We have a very special deal on Simms G3 Gore-tex and Loop Lainio jackets this week only, call us or email asap to snap one up, these will go quickly so treat yourself fast!

Here is what we have on offer.

Simms G3 Gore-tex jackets in (M), (L) & (XL) for £399 + £100 worth of free flies and accessories of your choice. http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/simms-g3-gore-tex-jacket.html

Loop Lainio jacket Blue (L) and Loop Lainio (M) £439 + same fly offer http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/new-loop-lainio-jacket.html

The fishing is slowing down now, plenty of fish are in the river but tempting them is not so easy. The main summer run is over so we are dealing mainly with the dreaded residents although there are still some nice fresh fish running.

We are also offering top end Loop Cross, Hardy & Mackenzie rods and top of the range Simms Waders with boots for a half price deposit and monthly terms thereafter. let me know if you fancy treating yourself to some of the best equipment on the market.

Reports from the river are good as over 100 fish were caught last week, conditions were still unsettled at times but fresh fish are running and they are in great condition. All beats are scoring well and the Association water keeps producing also. Adam Macdonald has been successful on most visits and some nice fish are coming off.

Coneheads are fishing very well as per usual when the water is good as are our SuperSnaelda and SuperSquid, this is a typical order (below) snap some up asap when we have good stocks.

We have the Highland games on this weekend and I will be there with top of the range Loop Cross rods for both the salmon and trout casting comps.

Nothing super special about the run this season but the last 2 weeks produced around 130 and 50. last week was somewhat blitzed with incredible flash flooding at kildonan which killed off fishing for around 24 hours. Coneheads are still working great and some solid fish are still entering the river. Gordon Sim ( Loop CEO ) worked away very well for his few hours spent on the water bagging a number of fish in pretty unsettled conditions.

Most rivers are fishing well this year and the Thurso had over 100 again last week.

Don't forget, we have loads of killer coneheads and one of the latest hot killers is the Calvin's shrimp it would seem, we have those crackers for sale too! perfect for all the spate water this season, buy them clicking right here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/calvin-s-shrimp-pro-choice.html

The Helmsdale Company has relocated to Speyside. Things are not fully tuned in yet but we are almost there. If I could now stress to our huge client base to order from us online from now on and we will send the next day, we can do Special Delivery if required for next day delivery if you are in a real rush but generally Royal Mail first class will get your order to you within 2 days UK and approx 4 in EU.

We can still offer you the best deals on all the major rods reels and waders from Simms, Loop, Mackenzie, Hardy & Vision etc, just call me and every order over £500 receives £50 of our deadliest flies.....infact if you order any tackle there will be free flies involved. Our customer base is loyal and extensive and we thank you all for shopping with us over the years in the Tackle shop Helmsdale as well as online, but things move on.

We are now an online tackle shop completely and still ship worldwide, but if the opportunity arises and the location is right, we would not rule out another high st tackle shop. Please still feel free to call Ron personally for any advice on tackle and flies on 01343870158.

We are also looking at residential 2 day salmon fly tying courses at a top Speyside hotel covering all of the secrets shortcuts and styles, these will be advertised soon as high end packages with the best accom and food Speyside has to offer. Anyone interested please contact via our email at enquiries@helmsdalecompany.com there will be 6 spaces per course.

The last two weeks have not set the place on fire exactly but the second week of July provided around 135 fish including Association water catches. Last week was very unsettled with thunder & lightening causing havoc all over Scotland and the Helmsdale did not miss out on the water, anglers reported many fish running but they were not interested. However, A few were picked off and here are the highlights. A delighted Sonny Jappy grassed his first of the season at 5lbs, Alistair Jappy had a memorable day landing 4 after astonishingly loosing 6 early in the morning, with a little luck it could have been an incredible day. Graham McCulloch nailed a belting 23 pounder in the Flat pool and beginner Donna Carruthers added another lovely fish to her fast growing tally. The Association water will always give fish in July almost daily, the best may be yet to come. Willie dogs, baby TDs and Alistair coneheads are deadly. If the river settles and drops, the fishing could be superb.

