The Helmsdale scored heavily last week and way above prediction! Water levels were good from 1ft 3 early in the week, another top up on Thursday kept things moving and the anglers were loving it! The upper Helmsdale fished it's socks off with all beats providing great action right up to the loch although no fish were caught on the loch.

A snippet from Achentoul rods "we had 7 this morning on beat 2 above and lost as many" Most estates caught in the high teens but Suisgill rods led by ghillie Donald Sutherland had 27 for the week, Super fishing. The the Association water did not take advantage as fish were obviously running hard and not hanging around. Only 2 were caught by usual suspect William Jappy and visiting angler Gordon Stewart. The total for the week was over 100 fish. The river is way up again today at around 2ft , this will spoil things a little initially but I have no doubt the fishing will be excellent when the water settles once again.

Coneheads were the big killers - the Willie Dog was "top dog" Alistair's tied on copper tubes/coneheads also caught their fair share. Most of the other Highland rivers should pick up some water now to kick start their seasons - a very good time to get out on the water so get those flies ordered!!

The deadly Willie Dog Conehead Temple Dog

High pressure and Easterly winds finally eased midweek, clouds rolled in and the fish came out to play! The river has been running at a steady 5" on the guage so fish have been running the river without obstruction in very encouraging numbers.

To cut a long story short there were over 40 fish off last week with Badanloch and Suisgill rods catching the lions share of around a dozen each. Floating lines combined with Alistairs, Ally's & TDs fished very well in a variety of sizes to prove there is no exact science in fly size when it comes to low water salmon fishing.

Today, as I report on Sunday May 8th, the river has risen for the first time in many weeks to approx 1ft. I predict superb fishing for the week ahead throughout the river as good numbers of fish have been seen flying through the Association water. Surprisingly the Association water only gave up 2 fish last week to the dedicated rod of local angler William Jappy. Fish were not hanging around even with the low water, maybe they know something we don't!

I've been designing many new flies this year to keep us ahead of the game (all of which are for sale right here of-course!) check out another two (below) which I think will work well this Summer. They are based on the super popular Helmsdale Alistair and the deadly Dee Crathie fly.

New Black Alistair red butt - tied with course black bucktail instead of the usual classic yellow/brown mix.

New RS wee Crathie Monkey conehead. Body 0.5" wing 2.5"

Inside track - Carron jetstream floating lines are flying out the door right now in 9/10 & 10/11. These great new twin colour lines turn over poly-tips with ease and are effortless to cast. If you want to really enjoy your casting, do yourself a favour and get a decent line!! many anglers will be out on the water this week with river levels up again and in perfect condition but they will struggle casting badly as usual with cheap nasty lines - don't get caught in this trap!

Tight lines.

As you can now see, the fishing report has been upgraded to a slightly different format, hopefully for the better, eventually!. Once I get to grips with how to use all the new icons I have in front of me the content should be fine with a few pictures.

We have added more new fly designs to our web-site this week for summer fishing in the UK and abroad. The secretive Dee Crathie fly and another unasuming but deadly low water summer favourite, the Logie. These are both tied on modern Salar doubles. We have also introduced new International Green Butt Loop doubles, Green & Red Butt Scandi Cascades, and Chartreuse into our range of feeler flies which have been a huge success since we introduced them to the market last year. However, don't forget just how good the old favourites are, like the Willie Dog & Ally Dog, Baby TDs, Silver Stoats tail, Alistair & Sunray Shadow. These flies and many more old favourites just keep catching fish after fish - discard them at your peril!

The Russian season is soon to get under way so we will be taking a hit on large Snaelda, Temple Dogs & Monkey's which proved so successful in recent seasons on the rivers of the Atlantic Salmon Reserve - Kharlovka & Eastern Litza etc. The new extra strong and super sharp Guideline doubles work great with these tubes as do the popular ever present Loop doubles, stocks are limited on these at the moment so snap them up when you can. Some of our new flies are displayed below but you can view the others on our homepage.

