Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Iain Goolager

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #195 on: 09/04/2012 at 20:42 »
Ian C,

Cracking fish  :z16. IMHO the water height and colour of late has been the perfect conditions for sub surface work  and hindsight is a great thing but I've spent  the last 3 outings walking up and down the banks searching for something to aim at, two of them resulted in me not wetting a fly in anger. Left work at 1 ish and headed for the river hoping to lift the curse from my new rod.

Two hours and two pricked fish later with very little in the way of any hatch and an ominous chilly breeze I started to sob. 

I had been watching a fish showing regularly under the opposite more sheltered bank which brought hope and now and again the suns' warmth could be felt through gaps in the cloud so I didn't give up hope.

The bloke working his way up the opposite bank hooked into a good fish that was airborne a few times before he got it under control and into the net.    Well done Geoff  :z16.  are the hands any steadier yet?

That was during a mini warm spell, even a mini hatch had started and two fish showed steadily at what I'd call at the extremity of casting v's presentation range. Needless to say out went the CDC and after an unbearable wait one sucked down the fly, the rod was bent and the duck was broken. Nowhere near as leviathan as those of the 'big boys' but a plump 1 1/4 lb of pure pleasure.
Wasn't sure about going back to a 5wt after being a dyed in the wool 4 wt'er but the Orvis Access tip flex is a very sensitive and enjoyable tool to play a fish on.


Wind has been harsh of late but I think we were lulled into a false sense of hope during March's out of character Warm spell - now it's back to the norm.

Well done again the those finding fish.

Oh,  hello officially Lindsay.

Iain

Sea-Trout from the sea/ brackish have historically, for me, thrown scales at you - almost like Herring, but I've yet to have any from Dyce upwards show this tendency. Yes, how long does it take for freshwater or low salt or whatever to have an effect on scale 'shedding'?



Liam Stephen

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #196 on: 09/04/2012 at 21:06 »
Nice fish Geoff  :z16

Was down at Kintore today, it was another poor day  :cry  had 3 fish to 1lb all on Iain's PTN fish NZ style. It's deadly!!   :z7

Parkhill it'll be tomorrow me thinks  :z2  :z15

Liam

Iain Goolager

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #197 on: 09/04/2012 at 21:12 »
Well done Trigger Jnr.  :z16

I hope the wind is kind to you tomorrow and you see a decent rise.

Iain

danbruce

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #198 on: 09/04/2012 at 22:08 »
Looks like some good quality trout being taken so far this season. Hopefully I will get off the mark at some point. 3 short visits to the river and still no trout....the wait continues. :z6

Liam Stephen

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #199 on: 10/04/2012 at 09:38 »
Can't get to Parkhill today  :cry guess it'll just have to be Kintore again. Fingers crossed there's a good hatch and the fish are hard on the feed  :z16

Liam

Loxiafan

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #200 on: 10/04/2012 at 10:20 »
Liam, it's pretty 'orrible here in Aberdeen just now so I hope it is better at Kintore. Medal of Honour's for those that venture out today unless conditions improve (which they may) !

Iain (G) good meeting you on Sunday and Monday and thanks for all the tips/advice ! A well deserved bit of action for you after dogged perseverance !

IainC, nice catching up with you again, yes I'm game for some Urban Fishing sometime !

Michael (Wind Knot) nice to meet you, hope you had some sucess ? Great to see so many guys out targetting trout !

Sandy, I thought it was only "2012" fish that were to be recorded in ADAA Catch Return hence my query, but as you say not necessarily wrong. Maybe someone from the Commitee will comment on this and the current status of retaining Sea Trout from 11th Feb in light of such seriously well mended potential kelts - members are recommmended not to retain any ST's at any time, but.......

Cheers,

Lindsay

Jamie

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #201 on: 10/04/2012 at 10:25 »
In my experience any fish, fresh from saltwater usually deposit scales everywhere.
The net,rod handle and skin always seem to get a few even when you don't handle them :shock.
Not sure how long they need to be in freshwater before this starts to change, i'm not the biologist.
But i would love to know :z16 Jamie :z8
To me the scales are always an obvious indication of a fresh fish , if i don't notice them then i would be less sure i'd got it right even before checking.

Sandy

Hi there guys, thanks to Iain for drawing my attention to this aspect of the post, it's been an interesting read.

I would say that the fish that have been taken for ST are most likely to be well mended kelts, its still early for Don ST yet. Upon recent survey work we have seen Salmon kelts as far upstream as Alford (how do we know they were kelts, well they were tagged fish from the Hatchery work and the tags were visible in the low water) and until this weekend there has been no water to push them down, therefore i suspect the ST have taken that bit longer to get down the system as well as a result. It not unusual to get kelts right through April and into May but they are often in the past few seasons obviously kelts. If they have stayed in then the conditions for them have been very good, plenty of feeding and an open winter will help recondition these trout.
 
