Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #120 on: 16/08/2021 at 17:24 »
The water is a lovely height, running at 14/15 degrees and is the colour of weak tea.  Ideal conditions  :z16

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #121 on: 26/08/2021 at 18:05 »
After blanking on Monday when I limited myself to dries and couldn’t find any decent rising fish, today I took the nymph line as well and worked a PTN through some of the runs.
Well rewarded with a good number of lovely conditioned wee fish , they don’t get much prettier



This was the average stamp for the afternoon not all as compliant for the camera



Had a moment where I was walking past a section I usually walk past and my gut said get in the river and run the nymph through the far side.



Worth listening to that gut, best one of the month.
So lots of fun and a nice way to spend the afternoon  >)

Sandy

Stevie Rennie

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #122 on: 27/08/2021 at 01:03 »
Bonnie fish Sandy,

Similar sizes to the ones I’ve been encountering lately, although I did manage one or two of a better size earlier in this dour month of august.



Fly fishings been minimal as I managed to snap my fairly cheap but loved 5wt scierra srx v2 rod a few weeks back on both mid sections.
With a bit of a height increase in the river, I opted for using my 7wt for heavier brownie type stuff and light spinning in pursuit of silver until I found a replacement.

Some success around 10lb and a 5lb loss in the silver department alas on spinner and a real surprise on the 7wt  *smiley-shocking*



I found a scierra hmx 9’ 5wt and thought it likely to be suitably similar enough to the srx, so grabbed it but on trying it out tonight discovered that although very pleasant to cast, it’s super delicate and not the sturdy all rounder the SRX is.

If anyone happens to have a 9’ #5 SRX available, I’d happily jump through hoops to buy it.

On another note, if anyone happened to see someone in what might’ve looked like distress with a 13ft double hander just below the kintore bridge, being more of a risk to wild fowl than the fish, do not worry, that too was me.
Practicing :X2

James Laraway

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #123 on: 27/08/2021 at 07:48 »
Is that a gudgeon????

Stevie Rennie

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #124 on: 27/08/2021 at 12:22 »
Is that a gudgeon????

I believe so  :z8

Bonnie little fella was very lightly hooked just under the gill plate while retrieving a gold head nymph.

James Laraway

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #125 on: 27/08/2021 at 14:05 »
if we are right then someone has popped an invasive species into the don.....suppose at least the big trout will like them !

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #126 on: 27/08/2021 at 16:17 »
There’s been gudgeon in the river for as long as I can remember, not often you see them though. Very pretty wee fish.
Technically I believe minnows are an invasive species too.
When I was a kid we used to catch perch fairly regularly, I’ve not seen one of them for well over 30 years

Duncan McRae

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #127 on: 27/08/2021 at 22:51 »
Great to the see a wee gudgeon again.
There used to be huge shoals of them on the Inverurie water when I was a kid in the 70's.
I always assumed that the goosanders had wiped them out.

Like Sandy,I remember taking perch as well but not for very many years.

There was also a good stock of pike on the Kemnay water but i don't know if there are any there nowadays.

Duncan

James Laraway

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #128 on: 28/08/2021 at 14:31 »
I'd never heard off or seem gudgeon in the Don. When I fished the kemnay water I heard that people used to catch perch in a deep pool that has a massive eddy like area. I also heard of pike caught on the manar beat but never say one personally

Terry Coging

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #129 on: 28/08/2021 at 20:46 »
I have a soft spot for the humble gudgeon. It was the main fish that I caught, as a boy  on the Trent in Nottingham. When I moved to Staffordshire many years ago  the gudgeon were plentiful in the local rivers and canals. They are now gone! Various predators are given the blame - goosanders, zander and crayfish. The local canal has become a 'predator' water with pike, perch and zander being the target fish.

Paul Adderton

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #130 on: 11/09/2021 at 12:34 »
Terry,

I was saddened to read what you had to say about the gudgeon on the River Trent in Nottingham. I too as a boy used to fish the Trent at Clifton Grove and Beeston Weir and the humble gudgeon was a keepnet filler and yet, as you say they are now all gone. How sad and is it all down to predators as you suggest?

Since my daughter left the Nottingham Evening Post working as a journalist I haven't been back and living here in Aberdeen for 40 years my fishing is now for salmon and trout though I still have a soft spot for rekindling memories of roach dave and bream on the Trent

Stevie Rennie

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #131 on: 18/09/2021 at 00:39 »
An evening mission to a pleasant part of the don some may recognise.



Not much surface action to be seen but a real serene setting.



I managed a couple of smolts (strange at this time of year?) & bonnie little brownies on a greenwells wet while awaiting the last hour of light.



Realising the southerly wind, low gin clear water and lack of stealth was against me, I decided to fish on into the dark, saving my last light efforts to change leader & put on a wooley bugger which I planned to strip through a deep dark pot.

I’ve tried this pot a few times since getting one big hit there and knowing that it must hold a monster but was tonight the night?

An over hanging tree marks the start and a few upstream casts were made to allow enough line sinking time just under the branches and to commence covering the head of the pot.

Not a thing, so I began gently wading down a shingle bar to just past the tree to continue casting and covering.
Allowing a little more sinking time to reach the depths I then stripped a few feet of line back then felt the rod buckle over and the full thumpy weight of said monster.

Booom! It must be all of 10lb’s, the brownie of my dreams.

The 100,000 casts I’ve made in the hope of connecting with such a magnificent creature and finally I’ve got him on.

Could I be the best angler on the don  *smiley-yippee*

Hold on a second, he’s not fighting, no tell tale big brownie head thumps, no reel screaming runs, no airborne leaps?

Then the bitter realisation that it wasn’t him at all and I gently reeled in a 10lb clump of loose ranunculus.



Achweel, good practice for when it happens  *smiley-wink*

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #132 on: 18/09/2021 at 09:11 »
Great stuff Steve, I like the wee duck resting in the grass  :)

As for the weed, we've all been there  *smiley-grin*

Cheers
Mike

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #133 on: 19/09/2021 at 10:23 »
Funny you mention the Smolts, Steve, we have had a couple of those in the last couple of weeks too. Very interesting to see what appears to a second batch working their way downstream.

We had a go yesterday again and it was a similar story, had to resort to nymphs to see any fish and then there was nothing over the 10" mark.
All bonny fish though

There was however quite a few fish rising to a rather decent Small Dark olive hatch

Lovely little flies that kept hatching from the 9.30 to 2pm session we fished

We got some interest to emergers, but nothing consistent or of any size. We can play spot the fish in this picture  *smiley-funny*

Some rather cool sedges kicking about, but nothing to interest the fish, just the photographer

The sight of a number of decent rising fish is encouraging and hopefully the good couple of weeks that we sometimes get at the end of septmeber is on its way.

Sandy

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #134 on: 19/09/2021 at 17:42 »
Found a couple of better ones this afternoon, while dredging a nymph.
Consecutive casts from the same spot. Both decent size girls, one ready to shed her load and the other already relieved.
Just a couple of inches difference in length but 2lb+ in weight!!! one has more than a hint of coloured Seatrout about her





So thats me sorted for the end of the season, anything else is now a bonus  *smiley-yippee*

 




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