18/11/2007

Opening days free again

Its official, the opening days of the 2008 season on the Helmsdale are free to the public again. Friday 11th and Saturday 12th of January will be the open up to the falls of Kildonan. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather as I am sure there will be a springer lurking somewhere. The Tackle shop will be in full January Sale mode so leave that new rod/reel purchase until you sift through all the Highland bargains. You can now also be ahead of the game and purchase your spring flies on www.helmsdalecompany.com

We look forward to a big turnout so don't forget to book your accom ASAP.

Ron.

Published on Sunday 18 November 2007 by Ronald Sutherland
Last edited on Sunday 18 November 2007 by Ronald Sutherland

14/10/2007

End of season report

The long awaited final Helmsdale fishing report can be summed up as "not a season to remember" - it started badly, did not get much better, peaked 4 weeks late again and faded out quietly.
The few Spring fish that appeared were in excellent condition but unfortunately our grilse were in the wars again. Underweight and under attack by a nasty parasite, these poor fish need a break soon or they will not be worth catching.

Hopefully the great success of the NASF will help with numbers as more nets are hung up around the coast, however the cutting edge SALSEA project may determine the best way forward if they find a few clues as to what is happening to fish at sea.

Top rods this season were Kildonan lead by ghillies Martin Grant and Gordon Trail. The key to their success ( I hear ) was fishing a little deeper using Frances & Snaelda flies in Tungsten, copper & conehead versions - the Sunray shadow had a quiet season by all accounts probably due to the constant high water levels for most of the summer. All these flies are available to purchase at your leisure on-line from my new fly-store www.helmsdalecompany.com

All the water pushed salmon right through the system as high as loch Drum and Arachlinnie where a few were caught by surprised trout fishermen. The biggest reported fish of the season was released by Martin Grant in the Tail of the bay on beat 3 below in September and was estimated as going on for 30lbs.

The Association water provided around 130 salmon this season. High water levels put paid to many fish hanging around, a few were spotted flying past at high speed but overall very few were seen. Sea trout catches were also poor as a result of higher than average summer water levels. They arrived in May and a few nice fish were caught but a spate ensued and all the good sport moved up-river.

Season 2008 can't arrive quickly enough - see you all on opening day!!

Don't forget to order your pre-packed fly selections for Christmas presents - a great gift for all your fishing friends.

Ron

Published on Sunday 14 October 2007 by Ronald Sutherland
Last edited on Friday 19 October 2007 by Ronald Sutherland

06/10/2007

End of season report to follow soon

www.helmsdalecompany.com

We have great Christmas stocking fillers available now for your fishing friends. Stylish Helmsdale Company pre-packed selection fly boxes are available to purchase on-line...check them out

Published on Saturday 6 October 2007 by Ronald Sutherland
Last edited on Sunday 7 October 2007 by Ronald Sutherland

15/09/2007

Last week there were 4 salmon reported from the Association water with the best being a cracking 20 pounder caught and released by local William Jappy, the fish was coloured and fell to a conehead. Robert Flett also had a nice fish which was surprisingly sea-liced and taken from the upper Allan on a copper Frances tube.
The upper river had a quiet week even though the river was in good order due to regular injections from the Loch. As I write today the rain is lashing down and hopefully it will make a difference to water levels next week. Everything has turned a little stale and a good spate would round off the season with some late sport.
Don’t forget you can order all your flies for back end fishing on the Tweed etc on-line from my new fly-store www.helmsdalecompany.com where we have great new tungsten tubes tied up for the cooling water + many more desirable flies. A great Christmas gift this year might be some of my destination selection boxes which I can also custom for you and deliver fast.

A big killer this season has emerged as the Frances copper tube, this big Icelandic killer has fished extremely well on the Helmsdale this year especially for the Kildonan rods headed by Martin Grant, they have also experimented very well using Tungsten Snelda - I am going to stick my neck out and say I think they might even end up top rods this season. I have the Frances available on-line in the most successful sizes + a few Snelda….give them a cast, you might be pleasantly surprised with results!

Tight lines

Ron.

14/08/2007

Another good week on the Helmsdale Association water recorded around 25 sea-liced fish last week. The week began with a wash-out spate on Monday but that was soon forgotten as Tuesday provided 5 fish and Wednesday 7, sport continued for the rest of the week with great water holding. Most patterns were working so long as they were quite big and bright especially at the start of the week - Coneheads in particular and my new Tungsten's were fishing great - all over the North.

I will be uploading some tied tungsten tubes this week on www.helmsdalecompany.com so get your supply quick as demand is very high for this new product. I will also have new coneheads available this week. We have our highland games this Saturday 18th and a big attraction will be the North of Scotland Open fly casting championships. This year we are very lucky to have 4 special salmon rods from the Carron rod & case company, Carron rods and lines need no introduction as they hold the recently set world record casting distance by Gordon Armstrong and we have the 17"11 competition model set up and ready for our Salmon distance competition - 3 other carron rods will be on demo for you to try in sizes 16 - 15 - 14ft. Carron lines & accessories will be part of the prizes too, trout distance and accuracy casting will also be running. I will have a large selection of my flies on display also in the casting arena + destination selection boxes.