RS Dee Crathie fly

RS Cascade Green Butt Loop double

Flaming Temple Dog

Tweed Posh Tosh

The deadly Alistair Conehead - a big Helmsdale favourite.

The River Helmsdale has remained a little on the dormant side for the last two weeks. High pressure has dished out beautiful weather, but not for fishing! We do however have the luxury of compensation water and this has been a lifeline for anglers. While rivers all around the Highlands evaporate, the Helmsdale enjoys a reliable flow and this draws in a scattering of fish, mostly under the cover of darkness. 

Local angler William Jappy is keeping the numbers up on the Association water with early morning and evening sessions doing the damage but only 2 fish have been landed recently from this beat. The upper beats have produced reasonable sport for those who put in the hours and avoid the sun. The latest highlight would be a thumping sea-liced 24 pounder from Red Brae on beat 3 above. Ian Muir was the lucky angler fishing the Borrobol rods (pic below) Glen Macdonald was ghillie and the fish was released. Apart from that, there are encouraging numbers of fish being caught by some rods on flies ranging from micro tubes to large Sunray Shadows. Kildonan rods had the best of it for the week with a well earned 7 fish up to 17lbs from Caithness team Ross Mackay and Graham Robertson, the best fish came from the "Pot" on 2 above. They had fish on an array of flies including 3 to the trusty Alistair conehead, Frances flies, Sunrays and Tds nailed the rest. There are certainly fish around the coast now and most are waiting patiently for the next deluge - keep a sharp eye on the forecast, the next rise in river levels anywhere in Scotland should produce some good fishing.

Ian's Muir's big sea-liced fish being released.

Latest news from the Helmsdale Angling club Brora week - The Brora river is down to it's absolute bare bones. There are fish around, but tempting them is another story. However, Andy Sutherland had an evening on the water midweek and managed to hook one on a 12cm Sunray Shadow tube in the middle Stoney pool, unfortunately we both watched in dismay as the fish jumped and spat the hook after 3-4 mins. We saw several fish that evening, if only there were a few more inches of fresh water we may have had a great week! William Jappy did save the blank on Saturday Morning, again fishing middle Stoney, and using a baby Temple Dog he landed a sea-liced 12 pounder - I have no idea how this fish got up the river!!

Tickets are available for the Association water at £26 per rod per day. The loch is still feeding water so the Helmsdale offers a batter than average chance of a fish if we could at least get some cloud cover or a West/Northwest wind.

 17/4/11

We have some great new flies for sale, check out the homepage for pics and details. Crathie doubles, Loop Cascade green butt, Skandi Monkey and our fabulous new Cascade feeler tube ( below ) and more to come very soon keeping us well ahead of the game in cutting edge fly design.

The fishing picked up on the Helmsdale over the last two weeks but it was far from explosive. Torrish rods had the best of the first April week with 5 fish to the Denham party. After around 15 fish for the week ( still no fish off over the falls) prospects looked pretty good for the second week as the river steadied.

Monday got off to a flyer when Adam Macdonald returned a stunning PB 20 pounder in the Flat pool beat 6 for Badanloch rods, if that was not good enough, his mate Rob Sugrue landed his first ever salmon of 11lbs in the Dyke pool soon after. The upper beats then sprung into action. 3 fish were taken on beat 3 by Suisgill rods, and fish were caught on all the other upper beats bar 5 & 6. Then came another first fish on the Badanloch rods, this time it was Adam's dad who got in on the act with a superbly conditioned 12 pounder from the Black Brae on beat 4. The week ended with tough bright conditions and the fishing suffered but a seasonal best of around 30 were caught. One fish was taken from the Association water by Archie Miller on a mylar Willie Gunn conehead, We now need rain! Willie Gunn's, Alistairs and Td coneheads all worked well this week but the Sunray Shadow is starting to make more of an impact each week as temperatures rise. Andy Sutherland landed one on beat 2 above and moved many others all to the Sunray - make sure you have one in your box for the rest of the season!

