With conditions still on the low side it looked like last week was going to be hard going, sport was indeed very patchy for some and non existent for others. Almost 30 fish were reported including 3 off the Association water from the usual suspects. The highlight was a 22 pounder on 3 above to Borrobol rods who finished with 7 for the week. Heavy rain on Friday/Saturday filled the lower catchment and raised levels to over 1ft. This spoiled most of Saturday but may have encouraged some good sport on the upper beats late on.

The week ahead should be good if the run gathers pace and the Association water will fish nicely.
Coneheads and Baby TDs will fish well this week in all forms, we have some superb proven killers on offer - check them out below and pop a few in your box if you are fishing soon, these work everywhere!

RS Ally Dog - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=1761

RS Willie Dog, buy here now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=1762

Cascade conehead, buy here now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=1842

RS Baby TD, buy here now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=1759

I had a cast on the Brora last week which only provided 3 fish from the lower river for the whole week. Unfortunately the river lost its water very quickly and few fish were running. Andy Sutherland and Vince Kaney had a fish each from the South bank and another was taken from the North all on the Monday.

There have been substantial some works done to the lower river over the winter and 2 nice new pools have been constructed, unfortunately one of them at the cost of another. The rocky Grilse streams below the Pot pool have been rearranged into one very fishy looking lengthened pool. The legendary Madman pool has also been worked on and this is where it looks like things have gone badly wrong in my opinion. The rather non descript Surprise pool which flows from the madman runoff has been improved by having its shallow bed and large rocks dug out, this pool is now much longer and deeper and will offer a much improved cast for the angler. The problem lies in what has seemingly happened to achieve this, the tail of the Madman pool has been been flattened, its as if the plug has been pulled out!, the water normally retained in this pool has dropped by about 1ft and rocks, ledges and lies never seen before are high and dry. A real shame, the pool has lost all its capacity and depth. For those of you who know the pool, here is a pic of it now with a good 7” on the guage, it is not a pretty sight and as a regular Brora angler I will be writing to the river Brora River Board on the subject and I would advise others to do the same, the tail of the Madman pool needs reinstated.

The Surprise run has been moved way over to the North bank and this has drained the life out of the Madman pool.

An early start captured on Monday morning looking back East to Portgower.

In what should probably have been the best week of season going by the condition of the river, the fishing was an epic fail. Mid April with 1ft 3 on the gauge on Monday morning is as good as it gets but the whole river blanked. Cloudy water due to the rise could have been reason for a poor Monday but things did not really improve for the rest of the week, a lack of fish was obvious. Averaging less than 1.5 fish per day is frankly dire for the time of year.

I was in Glasgow for a few days last week and took the chance to call in at the mega store Glasgow Angling Centre, impressive but a very clinical arrangement. I did however see lots of my Fulling Mill fly designs selling well and as usual, the Rs SuperSnaelda was sold out! we have the same problem here very often. It is a fly like no other and has taken the salmon world by storm, I am currently looking at more tasty options for this best selling tube, see it here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=1541

I have mentioned this slow burn downward trend many times in recent seasons, it is something we should not settle for and an increasing number of paying guests are getting rather fed up with poor sport from spring fishing. To be fair the problem is not unique to the Helmsdale, the trend is national, the question is, what can be done ( if anything ) to reverse or stabilise the situation? Unfortunately I think most of the solutions are out of Fishery Managers hands at the moment so tough talking may be the answer in the current Freshwater Fishery Review.
SNH state that Grey Seal populations have been increasing by 7% per year since 1994, what chance do returning fresh salmon and kelts lucky enough to survive have against a massive firewall of lethal costal marine predators? Furthermore, much of the carnage is becoming more common well up river estuaries where fish have little chance to escape the overpowering speed of marauding seals. Incredibly, in the last 2 weeks seals have been spotted above loch Brora and as far up as the Park pool Helmsdale on Torrish estate, I have also heard of other rivers with seals seemingly taking up residence miles from the sea, this madness cannot go on and Fisheries must be handed more powers to redress the balance. If seals enter freshwater, they must be taken out! "Save the seals" and the public will be up in arms I hear you say, but a real effort must be made to protect our fisheries this time round before it is too late.

