last week was a very tough fishing week due to high temperatures and low clear water. Around 35 fish were caught including 7 from the Association water. When these conditions take hold the most successful anglers fish early and late and this was proven to great effect on Monday morning when William Jappy lured and landed 4 salmon on 4 different flies from the Association water. 

Midweek was tough as temps kept rising, fish were caught all over the river on a huge range of different patterns from large Sunray Shadow to micro tubes. Sea-trout are still scarce but maybe the best is yet to come. The grilse seemed to hit base properly at the weekend and Alistair Jappy quickly landed 2 more from the Local water but many fish were seemingly uninterested. Roaries pool held many fish but tempting them was almost impossible, reasoning was that the welcome loch compensation water was too warm and dead. The bay now holds good numbers of fish as they await rain, I think they will be lurking for a while if the long range forecast is anything to go by, there is to be no break in the settled dry weather anytime soon so anglers brace yourselves for a few more early morning starts!

With only 4 day tickets available for anglers turning up on a daily basis and 8 available for anglers deciding to reside in the village I would get on the phone to book your days fishing on the Association water, The low water will suit this stretch and the fish are there primed to run the river! I would estimate that the next two weeks will see the peak of a heathy grilse run. With OAP and under 16 tickets set at only £12.50, Adults £25 you are sure to have great value for money on a day out. Call the shop on 01431821372

Soon the format of the fishing report will change for the better when we expand into more of a blog mode and invite discussion on a range if interesting topics, it will be a hotbed of controversial news information & videos for new "Club Helmsdale" members only with special members offers and much more, don't miss it as this platform becomes very interesting indeed!

Check out the website right here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php to get your supply of deadly flies and all the tackle you need to catch salmon and trout.

This week we are reccomending you to watch the fabulous new DVD from former world Spey csting champion Ian Gordon from Speyside. A truly amazing talent and a superb film which will add much to your salmon fishing repertoire. Buy here now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1456

Last week it was the Scottish Gamefair, this week it was the fabulous Castle Stuart links for the Scottish Open Golf Championship. Phil Mickleson was a very popular winner and an absolute wizard with a wedge! here we snapped the 4 time major winner in an almost impossible position on the par 3 8th hole, needless to say he got up and down with nonchalant ease! a very deserving winner in the end.

Just back from a fabulous day at the Scottish Gamefair Scone Palace Perthshire where I tried out the latest new rod from Scott Mackenzie, the Perflex. I have to say, this rod performed like a rod double the price, I was castiing into a breeze with absolute ease, overhead and Spey. Scott has a real gem of a rod here and at a fabulous price of around £300 - 400. Watch out for it on here when it becomes available very soon.

The Helmsdale rallied with around 50 fish last week which was an excellent effort on low warm water. A few more grilse are arriving and the Badanloch compensation water is keeping things fishable when most other rivers in the North are on bare bones. Small flies and Sunrays seem to keep working well and fishing early and late like the summers of old is proving most productive.

The Association water struggled with only 5 fish, surprising, as low water usually suits this stretch throughout the summer months. Gordon Davidson had a purple patch on Monday after a stroll along the riverbank. He helped out a visiting angler who was having a rather unsuccessful time, Gordon who was rodless at the time noticed a few fish were around and was quick to take up the offer of a cast from the visitor, he promptly caught 2 and lost 1 on a small Cascade double. I also had a nice grilse on Tuesday night before a session at the sea-trout, once again a few fish were spotted and a Sunray Shadow was quickly deployed from the 10ft trout rod, a few minutes later I was playing a grilse on the Sunray and a trout on the dropper simultaneously! both were landed with a struggle! 

The dry spell is set to continue so it is well worth a cast on the Association water. Pop into the shop and grab a day ticket, we are fast approaching the peak of the summer run!

Ron, wife Karen and wee April showing off her new tweed hat! at the Gamefair with Scone Palace and fabulous blue sky in the background.

Nothing more to be said - Magic Murray!

I snapped a visitor landing a fish in Roaries pool on the Association water midweek.

The river came up to 2 ft overnight on Sunday and flushed life back into the fishing. Bonanza it was not, but there were enough fresh and resident fish to score approx 100 fish for the week including the Association water. Sea-liced fish were reported from beat 4 above but I have not heard of a fish coming off the loch yet, this is no surprise as it is not taken seriously and rarely visited, having said that there will be plenty fish in it now and anyone giving up a few hours on the lower beat will be rewarded if the wind is favourable.