Badanloch Ghillie Alex Fraser returnes a super 20 pounder for Adam Macdonald in the Flat pool beat 6.

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?Rob Sugrue with his first fish from the Dyke pool beat 6

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3/4/11

We are so keen for you to enjoy our Scott Mackenzie DTX range of salmon rods that we are giving away a free Carron Jetstream line with each rod for the next Month. The Carron series of salmon lines have been smashing distance casting records for years and recently they have even been improved. These remarkable lines just get better and better due to painstaking testing and the expert knowledge of Carron development team top man James Chalmers.

James is a real perfectionist and the new lines are twin colour and easy loading to make Spey and overhead casting a very easy operation indeed, even for the beginner. Match these superb lines up with rods designed by another legendary Highland distance casting genius Scott Mackenzie and you cannot fail to enjoy your salmon fishing whether you catch fish or not. I have used the DTX 15ft 4 piece rod since it hit the market and I have not used a better rod for the price.  

If you really want to gain some extra distance this season without compromising turnover and accuracy, and, enjoy and improve your casting, the DTX is the rod for you - with a free Carron Jetstream line to match! Incidentally, new Mackenzie DTX lines are just about to hit the shelves and word has it that they are going to be every bit as good as Carron lines.

The fishing was reasonable last week but once again many good rods blanked. Water levels were grand but Monday only provided 2 fish, things picked up on Wednesday when amazingly 3 fish were caught on the Association water. Ex Torrish ghillie Andy Sutherland could not get out to sea to fish for lobster due to bad weather so attention was turned to the river. By 3pm he had landed 2 cracking springers. One was taken on a Cascade conehead in the Flat Pool (7lbs) and the second lunged at an early season appearance of the 12cm Sunray Shadow 13lbs. Meanwhile fellow lobsterman William Jappy, also stranded on land for the day, had an 8lbs fish in the upper Allan pool. William was set up with a dropper on his leader and witnessed his fish taking this fly on its second attempt right on the surface.

Saturday was a washout due to heavy rain and the week ended with around 14 fish in total. Prospects look good for the week ahead and double figures should be easily achieved, I would also expect to see a fish or two getting caught on the upper beats.

Andy Sutherland returns one of his fish on Wednesday

The deadly Black & yellow Sunray in the scissors of Andy's second fish. If you have not heard of the amazing powers of the Sunray then you better get up to date fast!! check them out here - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=7

27/3/11

We have our excellent tube fly vices back in stock this week which you can buy clicking on the link below...no more spinning tubes in the vice! and this particular vice will accomodate all copper, aluminium, brass and bottle tubes. A "must have" for anyone tying tube flies.

http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1038

On the fishing front, the past week was far from spectacular. 13 salmon were accounted for throughout the lower Helmsdale with the best being a 17 pounder for Kildonan rods. The Association water finally got off the mark when local Robert Mackay landed the first fish. Huge tides last week were predicted to push in a few more springers and an afternoon session on the Wednesday ebb tide provided a super 16 pounder from the Flat pool for Robert. A traditional gold bodied Willie Gunn waddington was the killer fly. Another fresh fish was lost on the same day by a visiting angler.

20/3/11

Action came to a sudden halt last week on the Helmsdale for some unknown reason. Hopes were high as this week has produced results well into double figures for the last two years. Tides were high, water levels seldom shifted from an excellent 1ft 3 but amazingly only 5 fish were caught.

Ric Marr, fishing Kildonan rods, had his eye on the ball on Monday & Tuesday taking fish from Kilphedir and Lower Caen (15 & 9lbs). Crawford Little had a 12 pounder fishing Borrobol rods from Kilphedir midweek and Johnny Hardy and Crawford scored again for Borrobol rods on Saturday (bt 6) with 2 fine fish from Church Stream. Crawford commented that both fish were sea-liced and the second, around the 15lbs mark, was in exceptional condition. Overall, a rather dour week with 5 fish limping the river total to 32.

