The river is looking superb for the opening day of the season tomorrow (11th) running at around 1ft on the guage and totally ice free. A super opportunity for anglers to get the rods out and have a fair chance of hooking a prime January springer. We look forward to welcoming you all for a feast of salmon fishing. Please clock in at the tackle shop for your free fishing permit.

For those of you who are familiar with the Well pool on the Association water - it's a little high right now and you would not be wanting to fish it for sea-trout in the dark! check out a recent surge here, you don't see water on this path normally! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhBQ9XHBZNM

A look at the Marrel pool beat 1 also in full flow here, the river had actually dropped 2.5 ft at the time of filming! 21/12/12 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWneAeJhwA4

The damage caused by the above spate to the head of the Whinnie pool beat 1 for those of you who know it - the river bank has been blitzed where the bench used to sit, no idea where the pool starts now! way up at the tip of the island? check it out here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKZeWwhglvs

Badanloch Estate have 2 weeks spring salmon fishing up for grabs on the Helmsdale river rotation in March 2013.
W/c March 4th 2 rods inc ghillie £775
W/c March 11th 2 rods inc ghillie £800
Accom not included.
Contact me if interested. FISHING NOW SOLD

The new Helmsdale season gets under way very soon. From Friday Jan 11th we have 4 free days on the water so a great chance once again to catch one of the earliest springers in the UK.

Monkey tubes have been deadly in recent years and we have plenty for you to try out - check out a selection below in Chartreuse, Black & orange, Black & yellow & Kola green.

Dont forget the legendary Willie Gunns also, they have caught so many early salmon over the years & more recently the Alistair has done pretty well too.

Come along for an opening day cast on the 11th, 12th, 14th or 15th, call at the Tackle shop as usual and pick up your free ticket. Breakfast, Bacon rolls & lunch etc will be available from Timespan ( just down the brae from the Bridge Square ) on 11th & 12th and a very interesting new film from the river will be on show. Artist Hugh Watt filmed a trip down the river from a Kayak and we are all very interested to see the results!

As usual, the Austrian crystal Bridge Hotel Trophy will be on offer to the angler who lands the first spring fish from the river along with a bottle of our famous local Clynelish whisky and a selection of Ron's salmon flies.

Please return all "out of season" fish quickly if you catch any. A number of baggots and rawners may be in the river ( male and cock fish that have not spawned ) and kelts will also be keen to grab your fly. Some of these fish may appear quite silver and may be mistaken for fresh run fish but they will be out of condition and easily recognisable (pic below)

If you are lucky enough to catch the real thing it will look like the picture below and there will be no mistake. There are likely to be sea-lice present (but not always) the fish will generally be in super condition with a thick set body, tight vent and pink gills free from gill maggots. It will fight hard usually and you will know almost immediately you land it that it is the real thing. Most springers are in the 7 - 15lbs bracket. To claim the trophy, nothing less will do!

A couple of good springer examples below - fat, solid, deep & bright silver fish with sea-lice.

The fish below is a baggot which appears fairly silver but rather worse for wear and dark around the gills. It probably entered the river very late in the season, did not spawn and was heading back to sea. They are very soft in the belly.

Here is a classic kelt salmon shape - Silver but very lean and out of condition, large head, extended vent.

Tight lines for the new season ahead and we all look forward to seeing you here for a great opening, a nice dram of Clynelish awaits you at the tackle shop on Opening day afternoon. The opening ceremony begins at 9.30 and no rods on the river until it is officially opened. Below we have Karen & Eileen from the shop showing off the Prizes for the first fish!

Many thanks to you who have registered with our Helmsdale fishing report and for your continued interest in our products and flies, the new fishing season is almost upon us again.

We have a cracking Christmas offer available for the next 3 DAYS ONLY to ensure a festive dispatch. When you spend £50 or more on our website you qualify for a selection of superb FREE salmon flies boxed or a Fishing tackle voucher to the value of £25 - Please click here for Website - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=65

CLICK BELOW to view your choice of FREE flies or Voucher. Please let us know which FREEBEE you want in the comments box when you shop.

Christmas Stocking filler flies - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1453
Icelandic Selection - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=92
Sunray Shadow Set - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=146
Pocket Trout Selection - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=450
Helmsdale Tackle Shop Voucher - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=196

Enjoy your Christmas shopping

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Check out this short film and see our deadly RS Super Snaelda in action with Greig Thompson of Salmo International fishing the river Tilt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VaQe8UWS_yQ

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Christmas Killers Alistairs & Willie Dog, the best of the best flies for the Helmsdale river AND they travel well too! These tubes catch Atlantic salmon everythere they swim especially Norway where we have had super testimonials on the Cascade Alistair in particular, and all for only £29.99 reduced from £39.99. Buy here right now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1396

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We also have a super deal on offer for the festive period "The Essential Spring Fishing Kit", It has all the accessories you need apart from the "Salmon". A great Christmas gift for your angling friends or yourself. Deal price £59.99 for a load of essential gear! Buy it here right now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1451

We have a cracking bargain spring rod up for grabs this month (first come first serve basis) - one of the last signed Daiwa Scott Mackenzie Signature salmon rods at 16ft 3pc perfect for the upcoming spring salmon fishing season! The rod is rated (11) and brand new with the cork still in plastic. An absolute powerhouse of a salmon rod beautifully designed as you would expect from the 3 times world speycasting champion.

The rod is made from HM65M high grade carbon fibre, has a unique triangular ALPS alloy reel seat, Fuji SiC butt and tip guides, Flor grade cork handle, hard chrome snake intermediates, Cordura rod case and original owner lifetime guarantee.

All this for £299 reduced from Daiwa full retail price of £499 (post at cost).

