16/5/10

Despite the relatively low water conditions over the last two weeks the Helmsdale has fared very well although sport has been very hit or miss. Approx 100 salmon have been caught all over the system from the Association water to the canal on beat 5 above. William Jappy had two locally 10 & 8 and Alexander cowie caught the first grilse of the season at 2lbs 14oz + another good fish of 8lbs.

Badanloch rods continue to take full advantage of a rested beat 6 below Kildonan falls each Monday landing 2 x 6 and most other rods are catching their fair share. Small Temple Dogs on plastic & conehead tubes are fishing well and the Alistair is also doing the business as usual.We could do with some rain now to energise things once again and draw more fresh fish in. If no fresh water materialises then this week could be tough.

The big news from the Strath however is that Suisgill estate is up for sale. I do not know the pricetag but lets just say there may be many millions involved!

Water temps are up over 50 degrees now and forecast to rise further this week so floating lines are the order of the day. For best results keep your flies fairly small and even down to size 12s in the thinner pools. Best flies of the month have been Ally Dog conehead, Willie Dog conehead, Alistair, Sunray Shadow, Baby Temple Dogs and small plastic tubes - we have them all for sale right here so stock up for your next fishing trip!

2/5/10

In the last two weeks the Helmsdale has stumbled along like most other rivers in Scotland. No great numbers of fish have been reported but the sprinkling of 12 rods over the beats have accounted for around 45 salmon with another 4 from the Association water. Water levels have been very favourable over this period and beat 6 has been by far the best spot. Badanloch rods took full advantage of their Monday slot on this beat by landing 6 super fish and loosing a few more, the best catch on the river this season.
Salmon are through the whole system now and rods should be looking at the loch for some sport as soon as conditions dictate. Water temps have reached over the magic 50 recently and salmon are now readily taking flies on the surface however, conehead flies are working very well. These deadly tubes with weighted heads cut through the water and present a tantalising target in the danger zone for salmon – they are snapped up immediately more often than not if fish are around.
I invented the Willie Dog and Ally Dog conehead tubes around 12 years ago and they have caught thousands of salmon all over the world now. Both these conehead tubes were inspired by the huge success of Willie Gunn and Ally’s Shrimp flies which I decided to modernise using arctic fox hair and the Scandinavian Temple Dog style of fly-tying, the rest as they say is history. A great selection of these flies can be viewed and purchased here   http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=12

The Helmsdale Angling club have just returned from a successful week on the river Brora landing 11 springers with the highlight being a first fish for Euan Sutherland from the Upper Potts pool at 8lbs ( on a Willie Dog conehead! ) Friday 30th was the top day when 8 cracking fish were caught mostly on the upper half and 4 from the Ford pool.

Euan proudly shows off his first fish from the lower Brora.

The "buy one get one free" offer is now closed.

17/4/10

We have around 55 fish off now. The highlights from the last two weeks would be 2 cracking 20lbs fish to the rod of Glen Macdonald and a spectacular 28 pounder from the Little rock pool on beat 6 for the lucky Mr Temple fishing Suisgill rods.

Locally Alistair Jappy took the 3rd fish from the Association water in the Flat pool, a sea-liced fish of 5.75lbs. With temperatures in the mid 40s fish are now up hitting Sunray Shadow tubes. These amazing flies tempt salmon when the usual killers are ignored, better get some in your flybox fast as they save the blank on many a day. With no rain forecast for the next week the river will drop so Sunrays and small tubes fished on floating lines will do the trick. The Association water usually produces a few fish in lower water so it will be well worth a cast. Permits are available from the Tackle Shop as usual.

We are extending this great tube fly offer below for another week...get your box ordered on-line right here  its as easy as that! http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=923  chose from 3 deadly hook options in our "Destination boxes" category - these flies are perfect for late spring or when the water level is up.

On the fishing front we have had a poor week. Adam Macdonald got out of the blocks early with a nice 7lbs fish from the little Rock on beat 6 Monday on a Temple Dog. After a decent start with 6 on Monday & Tuesday things slowed right down as the water disappeared. Low water conditions are ideal for the Association water and the first fish was duly caught there by local early bird William Jappy on Wednesday morning 7lbs, The fly was a 1" Willie Gunn and the Top stream was the hot spot. Achentoul rods had a good day with 2 on Friday ( 6 & 16lbs ) and Mia Macdonald got even with her other half by landing a second for Badanloch rods in Johns pool beat 1 on Saturday.

William Jappy displays the first fish off the Assocation water.