Although catches were generally good during the week it was still easy to miss out as pods of fresh fish ripped through the system. The week ended with a bang for Badanloch rods when Alistair & William Jappy got the nod late on Saturday. They had a great evening with 5 fish from beat 2 and 4 on beat 1 after 8pm. Unfortunately the sea-trout have not really materialised in any numbers yet. Catches have been sparse from the generally productive Association water.

The same water however has had its best week of the season with around 10 fish off ending with 3 on Friday and 3 on Saturday. We had the usual mix of fish for the time of year with grilse as small as 2lbs up to fish in the teens. Visiting and local anglers both caught their fair share with all the usual suspects getting in on the act apart from me who is too busy providing the tackle to catch them, I'll try to rectify this problem from next week onwards!  

Baby Temple dogs, Alistairs and small doubles were catching well all week as the river dropped fast - this week could be even better!

This weeks photo's include Mick Buttery (below) with his second fish of the season (11lbs) on another one of his own flies - this time it was the Micky Blue

Kenny Macdonald Golspie on a flying visit had this 8lbs beauty from Roaries pool on a Baby TD.

And, here are 2 of our new flies which have been starring abroad in Russia on the Yokanga and Ponoi rivers. We are getting fantastic feedback from guides and anglers claiming amazing catches on these flies. I think you need a selection of all the above flies in your box! 

Flaming Tigerback - To buy them click here now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1496

Willie Gunn Feeler - To buy click here now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1482

The deadly Baby Temple Dog tube - fish this with a Fulling Mill tube double size 10 or 12 - these doubles are exactly the same as Loop doubles in strength weight and colour. You can buy them both here right now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1530

http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1344

The Megan Boyd film is here - http://vimeo.com/68125438 check out more below from the outstanding film documentary by American director Eric Steel.

Low water persisted last week and catches slowed down as a result. I would estimate around 35 fish off including 3 from the Association water. The highlight of the week would be a super sea-liced 25 pounder from Lower Caen for Johnnie Pilkington fishing Achentoul rods. The fish hit a Sunray Shadow and faught like a tiger - awesome sport!

Johnnie and his big fish

The sea-trout have not arrived yet in any numbers but we expect to start catching a few by the end of the coming week when the tides suit if the water is still low. The forecast is for heavy rain this weekend so lets see what happens - the river could do with a freshen up.

I am off to Edinburgh film festival on Sunday to see the premier of "Kiss the water" by Eric Steel. The film is about the fascinating life story of the late Megan Boyd. Megan was of-course famous the world over for her amazing fly-tying, I was glad to be a pupil and as a result and to commemorate the great lady I am bringing back the deadliest summer salmon fly the Helmsdale river ever saw - simply called the "Megan". up until the 90's no salmon angler fishing the Helmsdale in summer would fish without one set up as a point fly for the "dibble".

The Megan tube is back and you can buy one right here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1649

Check out one of the latest previews on the Megan film right here - http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/films/2013/kiss-the-water, I enjoyed tying for the film where tie the hairwing and classic version of the Megan fly amongst others. Lots of other locals also get in on the act - it's a "must see" movie for all anglers and fly-tiers -  http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/lady-of-the-flies-previewing-kiss-the-water-1-2973779

last week the river fished very well considering the low water conditions. With around 80 fish off, many were obviously migrating under the cover of darkness as most fish caught were sealiced. The Sunray Shadow had a great week depending on which estate you were fishing and wee Alistairs and Baby Temple Dogs also scored well. The Association water only gave up 3 for the week with Peter Macmillan (2) and returning visitor Mr Bell the lucky anglers. The sea-trout are no different this year to anything else and are later than usual, very few are showing and only a couple have been caught by salmon anglers to date. We have some superb new Sea-trout Snake flies in stock if you want to catch these fish in the darkest hours of the night. 

There is little rain on the forecast apart from a few heavy showers - we may or may not get water! Check out the low water flies below if you are fishing this week. I have some interesting news stories and flies coming soon and this section is lined up for another change in format.

Until then drool over these new colour concept reels coming soon from Loop tackle - Pre-order with us now!!

A couple of pics from my trip to Fulling Mill HQ in Kericho Kenya

Ron and FM technical director and fly-tying wizard Steve Carew with the amazing Rift Valley in the background.

A few of Ron's new Posh Willie Gunns tied at the factory.

Alistair Coneheads

Upgrading lots of dated patterns - here I have modified (top) an old Fulling Mill Flamethrower design.

The water is low and these killers are what you need in small sizes! you can order right now by clicking here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=5

Park Shrimp

Silver Stoat

Silver Stoat conehead

Micro Willie dog conehead

The last two weeks provided some decent sport throughout the river with scores of 75 and 50 respectively but we are now in need of a fresh water top up. The forecast looks good with rain moving through for the rest of the week, unfortunately this may spoil the local sea-trout fishing before it even gets into gear.