We also have a couple of superb 9/11 Guideline ReelMaster LA salmon reels up for grabs and massively reduced from £159 to £99 - Post at cost.

Email us quickly or call us on 01431821372 if you want to snap up any of the above.

Keep an eye out here for future deals and all the Helmsdale river info as usual....thanks for visiting.

The Helmsdale river opening 2013 will offer 4 days free fishing open to the public from Friday Jan 11th through to Tuesday Jan 15th excluding Sunday of course. Book your accom asap, You may catch the first springer in Scotland! free registration is at the Helmsdale tackle shop where you can stock up on the flies for the job.

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The river reported approx 2150 salmon this season after a good September.

Watch this space for updates and info for season 2013.

The 2012 season ended on a high with good water and lots of exciting fishing on the upper beats. Most rods who were lucky enough to hit beats 2, 3 & 4 above after a midweek spate basically bagged up! The total for the week well exceeded 120 of more. September has had the luxury of regular good water and generally cooling temperatures, it was one of the better months.

The Association water struggled for the month due to high water, most fish had migrated to the upper river and fresh fish were few and far between. Sonny Jappy had the last fish of the season from the Flat pool, a fine fresh 6 pounder.

The Angling Club have access once again to Loch Achnamoine (beat 6 above) until the trout season ends on October 6th - members are asked to contact head water baillif Peter Quail for the boathouse keys.

The Helmsdale may be closed for business for another year but the Tweed is open for another 2 months as are many other rivers in the South. We have loads of cracking deals on boxed salmon fly selections for your autumn fishing trip. Coneheads, copper tubes, tungsten tubes, aluminium tubes, flamethrower doubles...you name it, we have it so why not start here by chosing either of these deadly bargain tubefly selections -http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1278 or http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1339 we have many more and of course you can simply order individually.

These are some of the deadliest of them, all available to buy now on-line right here if you click on the links below.

Willie Gunn Tiger back - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1323

Tungsten Cascade Pig - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=878

RS Super Snaelda V - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1322

Junction Shrimp - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=567

Pablo Diablo Tungsten conehead - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=132

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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!.

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!

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!

The Helmsdale river suffered from very unsettled water levels last week but the fishing did not suffer too badly. I had first hand experience helping out on Achentoul rods for the week with George Hardy Sutherland. A good week was had and 23 fish were recorded, the biggest was s super 37.5" 21 pounder for Anthony Barton from slippery Rock pool beat 1 in high water. In a week full of action a few firsts were also had, Bella Foster took to salmon fishing like a natural landing her first two fish at 6 & 5 lbs fron Craggie bend bt 5 and the Point pool bt 2 both on an Alistair tube fly. Husband Toby also hit a purple patch in Long Mile pool bt 2 catching his first salmon and landing another 2 soon after. Anthony's son in law Michel also had his first cast of the week and duly landed his first salmon from the Lodge pool beat 1 at 9lbs. Conehead flies caught all our fish apart from 4 on the Alistair tube when  water levels dropped back a little.

Borrobol rods reported 25 fish and most rods had decent action throughout the river when conditions were favourable. I have not had a reoprt from the Association water but water levels were high so I would assume the fishing was good in the Flat pool all week.

Anthony and 21 pounder which was landed in high water and on a steep bank, the fish was quickly revived and returned safely.

The tail of Slippery Rock pool at 1ft 6 where Anthony also had a 9 pounder. Set up for the day was a 6ft Rio medium sink tip and large Ally Dog conehead.

First fish for Bella Foster in Craggie Bend pool where she pulled one, lost one, then landed one, a fast learning curve! the fish was released unharmed.

The Alistair tube which caught both fish for Bella

Ally Dog conehead which caught the 21 & 9lbs fish from slippery Rock pool beat 1.

The Association water has fared well over the last two weeks with 2 good rises in the river of 1ft and last week 2.5ft. Some of the lucky anglers are pictured below, two of whom caught their first fish, Mrs Butler below and Mr Martyn junior second pic down. Most fish were taken on Alistair tubes and coneheads. Green Highlander and Cascade dog connecting with the fish below. Mr & Mrs Butler in particular had a super morning guided by yours truly catching a fish each and losing another in upper Allan pool, they will definitly be back! August can be very good on the local water as there is a little more room and fishing availability. Ian Muir was also amongst the fish on Friday with a grilse from upper Allan and a super 12.5 pounder from the lower. Around 12 fish were recorded for the week.

The beats struggled a little over the last two weeks but sport spiked along with the two rises in the water. Kildonan rods fared best in w/c 6 August and last week provided decent sport if you were on the right beat after the midweek spate. It is good to still see numbers of fresh fish running well into August.

The Highland games North of Scotland fly casting championships took place at the weekend and Gordon Sim from Loop tackle was on hand with myself and all the latest rods and reels on show. A big thank you to Gordon and Loop for providing all the casting tackle. We also had a 15ft Mackenzie rod on demo and Carron Jetstream lines which were very well received. The rod which cast the longest on the day was a 15ft loop Classic Spey and 10/11 Carron Jetstream line with 85ft head.

The overall casting champion was Helmsdale river head water baillif Peter Quail who gathered most points in all events and also won the top salmon distance casting event with 145ft. Next year we hope to crank up the event by adding a professional salmon casting for distance competition with bigger prize fund to lure even more top anglers. Findlay Addams was the junior champion.

The new Loop Cross S1 rods performed superbly and everyone commented on how light and powerfull they were. Call me if you want to demo any of these exceptional rods - we have a 12 & 14ft available at the shop.

Peter on his way to winning the championship below.

The clan at the games

As I write this report I hear thunder and the rain is lashing down - prospects look very good for next week! the Association water has good availability for £25 per rod per day, oap's £12.50 and under 16s free of charge. Stock up on coneheads and get on the water, tight lines.