Archive
29 June Not on fire but still consistent as usual the Helmsdale provided around 70 fish last week. Ian Muir had another good week with 14. There are no grilse to mention yet so it is looking like they will arrive on the late side. We were still in amongst some hefty seatrout on the tidal water and if the river drops again we should have some continued sport in that department to keep local rods happy. The river was unsettled all week and hit 2ft by Saturday. The Association water didn't fish that well due to the high water but there were around 5 off. A lovely first fish for Matthew Francey really brightened up his day Tuesday at 8lbs from Roaries pool, caught on one of our RS SuperSnaelda. His fishing partner Ian Stoddart also grassed a sparkling 10 pounder from Roaries pool also on a conehead. Matthew with his first ever salmon which was safely returned.
Ian Stoddart with his gleaming 10 pounder, also returned.
Prospects for the week ahead are a bit difficult to predict. I would say we will see some grilse entering the system and hopefully this will build into a nice heavy run by mid/end July! Don't forget to clean and check out your line for any cracks or flaws, Spey and shooting head lines are now all the rage and cast huge distances with ease. If you want to maximise your chances in these days of seemingly fewer fish, better get on the bandwagon, watch your casting improve beyond recognition and cover more water! We have all the latest lines in stock and they are on offer with a discount or some of our free deadly coneheads. We have all the latest conehead killers right here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/helmsdale-co-flies/coneheads/tds.html Tight lines 20 June The Helmsdale remains pretty consistent and fish are still coming in at will on 6" of water. Around 60 - 70 were caught and the highlight was a super 25 pounder for Victoria pilkington from the falls pool beat 6 fishing Achentoul rods. The fish was sea liced and in stunning condition like most of the Helmsdale fish this year. The Association water was not great last week as most fish seemed to run under the cover of darkness. However visitor Mr Bell managed to grass one at 10lbs from Roaries pool on a size 8 Cascade double. William Jappy had 2 and Peter Macmillan also landed 2. The star performers for the week were the seatrout anglers. With the tides not suiting perfect there were still loads caught, personally I am on 30 now for the last 10 days and most in the 2.5 - 3.5 bracket. My best night was 9 and experimenting in the high tide payed dividends when a rather large Snake lure was deployed fished at speed. Most of the locals had good bags and Alistair Jappy had bags of 6 & 7 on two seperate nights. Even ginked up muddler minnows are working on the tide but the best sport to be had is when the tide is out and thats how its going to be for the next week. Wee doubles are as good as it gets in Silver Invicta, Butcher, Teal Blue & Silver, Silver Stoat, Peter Ross, CDC Blue and CDC black, these are all working well in various sizes depending on overhead conditions. We have loads of these flies in stock so you can pick some up anytime right here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/trout-flies/sea-trout-flies.html On the CDC theme which has worked so well over the last two years since we introduced it to the sea-trout world, I have designed another new sea-trout killer, The RS CDC Sunray (below), trials have worked fantastic and as when fishing any sunray Shadow fly, these fish best when fished quite square, the seatrout absolutely smash them out of the water! The Association water has started to fish nicely this week as the water drops away. 8 salmon were caught with an even spread between locals and visitors, most fish came from Roaries pool. Archie Miller had the biggest at 15lbs from the Flat pool. Simon Purvis ended his week with 3 fish by grabbing a double on Saturday and Peter Dawson had 2. Some super bags of seatrout were also taken on the perfect suiting tide when cloud cover was right. Myself and Alistair Jappy had the best of it with 6 each one night up to 3lbs. The whole river produced around 75 so things are fairly steady and encouraging. We now await the first proper signs of grilse running as one was caught last week. We have cracking deals on rods lines and Simms and Loop wading jackets so call me for a bargain! tyhe buy 3 get 1 free is now closed for the summer, many thanks to all who have taken us up on this offer. Tight lines. One of the first decent seatrout nights to be had from yours truly below. We have all the deadly flies you need and hands free headlamps as you can see attached onto the loop cap. Last week in May report The fishing slowed down a little last week but a healthy 45 - 50 were still caught. A washout on Tuesday did not help the Association water and I only heard of 2 being caught. The beats picked away with Torrish rods catching their season best of 11 for the week with the Denham party. The Highlight of the week was a stunning 26 pounder from beat 3 above to actor Geoffrey Palmer from one of the Chancellor pools fishing Suisgill rods. With the weather due to settle down and warm up for the week ahead prospects should be good for the whole river including the Association water which you can sample it right here from a view you will not have seen before, big thanks to Otis Ferry for the footage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPiJg3SOMaM The dropping river will also get the seatrout anglers out in the dark looking to contact one of these power packed gorgeous specimens! I'll certainly be sharpening my wee doubles! We are still doing great offers on wading jackets from Simms Loop and Vision, we have a big selection of salmon lines on offer also and our "buy one get 3 free" is still running on all flies until the end of the month, Check out some of our superb wee seatrout doubles right here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/trout-flies/sea-trout-flies.html A couple of the very best proven killers,Teal Blue & Silver & Butcher Butcher wee double |