It's been tough recently on the Helmsdale unless you bumped into a few fresh grilse in the mood to play ball, lots of MSW fish around but most it would seem have been bedded in for a while and have seen it all! Like many rivers in the Highlands the normal strong grilse run has been very poor. Records were broken in May with some incredible sport and records will be broken for the summer due to a lack of it - that's fishing! Who knows what's going to happen next year...

A few fish are still getting caught on the Association water around the tides and this water has good availability right now. Heavy rain is forecast and a rise in the water will kick start sport again.

I have some new flies available on-line now, (below) deadly patterns which were designed recently but could not be offered until stocks were tied up. The new Posh Monkey is a stunning take on the popular Posh Tosh tube ( a huge killer on the Tweed ) we have designed it Monkey style and it is sure to be a best seller. The Kazcade you have read about on here in May, we now have stock and this super fly is available for purchase in tubes, coneheads and doubles. Finally we have our CDC sea-trout flies for sale. CDC has been used exclusively for brown and rainbow trout patterns to date but I have tested the properties of this very mobile and buoyant feather on Helmsdale sea-trout recently  - the results were explosive! fish these at dusk and dawn when sea-trout are on the hunt close to the surface. You may have read about these flies in the Trout & Salmon magazine where they were featured a few months ago.

STOP PRESS - the river is 6ft and rising today, Sunday Aug 28th, 4pm. Get your hooks sharpened for the week ahead!! The Association water will be perfect from Tuesday onwards if the rain stops sometime soon!

RS Posh Monkey mounted with a Silver Salar treble

RS Kazcade double

RS Blue CDC double

RS Kazcade tubefly

RS Black Brahan CDC double

RS Black CDC double

RS Kazcade Tungsten conehead tube

Big water breathed new life back into the river last week and catches were good throughout the system once things settled down. over 180 fish were caught with most estates bagging between 25 - 35 fish each for the week. Torrish rods had a super start to the week with 24 in 3 days on beats 3, 2 & 1 with the highlight being young Annabel Gouriet catching her first fish on her 10th birthday beat 2, not to be outdone brother Henry went on to shot his first grouse on the 12th  - well done! Unfortunately only a small percentage of the weeks catch were sea-liced proving that there were very few grilse in the firth. Some nice fish in the teens of pounds were running however and a few were snared passing through the Association water, around a dozen was the total for this beat.

Annabel proudly shows off her first Helmsdale salmon.

Henry with his first grouse and in the expert hands of Torrish keepers Jimmy & Richard Bain.

Don't forget to visit the Helmsdale Highland games this weekend where we have the best rods on display in our casting comps from G-Loomis including the amazing new NRX. A selection of Carron Jetstream & Mackenzie DTX lines will also be up for demo + a 15ft Mackenzie salmon rod. The casting competitions have a new ladies section this year - don't miss it - Saturday August 20th from around midday.

Last week provided around 40 - 50 fish for the 12 rods fishing the beats on the river. A few estates had catches in the teens whilst the rest struggled to tempt a handful of fish. For the time of year these catches make dismal reading but it is the same everywhere up here. The Association water pirked up a little towards the end of the week and 8 - 9 fish were landed by locals and visitors.

Today, the Helmsdale river has risen to over 2ft and it looks like more heavy rain is forecast for the rest of the day. I have a feeling that the week ahead is going to be the best week of the summer as long as there are fish in the sea to come in. Most of the country looks to be under a swathe of rain bearing cloud so many rivers will be on the up and bigger flies should work a treat this week. A perfect chance to try some of our deadly feeler tube flies (below) which I have designed to bridge the gap between Iceland's biggest ever killer fly and some of our more traditional UK tube flies. The concept has proven to work all over the Northern hemisphere for Atlantic salmon - this fly ticks all the boxes, keep ahead of the game and get some on the end of your line before the season ends. The aluminium model works best on sinking lines and poly-tips and the copper tubes fish superb off full floating lines.

The Helmsdale Highland games are fast approaching and we have all the latest top of the range rods from Loomis on display this year, we will be using these in the casting competitions so well worth coming along to try them out. Supreme power, amazing lightness, titanium recoil eyes, these rods have it all and i expect to see great distances lashed out this year by our winners. Competitions are Salmon for distance, trout for distance and trout accuracy and all are free to enter.