Two recent first fish were caught by Mike Buttery (12lbs) and Paul Atherton (9lbs) in Roaries pool on the Association water. Both fish took Mike's new Chartreuse conehead tube aptly named the "Micky B". Borrobol Ghillie Glen Macdonald also got in on the act with a flying visit before work to see his brother Keith, Glen promptly landed a 12 pounder from the Sewerage pool. Twins William & Alistair are also still catching with William landing 4 in the last two weeks. All in all the Association water is fishing fairly well as expected with the low water conditions.

Keith Macdonald shows off Brother Glen's salmon with Roaries pool in the background.

Mick Buttery below with his well earned first fish of the season at 12lbs! 

Paul Atherton and his first fish at 9lbs

Next week's report will be late unfortunately, I will be in Kenya, checking out the Fulling Mill fly tying factory and making sure all salmon flies coming out are absolute world class...

Catching up, the week ending May 18th (wk 11) saw the top score go to Henry Charteris and his team with a well earned total of 24. Henry is no stranger to May fishing on the Helmsdale and he topped off a great week with a super 21 pounder from Black bank beat 3 above. Earlier in the week Martyn Gilbert took just 5 casts in Dalharn to grass an identical 21 pounder and get the week off to a flying start, both fish were 37" and caught withing a few yards of each other, who's to say it wasn't the same fish!

Martyn shows off his thumping 21 pounder.

Henry with his 21 pounder just around the corner from Martyn in Black Bank.

The whole UK suffered last week midweek with some very wintry conditions. Strong bone chilling Northerly gales and heavy snow lead to some high level roads being blocked again just when we thought summer was in the air. The temperature was not good for anglers or fish! The week ended with around 70 fish off which was a very good effort considering the unsettled cold conditions.

Some rods did not break into the teens but the Ian Muir party fishing Kildonan rods worked well to total 16. Ian had 10 to his own rod with the highlight being a blistering 17 pounder on a size 14 hitch tube on beat 5 above. On a typical adventure to the beat, Ian hooked the fish and could do nothing as it ran for cover into heavy weed, luckily his son Jonny was quickly deployed across the river where he managed to free the line and miraculously the fish was still attached.

A team effort resulted in the capture of this fine 17 pounder for Ian Muir with son Jonny on 5 above.

The Association water gave up a disappointing 3 fish for the week. Twins William & Alistair Jappy had one each on Monday & Tuesday before the weather turned insane. Visitor Norrie Wilson (Nairn) grassed a fine 13 pounder in Roaries pool on a size 8 Cascade Shrimp. 

Norrie with his sparkling tide fresh 13 pounder.

Some aggressive cloud formations from last week as the snow, hail and gales rolled in.

With fairly settled conditions forecast for the week ahead the river should fish well as it is still holding a decent height of around 8". Small coneheads will catch lots of fish on the upper and lower river and the Association water should produce a few also. 5 - 8" is a grand height for the local water so get over for a cast!

One of these should do the trick this week - Willie Dog conehead - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1283

The river started to produce sport like it should last week. Based on what I have heard there were around 85 - 90 fish caught in a typical May week. Achentoul rods had a good one with 22 fish and a monster 27 pounder for David Rand on 3 above. Most other rods got into the teens and it was good to see a nice run of fish. The river rose to over 2ft midweek which spoiled things a little, Achentoul blanked on beat 2 as an example.

The Association water produced another 4, all to visiting anglers. Mr Bell on Monday 13lbs, Martyn Jones 8.5lbs Tueaday and David Allan on an exchange ticket from Inverness AC had 2 fish on Thursday/Friday at 9 & 10lbs. This water will fish well now and chances are very good for the visiting angler. At only £25 per rod per day it is well worth a day out, over 65s half price and under 16s free.

David Rand's 43" long 27lbs fish caught on the deadly Willie Dog conehead - Click here to buy now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=575

I was sent a nice photo courtesy of William Shaw. The pic is of Mrs Verdin playing another fish! She has fished the Helmsdale river on 52 consecutive visits, 83 visits in all residing at Badanloch. A very keen angler and a good one too, here we see her playing a fish in the Black Bank on beat 4 above where she landed another May fish of 13lbs.

Another fish on the deadly Sunray

Our deadly new Black & Yellow Feeler Fly which is starting to hit fish on UK rivers - Click here to buy now -   http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1479

And the super Willie Gunn Feeler double - Click here to buy now -  http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1482

Get the rods out as the fish are running everywhere, just check out the girth on this 36 pounder caught on the Tay last week at Murthly 2, head ghillie Tony Black can hardly lift it out of the water, it was caught by Mr John Broughton - an awesome fish for the UK!