The fishing instruction season has also begun and I had 3 keen gentlemen out on the water for a morning of instruction and tactics. We have rod and wader hire to help out if you are a total beginner and want to try out the sport for the first time, call us to book a lesson.

We have another superb new salmon fly on show on the Helmsdale Forum and some interesting discussion on all Helmsdale river topics. If you have anything to say - say it on the Forum! The hot topic is the Freshwater Fisheries Review. We have also had notice of the next open River Board meetings ( notice below ) if there are any questions for the Board, please contact me and I will put your views across if you cannot make either of the meetings.

Don't forget that we are still taking orders for the superb Megan Boyd film documentary, it is released next week so contact us to secure your copy.

Tight lines.

Around 15 fish were reported from the Helmsdale last week. Achentoul rods topped the chart with 5 as fish were caught right through the system from the Marrel pool beat 1 below to beat 5 above, RS TD coneheads fished on floating lines were catching the fish along with the odd one on a Cascade double hook. Fish will certainly be in the loch now and it is well worth a cast, unfortunately this water will probably not see a fly until June even though beat 6 is the only beat which currently has a 3 rod option - if anyone wants the spare rod fished, give me a call!! It would be fitting if the same 3 rod option was offered on all the beats as there is so much fishing available when the fish are known to have ascended the Kildonan falls. The argument for resting water is a non starter when fish are constantly running hard, you will pick them up anywhere and often second time down a pool.

RS Willie Dog

I had the pleasure of teaching the art of fly-tying to some of our keen young anglers last week in the Tackle shop, Jordan Marshal, Josh Booth and Ewan Gordon all showed great promise at the vice and I have no doubt that they are going to have good times on the river. I will run a few more classes before getting on the water for some casting and tactical instruction.

The boys concentrating hard.

The results

The boys and finished flies

Fly-tying is also making the news this week in the form of the big release of the long awaited Megan Boyd movie DVD "Kiss The Water". As you may have heard, I feature in the film and take part in many of the fly-tying scenes. There are also appearances from other friends and locals who knew Megan well. It's a beautifully made film documentary which is like nothing else out there with its mix of amazing animation and story telling from some of the most iconic names in angling like Orri Vigfusson.

To mark the occasion I have revitalised the "Megan Boyd" classic salmon fly and tied my interpretation of it as a modern hairwing. The Megan fly was for years the most successful fly on the Helmsdale and no ghillie would be seen fishing without it as the pount point fly of a dropper setup, it was best fished as a tube and the dressing was simplicity itself, a plastic tube of around 1/2" in length, a hairwing of black squirrel or stoats tail tied all round topped off with a blue cock hackle and black head, no flash, no frills, just deadly in the summer! we have them for sale in our "Helmsdale Specials" category.

Here is the Megan Boyd 2014 which I have modernised to coincide with the launch of the DVD - we are taking PRE-ORDERS on this DVD right now so please contact me via email, and facebook or call the shop this coming week on 01431821372 to book your copy, due to huge worldwide interest this one is set to sell out...

I have also been tying some interesting flies lately amongst designing new flies for the New Fulling Mill catalogue.
Some feathers and hair are very expensive indeed and tying our new Elver Monkey using the striking Vulturine Guineafowl feathers and vintage Monkey hair is hugely expensive to say the least. So, due to demand for these beautiful flies, I have been forced to create a new category of RS Specials where premium flies can be purchased for the appropriate price whether they are the "all the rage" new fashion brooches for weddings and functions or fishing flies or collectors items - our most expensive fishing flies will be individually numbered and personally signed.

This is the "Lily fly" one of our new brooches which was commissioned as a fashion accessory for a wedding.

Prospects on the river for the week ahead look good as we have had a slight rise in water levels due to a hammering of heavy showers over the weekend. Association water tickets are available and this beat is an excellent height. Fish are running every day and you have a very realistic chance of hooking a solid springer.

The river slowed right down last week as low water and more Easterly winds set in. Around 7 fish were reported including a 12 pounder from the Association water for Alistair Jappy on a Temple Dog Achentoul rods had the second fish in 4 days out of the Black Hole pool beat 4 for the Nutting party. Badanloch had a fish in Clays beat 1 and one came from beat 5. Serious rain is now desperately required and as luck would have it the weather is changing and winds are backing Westerly for the next week threatening bands of rain.

