9/8/09 

40 fish have been recorded on the Association water over the last two weeks and many more lost. Catches are not near what we are used to and sport has been far from consistent but fish are here and hopefully the coming week will bring the biggest run of the summer. Figures could be higher but visitor numbers have been brought back into control now with just 4 open daily tickets available ( 9am – 12pm ) and 8 x 24hr tickets for visiting anglers staying in Helmsdale accom, this has been welcomed as a fair system and is working well. 

The upper river has also reported disappointing sport on the whole apart from the odd big day when conditions have been perfect. The size of most grilse caught has also been poor and many are in the 2 – 3lbs class. The last few seasons have peaked in the first two weeks of August, let’s hope next week is the big one and fish improve in size. As usual you can stock up on here for all your flies. Fish with two flies if you want to maximise your chances of a hook up and get that dropper dibbling in classic Helmsdale style. The deadliest flies on the Helmsdale right now are Alistairs and baby Temple Dog tubes.

The Helmsdale & District Angling Club have had a meeting recently and many interesting topics were discussed with the most popular being the 10% discount at the Tackle Shop for members. The Tackle Shop has also started a fish of the month competition in association with the Northern Times weekly Rag. The comp is open to all who read the paper in Ross-Shire, Sutherland & Caithness. The biggest or best catch can be rod caught in fresh or salt water. For full details please refer to the entry form in the paper. The monthly winner will receive a £100 tackle voucher. I will display the winning fish each month on this report. The Helmsdale Highland games will be here again this weekend (August 15^th) 3 times World Spey casting champion Scott Mackenzie has introduced his new DTX salmon rods to the market and the Games Open Salmon Distance casting competition will be using the 15ft model, I will also have his other rod sizes on show + Scott’s new lines which match the rods perfectly. Please pop along to the casting arena as there are Trout distance & accuracy comps too. The event begins at 12 noon and will run until around 4.30.