Other rivers such as the Tweed, where they have early ST i.e. Feb/March, scale reading has showed that they have fish heading out for a few months before returning again in early summer and fresh fish coming in at the same time as these are heading out. I must stress that this is main stem sampling and the ST have multiple tributaries from which they may have originated hence the diversity in life history strategies which we do not experience on the same scale here on the Don.

Sandy's point is very good fresh fish will always shed scales, those that are not as fresh will not shed them so readily, as for the exact timeline on which this change happens i'm not sure but i'll endeavour to find out.
The only way to be sure is to collect some scales and have them read, the difference between fresh fish and a kelts is quite marked.

I spoke to a few of the other forum members over the weekend and i would be delighted to have some input from any of you interested in collecting scales from fish. The Trust's scale programme has suffered from a lack of trout scales over the past few seasons and any help on this front will enable the Trust to learn more about the trout stock and therefore recommend management actions to the Board such as those relating to the conservation code, currently discussed in this thread.

Anyone interested please get in touch i hope to be hosting a scale sampling session at the Trust office shortly.
biologist@riverdon.org.uk


FYI

Funding is still being sought for the Invertebrate Programme, we've been unsuccessful with one funder but are still confident that we can source funding, will keep you informed of progress, thanks for your patience on this front.



Cheers Jamie


Liam Stephen

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #202 on: 10/04/2012 at 10:36 »
Lindsay the weather is crappy in Kintore too  :mad Ill just have to brave it though, it's only rain  :z16

Liam

Liam Stephen

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #203 on: 10/04/2012 at 11:19 »
Sitting in my garage waiting for the rain to stop. Come on, hurry up!!    :mad

Liam

Loxiafan

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #204 on: 10/04/2012 at 11:50 »
Hi Jamie,

Many thanks for that input, very helpful. As I said before am more than happy to accept these fish were 'kelts' given the chronological factors but they were in seriously good condition and beyond "well mended"  - full bellied, solid, in proportion, no red vents, gills all ok. Other than the chronology at any other time they would have been good for 'fresh' fish IMHO ! On this basis anglers should not be allowed to retain any ST during this part of the season ? Incase anyone comes late to this discussion the fish were all released alive and well (as all are).

I am definitely interested in taking scale samples, would love to know more aboout the ages etc of fish I catch !

Great news about the invert stuff too.

Cheers,

Lindsay

Loxiafan

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #205 on: 10/04/2012 at 11:53 »
Lindsay the weather is crappy in Kintore too  :mad Ill just have to brave it though, it's only rain  :z1

Same here Liam but just heading out the now. There is little wind in Aberdeen though rain is persistent. However, if the rain stops could be a hatch.......

There was a really decent hatch of LDO's at U.Parkhill on Saturday afternoon and in quite haevy rain, so many that I found a Carrrion Crow leaning over the bank and picking up cripples from an eddy !

Tight Lines,

Lindsay

Michael Buchan

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #206 on: 10/04/2012 at 16:33 »
Lindsay good meeting you to thanks for the tips  :z16.
 
Not much to report last night no fish rising was pretty bitter got one tiddler on a PTN. Heading out tonight so hopefully have a bit more luck.

Michael

Liam Stephen

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #207 on: 10/04/2012 at 16:50 »
Just back now. The hatch was better today but... Less fish were showing  :z8I think I counted 2-3 the whole time I was there. Fished the Klink and Dink and picked up half a dozen to 1lb on the deadly PTN  :z16

Gonna try my best to get to Parkhill tomorrow  :z2

Liam

Loxiafan

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #208 on: 10/04/2012 at 20:06 »
The hatch was better today but... Less fish were showing  :z8I think I counted 2-3 the whole time I was there.

Same at U.Parkhill. Quite a lot of LDO's coming down when I arrived at 1.30 pm but very few fish rising and those that were I would say were small. Quite a few trout guys there today inc. myself, fishing a mix of wets, nymphs and dries and it didn't look like anyone was catching, might be wrong  :z8 I stuck with dry, made 4 casts to one fish that was practically impossible. Took a look at L. Parkhill, water quite murky there albeit lower than weekend. Tried an Oppo and a PTN NZ style (desperation for me ?). Nada. Need a day off to regroup I think...

Lindsay

Geoff Gill

Re: River Don 2012
« Reply #209 on: 10/04/2012 at 20:25 »
Out today with no luck also.

Lindsay, good talking to you today, forgot to say, how do you like the 4 wt outfit. I've never fished that light and it sounds appealing for the dry fly. I could be tempted for an obvious necessity  :z4
Waiting for the dredded call for going offshore, so grabbing the days on the river while i can.

Geoff

 




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