Well its definitely a better start to the season than last year, that’s for sure. The Northern rivers however are just picking away apart from the Brora which has recorded 7 so far mainly off the lower river, excellent stuff! Andy Sutherland caught No 4 ( his 3rd ) off the Helmsdale from beat 1 St John’s pool at 12lbs.  

Around the country there are continual reports of lovely fresh springers coming off so it’s well worth a cast now and as you know, we have the proven flies that will catch you that iconic springer.

You will see some of our latest flies on our homepage but here ( below ) are a couple of stunning new additions for later in the season. The first is one of our most recent new RS designs for spring as a conehead and big copper tube, the Tomic Monkey, it’s been an absolute cracker and had a superb season last year in the spring and big water in the autumn. So, it had to happen, we had to migrate this fab pattern onto double hook for late spring and summer fishing, we think the resulting fly looks superb and we now have it online for the first time right here in 6, 8 & 10s on Partridge Patriot doubles.

RS UV Pink Tomic Monkey double - available right here exclusively to click & buy now - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-uv-pink-tomic-monkey-patriot-double

RS UV Brora Willie Gunn original, below is the tiny 1/2" and a 3'4" available now in these new smaller sizes. Stunning proven tubes for fishing anywhere.

Buy them right here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-uv-original-brora-willie-gunn-gold-conehead.

Andy Sutherland has once again landed the first fish of the season and it was caught on the Association water on the 10th of Feb Tuesday, a lovely fresh 9 pounder from the tailof the Flat pool, but, he went one better by landing the second fish of the season too from beat 1 Johns pool yesterday (14th) at 10lbs. A great start to the season for Andy. A Posh monkey tube with FL orange conehead did the trick for both and it shows that there are now definitely lovely fresh fish entering the river.

The Spey had 2 nice fish off on opening day (Wed 11th) both coming from the middle Spey area of Aberlour and there are more showing up on other rivers too since water levels are starting to settle. All in all it’s an encouraging sign and lots of anglers are getting out on the water, how do we know this? We are mega busy with fly orders! But there is always room for more as there is a long season ahead.

Many thanks to all and if you want to be kept up to date with offers and new flies etc please sign up to our newsletter right here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/newsletter-registration.html

The star man himself with another first fish off the river.

Second cracking fish from Johns Pool beat 1

The Helmsdale is still blank but there are very few rods out. There will now be fish in the system for sure and it is only a matter of time before the first one is caught.

There is no shortage of water this year and as things start to settle from flooding to fishing levels there have been some lovely fresh springers caught around the UK. The biggest by the look of it was a thumper from the river Avon which looked easily over 20lbs and there has been a sprinkling off the Tay, Dee and Tweed so we should all be encouraged by this.

We have been very busy on the vice this year so far which is also encouraging as anglers get theis fly selections ready for the season ahead. It is much appreciated repeat business from our regular customers and always some new customers as they come across our flies online somewhere. We believe in quality and constant fly development so anglers can rely on our flies lasting the pace and always getting refined along with superb new patterns being added regularly, just like the 2 beauties below.

There are 2 flies which are very similar and also very popular on the Spey, the Oyster Catcher and the Kitchen Sink. We have blended both and added UV and black Colobus Monkey to the hairwing as well as the very popular pearly body which has had some explosive sport recently via the deadly Pearly Allys Shrimp. It is new and now available and called the RS Pearly UV Kitchen Sink ( Colobus range ) we have lots of mid to short colobus and will be using it in more upgraded flies this season. See it below.

Another updated pattern is our Black & Yellow Spring Cascade which caught the first spring salmon on the river Spey last year for Gordon Tait fishing at Orton, it was the conehead version that did the trick that day and we have now added a copper tube model with a bit more weight which you can also see below.

