Post by speyvalley on Mar 18, 2008 13:43:42 GMT
I managed to help out an "Old Forum Buddy"yesterday and take him up on his invite to fish a well known beat on the River Spey.The water levels on the Spey were perfect yesterday with the river dropping away very nicely with a water temperature of 39 degrees,on arrival at the hut after a brief discussion with my allocated Ghillie for the day we opted for the Carron Intermediate 5ft Polytip and a Gold bodied Willie Gunn 2 inch brass tube it was a dry day with a cold wind in the morning making casting tricky,you had to pay particular attention as to which cast you chose when the wind was gusting as you may have been wearing the new Willie Gunn brass tube earing.
We headed off to our allocated pools full of anticipation,I drew the bottom part of the beat in the morning on the far bank,just as I started fishing I saw a fish head and tail at the bottom of the pool,very encouraging to see fresh fish coming into the pools that you are fishing in March,I fished the pool through without a touch but was encouraged when I knew there were fresh fish moving through the beat.This was compounded as word came to my Ghillie that the rod on the pool below us had just landed and returned a 7lb Sea Licer at about 10.30am,this certainly made me check my flies for knots and that the tube fly was fishing the right way round!!
The pools were fishing at a terrific speed for the fly, it was coming round very slowly and if it came in front of anything fresh it was mine,at least thats what you convince youself will happen ;D
The Ghiilie asked me if I would like to fish the far side of the lower pool from the boat,I agreed that would be a good idea as it would let me get onto the other side and stop fighting with the wind.Then at 11.30am the radio goes,thats another fish from the top part of the beat 6.5lbs again Sea Liced,a great start to the day.The hour before lunch we changed sides and had a go from the boat,casting the fly towards the far bank the boat was an excellent platform to dangle the fly over the likely lies,"Any time now" says the Ghillie,I thought we must be close to "Tiger Country"as the fly was swimming perfectly,just like clockwork the line tightened and the old Hardy Perfect started singing,Its a "Shakker" he says at that point you realise that you have a fish on from last years stock,a healthy well mended Kelt landed quickly and returned.
Tackle for the day
A nice view downstream from my casting platform
A hard working Ghillie pulls the boat back up.
A very pleasant lunch with all the details and digital photos of the fish,then after lunch the pools were allocated for the afternoon,I was going to the top pool to start off,I stuck with the same tactics and fly as I fished in the morning.The Ghillie explained to me that this was the lowest the river has been since the start of the season and this pool would be in excellent ply.I started further up than I normally would and the fly was fishing round a perfect speed, all of a sudden the line tightened and the the "Perfect Spoke very loudly"and the battle commenced,a very strong cock fish with Sea Lice was duly landed after a terrific fight,the Ghillie got the scales on the net and it weighed 20lbs in the net,the empty net was then weighed at 2lbs,so we had just landed and returned a beautiful 18lbs Spey Springer on Saint Paddys day.
Prize in the net
As they would say in Ireland "Its a really Tick fish"
Cracker
Happy Angler
Very quickly after I landed this fish,word came from the pool below that another fish had just been landed at 7lb,all in all a great Spring day on the Spey as word was coming in from other beats that fish were being taken on several beats further upriver.
I must say that Saint Paddys day was a day to remember for me,thanks again Malcolm,if you ever get stuck again I will gladly help you out ;D
James Chalmers
We headed off to our allocated pools full of anticipation,I drew the bottom part of the beat in the morning on the far bank,just as I started fishing I saw a fish head and tail at the bottom of the pool,very encouraging to see fresh fish coming into the pools that you are fishing in March,I fished the pool through without a touch but was encouraged when I knew there were fresh fish moving through the beat.This was compounded as word came to my Ghillie that the rod on the pool below us had just landed and returned a 7lb Sea Licer at about 10.30am,this certainly made me check my flies for knots and that the tube fly was fishing the right way round!!
The pools were fishing at a terrific speed for the fly, it was coming round very slowly and if it came in front of anything fresh it was mine,at least thats what you convince youself will happen ;D
The Ghiilie asked me if I would like to fish the far side of the lower pool from the boat,I agreed that would be a good idea as it would let me get onto the other side and stop fighting with the wind.Then at 11.30am the radio goes,thats another fish from the top part of the beat 6.5lbs again Sea Liced,a great start to the day.The hour before lunch we changed sides and had a go from the boat,casting the fly towards the far bank the boat was an excellent platform to dangle the fly over the likely lies,"Any time now" says the Ghillie,I thought we must be close to "Tiger Country"as the fly was swimming perfectly,just like clockwork the line tightened and the old Hardy Perfect started singing,Its a "Shakker" he says at that point you realise that you have a fish on from last years stock,a healthy well mended Kelt landed quickly and returned.
Tackle for the day
A nice view downstream from my casting platform
A hard working Ghillie pulls the boat back up.
A very pleasant lunch with all the details and digital photos of the fish,then after lunch the pools were allocated for the afternoon,I was going to the top pool to start off,I stuck with the same tactics and fly as I fished in the morning.The Ghillie explained to me that this was the lowest the river has been since the start of the season and this pool would be in excellent ply.I started further up than I normally would and the fly was fishing round a perfect speed, all of a sudden the line tightened and the the "Perfect Spoke very loudly"and the battle commenced,a very strong cock fish with Sea Lice was duly landed after a terrific fight,the Ghillie got the scales on the net and it weighed 20lbs in the net,the empty net was then weighed at 2lbs,so we had just landed and returned a beautiful 18lbs Spey Springer on Saint Paddys day.
Prize in the net
As they would say in Ireland "Its a really Tick fish"
Cracker
Happy Angler
Very quickly after I landed this fish,word came from the pool below that another fish had just been landed at 7lb,all in all a great Spring day on the Spey as word was coming in from other beats that fish were being taken on several beats further upriver.
I must say that Saint Paddys day was a day to remember for me,thanks again Malcolm,if you ever get stuck again I will gladly help you out ;D
James Chalmers