Table of contents for March 2023 in Trout & Salmon

SEASON February 1 to October 15. BOOKING £85-£132 per rod, per day. For information about the Crathes Castle beat, recommended tackle and tuition, contact TwinPeakes Fly-Fishing. Tel: 07766 548 708. Email: info@twinpeakesflyfishing Web: twinpeakesflyfishmg.com ACCOMMODATION Tor Na Coille Hotel, Inchmarlo Road, Banchory. Rooms from £90 per night. The hotel offers exclusive fishing packages on the River Dee and, with its sister hotel, The Kildrummy Inn, on the River Don. Contact: Tor Na Coille Hotel. Tel: 01330 822 242 Web: tornacoille.com…

TICKETS Fishing is controlled by Keoldale Sheepstock Club. Borraiaidh, as on all four of the limestone lochs, is strictly fly-only and catch-and-release is strongly encouraged. PRICES Bank fishing, £30 per rod. Boat hire, £60 for two fishermen. Electric motors only. For bookings and permits contact Martin Mackay. Email: martni@durnesslimestonelochs.co.uk. Tel: 01971511255 Web: durnesslimestonelochs.co.uk SEASON April to September. Borralaidh can fish well right through the season and success is much more likely to be dictated by the conditions on any given day. Warm, settled summer evenings fishing into the dark are likely to present the best chances of catching the bigger residents. TACKLE Standard loch outfits, 9ft-10-ft rods, 4wt-7wt. Floating lines should suffice for the vast majority of situations, though intermediate and fast-sinking lines are well worth experimenting with in the…

1. BORN TO FISH Of the many objects that have inspired my life in fishing, one remains above all others. It’s a Christian book called The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C Douglas that my mother was reading in hospital as she waited for me to be born. She told me that is how she decided upon my name, and when she sadly passed, well before her time, I found the book near her bedside. Browsing, I came across a page (158) she must have later marked with a four-leafed clover and on it is the name of Simon the “giant fisherman from Galilee who towered above all others”. So, even before I was born, I have felt there was probably some destiny for me to become a fisherman of note.…

Harfield H. Edmonds (1883-1956) Elected club secretary in 1935, he restored the club’s finances after the Depression. He co-authored, with Norman Lee, the classic Brook and River Trouting. L. R. Hardy (1884-1958) Managing Director of the Hardy tackle firm, and a champion caster. In 1942 he caught a salmon of 37lb from the Eden at Wetheral. J.W. Hills (1867-1938) An MP who fought river pollution, he is remembered for his books, My Sporting Life, A History of Fly Fishing for Trout and A Summer on the Test. A.H. Illingworth (1865-1942) Inventor of the fixed-spool reel Stephen Johnson (1912-1997) Author of Fishing from Afar, a book he began writing while imprisoned as a ROW in Stalag Luft III, the location of The Great Escape. T.E. Pritt (1848-1895) Founding father of the…

{QUICK FIX} SWEET SPOT Many fly-lines have a colour change that signifies the line’s loading point. When the change is just outside the rod tip, this is the point at which the manufacturer believes the extended line will load the rod best. But anglers have different casting strokes and use rods with different actions, and while the manufacturer’s colour change may work for its testers and rods, it may not work perfectly for you and your preferred rod. However, there is a simple way to identify your ideal loading point. Next time you’re on the bank, take a black permanent marker pen and when you’ve found the loading point at which you cast best, mark the line where you grip it to recast. This is especially useful when spey casting…

Golden pheasant toppings should be symmetrical in every way. To reshape twisted toppings, wet them and place on the narrowest part of a metal lampshade. Gentle heat will steam them back into form. Place the crest into position with your left hand, then with your right, spin the bobbin anti-clockwise. This forces the thread to hug the tail and hook as you wind it over the tail. If adding a dubbed body, secure the tail with thread, trim, then add the rib. If your body is flat tinsel, secure the crest stalk all the way to the eye. This ensures a level bed on which to wind the tinsel. Return the thread to the tail end to repeat step two if adding another tail, or to attach the rib. If…