21/3/10

The week opened with almost 4ft on the gauge rendering the river almost un-fishable but conditions improved by Tuesday and fish were on the move. Andy Sutherland fishing the Torrish Rods had an early 10 pounder on the banks of Little Rock pool beat 6, an orange & black conehead Monkey did the trick. Another 3 fish were caught on Tuesday, Suisgill rods had 2 fish off beat 4 and one came off beat 2 for regular visitor Rik Marr fishing Kildonan rods.
Wednesday provided another 2 fresh fish and water temps were on the rise. Thursday and Friday offered one each day which increased the seasonal tally to 16. By close of play on Saturday the water temperature had risen to 44 degrees with a fresh North westerly wind (excellent fishing conditions you would think?) correct, Saturday was going to be a day to remember.
Torrish rods got off to a great start on beat 2 with a solid 14 pounder from the Private pool for Andy Sutherland on an Alistair tube, he improved his score soon after by landing a super 16 pounder from the Park pool on the same fly after loosing another fish minutes before. Corrie Cormack fishing the other Torrish rod then couldn’t believe his luck as he also hooked and landed a sea-liced 15 pounder from the Private pool. (All were safely returned).

Andy Sutherland returns a cracker from the park Pool

Bill Baxter landed a fish on beat 1 from the Viaduct pool fishing Badanloch rods and Borrobol Rods had one on beat 5. Just upstream on beat 6 things were disappointingly quiet for Suisgill rods until late in the day so William Jappy decided to take a hike above the falls of Kildonan to pass time in the Porters pool. With the water temp so high and the beat so quiet this was a sign that fish were beginning to ascend the falls and this was proved right when William landed an 8 pounder. Back below the falls to fish the best pools again and he landed another sea-liced fish in the Little Rock pool. A great day to be on the river if you were on the right beat and there are now 23 off after 15 this week.

The Helmsdale Tackle Co has a great fly offer on until the end of the month and you can purchase easily here on-line! 1 dozen Deadly Coneheads, Monkey, Mozzy & Temple Dog tubes at real discount prices and with a selection of doubles or trebles, please view this Special offer on http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=4 at the bottom of the page.
These tubes are perfect for late Spring, Summer & Autumn so stock up soon if you have a fishing trip planned. This superb offer runs until the end of March so get stuck in!

14/3/10

The last three weeks on the Helmsdale have produced the following scores - 2, 3, 2 a grand total of 7 springers for the season so far. William Jappy rounded off his week on Badanloch rods with an 8.5lbs fish from Salscraggie and I had the pleasure of hooking one in the Clay bank pool on beat 5 on Wednesday. The sea-liced fish weighed in at 8lbs and one of Helmsdale Co's new Flaming Temple Dog conehead tubes was the deadly fly! http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=872 The set up I now use is an absolute pleasure to fish also - Scott Mackenzie DTX 15ft, Carron Jetstream 65ft 10/11 head sinking Spey line. I have fished for many years with various tackle combo's and I have had much enjoyment watching my line shoot accross the river but fishing with the new DTX teamed up with either a Carron Jetstream or DTX Multi-tip line is amazing and takes fishing to a whole new level, casting technology at the very cutting edge and with a rod almost half the price of some of the more established brand names.

Nowadays with so few spring salmon around I get most of my pleasure on the river out of casting well and returning salmon – if I am lucky enough to land one!
Personally I would like to see ALL Helmsdale springers returned until we see an upturn in numbers again. If she aint swimming she aint spawning!!!

My first springer of 2010 below safely in the net ( New Lightweight Gye by Fastnet ).

Perfection - hooked in the scissors

The deadly 1.25" Flaming Temple Dog tungsten conehead

The Clay Bank hot spot down at the overhanging bush.

Returning the fish to fight another day.

6/2/10

Another 3 fish were taken on the Helmsdale this week. Achentoul rods had the first on beat one with Welshman Andrew Thomas hooking a 7lbs fish in the Marrel pool. This was followed the next day by Kildonan rods with a 7.5lbs fish from Salscraggie for Don Mackay ( who had the first fish on the Thurso ). Andrew's mate Allan had another fish for Achentoul on beat 5 from the Bridge pool at 5.5lbs and that was it for the week.

Conditions were not great and we could have done with a little more water but as I write today we have a big thaw on and the river is up to 3ft. There are sure to be more fish off next week as the weather forecast is settled and the water will be perfect - watch this space! 5 off the river now.

Keep up to date with me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/Helsalmo

26/2/10

Alan stone landed the first fish on the Helmsdale today, a fresh run 8 pounder from the big Rock pool on beat 6. Alan was fishing his trusty old wetcel 2 line and a 2.5" black & yellow gold bodied tube with jungle cock from the south bank. Alan wins the Bridge Hotel trophy, a bottle of Clynelish and a selection of Tackle shop spring flies. The water temp was 35 degrees with lots of snow still on the ground.

