Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Steven Kidd

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #75 on: 08/05/2022 at 20:45 »
Hello, :-)

I was out and about today, (in the wind).....limited on the days I can get on the river so go whatever the weather.

Now if it wasnt for the wind it would have been a great day in terms of hatches, the best hatch of the day was around 1300 where I was.....clouds of little sedges? and a smatter later on of olives.

I caught plenty of trout, probably 4-5 of report....all around 1/2 pound mark..............and probably about 45 parr,  *smiley-lol*

No bigger fish showing at all  :z8

But.....then got thinking about what a 'good' fish means.....a 'good' fish does not matter the size......its how you spot them, how you approach them, and ow you target them.....and get them to take the fly....if you land them, thats a 'good' fish, :-)

Oh.....and I also saw a Mink with a trout today......first time in 15 years I've seen one on the Don.

Steven

Gavin Stevenson

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #76 on: 09/05/2022 at 07:24 »
Also out yesterday with same experience, very few rises all my fish on nymphs GRHE

Fred Hay

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #77 on: 10/05/2022 at 08:21 »
Where did you see the mink ?
There's not been many in recent years and the Fishery Board are active and have some volunteers who will trap and dispatch them.
Let them know and they'll hopefully address the problem.

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #78 on: 10/05/2022 at 09:32 »
We saw a mink on Saturday too. I’ll show you where today.

We also saw a few fish and again they all seemed to be doing different things



Olive uprights early doors seemed to be the thing, then it swung to sedges for a short time



And then back to smaller olives mid afternoon



The fish in faster water seemed to like the cdc spider, but the better ones in the slower runs wanted a plume tip and wouldn’t take anything more suggestive



Very finicky but some good fish showing and a lot of refusals

Michael Kearney

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #79 on: 10/05/2022 at 20:43 »
The fish are certainly finicky, Sandy. I was watching a good fish confidently taking Olive Uprights when a larger dun, possibly a March Brown or a Large Brook, sailed down and the trout rose and then refused the natural.

Duncan McRae

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #80 on: 10/05/2022 at 21:53 »
Where did you see the mink ?
There's not been many in recent years and the Fishery Board are active and have some volunteers who will trap and dispatch them.
Let them know and they'll hopefully address the problem.

I saw one on the Inverurie side at the top of the Marrat last week.
Quite a few ducks have disappeared from Haughton farm recently so I think this might be the culprit.
It's been many years since I last saw one.

Duncan


Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #81 on: 12/05/2022 at 20:37 »
Been an tricky few days with plenty flies as before but not so many rising fish



Ended up nymphing yesterday for a while and had a greedy bugger take an after dinner nymph



A few on the DHE prospecting in the afternoon and then onto today.



A small sedge emerger  seemed to be the ideal balance



The odd sipper here and there seemed to like it. Wandering down to a couple of fish I have marked proved a good call



One was the second best of the season so far and the other on the next cast was a beautiful chunky fish that was nearly  as heavy



So finally an afternoon where the fish finally decided to actually take the fly



Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #82 on: 12/05/2022 at 21:04 »
Great stuff Sandy  >)
Good things come to those that walk the banks  :z16  I need to pull my finger out  *smiley-grin*

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #83 on: 14/05/2022 at 20:14 »
So I’m having tomorrow off as I’m back to work Monday after my 2 weeks holiday *smiley-tongue-out*
I managed a few wee ones and a half decent one in the wild wind of yesterday. The wee sedge emerger still the way forward when presented to a rising fish



The same fly worked again today as it has for the last two weeks, for most of the rising fish, looking a bit ragged but still working in a 16 and 14.



Today was a day of hard fighting wee fish picked out with the emerger. But then I found a decent one picking something out of the leaf litter and he was happy to hit a hawthorn, spots in HD and what a lovely looking fish.



So a few fish each day for the last couple of weeks with the odd good one amongst them. Thursday was the special day and the red letter event for the 2 weeks but it’s been fun. I’m even quite happy to go back to work :X1

Steven Kidd

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #84 on: 19/05/2022 at 21:12 »
Hello,

I was out on the river today and had the time of my life.....red letter kind of day. 

The hatches were great where I was, however the fish were very picky on what they moved for, really had to work hard for each fish, multiple fly changes and plenty time resting rising fish before having another go.

I landed the fish of my lifetime today *smiley-shocking*......and on the dry fly, after 4 fly changes and alot of waiting and watching......I have no words to describe the feeling, enjoy the pictures.











Steven

Mike Barrio

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #85 on: 19/05/2022 at 21:31 »
Cracker - Great stuff Steven  *smiley-yippee*

Steven Kidd

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #86 on: 19/05/2022 at 21:38 »
Cheers Mike,  I'm still shaking!...the others for the day were around this stamp, all just stunning, what a river we have.





Steven

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #87 on: 20/05/2022 at 07:48 »
Awesome Steve :z18 beautiful fish and well earned. Plenty time and effort and
The rewards are coming *smiley-yippee*

Eddie Sinclair

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #88 on: 20/05/2022 at 08:23 »
Steven, well done, belters.

Your time and effort has paid off.

Eddie

Sandy Nelson

Re: River Don 2022
« Reply #89 on: 23/05/2022 at 11:45 »
So it’s been an interesting weekend.



The fish are still being quite finicky but I had a go during the day on Friday and Saturday and found there are still some nice fish picking off olives , terrestrials and spent spinners



The spent spinner has been quite good in a 14
Especially before 11am and after 7pm



Some of the fish were happy taking a small olive emerger too although the best one of the last 4 days didn’t hang around long enough for his mugshot his buddy did a stand in for him



I tried an early morning and although there were some nice rising fish I found them very reluctant to connect with quite a few refusals. So went back and did another evening instead.

Again spinners from 7 through to about 9.30



But around 10pm there was a 15 min burst where the water came alive and there were suddenly some big fish smashing sedges all around. I managed to get one (one of the smaller ones *smiley-lol*)  and then it all stopped as fast as it started.

I met up with a new mate on Saturday and he continued to get his head around the art of dryfly, with some success, always great seeing the fish do what you say they should *smiley-tongue-out*



So definitely worth a look in the evenings although the wind can have a major effect on what happens.  And be ready when the fish stop looking at the spinners to change to a smallish (14) sedge or emerger and you will get a narrow window to get the fly in front of a good fish.

 




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