Start of season update. It has been great to receive such positivity from visiting anglers following the floods, the river is different but just as inviting as ever.
Kent Hakansson and team took the opening 2 days on Aboyne Castle and Craigendinnie, also having rods on Dinnet, Deecastle and Lower Drum. It is great to see this crowd of eager fishermen braving the elements taking opening days on rivers up and down Scotland during their trip.
Hoping to re-enact last years opening day 17lb bar of silver the guys fished hard but unfortunately didn’t manage to get one with us.
Following with the latter 3 days local angler Stuart Harvey and guest JP took over. We added mornings Doe stalking to the days fishing, despite no springers we found a few kelts in unlikely places (perhaps new lies) and JP shot his first Deer so despite no springers a great trip!
After a week with guests on the river I’m starting to get a feel for the changed pools with a couple of new favourite spots which could be interesting with a good head of fish in the beat! Generally where we have lost in one place I hope to have gained in another!
Week 10 came available this year due to the leap year, we took this as a great opportunity to get some new blood into the sport.
Andrew and Tom took the Monday, both Factors and good sportsmen and had an introduction to salmon fishing, luckily the sun shone for us while we got to grips with this strange thing called speycasting. They both took to it really well, learned fast and were covering the pools well in no time! Already out looking for tackle I think we have a couple more salmon fishers for Scotland!
Scott Rutherford had been volunteering at the Fishery Trust and had been bought a day by his fellow bailifs as a treat. With a new set up and keen to learn we spent the day mastering the cast, reading the water and making the rod work for him in no time at all. Alas, no springer but a real memorable day!
George got Craigendinnie off the mark with a 12b fresh springer from the Lorne Pool, it seems they are starting to trickle through!
Sam Thompson took the latter 3 days with guests, by this point we have not had a good rise in over a weeks, with the cold temperatures making things a little tricky. Young lads Jack and Dudley were Sam’s first guests, with little fly fishing experience we enjoyed the day, again in the sun, going through the motions, lift, draw a backwards C, sweep, lift pause and shoot. Again they soon got the hang of it and were sending out sexy loops in no time!
The lower beats are picking away but some water would improve things I’m sure!
Nick fished with Sam on the Friday, march conditions were back with a cold bite to the air, Sam started with a kelt from Jockey Fyfe from the AC bank, which I think has improved from our side! After getting nick to grips with spey casting he was covering Jockey from the South bank beautifully by the afternoon. He soon had the rod bent into something, another kelt unfortunately but from learning to cast to covering the water well and landing a kelt it was at least a small success. Next time it will be a springer I’m sure!
The water finally came on Saturday in the form of snow melt, she was big and angry but should bode well for next week!
It has been a great week for introducing people to our sport, I’m pleased to say the guys are already looking at booking their next day on the river!