Alistair Jappy returns his fine Association water 12 pounder from the Sewerage pool.

The deadly Willie Gunn Temple Dog designed by Ron, buy it now here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?_a=category&cat_id=12

 It's been a tough week but not as tough as the season on the lower Brora which blanked for the whole of Feb & March! This is unprecedented form and is quite baffling for a river with a renowned early spring run and the upper river has only hit double figures this week. I'm sure the situation will change very soon but it is worrying none the less. (stop press!) I have just received some information and pics from David Raper of the Lochaill Guest House on the banks of the river Brora, the situation has changed to the tune of 5 off the Lower river in the last few days with 2 North bank fish for Duncan Stewart and another 3 South bank fish for Ian Reynolds and Les Cope. Les is pictured below with a stunner at 19.5lbs from Upper Stoney pool which was returned. The fish was caught on a Gold Bodied Willie Gunn double size 9 ( what else on the Brora!! )

Les Cope shows off his stunning Brora fish with Upper Stoney pool in the background.

In the net, peak condition.

The picturesque Lower Brora above the Ford bridge

Looking up to the lovely Well pool on the lower section.

People have a habit of absorbing negative stats too easily nowadays, the spring run is in marked decline but the slow burn effect of this seems to make it acceptable to many. You only need to listen in to conversations with some of the old ghillies to realise that the early fishing sport has dropped off the scale. Great catches on the fly in February and March constantly crop up,(some of my own included ) those days are long gone but is it completely mortality at sea that has caused the car crash? Maybe a large part is indeed to do with commercial netting but I think the current Freshwater Fisheries Review must address fishery protection on a wider scale. Everything in nature which has salmon on its menu is heavily protected, this imbalance must be redressed. There are seals (population increasing annually) living way up the river Tay, a seal was reported above loch Brora this week, they are patrolling the Helmsdale estuary for most of the season, this is not on and makes a mockery of meaningful fishery management, fishery managers should not have to jump through hoops to control obvious threats like this. Salmon farm production is on the increase, more costal netting stations are cropping up, the problems for salmon are well versed and growing, make no bones about it, the king of fish is up against it!

And now we hear from the big conference last week that all along hatcheries have been doing the exact opposite of what we had thought. A monumental statement from the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards and Rivers and Fisheries Trusts Scotland, the advisory lights in Scottish fishery management have specified that due to the degeneration and weakening of each hatchery reared fish, we must cease all artificial stocking and pour all resources into habitat restoration. A huge statement indeed but one carefully based on many years of scientific evidence. There is no doubt that “natural selection” in nature produces the strongest and fittest, it is as simple as that, Charles Darwin has long proven that theory. Give nature the best chance to go forth and multiply and abundance will probably return. We know salmon are swimming further to access adequate feeding grounds nowadays therefore smolts must be in better condition for their perilous and exhausting voyage - a hatchery tank is not best preparation.

This situation needs to be eradicated asap. Sheep with full trample access to the river banks and silting up of the best spawning grounds, fences required!

Severe riverbank livestock damage which will openly aid the silting of the river when it rains. This is completely unacceptable in this day and age.

Sheep running riot, both banks with full access to the river.

A perfect riparian "buffer zone" with fenced off graze free river banks regenerating and strengthening the watercourse.

Discussion must begin, habitat restoration is on the Agenda for the next River Board meeting, it is time to make some grownup decisions and I for one as proprietor of the Helmsdale Company am willing to donate hard cash towards this important cause and I will call on all who fish this superb river to follow suit. We need to launch a Fund and fastrack a radical habitat project which prioritises the river and all its tributaries. Every inch of spawning gravel must be protected from livestock and other threats. A catchement survey is required and critical spawning zones identified and fenced off. This won’t happen overnight but the campaign begins here right now! If anyone has views on this matter, please feel free to comment in the Club Helmsdale Forum "Habitat restoration" thread and don't forget to check out all the latest news on our facebook page Helmsdale anglers.