No 2 was landed on Saturday ( 27/2/10) from Salscraggie on beat 1 by William Jappy fishing Badanloch rods. A cracking fresh 9 pounder on a black & yellow conehead Monkey. William's brother Alisatair also lost one in John's pool on the same beat.

Once again Black & Yellow proves to be a killer spring fly combo, one of the most innovative versions ever created by Ron is our new tube range with "feelers" below mimiking the legendary Icelandic Frances fly. You can buy this superb new tube and the Monkey fly right here.

21/2/10

Almost one month has passed since my last report - nothing has changed! The river Helmsdale is still deep in hibernation and now sitting at a bone chilling 34 degrees once again. From the last week in January we had a spell of reasonable conditions when the river was very fishable but with only kelts to show for it. There have been reports of 3 good fish lost and one or two spotted on their travels but as yet the Bridge Hotel trophy remains safely on the tackle shop counter for all to admire.

The river is very quiet for the time of year and this season has been no different from the last few years. Either there are no spring salmon around or their arrival is simply getting later just like the Helmsdale grilse run. Recently June has been a very good month for msw salmon and August has seen the main grilse run arrive in the first two weeks. All things being equal it would be fair to say that the early springers that the river was once renowned for are now arriving later like everything else.

This phenomenon is happening all over the UK and many rivers are now in the midst of fishing trials beyond their traditional closing day. Early results from these experimental fishings indicate that fresh salmon are indeed entering rivers later. Many river boards are seriously thinking about seasonal adjustment in an effort to maximise catch returns and provide better value.

On the Tackle Shop/web-site front it is business as usual as all the main Scottish rivers are now open and many anglers are out in search of that prized spring salmon. Weighted tubes are still the norm for the month up to at least 2" in size and fished off sink tip, intermediate or sinking line depending on where you are fishing. It is also good to carry a range of sinking poly-tips to make sure you can adapt quickly to any change in depth or water temperature etc - always be prepared.

Our big deal for the next few weeks is on the new Scott Mackenzie DTX salmon rods + DTX Multi-Tip lines + floating lines which will turnover any poly tips no problem. I had the luxury of spending 3 days on the river Dee testing the whole system where I used the DTX 15ft and a 10/11 Multi-tip system; these are a match made in heaven. The line is perfectly balanced to the rod and an obvious 6" black marker defines the head clearly from the ridge running line. Spey-casting from the bottom croy of the famous Mill pool on Lower Crathes I was able to shoot the full DTX line + running line and that doesn't happen with many other lines. I would rate the DTX rods in the same box as G-Loomis & Sage easily. One more point regarding the DTX line is the top quality running line, of all the Spey lines I have used the running line is the best at staying out of trouble regarding knots etc and this is a real bonus. The deal we are offering on these rods & lines is buy any rod & line combo and we will throw in a Scot Mackenzie or new Guideline Jan Erik Granbo casting DVD + 2 dozen deadly Helmsdale Co flies. The New Guideline DVD has just been released and is not on our web-site yet, both DVDs offer superb and detailed casting instruction from two of the best casting instructors you will ever see.

Tight lines.

24/1/10

No sign of any fish on the Helmsdale yet but very few rods are fishing unfortunately, the Association water is the only area getting covered well every day. Conditions have been rather high which might explain the lack of interest but things should settle down to a better height this week.

The Tackle shop have a big fly offer this week for one week on-line and in the shop - "Buy one get one free"  please follow this link to read our offer and see some of our latest new fly designs in stock http://www.salmonfishingforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16510 This is a great opportunity to stock up on flies for half price. The offer ends on monday 1st Feb at midnight. Happy Shopping!!

We also have a new category on the web-site homepage called NEW FLIES ETC... please check this page out to see our latest cracking new fly designs and products.

The New RS Golden Willie Gunn Feeler Copper tube (below) is an example of what new flies we have on offer.

Another super new colour on one of our Dee Monkey Tubes - Chartreuse

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17/1/10

SALE SALE SALE....Tackle shop sale this week! Please call ron at the shop on 01431821372 if you need any new kit for the new season. There are big deals on rods & lines especially for January only.

On the fishing front - This week has been a disappointment with lots of ice early in the week leading to lots of water later peaking at around 7-8ft yesterday. Things should settle down and get back to normal this week and there should be a great chance of that first salmon of the season. Now is your chance to stock up on copper/alumin/tungsten tubes + coneheads...just call and ask for a special fly deal. Check out the latest river flood pics on the salmon fishing forum -
http://www.salmonfishingforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16158