The Helmsdale had another consistent week with around 100 fish off. Sport was patchy with a mix of fresh and stale fish, fresh grilse are still entering the system. The highlight was a clonking 26.5 pounder caught by Mr John Pette (pic below). Frances and Temple Dogs are catching well along with Alistair tubes and coneheads. I am also getting lots of UK feedback regarding our SuperSnaelda tubes which seem to be fishing great everywhere. As the autumn approaches there are no better tubes fished on sinking tips, when these aggressive looking flies are presented right down in front of fish they can barely resist having a snap at them!

RS SuperSnaelda red & gold is as good as it gets for fishing deep late in the season - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/rs-super-snaelda-red-gold.html

 

The Association water was pretty quiet. Alistair Jappy had 2 grilse on Monday and 2 came off Tuesday on the back of another spate. Apart from that I did not hear of much more.

The Highland Games Fly casting pulled in a good crowd once again and we had lots of under 16 entrants this year, good to see so much interest from that age group. Jordan Marshall dominated the 16 and under salmon and trout distance competitions while Peter Quail won the Senior salmon distance with 160 feet, Daniel Logie was second on 155ft, Martin Grant 3rd 140ft. Trout distance was won by Robert Flett on 105ft. Maryanne Quail was ladies champion with Connie Denoon 2nd and April Sutherland 3rd. Peter Quail was the overall champion and he kindly donated all his winnings to the "PARKINride" charity organisation who are raising funds for the Raigmore Hospital Macmillan Suite.

I would like to thank Mick Buttery for stewarding and donating the stewards tent this year and Jordan Marshall for stewarding also. Loop Cross S1 rods were used and stood up to all that was competitively thrown at them once again no problem. These rods are the real deal and cast very long with absolute ease wherever they are deployed.

April Sutherland on the trout accuracy

The weather was superb in the afternoon after a dismal morning.

One more item of interest was passed on to me by Otis Ferry on behalf of Tony Andrews, the Atlantic Salmon Trust "Lost at Sea" project. anyone who would like to donate to this worthy cause can do so. details below.

Atlantic Salmon - Lost at Sea

I want introduce you to an exciting project supported by the Atlantic Salmon Trust: the film, 'Atlantic Salmon - Lost at Sea!'

The producer is Deirdre Brennan who has been making this film for 6 years in the rivers of North America, Europe, Iceland, Greenland, and at sea in the Atlantic Ocean. It tells the story of the collapse in abundance of wild Atlantic salmon over the last thirty years.

The film records the urgent quest to try to solve the mystery of the salmon's life at sea and to answer the question: 'why are salmon dying in greater numbers than ever before in their ocean environment and not returning to their native rivers?'

The film, takes the viewer on a journey through the mysterious world of the King of Fish, and highlights some of the important research, conservation and restoration work of AST and others in all the wild Atlantic salmon countries. It describers the groundbreaking research programme to track salmon on their epic migration to try to find out why and where they are dying at sea.

Filming is now complete and it is ready to edit. In order to raise the last 10% of the budget needed, Deirdre has embarked on a Kickstarter campaign to bring in funds to finish the project. Kickstarter is a crowd-funding platform and in its 10 years has raised over $1.6 billion for creative projects, including many documentary films. All projects are vetted in advance. It is an all or nothing principle - if the goal is not reached, then no money changes hands. The campaign is for 30 days and will run from August 6th - September 5th. The goal is £30,000.

Please support this most worthwhile venture. Its aim is to raise public awareness about the plight of our salmon. The film will be used widely at national, regional and local levels to raise money for salmon conservation. By contributing money - as much as you can afford, no matter how small an amount - to the film you are therefore directly supporting our international campaign to save the salmon.

Please see the link below for more details:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1121132260/atlantic-salmon-lost-at-sea

AST, supported by the Spey, Dee and Esks District Fishery Boards, has already contributed £12,000 to the project. Please help us to finish the job, by donating through Kickstarter - even £5 would help. This is a story of hope, and a dynamic way with real urgency to increase public commitment to saving the iconic Atlantic salmon.

We need to act now to save wild Atlantic salmon. I trust we have your support.

With best wishes,

Tony Andrews
Director Atlantic Salmon Trust