Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

James Laraway

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #60 on: 06/08/2020 at 09:23 »
nice one Sandy.
How do you find the rubber scoop net ? I bought one years ago when i was fishing the don but i found the 'mesh' was not deep enough and didnt 'envelope' the fish leading to me struggling to net bigger fish - so i moved back to knotless normal mesh.

I now use the Scierra trout net ( large size). Its the only bit of scierra equipment i have but its a great bit of kit, not expensive and it can swallow even double figure fish with ease. 
Im on my 3rd one now. I dropped one on land while carry my tube to the water and could not find it again. The other i dropped overboard.....My new one now has a float attached  :X2

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #61 on: 06/08/2020 at 09:51 »
Hi James

The net is custom, it’s a 19” x 14” hoop and the bag is 16” deep. I’ve managed fish up to 8.5lb but it’s a struggle. (Or a laugh afterwards  :z7)



I got it for landing the big browns  it’s been fine for fish up to 5lb and have had them up to near 7lb in there but I can’t unhook them in the water, so I’ve got a 22”x16” one which is 18” deep being custom made just now which should be much better. It’s a special Steelhead design and is probably as big as you can realistically make a wooden scoop net. I’ll keep you updated once it arrives  :z16

I really like the wooden scoop style nets so getting one the right size has been a journey.

Sandy

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #62 on: 07/08/2020 at 08:06 »
A couple from the bright sun and windy afternoon that was yesterday.

Picked out some risers in amongst all the  willow herb seeds



BWO’s this time
 


Good fun on light weight Japanese glass.



Sandy

Duncan McRae

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #63 on: 07/08/2020 at 13:28 »
Nice sub surface photo Sandy.Bonny trout.

Duncan

James Laraway

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #64 on: 10/08/2020 at 15:56 »
Hi James

The net is custom, it’s a 19” x 14” hoop and the bag is 16” deep. I’ve managed fish up to 8.5lb but it’s a struggle. (Or a laugh afterwards  :z7)

I got it for landing the big browns  it’s been fine for fish up to 5lb and have had them up to near 7lb in there but I can’t unhook them in the water, so I’ve got a 22”x16” one which is 18” deep being custom made just now which should be much better. It’s a special Steelhead design and is probably as big as you can realistically make a wooden scoop net. I’ll keep you updated once it arrives  :z16

I really like the wooden scoop style nets so getting one the right size has been a journey.

Sandy

I ( like you) like the wooden net handles - they are very classy. Cant wait to see your new custom one.

One evening, just as it was getting dark I hooked a good fish in the tail of a pool at ardhuncart. Tried to get it into the rubber meshed net and of course it would not fit. Ended up beaching the fish using the net a 'barrier' to stop the beached fish from escaping the shallow water  :z4. After that episode the net had to go... :X1

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #65 on: 17/08/2020 at 08:15 »
So after what feels like an age of not seeing any decent size rising fish, i finally managed to get the timing right last night.

The last couple of weeks i've tried early mornings and seen hatches of Yellow mays! in August! but no rising fish



Had some to the nymph but nothing exciting.
I've tried afternoons and on some days its been next to nothing rising despite good hatches of BWO's and some days there have been steady feeders, and on one afternoon some of them were getting there enough to warrant using the drag.



Last night i went down after dinner just to see what was happening and i stumbled straight onto a good pod of decent size fish rising very regularly to take the BWO's that were hatching. they were tucked into the a small lie in the nose of some streamy water. water temp being 18 degrees doesnt help and makes good sense for where they were lying.



Just a matter of patience and a CDC spider and i picked out 5 from what i reckon was 7-8 fish all of them worth the effort, some of them starting to change into their very impressive dating suits.



so finally a night worth the effort and the best sport of the month so far.

Sandy

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #66 on: 17/08/2020 at 08:56 »
Nice one Sandy  :z16

August can be a funny, frustrating month on the river and I guess this unsettled weather won't be helping.

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #67 on: 25/08/2020 at 10:37 »
 A wee wander down last night for a few cast with a newly finished toy.

quite a few rising fish, but nothing big, there was a selection of BWO's in a couple of colours coming off (dark and light) and some bigger upwings, which i tried my best to catch and photograph but they kept getting away from me.
However using my guide at home i identified them as Autumn Duns and they look like a size 12 brook dun (as opposed to the brook dun being an 8 ) so a size smaller than a march brown also, but quite similar and very fast!

Managed to christen my new Demo rod with a nice 12" fish on the CDC Spider



probably the best fish we saw all night, but it was a nice evening to be out, although the temperature did drop quite a lot later on.

Sandy

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #68 on: 24/09/2020 at 15:58 »
Finally had a good afternoon today.
It was like being back in April, half eleven to half two, awesome hatch of LDO's



CDC spider was in its element and i found a good stretch with some decent rising fish, some fat boys  :z7



At last in amongst some good ones as well as the recent standard 10-12"





Great fun on 4wt glass..... as was the one i had on the nymph  :X1



Not what i expected on a size 14 PTN and quite a scrap, fortunately there was a kind soul who came up the river to give me a hand as i was struggling with the bank and the net. Succesful in the end though and not too coloured for a back end fish.



So good fun all round mixed with the recent norm, so probably my best day since July :z16




Sandy

James Laraway

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #69 on: 24/09/2020 at 16:11 »
bloody salmon - you can never catch them when you try, but when your not trying.....

I remember when i was a teenager me and a pal fishing a loch in the south of scotland. He was fishing a dead rudd below a float for pike. When he was reeling in to recast the rudd was 'swiming' nicely as he retrieved - and a salmon took it !

Turns out the salmon run up a tiny tiny burn from the river cree into the loch ! Who knew....

Eddie Sinclair

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #70 on: 25/09/2020 at 13:10 »
Looks like a great day Sandy some decent locals in there and well done on the unexpected tourist :z16

Eddie

Duncan McRae

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #71 on: 08/10/2020 at 21:32 »
Visited my favourite Don beat after work and took a decent sized Hen fish not long after starting to fish.
My luck must have been in as i saw and touched nothing for the rest of the evening.

Water looked great tonight so will be back again tomorrow.




Duncan

James Laraway

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #72 on: 08/10/2020 at 21:59 »
Looks pretty clean for Oct. Well done

Eddie Sinclair

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #73 on: 09/10/2020 at 12:02 »
Cracking fish Duncan, well done :z16

Eddie

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2020
« Reply #74 on: 09/10/2020 at 13:01 »
Nice one Duncan :z16

 




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