Unsettled conditions with high water most of last week caused a few problems for anglers far and wide but fish were still caught. Our flies continue to produce the goods with notable results for Jonny Gray with 2 beauties off the Findhorn Altyre beat early in the week both on our UV Cascade Alistair Conehead JC. Carron ghillie Finlay Maculloch also had an explosive double before breakfast landing 2 fiery fresh runners on one of our TD style Tadpole specials we tie for him, a deadly local fly in that area. And over on the Spey, Andrew Phillips got off the mark with a lovely fish in the Boat Pool Aberlour water, our Spring RS Stealth Cascade conehead was the fly.

Well done lads, we are delighted with the feedback and thank you for giving our flies a swim, keep up the good work.

The Helmsdale scored in the high teens and that man Andy Torrish was amongst the action once again with a lovely fish from beat 6 on a Black & Yellow Monkey Conehead. Pics all below.

With all the action happening this spring we are busier than ever so please order your flies well in advance to make sure you get them on time, thank you.

Click here to start ordering all your deadly flies - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php

Jonny with 2 chromers from Altyre, Findhorn on the same day.

Our deadly RS UV Cascade Alistair Conehead which helped him catch both.

One of Finlays 2 early morning fish from the Carron, Tadpole tube firmly inhaled.

His Special TD style Tadpole that we developed from the classic pattern using mobile fox in the hairwing, we think a UV version would be stunning...call to order or email. We will be putting a UV version online soon.

Andy Phillips first fish of the season from Aberlour water

His chosen fly and one of our coolest, the RS Stealth Spring Cascade which we often tie with a black extension tube which was the case on Andy's version.

Partnering  with https://salmonfishingholidaysscotland.com/

The Helmsdale had another good week with a great start with 5 off on Monday, 3 caught by Torrish rods on beat 6 and that man Andy (Torrish) Sutherland just keeps catching  landing another 2 after 5pm on beat 6 Monday. His famous Black & Yellow Torrish conehead ( designed and tied by us ) bagged both with the river at just 9” in Little Rock pool & Swirl. our flies were also feeding springers on other beats too, Regular visitor Kevin Steel also for off to a fast start charming out lovely fish from beat 5 & 4 on one of our classic Alistair Coneheads. It turned out to be a very decent week considering how unsettled the river became culminating in a dirty 2ft on Saturday. The total was still over a dozen.

You can buy both the flies above from the links below at the photos.

Next week should give the first fish or two above the falls as recent temps have surely encouraged a push over the falls of Kildonan. This is when 4 rods per beat would be a great idea as all of a sudden there becomes loads of fishing available on 2 beats ( above and below the falls ) that can only be very lightly covered by just 2 rods. Personally my feeling is if the river goes above a certain height then a 4 rod option or even 3 rod option could be permitted especially in these days of C & R and single & double hooks mostly being used.

Anyway….check out the flies that were catching on the Helmsdale last week below, and ofcourse, you can buy them right here amongst our huge range of standard and unique RS flies -

Kevin Steel with one of his fish from beat 4 Dempsters pool on the Classic Alistair conehead.

One of Kevs 2 sparkling springers last week and if you look closely under the back end of the fish you will see our Classic Alistair conehead.

Our range of mega popular Classic Alistair coneheads which you can buy right here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-alistair-original-conehead.html

The deadly Black & Yellow UV Andy Torrish conehead which took 2 from beat 6 in an hour, grab some right here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-andy-torrish-uv-black-yellow-conehead 

 A few more 0.5 & 0.75"

There were around a 6 fish off the Helmsdale up until Friday last week Andy Sutherland and Corrie Cormack picking up 2 for Torrish rods on beat 5 & 6. Most days were better for sunbathing than fishing and the river was quite unsettled early in the week. Andy caught his fish on a big Monkey in the evening in the boils above the Jetty, the monkey fly just keeps catching all over the place so on that note below is a snippet of just how well the fly is working.

I had some nice feedback from experienced travelling salmon angler Bjorn Arne Riise on his 3 Naver salmon last week ( maybe  more on Saturday ) which were also caught on our RS Black & Yellow UV Solar Monkey. grab some here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/new-rs-black-yellow-solar-monkey

It’s always great to receive feedback like this, we are getting used to it, well done indeed to Bjorn and many thanks for the news. Pics below…uploading

A delighted Bjorn with one of his 3 fish on our Solar Monkey tube

The Monkey tube below with tube double on his rod.