I will also have Mackenzie DTX rods & his new twin lines + new lines from Carron Jetstream on demo at 55 & 65ft head length. Mackenzie lines are now available in 51, 56 & 64ft heads. Come along and see what you are missing!

Reports of good grilse numbers seen on the Association water in the last 24 hours have perked up hopes on the Helmsdale. It's been pretty grim lately everywhere in Scotland. The beats last week managed around 50 - 60 with a sprinkling of grilse but the main event has not happened yet and it's getting very late. However, salmon fishing always seems to deal something totally different than the norm, I have not known the main summer run to peak later than the first week in August, it could happen this season. There is massive availability on the Association water so come for a cast soon and you should see the best of the run. The river is low but fishable on compensation water from the dam.

Get stocked up on Cascades, Silver stoats tails and Flamethrowers, Hairy Mary is also fishing well.

Last week showed some promise as grilse arrived in pods. Borrobol rods had the best week ending in the mid 20s however, the majority of fish caught were still not grilse. If you were lucky and in the right place at the right time sport was good but it was not the norm. It would appear that the main grilse run is destined to arrive very late or not at all this year. Latest reports from as far North as Iceland indicate that grilse are few and far between with numbers well down on the last two years at this time.

The forecast is for little rain in the next week with high pressure set to dominate, I fear the pickings will be lean for a while yet and we should really be in the absolute thick of things by now. The Association water is giving the odd fish daily but low clear water is making things difficult, early mornings and late would be the preferred taking times. Availability is very open this summer on the Association water, lots of room! the run must arrive soon so I would advise getting over for a cast in the next two weeks.

We have just taken delivery of the new Mackenzie DTX Spey lines which I tested on the river Ewe on an earlier report here. If you want to get the best out of what we have remaining of the season, I would highly recommend you treat yourself to one of these amazing lines. These are the most technically advanced lines ever made, and for £69.99 they are an absolute revelation. Overhead casting is also easy and i have never witnessed turnover on a line like it before apart from when using the world record breaking Carron Jetstream lines. Incidentally, The World Spey casting record was beaten this week at the CLA Gamefair. Irishman Gerard Downie surpassed the 70yd mark for the first time ever in competition using a Carron Jetstream line. Call us anytime to order these lines.

We have all the top lines available here at the Helmsdale Company, we pride ourselves in quality products and service. Don't scrimp on cheap nasty lines, they will do your fishing and fly casting no favours, trust me!. Don't forget you can call us anytime for expert advise on all aspects of fly fishing, we love chatting to customers to help improve their fishing. We also have the biggest selection of killer flies on the net - order anytime at your leisure or call us to discuss patterns for your next fishing trip wherever it is.

Tight lines

Apologies for the delay this week, I've been on holiday and to be blunt, there is very little happening! Last week drifted by with very few highlights. This week the river has been unsettled beginning with a very dirty spate Monday. Tuesday also provided a rising river with little sport. Basically there is a real shortage of grilse at this time (this was our top week last year). I would like to think we are back on the more recent trend of late runners, this would indicate the main run is to come very soon. Get your hooks sharpened!

Last week was anything but special on the Helmsdale but there were signs that the main summer run is about to kick off. The Association water provided a hand full of fish but good pods were running showing a mix of grilse and bigger fish. Suisgill rods had the best of it on the beats with around 17 fish and certainly proved there were good fish around by catching a number in the teens up to 16lbs. Grilse were still few and far between but their growing presence was noted.

Today, Saturday 9th, the river has risen quickly to around 2ft after a morning of thunderstorms - the same storms which ravaged Castle Stewart golf course Inverness during the night and blitzed the Scottish Open Golf. I will be there tomorrow and hopefully the guys will get round dry and we will have a winner.

Prospects for next week are excellent if the weather settles. A few more grilse should be drawn to the river if there are any numbers in the firth and water levels should hold very nicely for the week. It looks like heavy rain has lifted many rivers in the UK  for the week ahead so get some coneheads in the water FAST. One of the best proven killers in peaty water is the Ally Dog conehead in gold or silver conehead which I designed around 10 years ago. These weighted flies dive sub surface and really show up well, they are absolute killers!

