[Eddie Sinclair]

Iain,

well done on more nice fish.

One question, does everyone who fishes on rivers with you have to fall in?

seems to be a common theme.

Eddie.

[Dorlo]

Hi all,
First day out for the season today with the trout rod, thought I'd give a report and join in the discussion here.
Had a great day, there was a minor hatch quite early and picked up a couple of fish before midday, and then the real action between 1-4pm.

Finished with 9 fish but broke off the two best for the day. One of which was BIG and I am still devastated to have lost it right at my feet when it took one last run and jump and I was too slow in lowering the rod tip. In hindsight I'm pretty sure it was a sea trout and possibly a kelt because it didn't fight that hard considering it's size.

Best flies were a size 14 DHE and size 14 Quill Gordon.

Also, I have a question.. The photos below are typical of all the fish I got today and I can't tell if they are sea trout or 'real' Brownies? I know it's not the best to lay the fish out on the ground but I didn't carry my net today (If I had I wouldn't have lost that big fish!  )

They are quite silver and were schooled up quite a bit, all fish coming from one short stretch of river. They were very aggressive and fought hard, lots of aerobatics, all of which I thought might point to sea-trout?. There were a few scars on some which I assume are from spawning?

Anyway interesting to hear what you all think. I'm relatively new to the Don (first year as an ADAA member), so I'm still learning a lot of these things!

Cheers

[Sandy Nelson]

Typical Don brownie, Nice fish Dorlo

They like to jump and almost always have a blueish silvery sheen. You'll get them in all sorts of shades which seems to depend on the beat, sometimes even the pool. From quite dark, like Scotts fish, to almost bars of silver like your one above.

You'll see the difference in a sea-trout, the kelts we have been catching this week are very much in their normal colours, very obviously different from the Brownies, the fins are best indicator, the brownies have yellowish/brown fins and the sea-trout white/grey fins

Cheers

Sandy

[Dorlo]

Great info thanks.
I've seen plenty of Brownies in various colours but haven't caught a sea trout before so wasn't really sure, especially since there have been reports of a lot of them around lately.

The sad part is that I am now thinking that the good fish I lost today was a big brownie after all. I got a close look at it and looked exactly like the photo I posted, only MUCH bigger 

I'll get him next time...

[Scott Cumming]

Well done Dorlo, sounds like you had a fun day  It was hard going for me today, fly life was sparse with just the odd trout moving. Managed to get 2 of the better ones pictured below best @2lbs.

Cheers
Scott

[Liam Stephen]

Today was very poor. Not much fly life and next to no fish moving. A real shame as the conditions were almost perfect... Except for that bloody wind. Did anyone have any luck?

Cheers
Liam

[Andy Finlay]

Hey Liam,

Nice to put a face to a name today, had to leave early as kids to look after but sounds like I didn't miss out too much.

[Liam Stephen]

Likewise Andy. Nothing at all, see you again 

Liam

[Dorlo]

I went out again, it was shaping up well but then the wind killed it just as the hatch was starting. The fish were still pretty active but I wasn't skilled enough to get at them in the howling gale.

I managed one on a downstream spider but it threw the hook. That fish didn't much like being hooked, spent more time in the air than in the water!

 

[Peter McCallum]

Bloody hell yesterday was busy 

Fished  with a friend  and fish were rising between 1 & 3pm. Ldo's coming off  from around 12.30. Had a good spell and we got 3 good trout all fell to a MBE (?) before there was a hatch of March Browns....








when they appeared not a fish rose to them  ???

[Iain Cameron]

cracking fishes there Peter - Does the E mean emerger? maybe they were keener on that than the final product!

[Iain Cameron]

Had a couple of hours on ADAA waters this afternoon. One very localised and quite intense, but intensely brief, hatch of MBs at 2.30pm for about 5 mins. Fish were snapping and rising just before the MBs appeared. Winkled out two of the risers to around a 1lb, which was nice on a horrible windy day.

C&R


Amazing number of swans on the go today:


As another angler said, twas still better than watching the telly. And no one fell in today, hurrah!

[Noel Kelly]

Peter
I was watching a fish munching down march browns yesterday which is something I haven't often seen. I covered him with a dhe, nope a cdc&elk nope, and your mbe, bang! It's a cracker! 

[Rob Brownfield]

Friday for salmon, nothing, saturday for trout, nothing. In 2 days I saw 4 fish move, all salmon. Think I will takne up cod fishing

[Graham Nicol]

I just came off a famous beat on the Dee. 3 days never saw or touched a fish and that was to all 4 rods! Disheartening