The RS Pearly UV Kitchen Sink. Available to buy right here here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php

The RS Black & Yellow Spring Cascade ( copper tube ) Available to buy here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-black/yellow-spring-cascade-jc

Dont forget we also have these great 8ft sinking Poly-tips from Airflo at only 7.99. These are a very nice length and crucial to get your fly down in various depths and temps of water all through spring. Grab some right here if you want to be fully equipped for all conditions - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/airflo-salmon-polyleader-8ft

The rivers in the North are still running very high so fishing has been curtailed to say the least. Heavy localised rain and a continued thaw has seen many rivers burst their banks resulting in “washout” conditions. However, it has not been all doom and gloom. I predicted in last weeks report that we would probably see the first Scottish springer being landed this week on the Tay and I was pretty close, there were infact 2 beauties caught on the Taymount beat of the Tay on the same day by David Park & Ghillie Cohn O’Dea, Cohn caught the first fish. Both were caught on large Vision 110 lures. Great to see such stunning fish this early in Scottish waters so hopefully when conditions settle down we will see some more. There are photos of these lovely silver springers all over Instagram and FB etc but if you have not seen them I can ask to have permission to post them on here. Contact me if you woild like to see them.

There are a few more big opening days to come soon too on the Brora, Tweed & Dee to name a few on Feb 1st so if you are planning a cast please have a look round our website and you should find what you need. Once again we will remind that do not be worried about fishing too big a fly, the 2 Tay Springers were caught on large lures around 4-5” long so a 2” copper tube is not even close to being too big! see 2 of the most popular large spring salmon flies ever below. A 2.5" copper tube Brora RS UV Willie Gunn ( 5" hairwing ) and an RS Black & Yellow Solar Monkey conehead ( hairwing 5" ) links & pics below to buy now right here.

Also if you need any sinking tips, which you will need right through the spring, we have the full stock of Airflo sinking Poly leaders in stock now online in a very handy 8ft length. 8ft is ideal as it is not too long to destabalise your casting and not too short to be innefective.

RS Black & Yellow Solar Monkey - buy here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/solar-monkey-black-yellow-pro-choice.html

RS UV Brora Willie Gunn original - buy here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-original-brora-willie-gunn

I remember not that long ago catching loads of kelts and a couple of springers on a famous Dee beat on a black & Yellow Monkey tube with a 5” hairwing, ( and yes of-course we have some in stock! )

Tight lines if you are venturing out and be sure to order your flies from us in advance to make sure you get them all, we are very busy processing many orders, thank you all for your continued support, it is much appreciated in the current dire economic climate. The great thing about salmon anglers is that we are optimists and if there is the chance of hooking a salmon, especially a spring salmon we will still get out on the water in search of that electrifying tug!

The new salmon season is finally underway on the Helmsdale plus a few others but no springers have turned up yet. Big water on opening day scuppered any chance of fishing as much of the river was well over its banks. Next day was not too much better but a few anglers ventured out but no joy. Day 3 saw a good drop in height along with a few more rods but only kelts were hooked and that’s still the way things stand. Today Saturday 17th should see a big turnout as conditions continue to improve. As usual it’s a case of watch this space!

The Tay is looking good and most of it can be covered with the heavy spinning gear on hand, I think the first Scottish springer will be seen there very soon on some type of huge Tomic or Vision 110 lure about 6” long so never worry about fishing big flies in spring, salmon will hit the biggest tubeflies you can cast!

On that tactical side you should be fishing well down in the water with full sinking lines or fast sinking tips and large heavy flies. We have loads of the best and proven tubeflies like the Brora Willie Gunn and Alistair original which are especially popular in the highlands and as a treat this spring we are offering our Alistair original tubes for only £2.50 each, that’s well worth a click and buy for a superb fly at a superb price! See both of them below and click on the link to see and buy them on our homepage. Buy here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php

RS Alistair Original in the 2026 snow 2.5" copper tube

RS UV Brora Willie Gunn JC in the 2026 snow also 2.5" copper tube.

Hi there, its time for some awesome Black Friday weekend deals, just click here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php

Hi there, we are getting into the festive spirit with a blistering new upgrade on the Willie Gunn tube for fab unique Christmas gifts and spring salmon fishing in the upcoming season, its just around the corner.

Check it out below and see the explosion of colour which we think looks amazing, festive and very fishy too! you can order them individually in 1", 1.25" and 1.5" at the moment or treat someone with a superb set of 6 + tube doubles in one of our Swedish made "Perfect Tubefly Boxes"

Order them right here to make sure of some in time for Christmas - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php

The new RS Willie Gunn FireBall tube

Set Boxed, what Willie Gunn lover would not want a set of these....buy on same link above.

