26/7/09 

Its crunch time on the Helmsdale once again as we are expecting the main grilse run to arrive in the next fortnight. Recent weeks have been poor in general for July with another low dry spell but this is a sign of the times and to be more expected now. This week the river has suffered badly with high unsettled water conditions but in the past week around 75 fish have been recorded in total. The Association water produced the best quality fish and all (14) were fresh run grilse with an occasional 8lbs salmon. The upper river saw few fresh runners however pods of grilse were encountered amongst the persistent but welcome spate water. Most of the fish caught & returned were stale salmon. 

Grilse numbers are definitely on the rise now. Hopefully the next month on the river should provide excellent sport.Don’t forget to kit up with the correct tackle here on-line. Give yourself the best chance of a hook up by having a good supply of the right flies for water conditions. All our salmon lines are on offer for the next fortnight so now is the time to get a slick new floating line on the reel to shoot those deadly new flies. The more fish you cover - the more action you will have! We have lots of Spey, double taper & shooting heads in store so call for advice on your best option.

 Tight lines.