The weather forecast is good for Saturday so come along and try out the Carron rods and lines, they really are the best!
I look forward to seeing you there.

Tight lines

Ron

04/08/2007

Apologies for the lack of information recently, the Helmsdale Community web-site on which this report is hosted has been completely up-graded. As you will see the webmasters have done a magnificent and professional job and all on a voluntary basis - many thanks to Rick Curran and David Mason for their amazing work, and they are not done yet! The site will be under development for the next few months so please be patient as the changes will all be for the better.

The Association water sprung into action as expected during the third week of July. 30 salmon were taken with 15 reported on Tuesday 24th. This appears to have been the peak of the grilse run as the following week beginning 30th only recorded 15 fish.

As I report today on August 5th the fishing has noticeably slowed down. A constant supply of high water over the last month has resulted in fish flying through most of the lower beats and hardly showing themselves in the process however catches have been good on the upper river on occasion. Salmon have also been caught way out on some of the most remote lochs in the catchment area on Drum and Arachlinie.

We would now expect a better quality of salmon to show up over the next few weeks; traditionally early August brings a mix of fresh fish between 4 - 15lbs so the Association water is still well worth a cast. On the whole the quality of grilse so far has probably been slightly better than last season.

The lochs have reported some nice brown trout this Summer, excellent fish of 3, 4 & 5lbs have been taken from Badanloch and loch Coire na mang so good sport can be had in the hills as well as on the river.

As usual, call me at the shop for an update or any other fishing info and don't forget to buy all your flies on www.helmsdalecompany.com I have a great selection of flies for sale now just a click away. Take special note of the nicely packaged destination selections, they are great gifts for your friends and are fast becoming best sellers.

Tight lines

Ron.

10/07/2007

Salmon caught last week:

Small quantities of summer fish are arriving daily now. Good water levels helped produce a 4 and 3 day catch on the Association water last Friday and yesterday (Monday 9th). Alistair Jappy had one of the better fish with an 8 pounder in the Flat pool on a TD and visitor Angus Macdonald (Weeker!!) had a nice brace with a grilse and another 8lbs fish also from the tail of the Flat pool, a Pot bellied Pig was the deadly fly. Today (Tuesday 10th) Hamish Macrae (Dornoch) grassed his first Helmsdale grilse from the Style pool late in the afternoon on a GP, well done him, I think he may return! a good run of grilse was reported at the time. Two more fish taken last week moves our running total to 19. www.helmsdalecompany.com is in full swing now and new fly patterns have been added once again. Get ordering good supplies of deadly grilse flies as they are gathering everywhere - Micro Pot bellied Pigs, Cascades, Sunray shadow, Frances and boar bristle shrimp to name just a few. Call me at the shop regarding any tackle or fishing information on 01431821372. Tight lines.

Association salmon caught:

19

River height running at:

10"

River temperature:

59

Suggested line density:

Floating

Flies of the moment:

PBPs, TDs

01/07/2007

Salmon caught last week:

We have a dirty rising river tonight so things are looking up for the week ahead. Last week saw the arrival of some grilse but as usual for the time of year they were thin on the ground. Two were caught on the Association water - one of which was only 1.75lbs, Ker Hamilton and Gordon Innes were the captors. The beats had mixed fortunes and had to work very hard for any sport, this will not go down as a week to remember. I think the run will build from this week and probably peak at the end of the month again so get your flies and tackle ordered asap. Start on www.helmsdalecompany.com for the latest killers and call me regarding tackle. My offer of the month is a super grilse outfit - 13ft shakespeare salmon rod/reel/Scientific Anglers line ready to go for £99. Simms kit is still on promotion so call me for the best UK prices direct to your door on 01431821372.

Association salmon caught:

9

River height running at:

8"

River temperature:

57

Suggested line density:

Floating

Flies of the moment:

Cascades, TDs, Alistairs

24/06/2007

Salmon caught last week:

We had a quiet week on the Helmsdale last week with just a few grilse and the odd bigger fish showing up however anglers who targeted sea-trout reported good sport on the upper beats. On the Association water Alexander Cowie hooked and landed a tiny grilse of 1.75lbs in the Well pool, hopefully not the shape of things to come. David Cowie had a good start to his season when on only his second visit he bagged a fine 12lb sea-liced fish in the Sewage pool on a Baby TD, that takes the local tally up to 7 in a disappointing season so far. Enquiries are now piling in from visitors regarding fishing the Association water, please note that visitor tickets now start from the new time of 8am and run until midnight daily, the price remains the same as last year. Dont forget to visit my new fly store to stock up on killer flies - www.helmsdalecompany.com As usual call me at the shop for more details and look out for big UK exclusive in the Trout & Salmon mag soon regarding a brand new product i am about to launch. I still have a Simms sale running and can also set you up with almost anything on the tackle front for the lowest UK prices. Please mail me or call me if you need flies or tackle for any fishing trip worldwide - i will post kit right to your door.

Association salmon caught:

7

River height running at:

5"

River temperature:

58

Suggested line density:

Floating

Flies of the moment:

Baby Tds, Sunray Shadow.