Watch out for some hot new patterns and fishing tips and exclusive deals coming soon as we crank up the content in the fishing report.

Some awesome fly selection deals on the go right now, RS SuperSnaelda Set below for a discount price of just £29.99 - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1625.

10 x Temple Dog Deal for only £29.99 including razor sharp double hooks. - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1624

Good water levels boosted the fishing once again on the Helmsdale and between 45 - 50 fish were reported for the week. The best of the bunch was a fine 20 pounder caught by the experienced Lady Sarah McCorquodale in Hadwins pool beat 1 above. A Cascade Conehead did the damage and the Torrish rods went on to top a fine week with 11 fish.

The Association water finally started to fish midweek as run of fish materialised. Donald Macleod got proceedings under way with a 10 pounder from the Flat pool, next up was Sid Fraser with a super 12 pounder from Lower Allan. Ronald Sutherland got in on the act after venturing down for a look on Thursday evening taking a 10 pounder on the Sunray Shadow and the same proccess was repeated for Ron on Friday evening on the same fly after rising a 7lbs fish 4 times. There are 6 fish off this water now and things are definately looking up as fish are running daily.

The forecast for the week ahead is looking unsettled with more rain so prospects are good for another interesting week.

Ron with his 10 pounder which exploded at the Sunray Shadow tube. Now that water temperatures are on the rise, you simply must get a few Sunrays in your box. There is no sight in fishing which competes with a large salmon in full attack mode striking a Skated Sunray shadow tube. Buy some here right now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1098 and stand by for some heartstopping action!

The super deadly Sunray Shadow tube

Sid Fraser and his first of the season

We still have a great deal on these superb new RS Tiger & Feeler flies - order now to secure your selection! these are the new flies on the block and they are already proving seriously popular.  Buy now here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1619

Some more of our deadly new flies below.

On the Fishing front there were over 40 salmon off the river this week, good water spreading fish throughout the system as Achentoul rods proved with fish off beats 5 and 4 above. Alistair Jappy also had his first fish off the season with a 7 pounder from the Flat pool on the Association water. There are only 2 fish off this stretch this season. 

On the whole, the season is picking up but it must arguably go down as the worst spring in living memory. In March for instance Borrobol rods blanked for the whole month and this has not occurred in 54 years. Most rivers are suffering with catches below the mark this year and I have recently experienced this first hand on the Brora and Spey. Worrying chat continues as to why but we will not really know for a few years until a trend appears. we will off course hope that grilse runs appear in numbers this season at least after 2 poor years.

The word on the street is that it is just a very late season and this may well be the case as spring numbers continue to decline. Personally I think it's time for a seal cull as there seems to be more seals on the coast than salmon these days. Until seals are controlled in my opinion we are just feeding them if we increase stocking from hatcheries. The Association of Salmon Fishery Boards needs to lobby parliament more with policies which allow Fishery Boards to protect their fish, rivers and estuaries. If there are no salmon then there are no salmon anglers and that will be a big problem for the economy of rural communities all over Scotland soon if nothing is done.

One final note - the Helmsdale River board are to hold their first open public meeting this week (Sat 11th May 2.30 Kildonan hall). This event is happening as a result of amendments to the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003.

Cascade Monkey

TigerBack Willie Gunn

Cascade Feeler fly

Try out our lethal new Tiger and Feeler fly selection below. These hot new concept flies are going to be all the rage this summer - and they actually catch salmon too! Ordering these could not be easier - Simply click on the link and buy now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1619

In a week when water levels remained low, there were over 30 fish off the river. Lady Sandison captured the biggest fish and the headlines this week with a super 21 pounder from Lower Caen fishing Achentoul rods. Previously, ghillie George found a rather nice looking conehead fly on the riverbank and his father always maintained that if this happens then you should put the fly on as it is usually lucky, the picture below speaks for itself!

William Jappy finally caught the first fish on the Association water after a seemingly endless dour spell. The tide fresh 10 pounder took a tiny Temple Dog tubefly fished on the dropper in the Sewerage pool. 

William with his first of the season

In other news the Oykel & Carron rivers are fishing very well with over 50 weekly fish to each river recently. When the water arrives on these rivers in April/May there are always fireworks! Helmsdale Angling club had 2 rods for the week on the Brora but the fishing was tough apart from on the Monday for Andy Sutherland who had 3 fish. A Black & Orange Conehead monkey was the killer fly. 5 fish was the total for the week on the South bank.

Andy with his first of 3 from the Lower Brora.

The deadly black & orange conehead Monkey tube