is even worse than that. About 10 or so years ago I was sailing into Esbjerg port, Denmark, when I saw the fish meal factory and adjacent to it was an electricity generating station. In conversation with a Dane on the ferry it transpired that any surplus fish oil, from sand eels caught 100 miles off the Scottish coast,  was transferred from the fish meal plant to the power station to be burnt to produce leccy!!

Don't know if the Danes are still doing it with their new environmentally policies, I hope not.

Lyall

Rob Brownfield

The Don Today
« Reply #7 on: 12/02/2007 at 09:08 »
Mike,
I was up above Monymusk yesterday afternoon and the river was rising as I was watching it!! There was a deffinate change in the colour over the 40 minutes I was watching...and it was still raining this morning!!!!

Andrew,
I would be actively feeding the Cormorants....with lead! ;)

Richard Tong

River Don
« Reply #8 on: 12/02/2007 at 18:58 »
The March copy of FF & FT landed through the letterbox this morning and there is an article by Bob Wyatt on the Don. It makes interesting reading esp the bit about the public water being more difficult as it gets hammered and quite a few of the better trout get knocked on the head over the course of a season.C & R has only been in vogue on the stretch he fished for the past 2 seasons and before that a lot of the big trout got knocked on the head. However it still produced a lot of big trout over the years which goes back to it being(relatively) unexploited with low fishing pressure apart from a few weeks at the start of the season when even then there is plenty of water available.As far as I am aware it is the only stretch where C & R is part of the rules on any trout over 2lbs.

What is your guys opinion on this? I reckon that it is all quite hard on the Don (based on my limited experience,mainly fishing in the Spring)until you reach a hatch situation but this goes for many wild trout waters. Having said that towards the upper reaches we found the trout much more accomodating and they were not so much hatch driven and could be pulled up when prospecting quite readily at times.

I do not agree that the river is hard to get access to as compared to some(Tweed,Clyde, Eden to name  a few) it is definitely underfished with plenty of beats available even at prime times. Sure you may find that your preferred beat is taken but there will be others vacant on that water or on the many otehr available stretches.

Interestingly he observes that the Don "on its day compares with any stream I know in Canada and New Zealand" and that it "ranks up there with the best,anywhere". Praise indeed from a guy who has fished all over and should know.

Richard

wildfisher

The Don Today
« Reply #9 on: 12/02/2007 at 19:34 »
Richard, Bob is without doubt correct. All waters are good on their day.  That's what makes it their day.  :grin:

Rob Brownfield

The Don Today
« Reply #10 on: 12/02/2007 at 22:52 »
Hmmmmm..i think the Don IS hard to get onto. At the price of £20 to £25 for a trout ticket is expensive.

Also, many of the beats are pretty exclusive only allowing one or two trouters onto the beats...some of which are several miles long.

But I guess thats why it can throw up big fih..so i cant have it all...lol

The Don Today
« Reply #11 on: 23/02/2007 at 11:40 »
What bits are hard to get onto? You can get on just about all of it. And £20 for a days's fishing is great value, for quality wild fish in beautiful surroundings. You pay £20 for a few hours on a stocked loch, with some not even allowing catch and release so you have to stop. Or 90 mins at Pittodrie is over £20, so for a day on the Don, one of THE best trout rivers, I would say its a nothing less than a bargain.

Sandy Nelson

The Don Today
« Reply #12 on: 23/02/2007 at 17:15 »
I concur with david. :z18

wildfisher

The Don Today
« Reply #13 on: 23/02/2007 at 17:28 »
Talking of the Don. Was down at Haughton  today for a walk and was talking with one chap spinning for salmon.  OK, not my cup of tea – but to each his own. Anyway, the water was very high again and he hooked a nice trout which got off just as he was landing it. It looked about 1 ½ lb  or so but in very nice condition for the time of year. Perhaps the mild winter will mean a  few nice fish in good condition early on but I guess it will all  depend on the weather we get in March. Water temp was over 6 deg.  today, that is warmer than on my first day out there in April last year.

Sandy Nelson

The Don Today
« Reply #14 on: 23/02/2007 at 17:31 »
Worrying Fred

If it stays like this the March browns will start in March again, and the best early season rises could over before the season starts :shock:
Not like last year when they started in May.
Hopefully the weather will temper the river just in time for April, well heres hoping.

Sandy

 




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