Nice fish Duncan,
Very interesting to learn of the rarity of male seatrout.
I managed two recent visits to the estuary with a buddy and we had a great time on both occasions.
Low wind on day one meant fine fly casting conditions and a nice flat surface where there seemed to be plenty bigger fish showing but an obvious quietening of the finnock.
A few salmon were louping on arrival which got our attention and after me catching 3 small seatrout around 1lb in quick succession on the now staple damsel and with my pal still at zero but receiving pulls to the tail, he switched to an orange shrimpy salmon fly and got instantly rewarded with a bonnie male seatrout with very similar markings to Duncans.
It gave us the runaround for a bit doing 360’s round my pal and me in hot pursuit with the net but a quick click for the memory banks, gentle recovery and away he went.
Almost next cast the jammy bugger was straight into a grilse.
A few more crackers were played and lost over the course of the day but a few thankfully stuck and were dually released.
The silver toby made an appearance and brought me my largest of the day at high tide.
I think this may have been my best Ythan day so far with great fishing in great calm conditions and great company.
Imagining that after the first taste of rain the estuary would be a very different place, we took our only chance and ventured out again on monday with high hopes and were rewarded kindly once again for our efforts.
I had arrived 15 mins before my pal and was straight into a cracker around 2 1/2lb on the damsel, no photo due to it bolting the net as I fumbled with my phone and wet fingers
10 minutes after my buddy started he was rewarded with this handsome chap of 3lb. A theme starting here?
Conditions as I’ve learned can often change fast at the estuary and it soon became challenging to cast from our north bank but being trapped by the high tide meant we had to stay put and slog it out.
My buddy kept at it doggedly with the fly rod and occasional fly to the back of the napper but I reluctantly retired the #6 and succumbed to the dark art of spinning at high tide and over the next hour lost 3 bumpers as quickly as they connected.
We worked our way down to a slightly more sheltered stretch and the now outgoing tide seemed more suited to the fly again with a calmer inner seam producing a few finnock mainly to his bloody butcher dropper.
As darkness neared I got my last seatrout of the day and likely the season of around 2lb and with sheer determination just before dark, so did my pal.
Twa crackers on starting and another two to close, with a few lost in between was more than appreciated and truly grateful to have encountered a few more Ythan beauties.
Works now calling my name, so I’ll miss the excitement the next few weeks should bring but tight lines to all fishing the upper stretches.