LAST MONTH, THIS column skimmed the surface of spring salmon fishing. This month, we’re going to tie on the sink-tip and dip down into more detail. First — you’ve read all those classics by the salmon writers of yore? Your Falkus and your Fitzgibbon and your Crawford Little? Well, you can forget all that. Or most of it. Not, you understand, that those Giants of The River knew not whereof they spoke. But the rivers they Knew Whereof in those days were stuffed with Nature’s Bounty; pools so packed with fish you needed a tin opener to get them out. Nowadays, the first consideration is how to find the slippery blighters. The next is how to get them to Do Something. This is much harder when there are just two…

Flying high Kite single-handed rods are part of three brand new ranges launched by Greys for the 2023 season. The Kite is aimed at the regular or intermediate angler who wants a highperformance rod without breaking the bank. Four-piece Toreon high-intermediate modulus carbon blanks give the rods a medium-fast action, ideal for most average to good casters, with high recovery speed and plenty of power in reserve. The graphite-coloured matt blanks have black gloss whippings with red accents, lined stripping rings and single-leg intermediates. All sections have model ID and alignment dots for easy identification and assembly. The overall finish is good with AAA cork handles — the 3wt to 6wt models have reverse half wells grips, while the 7wt and 8wt models have full wells grips with black synthetic…

CRISIS ON THE DEE An alarmingly lack of spring salmon in two indicator burns in the Upper Aberdeenshire Dee catchment has prompted the District Fishery Board to issue a public statement promising “emergency action”. Fish traps on the Girnock and Baddoch tributaries, which have been monitored for decades, last year counted only handfuls of fish. However, while some anglers may have hoped the Board’s statement that it would begin “Stocking the progeny from surplus local broodstock” was a sign a major hatchery project was underway, Board Chairman Lawrence Ross and River Director Dr Lorraine Hawkins have made it clear this is unlikely. Instead, they’ve outlined four key actions to begin immediately. “Habitat improvements” at a “local level” will be detailed investigations of upper tributaries to see if more remedial work…

HOW MANY HAVE YOU FISHED? Frank Ward’s The Lakes of Wales has been the Welsh angler’s bible for the best part of a century, but now there is a worthy successor. Wild Lakes of Wales, a new book by Ceri Thomas and Alan Parfitt, does not pretend to be as comprehensive, but this is no bad thing. While Frank Ward listed more than 600 lakes, from Aber-Hirnant (“This lake has now practically disappeared”) to Ystwlan — including the Kerry Pool (“at present there is no pool”), Thomas and Parfitt give the reader a splendid selection of 50 lakes, all of which have a population of wild trout — although some share the water with stocked browns and rainbows. They range from waters with a few dour — possibly legendary —…

AS COLIN MACLEOD’S captivating Hebridean Diary reaches the end of its tenure, it gives me great pleasure to take the reins and guide you through a fishing year in the north of England. Eagle-eyed readers might have spied my writing in these pages before, usually waxing lyrical about some northern river or upland lake. I'll make no excuse for that — I count myself extremely lucky to hail from Lancashire, and as well as some fine fishing right on my doorstep, a short drive puts me within easy reach of the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbrian Lakes. I love a trip as much as anyone, but with such riches so close at hand I’ll admit to harbouring a deep love of my local area, an attachment which keeps me anchored firmly…

THE FISHING Thirty-five miles of fishing for salmon, sea-trout, brown trout and grayling on the Eden, Eamont, Lune, Lyvenett, Ribbleand Ure. MEMBERSHIP No day tickets. No joining fee and currently no waiting list. Core Membership (trout and grayling on all club waters), £650. General Salmon, includes Core membership (excludes lower Eden beats), £1,100. General Salmon Plus, includes Core membership (includes lower Eden beats), £1,670. Aged 9-18: Free Core Membership. Aged 19-40: Sliding scale of discounted fees for all membership categories. Core members have six guest tickets, Salmon members have nine guest tickets. A full explanation of membership rates is available on the website. Contact: David Viehoff. Mob: 07771805267. Email: contact form on club website. Web: yorkshireflyfishers.co.uk STUART MINNIKIN Stuart no longer guides, but he has a website with helpful guidance…

