I blanked last week on the North Esk the Burn beat. I don't have a clue what I was doing wrong if anything but I tried and offered everything to them, they were just not interested though.

I noticed in the record of catches that the last dozen or so caught had all been caught on spinners. I'm thinking I should have taken my spinning rod with me and tried that instead but I also think if I'd done that I could still have blanked that day.

My question is has anyone caught any on the fly on the North Esk recently and if so what patterns work in addition to the Pert Shrimp? Or do you think the water levels are not high enough to fish sucesfully at the moment?

I did have a great day nonetheless and love this river. It was also good value IMHO because the bloke only charged me £20 for the day.

I can't wait to go back and may do so towards the end of this month as well. I may buy a few more patterns though to try so any suggestions or advice greatly appreciated. I will also take my spinning rod next time as well but I would love to catch on the fly.

Cheers,

John

Three of us were blanking on the Spey once (4 days) with fish jumping all around us and, as advised, we were fishing tiny flies. On the last day in desperation, one of our party put on a 'orrible 4-inch bright orange Rapala and caught a fish almost immediately!

On went the biggest monsterous Ally shrimp I had - and bang - 12 lber !

So dont be shy to go big or very big!

It's a funny old game though - sometimes nothing works.

Colin

That's salmon fishing mate. There are days they will take anything, other times you couldn't buy a fish, even though the pools might be stuffed with them.

Personally, I would rather blank fly fishing, than catch on the spinner. Personal preference, but spinning/bait fishing does not have any appeal whatsover.

Ask locally what is working, but as long as the water is reasonably clean, you should still get fish on the fly.

The main thing is, you enjoyed your day. Don't get caught up in the numbers game.

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www.paypalsucks.com

Yep thats salmon fishing

I have fished those beats and its quite exciting and very frustrating after some water to see all the fish laying in the pools.

My maxim is 'don't keep doing it if it isn't working' so go very big or even very small, faster, slower and any variations that you can think of.

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The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites'

I'm with Ryan 100% on this.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

The North Esk fished its socks of last week

sounds like you were just unlucky

"Should have been here last week mate".....

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www.paypalsucks.com

Well i was up today for a look and the water was brown but dropping off nicely and there was loads of fish around!

We had four rods on the Stracathro beat this week. The river levels were fine and it was stuffed with fresh fish. We only had one fish between us in three days. This was a repeat of the experience of the last two years, so that's one fish in 36 man days of fishing. Whilst I am a novice we had very experienced anglers in the party and were advised on tactics by local guides.

The plus point is that the one fish was my first salmon on the fly - a small silver grilse.

This story is not un common on the esks this year,.....I fish Stracathro on a almost weekly basis and have done for 6 years now. This year we have never seen so many fish but our catch rate is actually down this year for some reason? We know the beat inside out and the taking flies all to well but have to put it down to one thing....salmon are funny creatures and like one of our syndicate found out, he fished seven days on the trot without a fish, then caught three on his next visit in one hour?

Thats what keeps us going back...you will never suss it out...thats why its called fishing and not catching Annoying at times yes but hey ho thats life

PS did you try the norwegian w*****g method it has got me a few fish this year

Regards
Neil Anderson
Angus Angling.

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