Below are a couple of killers in Summer spate water

The Ally Dog Conehead - as good as it gets!

RS Yellow Flamethrower Boar Shrimp - shows up great in spate water.

There are many more so have a good look through the site, all the Black boar Shrimp patterns, Alistairs, Black & Yellow Monkeys to name a few. Don't forget we have very rare Monkey hair for sale now. This hair is absolutely superb for tying the Monkey fly. One of the best ways to tie it is to cut it with a strip of skin still on as the Skandi's do, this gives the hairwing the deadly signature hump back profile which salmon seemingly can not resist!

Good news for the Helmsdale Highland games on August 20th, Loomis rods have offered to provide a range of their new NRX salmon rods for the North of Scotland Open Fly casting competitions. Please come along if you can and try out the rods, David Burgess of Loomis will be there to give instruction and information on the day along with myself of-course. NRX rods hold some amazing technology including recoil eyes and power and lightness beyond belief, it's well worth coming along just to see and feel them in action.

Tight lines.

The Helmsdale limped to a total of around 12 last week. including one fish from the Association water. The river was down to compensation level and grilse are few and far between as yet. It looks like we are heading for another late summer run which has been the norm over recent years. The second week in July was the top week for decades but apart from a reasonably early show of grilse last year the run will probably peak towards the end of the month or early August.

After a strong late spring salmon run, lets hope the grilse do appear in numbers soon, check out my selection of the proven killer flies you need for success over the summer for salmon & sea-trout. These flies work well all over the UK but dig around the web-site as we have many more killers. Don't forget we can also provide all the latest equipment to catch salmon & sea-trout from 6lbs maxima nylon to a superb 13ft summer Mackenzie DTX fly rod.

Baby Temple Dog (salmon). These tiny tubes are absolutely deadly as a tail fly if you are fishing a dropper set up.

Silver Stoats Tail (salmon & sea-trout). Arguably the most successful low water fly of all time.

Black Boar Shrimp Sunburst (salmon). The Boar Shrimp series has many colours and sizes in doubles and trebles. Deadly for running grilse.

Cascade Alistair tube (salmon). One of our greatest inventions. A mix of the super deadly local Alistair tube with the popular Cascade fly.

Silver Blue (sea-trout). A huge killer from our specialist jungle cock sea-trout series.

Silver Stoat single JC series (sea-trout/salmon). A fabulous dual purpose summer fly best fished on the point when using a dropper.

Bloody Butcher single JC series (sea-trout). This traditional fly catches so many sea-trout it is simply a must have for your flybox.

Tight lines.

Sport on the salmon fishing front has eased off a little as sea trout arrive in good numbers. The river level has been steady for the last 10 days but the excellent salmon run which graced the system for the last 6 - 8 weeks has finally slowed down to around 70 fish for the last week. Surprisingly the first fish was caught on the Loch this week by Suisgil rods, many fish have been in the loch for weeks but as usual, it has seen few flies. There is a good head of 2 & 3sw fish in the river now and over the next few weeks we would expect a grilse run to materialise and maybe peak towards the end of July. I am reliably informed that it is all quiet on the North coast for the moment with little sign of any serious grilse run and that is the general destination they hit first. When good grilse numbers arrive on the North coast the Helmsdale usually springs into action 2 - 3 weeks later.

Sea-trout fishing has been good now that the river is running clear and steady. The usual hot spots have produced some great sport with the Well & Coach pools locally giving 10 trout on a good night and on the beats the Craggie bend pool beat 5 has been the top spot.

The Association water has been remarkably quiet recently apart from a crazy day last Monday when 8 fish were landed out of the blue, no other fish were reported for the rest of the week!

We have genuine Monkey hair for sale on-line now. This hair is gold dust for fly tying and we have been very lucky to source a good certified supply. Monkey hair is the basis for the original deadly Scandinavian Monkey tube. The hair is beautifully tapered and fairly stiff so it does not wrap around your hook like most substitute hair. We are the only suppliers in the UK so snap some up when you have the chance - it is expensive, but there is nothing like using the real thing when it comes to tying Sunrays and Monkey flies and the hair is very rare.

Below is a selection of some of our most deadly summer flies for you to stock up on.

Our new Alistair tube with JC in 0.5" & 0.25" plastic body.