FILES OF THE WORLD All fly-fishers have their preferences. For some it’s for a delicate dry-fly or nymph, a bias that is even taken to the point of showing disdain for those who use a large, fluffy lure. However, it’s rare to find someone who is a highly skilled fly-fisher and fly-tyer, adept at a wide range of techniques, yet professes an intense dislike of dry-flies. In Swedish angler Håkan Karsnäser’s case that’s perhaps an exaggeration as it’s more that dry-flies don’t always float as they should that makes his blood boil. As he explains. “I don’t fish dry-flies a lot and the main reason is that I hate, just hate, when they start to sink. So, to prevent this I tie dry-flies that are almost unsinkable using materials such…

NOW YOU SEE IT… When I started fly-fishing in the 1960s there were only two brands of nylon monofilament in my local tackle-shop. I did not like Bell's, it was thick, stiff and an unnatural vivid green. Racine Tortue, on the other hand, was a much softer, more natural green material. Green was favoured by most fly-fishers because it matched the colours of the underwater world. My choice, however, was the natural watery-grey version. Maxima then introduced dark brown Chameleon, claiming it was “invisible to fish”. It was certainly visible to me, and I had no faith that my size 14 Buzzer would be taken. Most new brands remained green — Maxima’s Ultragreen, Drennan’s Sub Surface Green and, my choice, Orvis Superstrong, which was a lovely watery-green when first introduced.…

TROUT ARE OFTEN PERCEIVED AS gentle fish that feed exclusively on small insects. This is definitely not the case. They are scavengers and opportunists and will seldom turn down an easy meal. Yes, much of their diet may comprise insects, bugs and terrestrials, but they are also partial to minnows, salmon parr, or trout parr. They even consume their own young. Using streamers to catch predatory Irish trout has been a passion of mine since the late 1990s and comes a close second to my first love — dry-fly fishing. While nothing beats the thrill of seeing a trout rise to the surface to eat your dry-fly seeing a big trout chase a stripped streamer is equally exciting. I first learned the art of streamer fishing during my time as…

EARLY SPRING BRINGS ONE OF THE finest hatches of the season — the March brown — and with it one of the best chances to catch a big river trout. There are many March brown imitations, tied to look like nymphs, emergers, crippled duns or hatched adults. Most of us have our favourites, but my friend Paul Slaney’s first choice is the March Brown Spider. It works consistently well. I feel lucky to call Paul my friend — he is without doubt one of the world’s best fly-tyers. Living on the River Usk in Wales, he fishes for brown trout that are among the most beautifully spotted in the country, usually with a bluish smudge on their gill plate. The Usk fishes well all season, but in March and early…

The name Woolly Bugger seems somewhat old fashioned. It’s much more common across the Atlantic where streamer-style flies, such as those mentioned in this month’s Method (p86), are common. In the UK, we fish with the Tadpole and Humungous, which are effectively Woolly Buggers. Whichever name you prefer, this 5mm chenille is made for the streamer style. It comes in five colours picked for their effectiveness, including Chocoholic (brown), Bubblegum (pink), Nymph mode (medium-olive), Twilight (black) and Snowdrift (white). Each is laced with pearlescent fibres for added flash and has a bonded core to prevent shedding. Simply prepare a marabou tail, tie in a rib, wind a short length of Crystal Bugger chenille along the body in touching turns, then run a palmered hackle along the body, secured by the…

SPONSORED BY Stillmaniac Welcome to Troutmasters, Trout & Salmon’s friendly, grassroots challenge for all stillwater anglers. Anyone can take part, whether you’re an absolute beginner or an experienced rod, an adult or a junior. Our aim is to get everyone fishing more often, enjoying more fisheries, and being proud of the fish they catch. HOW TO ENTER Visit a Troutmasters water and catch a fish. Fill in the form (Senior, Youth or Junior) available at each fishery, and post it to T&S. Captors of the three biggest fish from each fishery each month will win a Troutmasters badge. All badge winners will be entered on to a Fishery League Table. We will also award a Gold badge to anglers who win Troutmasters badges from five different venues. Find out more…

