[manxman22]

Dear All,

Firstly congratulations on the new forum Mike, very good, very good.

My question/query is one I need help on fairly soon. A coup[le of friends and I are coming to fish the Don for Salmon in the first week in October, staying at the Kildrummy Inn.

Firstly, are you as a lot of other Scottish Rivers experiencing a better run this year than last, or is it a bit early to say?

Secondly, I am in serious need of knowledge of what flies to fish.... I am used to summer Grilse fishing with 10, 12, 14 flies, in the pretty standard range of stoats tails, cascades, shrimps. I reckon I need to be looking a touch larger, but what about patterns as well? Any infor would be good.....

I see you've had a bit of rain so may all be out fishing..... we'll see!

Manxman

[Mike Barrio]

Hi "Manxman"

Welcome to the forum  

I'm afraid I'm out of touch with the salmon fishing ........ but hopefully others will be able to help.

Your patterns seem fine to me, I like the Silver Stoat myself and I usually fished it on a sink tip line, but that was many moons ago.

Best wishes
Mike Barrio
 

[rattrala]

Welcome Manxman, to the new forum.

The salmon fishing since the end of June has been very slow on the Don. We have suffered from low water levels. We have had a few small spates and the fishing picks up for a couple of day's the drop's off when the water goes down. The Dee has faired better with more rain in its catchment area and this week has been very good on the lower to middle reaches.Hopefully with some rain over the next few week's we shall see things pick up again on the Don and we get run's in that we had at the end of last year in Sept/oct.

Most fish taken on the Don ( Stretches I fish )over the last few months have been in the evening on a variety of flies. Willie Gun tubes and stoats tails. Fish up to 25lb have been caught but it is gererally hard going.

The salmon are starting to build up in the lower river ready to run , when we get rain.

Rattrala

[manxman22]

Rattrala,

Thanks for the info. I guessed it would have been tough so far, but we are hoping for the runs of later fish that you mention. I'm not sure how well you know the river, but we are fishing the Littlewood Beat, and having never been myself I know very little about the river at all. Do you know this stretch?

We're hoping the recent rain has enticed a few, and bring on the huge rainstorms of September!

Manxman

[wildfisher]

Have you thought about the Ardhuncart beat. Directly  above Littlewood?  4 rods on the beat max. £14 / day / rod.  Nice fly water. Exactly the same quality of salmon fishing as the more exotically priced beats in the area.  Wherever you go expect the fish to be well coloured at this time of year.

[manxman22]

Thanks wildfish, but we've already booked our beat, and with 4.5 miles of water I have been assured of some lovely water. One of our party has fished it a number of times before as well, so has a touch of local knowledge. I think we're paying £140 per rod week, which I reckon is pretty good.

The fish being coloured isn't an issue, I just want to be up there in the countryside trying my luck!

Have you experience of fishing this area of the Don for Salmon?

Manxman