RS Salar Flamethrower Boar Shrimp double

Frodin Executioner Hitch tube

Cascade Pig Salar double

Golden Pot Bellied Pig

Tight lines.

We have some great new flies uploaded this week, some of which you can view on our homepage. We also have lots more sizes in stock for summer in many patterns - Crathies, Cascades, Silver Stoats, Yellow Boar Flamethrowers etc, have a good look through the flies and see what's available now.

The Helmsdale gave up approx 90 fish again last week, however, The Association water continues to struggle with the high water and only produced 1 fish for local angler Archie Miller.

Estate catches varied from around 12 to mid 20s for some but a fair percentage of fish were not fresh run. The main late spring run has eased a little as might be expected for the time of year, we are now looking to the grilse run to build week on week. There are signs that these small fish are around but numbers are very scarce at the moment. Sea-trout have been running in good numbers but the river will need to drop before sport begins through the night. Once again it seems to be mainly coneheads & Cascades which are proving to be most effective in the peaty water.

On another fishy note - During the week I was invited to fish the lovely river Ewe on the West coast by Scott Mackenzie - what a day that turned out to be! Scott had organized a dealer day to show off all his new lines and rods. I was one of 5 tackle dealers in action and I was keen to set myself up with Scott's new DTX 64ft head Spey twin colour line on my 15ft DTX rod. This i did and I added a 5ft medium sink poly leader with 9ft Maxima 12lbs and my new Kazcade tungsten conehead + Guideline size 10 treble hook.

Little did I know what was to follow! I was there to try out all the new DTX lines and rods, 5 hours later from a 9.30 start I had landed 5 salmon of 15, 14, 12, 11,& 10.5lbs, Ghillie/river keeper Raymond Dingwall just kept on smiling!! I made him work hard!!

The river Ewe is a short powerful river which drains the famous and extremely picturesque Lock Maree for around 2 miles to the sea. Beautiful varied pools and scenery make fishing there very enjoyable whether you catch anything or not so to catch 5 on my first visit was as good as it gets! if you ever get the chance to fish the Ewe, grab the opportunity with both hands.

The tackle on display was exceptional, new DTX Spey lines in sizes 51ft head, 54 & 64ft head + 2 new shooting heads which are slightly longer than the norm to aid anchoring without adding any poly tips. I tried them all with a very open mind and I have to concede that Scott and his new business partner Andrew Toft (who designed many of the Carron Jetstream lines) really have something here. The lines have new slick toughened coatings and they are very supple offering an unbeatable turnover. They will also retail for less than Rio & Carron lines when they become fully available. These lines are the future and Scott and Andrew have covered every base. I have to say that the set up was a an absolute pleasure to fish with all day. I certainly proved that the DTX combo helped catch salmon and I covered the water with ease, the rods and lines were so well balanced they practically fished themselves. One point to note was that one of the guys struggled in the morning with the 64ft floating head on a Hardy Swift 15ft rod - he swapped to the DTX 15ft in the afternoon and could not believe the difference, he enjoyed his fishing from then on!

Watch out for the new DTX lines & shooting heads - they are about to hit the market soon and I predict they are set to make a very big impact! just like the rods. Keep an eye on the web-site for the new lines to appear as I will have them for sale as soon as I can get them.

Many thanks to Scott, Andrew & Raymond, these guys really know their stuff, absolute experts, they know how to fish, cast and design and that's why the DTX range of rods and lines are here to stay and give lots of pleasure to lots of anglers worldwide. Call me if you want to chat about or try anything in the DTX range. 

Here are a few pics from my unforgettable the day. The biggest of my 5 from Macordies pool.

Swinging the new white DTX 64ft head Spey line across Macordies pool.

Head Ghillie/river keeper Raymond Dingwall secures my 5th from Lady pool after a tussle mid river. Its tough to get there and even tougher to land one especially at 14lbs.

And last but not least - the deadly new Kazcade tungsten conehead, this fly took all 5 fish on the day teamed up with Guideline treble hook, 5 fish hooked, 5 fish landed. This fly is amazing and only invented in conehead form a few days before my Ewe visit. I think it is one of my best designs to date and it obviously works a treat on a half inch plastic body.

Tight lines.