Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Stevie Rennie

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #105 on: 14/07/2021 at 02:32 »
Cheers for the info Sandy, I’ll hunt it down and give it a try.

That magpie tail looks a stunning fly too Steve and I’d happily fish that with confidence.

A light attempt earlier tonight resulted in what I thought to be a pull from a 1/2lb’er but on lifting the rod turned out to be an almighty fish on my streamer with a big surface splash & then off.
I’m assuming it was a hefty seatrout but will scout the spot again in the hope it was a big brownie revealing his lair.

Other than a small but bonnie 3/4lb’er later on a greenwells spider and a few pulls, it was pretty hard going.  As soon as I thought the sedges were making an appearance the wind picked up and changed direction, killing any late evening surface activity.

My thought is that the water temperature has the fish in an extra sluggish condition and I don’t want to cause them any additional stress or harm.
Not that I stress too many :) .

I also saw today that loch venechar had postponed fishing for a few weeks due to low water levels and high water temperatures of 18 degrees and after reading 17 myself last week, can only assume our river is nearing that.

Any thoughts on a water temperature you guys would consider not fishing?


Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #106 on: 14/07/2021 at 06:05 »
Hi Stevie

My personal feelings on this are usually I wouldn’t fish in daytime when the water temp gets over 18degrees but evening are still fair game as the layers cool later on and the fish move into shallower water so are on cooler water, if the temp hits 20 I stop altogether.
The light rain we are getting has dropped the water temp back a decent bit, I was measuring 15-16 over the weekend and cooler at night, which is great and hopefully continues. A couple of years back the river sat at over 20 for 3-4 weeks during the summer and I missed going out but when you catch a fish that’s really warm to the hand it just doesn’t feel right and makes you feel rotten for causing it such stress.

So here’s to some regular showers to keep the temp where we want it, 16 deg is about perfect for evening sedges  :z18

Sandy

Ps I get some huge takes on the streamers but very rarely manage to hook up any big fish. I still get most of them on the dry, at least I can hook and land them *smiley-tongue-out*

Stevie Rennie

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #107 on: 14/07/2021 at 13:05 »
Sandy,

That makes a lot of sense to me and was pretty much my thinking too. Avoiding the daytime highs and hoping for some drop in the evening to gee them up.

Although it seems we’re in for a scorcher the rest of this week  :X1


Hoping to get a bit of sedge action yet but usually dabble away before hand with wets, nymphs and small streamers like gold head damsel nymphs.
One observation from me on those was that the short hooks result in plenty attacks but much less hook ups and cutting the tail a bit worked wonders.
Obviously with the tail being a big part of the attraction, I now source them with longer shank hooks, which seems to be the balance of the two.

Here’s to the sweet 16  :z18



Steven Kidd

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #108 on: 01/08/2021 at 23:05 »
A very big Salmon......

More about that soon, once I've stopped shaking.

Steven

Steven Kidd

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #109 on: 02/08/2021 at 11:17 »
Hi,

So.....not for the first time I decided to try something completely different on the river.  I'd been watching videos on streamer fishing and thought it would be a great tactic for big brownies, so off i went........4wt glass rod, Skagit line set up and a size 8 black and white minnow type pattern with big ugly eyes......dirty fishing I thought,  *smiley-lol*

Well the night ended with an 18lb Salmon, which I attempted to tail a few times, (trout net useless), eventually getting the fish beached and safely unhooked.   It was in perfect condition, bright silver and had most probably came up the river when the water rose on Wed / Thurs.  I held the fish a good 5-10 mins and it swam away strong.

One of those surreal moments on the river.  I never slept a wink Friday night after.

Believe it or not that was my first Salmon.

Steven

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #110 on: 02/08/2021 at 11:38 »
Great stuff Steven  >)

The Don is like that, I've had more than a few encounters over the years, on #14 dries, Sedges, and I think the most memorable was one around 18lb on a wee Black Pennell.

Cheers
Mike

Eddie Sinclair

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #111 on: 02/08/2021 at 13:27 »
Excellent, well done Steven. I fished hard on the Dee on Friday and Saturday with normal salmon fly tackle and caught the sun total of zero😂

That must have been a great scrap 👍👍

Eddie :z14

James Laraway

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #112 on: 02/08/2021 at 14:50 »
Great stuff Steven

If your starting streamer fishing I'd suggest a bigger net !

The scierra trout net can swallow monsters ( its 38cmx50cmx55cm). Ive had 3 of them now and wont look at anything else.

Ive used for for double figure 'bows and salmon.....

I take it that you tried to take a picture of your salmon with an iphone then ???

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #113 on: 02/08/2021 at 15:14 »
Well done Steven :z16

I’ll bet that was amazing  on that rod/line combo.  I’ve had a few tourists on streamers, lots of fun 🤩

Sandy

Steven Kidd

Re: River Don 2021 New
« Reply #114 on: 02/08/2021 at 16:04 »
Quote
I take it that you tried to take a picture of your salmon with an iphone then ???

Second time that has happened to me this year James........the damn thing gets wet or something and won't let a picture be taken or it might be the dark / flash, who knows... :z8........worked first time flash an all when i got back to the car!....

Anyway it made me think, why we catch fish?.....is it for a trophy photo to share on Instagram? or to etch in the memory selfishly?.......this one was way too good for Instagram I tell myself...., so the latter applies.......only the River Knows, :-)

Steven

Steven Kidd

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #115 on: 02/08/2021 at 16:08 »

That must have been a great scrap 👍👍

It was fairly calm actually, more a strong pull here and there,no real violence.......made me wind the drag on though a couple of times and fear for my surgeons loop attached to my brand new skagit head / tip........ *smiley-shocking*

Steven

Stevie Rennie

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #116 on: 03/08/2021 at 14:07 »

One of those surreal moments on the river.  I never slept a wink Friday night after.

Believe it or not that was my first Salmon.

Steven

Congratulations on your first salmon Steven, certainly one you’ll never forget and what a way to do it  *smiley-wink*

I can only imagine what an 18lb’er felt like on a #4.

 :z14

James Laraway

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #117 on: 05/08/2021 at 14:25 »
I wonder if the low light and gentle pressure meant it didn't really know what was happening.
I had a 20lb + croc on a #10 single hander at Arduncart and it fought like an angry cat. My arm ached for about 2 days afterwards...

It was fairly calm actually, more a strong pull here and there,no real violence.......made me wind the drag on though a couple of times and fear for my surgeons loop attached to my brand new skagit head / tip........ *smiley-shocking*

Steven

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #118 on: 16/08/2021 at 16:01 »
Finally got out this morning after a 2 week Hiatus due to weather and work.
Not quite as pretty as the last early morning a fortnight ago, when the river looked like this



And the world was fresh and ready to begin



That morning and this morning fished in similar ways though, with lots of wee brownies to the nymph and even the odd reasonable one to the Dry
this one was an interesting colour for a Don fish.



I picked my way through pockets and riffles and had a great time, best of the morning today was a lovely finnock.



Just nice to be out again after the wee break.

Sandy

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2021
« Reply #119 on: 16/08/2021 at 17:18 »
Great stuff Sandy  :z16

What was the water height and clarity like today? I'm guessing the temperature is down quite a bit.

Cheers
Mike

 




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