Rio Products has been developing high-performing fly-lines, leader, and tippet materials in the fly-fishing industry for over 30 years. Whether you fish for trout, grayling, salmon or saltwater species, Rio has products that will improve your fishing performance and help you catch more fish. Rio is committed to producing the best and most innovative products fly-fishers can buy, packed with the latest technologies and manufactured to the highest quality. Two winners of our competition will each be able to choose Rio products to the retail value of £250. Contact Guide Flyfishing Tel 01977 681 300 Web guideflyfishing.co.uk…

A LATE REWARD Thirty-one-year-old Jack Evans caught this double-figure back-end salmon on a trip to the Cardrona beat on the Upper River Tweed. Jack’s grandfather Tony arranged the weekend trip for Jack and his dad Robert, and with the river in good condition the trio’s hopes were running high. Unfortunately, nothing showed interest in their flies on the Friday, and it wasn’t until nearly lunchtime on the Saturday that Jack hooked a fish on the Nutwood beat. It initially resisted all his efforts to move it, but after a stubborn fight the fish eventually conceded ground and was successfully landed and returned. COLOURFUL CATCH Well-known lady competition angler Joan Russell, from Northamptonshire, proudly displays a 16lb 14oz rainbow trout caught from Dever Springs Fishery, Hampshire. Joan told us; “It was…

Based at Milton of Crathes, a picturesque collection of craft shops and cafes, with its own tumbling stream for maximum aesthetic appeal, TwinPeakes Fly-Fishing Centre is only a mile further down the A93 from the Crathes Castle beat and Banchory. Owned by twin brothers Alastair and Will Peake, it is a Loop distributor for the UK and a Loop travel office offering guided trips to destinations in Scotland, Norway, Iceland and Chile. It also stocks leading brands such as Airflo lines, Patagonia clothing, Yeti coolboxes and drinkware, Franc N Snaelda fly-tying materials and Dr Slick tools, as well as flies by internationally renowned tyers like Ross Macdonald. The onsite Game Fishing School, with access to 400m of the River Dee, offers certified casting instruction from the brothers and their team…

It’s hard to think of a more appropriate beverage for the cold-weather angler than good old malt whisky. I rarely touch it during the summer months but as soon as the frosts return, so too does the urge to wrap my hands around a heavy glass filled with uisge beatha. We all have our favourites — and in truth I’d be hard pushed to turn down any decent dram — but my own preference is for the oily, maritime and slightly aggressive malts of Campbeltown. This bottle is from the Glen Scotia distillery and comes from a single cask bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. It reeks of seaweed, musty socks and slightly turned milk — yum!…

KLINKHÅMER Hook Size 14 Daiichi 1160 or Partridge Extreme Thread Tan or black 8/0 Abdomen Fly-Rite light tan poly dubbing Thorax Three strands of peacock herl Wing post Pink poly yarn Hackle Natural red cock The Klinkhår is in the “Caddis pupae” section of John’s latest book, Grayling on the Fly, which is appropriate since the Klink, whose use John helped to popularise in the UK in the 1980s, began life as the representation of an emerging insect. John notes that flies designed to be presented in “the critical inch” (in or just under the surface) have been around since the 17th century. What lies on and above the film can be sighted by the trout via refraction, so the Klink’s upright wing-post is visible as it drifts into the…

{THE CONVERSATION} JIM I’VE BEEN TYING SALMON FLIES for a long time. I’d describe myself as decent, but I honestly wouldn’t know where to start tying a classic. How did you begin? GARY I had tried when I was younger but never really developed the patience for it. Nowadays, we have great inspiration from the many great tyers that show up on social media. Online resources like classicflytying.net and Facebook groups join up the dots when you start taking a serious interest in tying classics. There’s a lot of help and advice available. In particular, Richard Jones, Stuart Foxall, Robert Verkerk and Dave Carne all helped and guided me when I needed it. I think the different techniques in all forms of fly-tying begin to cross over and make you…

