The fishing slowed down last week on par with history. In a week dominated by high pressure the fishing was always going to be a challenge but a few rods did have some success. Beats 3 & 5 fished best and the first fish came off loch Achnamoine, beat 6 above. Astonishingly this water barely sees salmon anglers cast a fly in anger and is generally used as a few hours trout fishing for the kids. I'm all for giving youngsters and beginners the opportunity to fish, it is especially important to keep them interested but in the opinion of many it is high time locals were given the chance to situate a boat on this loch and pay fair rent for the opportunity.

The loch holds salmon from April onwards, as soon as fish are over the falls you have a chance there but it is merely paid lip service as far as serious salmon fishing goes. It is a considerable waste of good fishing which could be enjoyed by many more anglers. The loch is not big but size is not the issue, it is the lack of rods. For those of you familiar, Loch Achnamoine is bigger than loch Askaig on Borrobol and roughly the same size os loch Arachlinnie on Achentoul estate. A locally managed trouting boat on full catch & release for salmon would create a real buzz!
It will not be entertained....and that's why the outcome of the Freshwater Fisheries Review will be so ruthless in parts of the highlands.

Loch Achnamoine looking North West towards Badanloch and the dam.

The Association water only produced seatrout and some good bags were caught early in the week. One of our junior anglers Jordan Marshall was delighted to catch his first of the season at 1.5lbs on a Butcher double. The fly catching most is the Black CDC double ( pic below ) up until last year CDC was not used in any seatrout patterns. I wanted to try a wet fly close to the surface and tied up a few flies on doubles with the buoyant leggy style feather and it was an instant rip roaring success! Seatrout love to hit flies very close to the surface (as some of the classic Welsh surface lures prove) and they hammered the CDC from the word go. I am now working on expanding the range.

It is quiet on the salmon front everywhere at the moment and less than 30 were reported last week but we are hopefull that the grilse run will start in earnest soon. No salmon were reported from the Association water.

The deadly Black CDC seatrout fly - buy it here now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=1127