A better look at the actual stunning fly ( this one with natural Junglecock )

And this one with Semperfli Synthetic junglecock which is becoming more and more popular as the fish dont seen to care! If you have a preference please let us know when you place an order in the "comments" section and we will tie the type you want. Please state "Natural" or "Synthetic" you can order right here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/new-rs-black-yellow-solar-monkey

And another...

And another from Bjorn, all on the Black & Yellow RS UV Solar Monkey

The spring fishing is certainly going encouragingly well with lovely springers being reported from many rivers. Fortunately for us many are getting caught on our RS flies. Some fine feedback below from successful anglers recently. These are just from the river Spey below, Well done guys and many thanks for letting us know how well the flies are working.

The Helmsdale continues to pick away and roughly 8 have been caught with 5 coming from the rod of Andy Sutherland. A good recent rise in water levels should bring more fish into the system so a pickup in action is highly probable. The latest fish off was a 20 pounder on beat 6.

James Simpson on Delfur Spey ( RS Black & yellow UV Solar Monkey ) his second fish on this fly for 2026. Grab some right here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/new-rs-black-yellow-solar-monkey

Robbie Milne, Orton water, Spey. RS Black & Yellow SuperSquid Conehead. Grab some right here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-supersquid-blk/yellow-tung-conehead.html

Chris Blake, Tulchan water, Spey, their first fish of the season. RS Firetail Cascade. Grab some right here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-cascade-firetail.html

Well its definitely a better start to the season than last year, that’s for sure. The Northern rivers however are just picking away apart from the Brora which has recorded 7 so far mainly off the lower river, excellent stuff! Andy Sutherland caught No 4 ( his 3rd ) off the Helmsdale from beat 1 St John’s pool at 12lbs.  

Around the country there are continual reports of lovely fresh springers coming off so it’s well worth a cast now and as you know, we have the proven flies that will catch you that iconic springer.

You will see some of our latest flies on our homepage but here ( below ) are a couple of stunning new additions for later in the season. The first is one of our most recent new RS designs for spring as a conehead and big copper tube, the Tomic Monkey, it’s been an absolute cracker and had a superb season last year in the spring and big water in the autumn. So, it had to happen, we had to migrate this fab pattern onto double hook for late spring and summer fishing, we think the resulting fly looks superb and we now have it online for the first time right here in 6, 8 & 10s on Partridge Patriot doubles.

RS UV Pink Tomic Monkey double - available right here exclusively to click & buy now - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-uv-pink-tomic-monkey-patriot-double

RS UV Brora Willie Gunn original, below is the tiny 1/2" and a 3'4" available now in these new smaller sizes. Stunning proven tubes for fishing anywhere.

Buy them right here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-uv-original-brora-willie-gunn-gold-conehead.

Andy Sutherland has once again landed the first fish of the season and it was caught on the Association water on the 10th of Feb Tuesday, a lovely fresh 9 pounder from the tailof the Flat pool, but, he went one better by landing the second fish of the season too from beat 1 Johns pool yesterday (14th) at 10lbs. A great start to the season for Andy. A Posh monkey tube with FL orange conehead did the trick for both and it shows that there are now definitely lovely fresh fish entering the river.

The Spey had 2 nice fish off on opening day (Wed 11th) both coming from the middle Spey area of Aberlour and there are more showing up on other rivers too since water levels are starting to settle. All in all it’s an encouraging sign and lots of anglers are getting out on the water, how do we know this? We are mega busy with fly orders! But there is always room for more as there is a long season ahead.

Many thanks to all and if you want to be kept up to date with offers and new flies etc please sign up to our newsletter right here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/newsletter-registration.html

The star man himself with another first fish off the river.

Second cracking fish from Johns Pool beat 1

The Helmsdale is still blank but there are very few rods out. There will now be fish in the system for sure and it is only a matter of time before the first one is caught.

There is no shortage of water this year and as things start to settle from flooding to fishing levels there have been some lovely fresh springers caught around the UK. The biggest by the look of it was a thumper from the river Avon which looked easily over 20lbs and there has been a sprinkling off the Tay, Dee and Tweed so we should all be encouraged by this.

We have been very busy on the vice this year so far which is also encouraging as anglers get theis fly selections ready for the season ahead. It is much appreciated repeat business from our regular customers and always some new customers as they come across our flies online somewhere. We believe in quality and constant fly development so anglers can rely on our flies lasting the pace and always getting refined along with superb new patterns being added regularly, just like the 2 beauties below.

