Archive

26

January

Get ready for action

Ronald Sutherland

Its pretty quiet on the fishing front right now, not many kelts on the go and no sign of a springer in the Helmsdale river yet, but, heavy rain has lifted the water again and the river is in full spate this weekend. The free public days are over and the river will revert to being lightly fished. Its time to get your fishing gear in order and plan your attack for the rest of the season.

Most of the big rivers are still closed but thats all about to change when the Tweed, Dee Spey and Findhorn all get under way in the next 2 weeks. Tweed and Dee on Feb 1st and Spey and Findhorn on 11th Feb.

Advice? don't go anywhere without a selection of the best selling Gaelforce sinking poly-tips which now come in 4 densities from Intermediate to 7ips. These are density compensated with strong loops at both ends which fish great and turn over off any good floating line. We have the full range right here in 6ft and 10ft so its easy to buy some anytime, click here to purchase 6ft - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/gaelforce-tapered-sinking-polyleader-6ft.html

Click here for Gaelforce 10ft tips - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/gaelforce-fly-fishing-spey-tapered-poly-leader.html

And click here to purchase one of our best selling killers which I think you will agree looks stunning, the RS Naked Alistair which was designed with no tinsel on the body to stop damage from those razor sharp salmon teeth, especially kelts! and they will definitely be hitting these...

Buy here now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-naked-alistair.html

The deadly RS Naked Alistair, fish them on our full range of sinking Gaelforce tips

21

January

January Fish coming off Morriston & Naver

Ronald Sutherland

Just a couple of snaps to warm up your winter nights....There have been a few  Springers off the Tay system and 2 crackers off up North. One off the  river Naver at 16lbs held by Peter MacGregor and a superb thumping 25 pounder off the river Morriston on the Ness system caught by John Macisaac. Well done lads....great to see superb springers like that in January.

Naver fish

 

Mr Macisaac with his superb 25 pounder

12

January

Opening days.

Ronald Sutherland

The Helmsdale river flew into action once again with the usual good show of anglers for the free fishing, unfortunately no fresh run fish were landed on the Friday or Saturday. The river was low running at around 5" and kelts were few and far between, temperatures were also unseasonably high, it was not what you would expect in early January.

The river has risen considerably since opening day and hopes will be much higher for the week ahead. If there are any spring salmon in the area then they will be crusing into the river as we speak.

Martin Grant launched the first cast and was piped in by April Sutherland ( my daughter smiley) from the Sutherland Schools pipe band. A great day was had by all and business was brisk in the village in general from the amazing seafood platters on offer to the delights of Ice & Fire Gin tasting at Glencoast, there will be a few sore heads and tales of the one that got away but the real game starts this week as the river will be in superb condition after the heavy rain.

Get the big flies and sinking tips and lines out, don't mess around too near the surface even though it is still on the mild side, temps are set to plummet and you need to get the fly down deep to seek out that priceless January springer.

My top 3 flies for early salmon

Willie Gunn is hard to beat, these cracking 1.5" double hook Waddingtons are superb as they are a mix of the legendary Waddington weight and the gold body Willie Gunn

The RS Solar Monkey is also in my top 3 for pure success. Black & yellow is hugely popular in the spring, add the super effective Monkey profile, Jungle Cock, a conehead to balance profile and RS innovation in the form of our deadly Solar flanks and you have one "Bad Ass" salmon fly that has proved its worth many times.

Then there is the RS TigerTail Alistair, This fly has a huge folllwing now and continues to fish well all over the Northern hemisphere let alone the Helmsdale. It has caught everything from opening day springers in Scotland to Baltic salmon and 25lbs TDF Seatrout! A true heavyweitht design from Ron which just keeps catching and we now have them available in tungsten and copper down to an amazing 1/4" tube.

Tight lines, get out on the water if you can with these 3 flies and you will have totally maximised your chances.