Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #135 on: 22/04/2016 at 18:27 »
Nicked a few hours this afternoon on a home beat.

Baltic in the wind, but there was a cracking hatch of LDO's from 1pm onwards right up till 4. If you kept your eyes peeled you could find a few feeding fish.
The Scruffy olive proved to be the medicene again, you can see why it works.



Some nice fish moving this one was a beautiful Blue Don Brownie and the best of the afternoon, pushing 2.5lb



At least the flies and fish seem to be back on fettle again, even if the weather is doing its best to make things tough. :z16

Sandy

Simon Bruce

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #136 on: 23/04/2016 at 21:57 »
Was out today (must be mad)
Weather was ok when i arrived and when the wind died down you could get a cast or two in before it started up again, had fun with the duo again picking off trout up to about the 1lb mark. Then it was all seasons in one day wind/ rain/hail/snow/ nice spells inbetween but didnt last long. Kept on with the duo just searching a likely looking spot and could see some fly life starting to appear on the water when the klink dipped in the water, a quick strike and i was in

After the usual quick photo with my phone and getting the fish back into the water, i could see some fish rising and some looked quite big. Quick change of leader and on with the dry (and a quick dry of the phone after it took a fancy for a swim :X1) Hooked into another good fish this time falling to an old favourite Greenwells Glory  :z16


All in a good day, but had to call it quits at 15.30 as i could hardly feel my hands and the wind was just driving me daft.

Simon

Scott Cumming

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #137 on: 25/04/2016 at 07:40 »
Saturday had me wondering why I do this for fun… freezing, wet and miserable, slogged it out for several hours with very little in return.

Weather improved Sunday and so did the hatches with several flurries of LDOs and some decent fish looking up….

Caught this Stonker on an emerger, my second fish over 6lb this season - well chuffed :z18




A cracking fish in great condition. Another nice pic - thanks Lewis :z16




The day ended with a golden 3.5lber on the nymph  :z12





 :z18
Scott

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #138 on: 25/04/2016 at 08:33 »
Superb Scott :z16

Eddie Sinclair

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #139 on: 25/04/2016 at 20:25 »
Scott,

I am not in the least bit jealous looking at your pictures from down here in the deserts of the UAE.

Honest Guv,

Eddie :X2 :X2

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #140 on: 26/04/2016 at 19:40 »
And just as things were going nicely on our local rivers ........... this weather turns up :cry

Liam Stephen

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #141 on: 26/04/2016 at 20:28 »
I lasted a whole hour on the river today. Am I brave or stupid!?  :z8

Saw bugger all, lost a couple of flies and thought time to go!  :z4

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #142 on: 29/04/2016 at 13:05 »
...................... and it's not getting any better :z8

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #143 on: 29/04/2016 at 18:59 »
Well maybe's aye and maybe's no.............

Yesterday the water was spot on, but the wind and the cold slowed things down, still a few fish rising though :z16 Isolated for catchable, nothing exciting landed.

Today i managed a couple of hours late in the afternoon , the water was murky again, but the odd monster was out and about :z4



Fantastic hatch of Large Dark Olives all afternoon and not a fish to be seen anywhere........



Today was meant to be cold and horrible, but was just windy and mild, the Swallows made the most of the hatch, just a shame the trout didn't fancy looking up in the Murk, a couple of days without any more rain should hopefully bring the First week of May, conditions that will go with the hatches and we can get some of the best fishing of the year :z18

Sandy

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #144 on: 29/04/2016 at 19:09 »
It's all about to happen .................... :z12

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #145 on: 30/04/2016 at 10:29 »
Your Sun Dance worked then Sandy  :z4 ............. cracking morning today :z16

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #146 on: 04/05/2016 at 17:44 »
Well having taken some days off to go fishing, i have persevered despite the conditions.

So 2 blanks down and today brought some better looking water and a strong breeze :z6
The sun did come out at times and spring is very much looking pretty



Some good hatches of LDO's, coming off in short 10-15min bursts from 12 through till 3, i found a few fish at the tail of one pool, which were hard to spot with the wind ruffled surface, but if you could get the fly to them they snaffled it. Nothing huge best about 14"


 
I eventually got sick of fighting the wind, so swapped beats to a more treelined one to diffuse the breeze. A decent walk and i found a good few fish feeding in a nice glide, much nicer for casting and the fish were keen.... a welcome change from the last couple of days. Nothing of any particular note, but a couple required the net :z16



This one couldn't wait for his picture :z7

And this one turned out more like a painting, there is just something about trout and water, that inspires :z12



The water still feels cold and i think thats not helping, but each day seems to be improving, fingers crossed it does :z16 i've a few more days to go yet

Sandy

Ali Mcewan

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #147 on: 04/05/2016 at 20:02 »
With a bit of luck things will improve by Friday, wind seams to drop right off. Thursday night.
On a slightly different note I see Kildrummy had there first springer yesterday..

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #148 on: 05/05/2016 at 17:57 »
A bit of an anti-climax and tough going again today, that water is still very cold, even though its running clear and a great height :z8
so i ended up taking photo's instead.
heres an orange tip butterfly



some impressive large brook duns were hatching too


Still didn't bring the fish on, a small flurry of LDO's brought a few up to 14" but didn't see anything of any note.
So i started playing with some of the settings on the camera. :z12


Might be a change of river in order, until the water warms up some. at least the wind is supposed to back off a bit for a few days, that should help too. I hate getting sunburned when i'm wearing 5 layers of clothes :shock

Sandy


Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2016
« Reply #149 on: 10/05/2016 at 20:35 »
A beautiful day today, lovely and warm with a nice wee breeze :z12 So i spent the day on a favourite beat in great company.

Over the duration of the day we saw quite a few rising fish, but what they were feeding on was not always very obvious.
At first i thought it was the large dark olives that were trickling off late morning


So did this guy, but then the others didn't seem to think so...........

Next up there were Grannoms skittering about and it looked like there was about to be a huge Grannom hatch, there was a good hatch but not the blizzard the conditions suggested might happen, At the start of the  hatch a small dhe fooled a couple



Some real yellow Sally stoneflies were on the wing, but the trout didn't bat an eyelid at those


The one decent size fish i sat on for several hours was feeding sporadically against the far bank, i tried all sorts of flies, DHE's , plume tips, CDC spiders and all were ignored in a variety of sizes. I even went down to a size 18 black smut and he looked at it but didn't convict to eating it......what to do  :z8 He went quiet for a wee while so i wandered off. When i came back he was still rising every now and then so i harked back to a paragraph i read in a Rene Harrop book about how sometimes a big terrestrial can fool a feeding fish. So a rake around my bag and i found a size 12 Hawthorn. There were none to be seen anywhere, but what the hell......... First cast.....


Best of the season so far 21" and an on the line 4lb in the net :z12 Once he went back he decided to sit in front of me for several minutes, so i couldn't resist invading his recovery time..


Bonny fish, well pleased after a weeks worth of trying in all sorts of conditions :z16
Late in the afternoon there was a sporadic hatch of Olive uprights and this time i managed to catch one to confirm it was them


The fish kept rising, but very hit or miss and it was tough, but  i was almost tempted to stay and see what the evening brought, might keep that for tomorrow :z16

Sandy

 




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