The Lower Brora suffered almost an identical fate producing only 3 for the experienced Vince Keany team on South bank. A temporary local blip perhaps but that's fishing! Word has it that the Naver river had by far it's best week of the season last week with a score in the teens...maybe that's a sign of fish heading our way!

Get out on the Helmsdale Association water asap if you can as very few fish this week could mean lots in the coming week - a good run must start soon!

13/3/11

The Helmsdale total has risen to 27 fish off. 7 fish were landed last week with al least 5 from beat 6. Alistair Jappy and Kevin Steel had 2 nice fish on Monday morning on Temple Dogs from the Falls and Manse pools on beat 6. Cecilia White had 2 cracking fish of 12 & 15lbs from the Whinnie (bt 1) and Manse (bt 6) on a TD. Kildonan rods had a fish midweek then Johnny Hardy had a super afternoon on beat 6 landing 2 fish on a Green Highlander copper tube, Falls 14lbs & Little rock 10lbs.

The fishing is still tough as you would expect at this time of the year and many experienced anglers blanked last week. Fish are few and far between but if you get lucky you can be rewarded with a stunning fish or two! Remarkably no fish have been caught on the Association water yet. This water can be accessed for £26 per rod at the moment and your chances of a hook up must be fairly good now.

It is the last day (Sunday 13th) for the great fly deals below in last weeks fishing report, Temple Dogs are fishing well right now! get stuck in and order on-line. Don't forget that we also have everything you need to enjoy your salmon fishing to the max, for example:- Mackenzie DTX salmon rod + Carron Jetstream fly line - why suffer with anything else!! Of-course we have many more fishing combo's which can be enjoyed on the river, it's all down to personal taste!

More photo's from the first week in March...

Alan Shannahan with his superb 22 pounder from the Sand Bar beat 4.

Andrew Thomas with a 10 pounder from Salscraggie pool

6/3/11

Another 7 fish have been reported this week with the best a fine 22 pounder for Alan Shannahan fishing Achentoul rods. The Sand bar on beat 4 was the hot spot for Alan and his fishing partner Andrew Thomas also landed his second fish of the week in the Stoney point pool late on the same day. Martin Grant finally got Kildonan rods up and running with a 7 pounder from Lower Torrish, Suisgil & Torrish rods also scored this week. I managed to get off the mark myself too but had to go to the Brora to do it! 8lbs, Lower Cliff pool, Willie Gunn conehead.

We have two superb new fly selections up for grabs right now at great prices, check out both these links - TDs Coneheads deal http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1035 - Tubes deal http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1036

The Association water has failed to score yet but obviously fish are passing through. There is good availability at the moment on this water and day tickets are still only £26 per rod.

The Helmsdale & District Angling Club have an AGM ths week on Friday 11th, 7.30 in the Bridge Hotel...all keen local anglers are very welcome to come along.

 27/2/11

The Helmsdale has swung into action at last and we have suddenly jumped from 1 opening day fish to 11 fish off! The brothers Maclean Jim & George fishing Suisgill rods got the ball rolling with two nice fish on week beginning 14th. Jim had the first (11lbs) from Lower Torrish beat 3 and George returned a fine 14 pounder in Salscraggie beat 1 (pics to follow) and Saturday produced a fine sea-liced fish for Brora Golf Pro Brian Anderson from the Swirl on beat 6.

Last week started well with 2 off beat 5 for the Hugo Ross (wick) team fishing Borrobol rods and another fish came from beat 6 on the same day. The Park pool on beat 2 then stole the show providing another 3 fish during the week. One more fish was returned on beat 6 by Suisgil rods ending a fine week.

George Maclean returning a fine 14 pounder from Salscraggie ( below ) and a cracking 11 pounder from Lower Torrish for brother Jim.