THE TAIL - IF A FLY HAS ONE - IS usually the first item selected and tied in, setting the tone for the rest of the fly, but how much thought do you give to your choice? More often than not, we slavishly follow the dressing without a thought to suitability or durability; a mistake that can seriously compromise the performance or lifespan of the fly. Even Donald McLearn’s piece de resistance, the Dabbler, benefits from a wee tweak in the tail department, so don't assume a dressing is sacrosanct. As anglers and flytyers, our theories aren’t always on the same page, so when tying from a dressing, it almost always pays to consider and reconsider each item in that dressing. Sometimes these choices are purely aesthetic flourishes but the…

ROD I use a 9ft-10ft ⅚wt rod. For smaller rivers, a 9ft 6wt is ideal; on larger rivers, use a 9ft 6in or 10ft ⅚wt. The extra length will help you cast a little further and if you are on a high bank it will help you avoid snags. The rod I’m currently using is a Guideline LPX Chrome 9ft 9in 6wt. FLY-LINE A crucial part of my kit. It needs to have a short but very fast sinking head. I use either an Airflo Streamer Max Short (sinks at 7ips) or a Rio Streamer Tip (the 6ips version). Both have the correct taper to handle large streamers, and they get down quickly. You must use a dedicated streamer line because putting a tip on a floating line makes casting…

TROUT MASTERS Plus is month’s badge winners from Europe’s largest fly-fishing competition SCOTLAND 45 Alness 46 Annan 47 Ayr 48 Beauly 49 Borgie 50 Brora 51 Carron 52 Cassley 53 Clyde 54 Conon 55 Cree & Bladnoch 56 Aberdeenshire Dee 57 Deveron 58 Aberdeenshire Don 59 Doon 60 Earn 61 Forss 62 North & South Esks 63 Findhorn 64 Girvan 65 Halladale 66 Helmsdale 67 Irvine 68 Kirkaig & Inver 69 Outer Hebrides 70 Lochy 71 Loch Lomond & Leven 72 Lake of Menteith 73 Nairn 74 Ness 75 Nith 76 Orchy 77 Orkney 78 Oykel 79 Scourie 80 Shin 81 Skye 82 Spey 83 Stinchar 84 Tay 85 Teith 86 Thurso 87 Tweed 88 Wick ENGLAND & WALES 1 Anglesey 2 Artro 3 Bewl 4 Llyn Brenig 5 Bristol…

Reader offer FREE P&P GREYS GR60 ROD Made with Grey’s Toreon nano blank technology, the GR60 is lighter and stronger than standard carbon-fibre rods. They have an attractive black satin finish and section line-up marks. The handle is made from AAAA cork with durable composite tippings and butt with an aluminium reel seat and carbon spacer. Supplied in a cloth bag and protective tube. Four sizes available, ideal for Stillwater trout and sea-trout fishing. Sizes 9ft 6in 7wt or 8wt: Reader price £105 (RRP £209.99). 10ft 6wt or 8wt: Reader price £110 (RRP £222.99) GREYS GTS600 REEL Lightweight reel machined from quality 6061 bar stock aluminium. It has a reliable, easily adjusted Rulon disc-drag that will stop hard-running stillwater trout. Quick spool release. Supplied in a neoprene pouch. Size 6/7/8.…

THERE IS A SALE COMING UP AT THE local auction rooms and I have been burrowing in the catalogue. You might recall how I have become enthused of the occasional auction where exquisite vintage tackle and equipment can be acquired for a modest outlay of bunce. Or vast amounts of useless tat may be accumulated at ludicrous prices. It’s all a question of perspective, isn’t it? Take, for example, the “Box of assorted fishing accessories — £30-£40” that cropped up recently in a “General Antiques” sale. When they said box, the cataloguers weren’t kidding. It was an elderly cardboard affair, much stained with damp and oil. It contained a couple of centre-spool reels set about with quantities of tangled nylon. There were rusty spoons and spinners and a few tobacco…