There are 2 flies which are very similar and also very popular on the Spey, the Oyster Catcher and the Kitchen Sink. We have blended both and added UV and black Colobus Monkey to the hairwing as well as the very popular pearly body which has had some explosive sport recently via the deadly Pearly Allys Shrimp. It is new and now available and called the RS Pearly UV Kitchen Sink ( Colobus range ) we have lots of mid to short colobus and will be using it in more upgraded flies this season. See it below.

Another updated pattern is our Black & Yellow Spring Cascade which caught the first spring salmon on the river Spey last year for Gordon Tait fishing at Orton, it was the conehead version that did the trick that day and we have now added a copper tube model with a bit more weight which you can also see below.

The RS Pearly UV Kitchen Sink. Available to buy right here here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php

The RS Black & Yellow Spring Cascade ( copper tube ) Available to buy here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-black/yellow-spring-cascade-jc

Dont forget we also have these great 8ft sinking Poly-tips from Airflo at only 7.99. These are a very nice length and crucial to get your fly down in various depths and temps of water all through spring. Grab some right here if you want to be fully equipped for all conditions - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/airflo-salmon-polyleader-8ft

The rivers in the North are still running very high so fishing has been curtailed to say the least. Heavy localised rain and a continued thaw has seen many rivers burst their banks resulting in “washout” conditions. However, it has not been all doom and gloom. I predicted in last weeks report that we would probably see the first Scottish springer being landed this week on the Tay and I was pretty close, there were infact 2 beauties caught on the Taymount beat of the Tay on the same day by David Park & Ghillie Cohn O’Dea, Cohn caught the first fish. Both were caught on large Vision 110 lures. Great to see such stunning fish this early in Scottish waters so hopefully when conditions settle down we will see some more. There are photos of these lovely silver springers all over Instagram and FB etc but if you have not seen them I can ask to have permission to post them on here. Contact me if you woild like to see them.

There are a few more big opening days to come soon too on the Brora, Tweed & Dee to name a few on Feb 1st so if you are planning a cast please have a look round our website and you should find what you need. Once again we will remind that do not be worried about fishing too big a fly, the 2 Tay Springers were caught on large lures around 4-5” long so a 2” copper tube is not even close to being too big! see 2 of the most popular large spring salmon flies ever below. A 2.5" copper tube Brora RS UV Willie Gunn ( 5" hairwing ) and an RS Black & Yellow Solar Monkey conehead ( hairwing 5" ) links & pics below to buy now right here.

Also if you need any sinking tips, which you will need right through the spring, we have the full stock of Airflo sinking Poly leaders in stock now online in a very handy 8ft length. 8ft is ideal as it is not too long to destabalise your casting and not too short to be innefective.

RS Black & Yellow Solar Monkey - buy here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/solar-monkey-black-yellow-pro-choice.html

RS UV Brora Willie Gunn original - buy here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-original-brora-willie-gunn

I remember not that long ago catching loads of kelts and a couple of springers on a famous Dee beat on a black & Yellow Monkey tube with a 5” hairwing, ( and yes of-course we have some in stock! )

Tight lines if you are venturing out and be sure to order your flies from us in advance to make sure you get them all, we are very busy processing many orders, thank you all for your continued support, it is much appreciated in the current dire economic climate. The great thing about salmon anglers is that we are optimists and if there is the chance of hooking a salmon, especially a spring salmon we will still get out on the water in search of that electrifying tug!

The new salmon season is finally underway on the Helmsdale plus a few others but no springers have turned up yet. Big water on opening day scuppered any chance of fishing as much of the river was well over its banks. Next day was not too much better but a few anglers ventured out but no joy. Day 3 saw a good drop in height along with a few more rods but only kelts were hooked and that’s still the way things stand. Today Saturday 17th should see a big turnout as conditions continue to improve. As usual it’s a case of watch this space!

The Tay is looking good and most of it can be covered with the heavy spinning gear on hand, I think the first Scottish springer will be seen there very soon on some type of huge Tomic or Vision 110 lure about 6” long so never worry about fishing big flies in spring, salmon will hit the biggest tubeflies you can cast!

On that tactical side you should be fishing well down in the water with full sinking lines or fast sinking tips and large heavy flies. We have loads of the best and proven tubeflies like the Brora Willie Gunn and Alistair original which are especially popular in the highlands and as a treat this spring we are offering our Alistair original tubes for only £2.50 each, that’s well worth a click and buy for a superb fly at a superb price! See both of them below and click on the link to see and buy them on our homepage. Buy here - https://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php

RS Alistair Original in the 2026 snow 2.5" copper tube

RS UV Brora Willie Gunn JC in the 2026 snow also 2.5" copper tube.

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