Donna Carruthers with a perfectly formed 5 pound grilse hypnotised by her Conahead Alistair on the Association water.

A typical wee grilse taken on the Alistair by Ron



Rons deadly Alistair Flamethrower is fast becoming a best seller!



 

We are on the move this week so please be patient on the order front.....the fishing is hotting up too but I don't think we have hit peak time yet. Report to follow soon.

The Helmsdale has slowed down a little, low water and the annual gap between MSW fish and grilse is evident. Seatrout however normally plug the gap and this year is no different on the Association water at least. Good bags are still coming off when the tides suit and one lucky angler had a very pleasant surprise. Regular visitor Adam Macdonald already had seatrout in the bag when he moved slightly up river to keep ahead of the incoming tide in the darkness, once again his size 14 Kennys killer was deployed only this time to be grabbed by what was thought to be a very big seatrout, 10 mins later a 7lbs salmon was landed. Fish are getting caught most days now so this beat is well worth a visit.

The private beats were disappointing last week with around 25 reported and a few grilse sprinkled through.

The Brora has also picked up going on recent catches and one highlight was a double for Donna Carruthers on a flying visit and on the hunt for her first salmon. Welcome rain breathed life into the river after a long dry spell and an Alistair conehead tube was the smart choice for the business end. The morning offered a rise and pluck and a loss after a 2 minute scrap with a lively grilse. The afternoon saw cloud cover completely disappear and with it hopes of a first fish but not as far as Donna was concerned, she persevered and amazingly hooked and landed her first fish in the brightest sunshine in Bengie pool at 5lbs, but that was not enough. Madman pool was visited as the sun began to fade and her second was netted at 10 lbs to complete a memorable day.

So the moral of the story - fish in the bright sunshine or darkness and you will still catch salmon!

By the way, we have just added many of our best selling flies again which were out of stock, Posh Willie Gunn double, Alistair Flamethrower, Gold Bodied Willie Gunn copper tube, Micro SuperSnaelda, Willie Gunn Mylar tube, Black & yellow Mylar tube, Willie Dog conehead, Park Shrimp Micro tube, Loop double Red Frances, Willie Gunn gold conehead, Cascade gold tungsten conehead, RS Blue Elver monkey and many more, all absolute killers!! have a good look through the site for your favourites...

The RS Alistair Flamethrower - click to buy now.

Donna with her sparkling first fish from Bengie pool at 5lbs.

No 2 released from Madman pool at 10lbs

Action from Madman as the fish goes daft!

The deadly wee Alistair conehead which you can purchase by clicking on the link below right now -

http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/helmsdale-alistair-uv-c/h.html

Adams night fish

Low water has put the shackles on the run recently so seatrout anglers had the best of the sport locally. The last full week on the river produced around 35 including a sprinkling from the Association water. William Jappy notched up another 3 super fish up to teens in weight including the superb fish in the pic below. Baby TDs have been working great as usual.

A good head of seatrout are now in the system and if you are fishing at nighttime with the tide suiting you will catch them. Philip Marshall has landed the best specimen so far at 4.5lbs from Roaries pool and Duncan Mackay had a fab hour before midnight Saturday landing 6 in an hour in the Coach pool. I have also had a few to the cdc Nightmare fly and Cascade Seatrout special featured below.

Today we have 1ft of dirty water tumbling down the glen and that will curb seatrout catches temporarily but salmon fishing should be good now that all costal nets are off?. I have also been on my travels and had a nice fish from Castle water on the Spey on an aluminium Monkey tube, the Spey is fishing very well right now.

