8 fish were reported last week but surprisingly nothing has yet been caught above beat 3. A mild week in general got off to a great start for John Sweetman fishing Badanloch rods when he landed 2 springers in his first hour on the river. Starting his week half way down Kilphedir pool, he quickly had ghillie Alex Fraser scrambling for the net on tide fresh fish of 7 and 10lbs, one of our Conehead Monkeys doing the damage. Upper Torrish pool on beat 3 then produced a brace for Martin Grant and Glen MacDonald on consecutive days with Martin scoring again the following day on beat 2 tail of the Park. All the classic big spring pools were fishing beautifully at around 1ft 9 and full intermediates and sinking tips were swinging round in perfect fashion with anticipation on every cast.

John Sweetman fishing Lower Caen pool beat 1 in grand order

People will be getting fed up with me harping on about the rodding situation on the river, but I make no apologies for once again stating that whilst personally fishing one rod on beats 3, 2, & 1 last week, 2 rods hardly scratched the surface trying to cover these majestic stretches of water. At an average spring height of between 1 - 2ft these beats are quality 3 rod beats all day long. The point I keep trying to get across is that no fish will be harmed due to any extra rodding or fishing pressure under a catch & release system (which will probably soon be enforced on us all via the Scottish Government Fishery review recommendations).

One of many extensive spring pools on the lower Helmsdale. The Viaduct pool on beat 1 fully 500yds long

Upper Torrish beat 3 where 2 fish were caught last week.

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Moving on. The next fish off was caught by yours truly on a flying run rough the Association water Flat pool whilst en route to fish beat 2. A quick scan of the area showed that the pool was vacant and in tip top condition, a new fly was trialled and 30 minutes later a sparkling sea liced 12 pounder was in the bag. A Blue Ass Willie Gunn copper tube was christened in record time and this was the first fish off the Association water! I was then off to beat 2 where Corrie Cormack had also been into his first fish of the season in the Private pool. Number 8 for the week and 14 for the season was caught by Donald Sutherland in the Kilphedir pool. Unfortunately Saturday dawned with a river rising fast and the day soon became a washout.

The deadly new fly

12 pounder securely in the net for release and Blue Ass WG tubefly showing up nicely!

Prospects for the week ahead are good and I would fully expect a fish or two from beat 6 due to the very mild weekend temperatures. Tickets are available for the Association water on a daily basis for only £25 per rod per day and as you can see, chances are very good as there are obviously some cracking springers entering ther system. You can also still take advantage of our buy 3 get 1 free on all flies so stock up and tell your friends too.

In a round up of other Northern rivers - The Brora river finally got off tha mark last week when Duncan Shelly Tain landed the first fish of the season from Rallan pool and I heard that the Thurso also produced its first fish at the end of last week. The Naver river is catching much the same as the Helmsdale.

Duncan Shelly proudly shows off his Brora first fish of the season at 11lbs