Also check out some of our other great new flies and Black Friday deals and cool Christmas Hampers on our homepage too like the Fly selection below with free "Perfect Tubeflybox" and there are loads more plus cool hampers which are going fast!

The Opening day of the new season on the Helmsdale will be Monday 12th for obvious reasons and I would imagine that there will be 2 full weeks free fishing but you can check with Glencoast in Helmsdale.

The new salmon fishing season is not too far away ( only 9 weeks until Helmsdale Opening Day ) even though there are still lots of back end salmon getting caught on the Tweed especially.

At this time of the year we are always looking at designing and tweaking patterns which have done well and upgrading slightly by adding another edge to them, well, here we have one of the most exciting prospects, the RS UV Posh Cascade.

Here they are below, perfect for spring/summer and we will have an autumn version on the go soon too.

It would be much appreciated if you could order a few pre season which gives us the chance to tie them up for you. We also have a cracking set of 6 in one of our best selling Swedish "Perfect Tube Fly Boxes" which are awesome Christmas presents for the anglers who have everything - they will not have these!

Dont forget we have loads of lovely fly selections boxed and very tasty new hampers which salmon anglers will love.

Grab your new RS UV Posh Cascades right here and be the first to have them - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php

Copper tube up to 1.5"

Silver Patriot double 6 & 8 for spring - 10s & 12s coming for summer.

3 types of conehead, FL Red, Gold and below Silver 1" body

We have a superb new selection of very special Christmas Hampers available now with the unique goodies listed below. These are perfect for the angler who has everything so why don't you grab one or two and surprise them at Christmas, a lovely change from buying socks and slippers! Click on the link below to read all about them and grab one.

If you want to upgrade to an even bigger box of flies please email us and we can do that no problem.

Click on the link to view them all and buy before we sell out - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/new-salmon-fishermans-christmas-hamper

Hamper 1 - Organic Speyside Gin, box of best salmon flies, Crab terrine & Gentleman’s relish.

Hamper 2 - Organic Speyside Gin, box of best salmon flies, Salmon terrine & Gentleman’s relish.   

Hamper 3 - Glenfarclas single malt whisky, box of best salmon flies, Crab terrine, Gentleman’s relish.

Hamper 4 - Glenfarclas single malt whisky, box of best salmon flies, Salmon terrine, Gentleman’s relish.

So the season to forget is already forgotten. I have spoken with most of the Ghillies and it really has been tough going. there were a few highlights but numbers are not worth mentioning because it was all about the weather and conditions which took control for all the wrong reasons. The fishing did not really have much of a chance as dry weather took a firm hold on the whole season. Not much lessons were learned apart from anglers having good practice with light tackle micro flies and hitches. The good news is that anglers are always full of optimism and season 2026 is fast approaching.

But, there is still some great fishing to be had on the likes of the Tweed especially where some monster crocks will be landed for sure with around 2 months still to go so don’t pack up the fishing gear quite yet.

Helmsdale Co will be on annual leave from Oct 4th so no orders can be processed until Friday 17th October. Apologies if this affects your fly plans but please still feel free to order anytime if you have fishing after the 17th and we will make sure you still get our deadly flies on our return.

Some stunning autumn tubes below you can order online and we will tie up on our return for you.

RS UV Deep Red Loop bottle tubes

RS Solar Monkey reds on a selection of coneheads, below are FL orange & black. These amazing tubes are around 3" long and unbelievable in good water, luckily the rains are here so the season should end well for a good few rivers.

And don't forget our awesome autumn set for a superb price with one free fly too....at only £19.95

One last thing, we are putting together a lovely salmon anglers hamper for Christmas, look out for it here soon as it will be unique and the perfect gift for the salmon angler who has everything, it will be very tasty and practical, with nibbles, drinks and our world renowned salmon flies, a fabulous gift instead of the usual fishing socks, hats, gloves and vouchers etc!

Tight lines

Ron