All the flies below and many more can be purchased on our website here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/

One of Williams cracking fish

Ian Muir with another superb specimen from earlier in the season at 18lbs

RS CDC Nightmare blue

 

RS Cascade Seatrout Special

A typical bag of seatrout up to 2lbs from last week. 10ft Loop cross S1 7wt floating line, Blue loop Evotec, 8lbs maxima, CDC Nightmare.

A very broadbacked 15 lbs Spey fish taken on the Aluminium Monkey tube in Upper Birks pool Gordon Castle water.

The Helmsdale has just come off 2 of it's strongest weeks, 85 and 70 fish approx including the Association water. Decent water made way for a strong run of fish last week of May as per usual and they were caught right through the system. The Association water continued to fish well and visitors and locals hooked up. Mick Buttery landed a nice fish in the Sewerage pool on a Lady Alistair tube and the Twins Alistair and William Jappy had 4 between them with William landing 3 up to 15lbs on the dropper, a classic and deadly Helmsdale tactic! Baby TDs are hammering fish now with the warmer water. Up river, Alistair coneheads and plastic tubes are also doing very well. Seatrout have arrived and as soon as the tides suit, nighttime sport will be good so long as the river stays low. We have some superb tried and tested seatrout flies for sale here as well as all the latest salmon fly trends and patterns. The new RS SuperSquid is fast becoming a best seller all over Europe, grab some when you can as stocks are continually being hit hard! Don't forget to call us for great deals on all tackle too, Ron will kit you out and make sure everything is balanced perfectly for casting that perfect line. Tighters....

Catches on the river have recently picked up after good water at the beginning of the week. The last few weeks have flat lined a little but have still produced around 40 - 45 per week. This week we are heading for by far the best week of the season and numbers should easily make 70 - 80 fish off. The Association water is producing too, most of the locals are getting in on the act as well as visitors, William & Alistair Jappy are always scoring, Jim Forsyth had a brace on the Sunray Shadow, Graham McCulloch is still catching and Hugh (Shug) Wilson did a smash and grab one morning on his way home from a successful trip to the Halladale grassing a liced 6 pounder. Most of the fish are in the 9 - 15lbs range and in superb shape.

Coneheads are doing very well in TD fashion or Alistairs, Munro killers are taking a few and Sunrays are making their mark now also. Check out also our great new additions to the sea-trout range designed in Helmsdale, The first seatrout Cascades, and CDC nightmare tandems, these are lethal as tried and tested last year...trust me, they catch LOTS of seatrout!

Below, Rons deadly CDC Nightmare with lethal flying treble.

The new seatrout Cascade Special, another deadly new seatrout fly from Ron.

And the new Cascade Alexandra which will also catch salmon....

You can obviously buy them all here so its a good time to get yourself togged up with a great seatrout selection. Also a word on the new Supersquid salmon fly, they are selling like no other and catching fish the length and breadth of the country as well as heading over to Scandinavia and Russia for the new season, try them out!

The last two weeks have not exactly been on fire but have gone approx 40, and 35 last week. 35 was good considering overhead conditions were very challenging with bright sunshine almost all week, water levels were low and clear also. Fish were running at nighttime and were obviously around in good numbers. Anglers who concentrated on the early and late shift benefited the most as one would have expected. The fishing forecast for the week ahead looks very promising with low pressure finally shunting out the high, expect rain and lots of it! Seatrout will also be milling around the coast now with a view to entering rivers again, worth keeping a close eye on their arrival form now on. We have some superb new sea trout patterns adding to our range again, I'll get some photo's up very soon but you check them out here under our Trout category. The new Cascade Seatrout doubles are hugely popular already and our RS CDC Nightmare range are absolute killers and set to be best sellers. Don't forget, our website I fully aligned for ordering via smartphones and tablets on the move....it couldn't be easier to order your flies and accessories. We also have top rods reels and waders available from most of the best brands, Simms, Loop, Mackenzie, And Hardy to name a few, just call us for great deals on everything and we will get you what you need along with expert advice. We will help you balance up your rod reel and line, very important! Tight lines.