Another tough week on the Helmsdale saw 8 fish reported up until Friday night and I have not heard of anything caught on Saturday yet. Borrobol had a fish from beat 1 below Monday and Achentoul ghillie George Sutherland grassed one from Dempsters Wednesday, Suisgill had 2. On Thursday Borrobol rods struck again with 2 from the One Minute Hole beat 4 and Badanloch rods John Browett had a super day with a 15 pounder from way down the tail of Lower Caen followed by another from the Woody pool on the upper beat. Local expert Alistair Jappy was called in as second ghillie for part of the week on Badanloch rods and put John right onto his sea-liced 15 pounder in a spot that is often overlooked unless the river is high.

The river is still low and running on compensation water at around 5". I have never known springtime to be so dry. Floating lines with coneheads and small copper tubes are doing the damage. The deadly Cascade tungsten Conehead (below) is fishing very well - I would get a few ordered while we still have stocks, they are disappearing fast!

Dont forget we are still in "pricecrash" mode on-line with all spring flies. We also heve the new range of Scott Mackenzie shootine lines available, these lines are outselling all lines right now with the exception of the Carron Jetstream. New technology has made casting so easy now with very slick and well balanced lines on shorter heads. Couple these new lines with very lightweight rods and fishing is an absolute pleasure - it's not all about catching fish...but it is nice when you do with little effort and no aching muscles at the end of the day.

Prospects for the week ahead are slightly better than of late with some rain and cooler temperatures forecast.