Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Hamish Young

River Alness
« on: 11/08/2011 at 07:57 »
On the Saturday of the Outcasts Highland Fling, Ben and I went for a day on the River Alness. It's a lovely wee river which has lots of promise.....
I say promise as we caught nowt. Ben had a pull at the very top of beat 4 and I managed to lose a respectable brown/sea trout due to not paying attention when I should have been. I saw one small fish move, but that was it for the day.
To my mind it wanted at least another 8 inches of water than we had on the day, we bumped into Roger Dowsett who confirmed a splash of rain wouldn't go amiss and we were maybe a wee bit early - things will get going in a fortnight or so. It was interesting chatting to Roger about the river, it's water that I will try and fish again this year if the opportunity of a late availability day (not always on FishPal) comes along.
If you've not been I would say it is worth a speculative visit (if you're in the area and there's been rain). Loads of wee pools and runs and some great water to fish, but don't bother with anything more than a small double hander, a switch rod or maybe a single hander as (in my opinion) you really will not need it. I used an Orvis Helios 9.5ft #6wt with a home made shooting head matched to some 5ft polyleaders and I felt distinctly 'over-gunned' at times. However, you will need a four wheel drive to get to much of the fishing, at least on beat 4 anyway.
Some pics:



Like I said, lovely spot to fish - just a shame there were no Salmon about  :z6

:z3

Euan Innes

Re: River Alness
« Reply #1 on: 11/08/2011 at 09:48 »
Aww, Dude that's pretty!  :z16
A shame pretty cost so much and didn't reward the effort.
Better luck next time, and I'm sure there will be a next time.

 :z1

Jim Eddie

Re: River Alness
« Reply #2 on: 11/08/2011 at 10:47 »
Aww, Dude that's pretty!  :z16
A shame pretty cost so much and didn't reward the effort.
Better luck next time, and I'm sure there will be a next time.

 :z1

The Alness Angling Association beats are £15 per day from memory, less for the tidal beat.

http://www.alnessanglingclub.co.uk/#/contact-us/4539463637

 :z18

Jim

Ben Dixon

Re: River Alness
« Reply #3 on: 11/08/2011 at 14:59 »
The Alness Angling Association beats are £15 per day from memory, less for the tidal beat.

http://www.alnessanglingclub.co.uk/#/contact-us/4539463637

 :z18

Jim

Thanks Jim, that made my day  :z4

Ben

Ben Dixon

Re: River Alness
« Reply #4 on: 11/08/2011 at 15:26 »
Few more pics from the Alness, I took loads, really nice place to blank.  Shame there were not more fish about, very nice spot and exactly the sort of water I enjoy fishing for salmon.





And I thought my fly box was a mess!


Hamish covers a likely looking but fishless run


Setting up a cast to cover another likely looking spot


Almost lunchtime, H is starting to drool  :z4

Cheers

Ben





Euan Innes

Re: River Alness
« Reply #5 on: 11/08/2011 at 16:06 »

"And I thought my fly box was a mess!"

Ahh, another box of prototypes I reckon.... :z7

Great photos Ben. Shame you had time to take them.

 :z1

Hamish Young

Re: River Alness
« Reply #6 on: 14/08/2011 at 10:53 »
Ahh, another box of prototypes I reckon.... :z7

Who me :? prototypes ??? surely not :z7

I concede that my fly boxes could all do with a tidy up, thanks for bringing that to my attention Ben  :z13

:z3

Iain Goolager

Re: River Alness
« Reply #7 on: 14/08/2011 at 19:18 »
Great pictures, great looking fly water.  :z16

You can fool all of the fish all of       you can fool some of the fish some o
All of the fish can be .................

You can't legislate for the fish though

Iain

 




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