Archive

24

September

100 barrier broken again.

Ronald Sutherland

last week was a solid week on the Helmsdale with well over 100 fish once again. A super catch considering almost 2 days were spoiled with a rising river. Achentoul rods had a very good week with 3 fish over 20lbs and one of 25. Suisgil had 27 and Torrish landed a best of 22lbs to the rod of Ed Troughton in Long Mile pool 2 above. All in all a very good week aided by a noticable drop in temperature. Most fish were falling for fairly large tubes and coneheads fished on sinking tips. The forecast is for more heavy rain this week which should spark another round of good catches.

The Association water continued to disappoint but local member Paul Atherton managed to land a fresh grilse of 1.5lbs - probably the smallest grilse of the season! I cannot remember a September as quiet on this stretch.

The well conditioned 22 pounder caught and returned by Edward Troughton.

Ed 22 pounder

16

September

Back end flies deal

Ronald Sutherland

We have a superb deal here on back end salmon flies in 3 options ( doubles, trebles or bagged with no hooks ) These tubes are perfect for your late fishing trip to the Tweed, Dee, Tyne etc and of course the Helmsdale. Monkeys, Feeler tubes, Flamethrowers and Cascade pig Tungstens - all deadly proven killers in the Autumn. Buy here right now while stocks last + 2 free spring Chartreuse feeler flies - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1341

CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v62), quality = 80

The season is fast coming to an end and with only 2 weeks to go it would appear that we have had a fairly decent one. The Helmsdale has not always been big on numbers in competition with other rivers as a high percentage of anglers are first timers or in the novice bracket. This is due to the structure in place and lodge party numbers which seem to be on the increase. Recently the fishing has been fair with a sprinkling of welcome sea-liced fish turning up. Torrish rods had the top week 2 weeks ago with around 20. last week the results were more spread around and if you hit the right beat after the 2ft spate then you were in the money. Things should hot up for the last two weeks as salmon set their sights on spawning.

I had a cast recently myself on beat 2 above and whilst backing up the Shepherds pool I hooked this hungry little fellow on a Kazcade double 10 on the dropper. If you look closely at its mouth you will see the webbed feet of a semi digested toad! I pulled it out but obviously I was too late to save it...brown trout are very opportunist when it comes to feeding, I wonder how many salmon eggs, fry and par it has eaten so far this season? it will not be eating anymore!

Trout Toad

Trout toad


Finally, we have some 2nd hand Hardy Marquis No 2 spare spools available for £60 each - first come first serve on these handy beauties. You can buy them in our Salmon reels section.

Marquis No 2

5

September

Another steady week

Ronald Sutherland

Last week was unspectacular but over 100 fish were still recorded. Good water levels once again helped keep fish interested mainly on the upper half of the river. Coneheads in Cascade Dog, Ally Dog, Willie Dog & Temple Dog all fished well as usual.

The Association water struggled a little as there are very few fresh fish on the coast but with 3 weeks to go we could have a flurry, don't put the rod away quite yet!

We have some hot new fly-tying materials in stock for a winter of experimentation and the tying of new Tiger style flies which are starting to really gather pace in the salmon fly world. Strips of supersoft dyed rabbit fur look superb as wings and tails - give it a go and check out one of our deadly Flaming Tigers below as an example - you need a few of these in your flybox by the way as Autumn starts to set in.

Flaming Tiger

Some new materials in from the states, beautiful dyed hackles for all types of modern salmon flies.

Grizzle soft hackles

Red hot Tiger tail rabbit strips sourced in the USA also.

Tiger tail rabbit strips

Another hot new fly which I can tie to order taken from the famous Kinnermony Killer fly designed on the Spey by Ghillie Jock Royan. We have tweaked it and configured for Autumn salmon fishing. It is tied on 0.5" tungsten tubes perfect for getting right down in front of fish making it very easy to snap up!.

RS Cascade Kinnermony pig

One more random pic from July which you may enjoy from Helmsdale regular and friend David Hodgekiss (on the left) - 56lbs fresh! I don't need to tell you where that little beauty came from but it was probably one of the biggest salmon ever released (and not on the Helmsdale) Steinfossen pool...Green Highlander tubefly - dream on!

David Alta 56 pounder

We also have some superb reels in stock right now which are not always easy to get hold of. The superb new Webster reels which are made in Caithness, Loop Classics in 811 and 1013 and the last new silver Loop Evotec you will ever see for sale!

Loop & Webster reels