Hi there,

I am considering driving from Edinburgh up to the Don for a days fishing next week (Wed 16th May).

Does anyone know what the rvier conditions are like at the moment? and what flies I can expect to see (and which flies I should take with me)?

I think it takes 3 hours from Edinburgh to get to the Don and so I want to make sure the trip will be worth it.

Can anyone recommend somewhere on the Don to fish (day ticket water) for this time of year? I really want to have a chance of sight/rise fishing for one of the specimen trout - is this realistic in May?

Any information would be very much appreciated!

Many thanks,

Robbie

I fished the Don recently. The water was low and clear and there was no sign of any big fish, despite a large sedge hatch. Rod3 has posted a similar report on this board. The Don is undoubtedly a beautiful river and well worth a trip. The recent rain may have changed things and brought some of the bigger fish on to feed. The Grant Arms water at Monymusk is said to be some of the best on the river. It is about £20 for a day ticket. Wildfisher may have more recent information as it is his local stream - lucky man.

If I was taking a days trout fishing on the Don, I would take a ticket for Parkhill which is part of the Aberdeen and district angling club.
I would concentrate on the section from the old railway bridge up for about a mile.
Having fished the Don from top to bottom for a lot of years, in my opinion,this is the most reliable and consistent with regard to flies hatching and trout rising. There are also some very big trout in Parkhill, I had three over 5lb last year, and they should still be there to be caught this year.
Here is a link to the ADAA site on the visitors ticket section.
http://www.adaa.org.uk/fishingTickets.php.
I will be out of town that day, but if you do decide to try it out, let me know and I will ask my dad to show you around. He has fished the beat for over 50 years.

You could also check out this website www.fishingthefly.co.uk it has a lot of info regarding the Don.
l moved up North from Livi a couple of years ago and this website helped me find loads of fisheries in the Grampian area.

I agree with Buntinbee and I have seen the photos of the fish he caught at Parkhill – stunning. My own experiences of the Don (going back, on and off, to the 1970s) have shown that the further downstream you go the more reliable the rises. I fished Alford yesterday (5 miles upstream from Monymusk – this is my local water) big LDO hatch – no fish rising. You would swear there was not a fish in it. Water was high and slightly coloured – it is raining here again today.. Beware – this will bring the salmon fishers out with their heavy lines / spiinners. You really want to avoid them as many seem to be unfamiliar with the meaning of the word etiquette

Last tip: don't take the drivel written about the Don in the magazines too seriously and you won’t be disappointed. Always bear in mind that articles are written to sell magazines and once the bandwagon is rolling many are eager to jump aboard.

Avoid beats 4 + 5. Great for white water canoeing, not so good for fly fishing. All the other beats are good. If it's windy try to get on beats 2 or 3. Beat 1 is very open.

There is bound to be conflict when salmon anglers pay more and want to fish down stream and then they meet trout anglers with almighty chips on their shoulders trying to fish upstream.

Is a spiinner a spent fly? I am uncertain but I know that some uncouth anglers use a spinner,

__________________
Malcolm
<')\\\\\<<
Quot homines tot sententiae

Wrong again we are talking about the Don and I pay exactly the same for my fishing as do these salmon "anglers".

Fished the Tummel last year and met some guys Salmon fishing - they told us in no uncertain terms to keep out of their way. Then one of them tried to impress us by saying he had caught a 2lb trout and left it on the bank for "you trout boys" - an otter got it which he found funny. He caught it on a mepp seeing as how the Salmon were not playing ball with the fly.

Sometimes having a chip on your shoulder is justified.

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http://urbanflyfisher.com/

Have bumped into one or two such pig ignorant Neanderthals myself. Met some really nice guys too it must be said. As this thread is about the Don - a solution there might be to make the entire river fly only. This would cut out 75% of these tossers at a stroke. Can’t see it happening though (although some beats already are), the owners would lose too much money. The only good thing so far this year is that the salmon fishers I meet all report a truly dreadful season on the upper / middle river – this might help keep more of them away.