The river has been very quiet during opening week as there have been little or no anglers on the water. So, not much to report yet!

On the fly front, we have started to use some superb new synthetic junglecock on one or two of our flies. Check out the new Alistair design from Ron (below) which is tied on a bare gold double using the award winning Semperfli tying thread and synthetic JC from the same company. We really like the look of it. Real JC or not is a big question and one that has been bouncing around for years but as access to real JC is becoming more restricted the synthetic sub is becoming more and more prevalent. Opinions differ but generally I am feeling that the mood is swinging away from the very expensive real JC, but only just!

Real JC is indeed the real deal but are the salmon interested in the slightest? it is a subject that books could be written about but at the end of the day the angler will decide until real JC becomes impossible to access. personally I hope that day never comes but if it does I do not think we will catch less fish as many of the most successful flies already swim without it.

Let me know what you think of the Alistair below, same fly in 2 different pics with synthetic JC.