Archive

30

August

Two cracking weeks on the Helmsdale ...

Ronald Sutherland

30/8/09 

Two cracking weeks on the Helmsdale have given summer numbers a welcome boost. Good water levels have had salmon interested all through the system and quite a few are still fresh run. The Association water is also still scoring steadily and has been providing around a dozen or so per week. Friday saw lots of rainfall and the river was in full spate on Saturday. The river settled by the morning and 6 salmon were accounted for locally, the upper beats also scored well with lots of salmon on the move.

The week ahead should be another good week with great water levels holding up. The Association water will be in grand order with a few late fresh fish moving through and tickets are readily available from the Tackle shop.

Bigger flies are doing the damage in the coloured water so coneheads and copper tubes will be perfect for the week ahead.

16

August

A reasonable week on the Helmsdale

Ronald Sutherland

16/8/09 

A reasonable week on the Helmsdale last week boosted hopes of an extended summer run. The upper river saw some good sport however not the high percentage of fish caught were fresh run and most that were showed signs of starvation. This recent phenomenon affecting grilse especially is common all over the UK and is a worrying trend that needs to be investigated in great detail.

With visitor numbers dropping off the Association water struggled to catch more than 10 salmon last week but a few better quality salmon were landed. We have good water levels as of today (Sunday) after some heavy rain. Prospects for the week ahead are good and anglers should expect to hook up with some better quality fresh fish. Day ticket availability is good for the Helmsdale Association water at the moment so it is well worth a chuck!

The Helmsdale Highland Games open salmon distance casting championship yesterday was won by Helmsdale head water bailiff Peter Quail with a cracking cast of 144ft. The competition rod used was the new DTX 15ft from Scott Mackenzie teamed with a Carron Jetstream 105ft Competition line.

Alistair Jappy lifted first prize for trout distance with 97ft and visitor John Sweetman was best sharp-shooter in the trout accuracy scoring 18 hoops in 2mins.  

Don’t forget to stock up on flies if you still have fishing lined up (lots of fishing still to be had!); we are now well on in the season and fast approaching autumn. Cooling waters will start to herald a move towards more sub-surface fly presentation so pop a few coneheads, copper & tungsten tubes into your armoury for best results.

9/8/09 

40 fish have been recorded on the Association water over the last two weeks and many more lost. Catches are not near what we are used to and sport has been far from consistent but fish are here and hopefully the coming week will bring the biggest run of the summer. Figures could be higher but visitor numbers have been brought back into control now with just 4 open daily tickets available ( 9am – 12pm ) and 8 x 24hr tickets for visiting anglers staying in Helmsdale accom, this has been welcomed as a fair system and is working well. 

The upper river has also reported disappointing sport on the whole apart from the odd big day when conditions have been perfect. The size of most grilse caught has also been poor and many are in the 2 – 3lbs class. The last few seasons have peaked in the first two weeks of August, let’s hope next week is the big one and fish improve in size. As usual you can stock up on here for all your flies. Fish with two flies if you want to maximise your chances of a hook up and get that dropper dibbling in classic Helmsdale style. The deadliest flies on the Helmsdale right now are Alistairs and baby Temple Dog tubes.

The Helmsdale & District Angling Club have had a meeting recently and many interesting topics were discussed with the most popular being the 10% discount at the Tackle Shop for members. The Tackle Shop has also started a fish of the month competition in association with the Northern Times weekly Rag. The comp is open to all who read the paper in Ross-Shire, Sutherland & Caithness. The biggest or best catch can be rod caught in fresh or salt water. For full details please refer to the entry form in the paper. The monthly winner will receive a £100 tackle voucher. I will display the winning fish each month on this report. The Helmsdale Highland games will be here again this weekend (August 15th) 3 times World Spey casting champion Scott Mackenzie has introduced his new DTX salmon rods to the market and the Games Open Salmon Distance casting competition will be using the 15ft model, I will also have his other rod sizes on show + Scott’s new lines which match the rods perfectly. Please pop along to the casting arena as there are Trout distance & accuracy comps too. The event begins at 12 noon and will run until around 4.30.