A day on the helmsdale Association water

[cannycatchacold]

Monday seen myself and the wife in Helmsdale tackle having a wee chat to Ron before we finnished the last 40 miles of our 270 mile annual pilgrimage to Melvich. After a wee insight into the river I decided to give it a go on Tues, so a permit was bought for a bargain at £26 (couldnt get a forum deal though!!!!!)!!!!

The river had been running at 2' but dropping nicely, hopefully this would slow the salmon up a touch as they have been racing up stream to the higher beats.

On arrival we seen the river was running about a 1' and going by the tide times we should be fishing over high water, a good chance I thought fresh of the tide and a dropping river!!

Style pool I felt this was a very good bet of a fish resting, a nice bit of fast water with a few good lies.



Flat Pool a good bet with a bit of water running, looking down onto Upper Allan.



I think this is Top Stream another stretch of cracking water.



This is Golden Shot ( I think!!) It was hard to get the jist of each individual pool here as the were just so many good runs etc following on after each other..



From the distance to the gauge is lower allan running into the Streams.



Unfortunately not a pull for the day but a lovely piece of water. I only fished the upper 1/2 of the beat but fish it hard I did.

Here are a few shots of our run back to the chalet!!

1 of the many Sausage doner's!!!!!!!!!!!



Fish on... Thats was the net I comented on in another thread:mad:




More action shots...







Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed my day.

[madkeen]

John does the association water catch many fish through the season?

[cannycatchacold]

Yes it produces a few but it needs low water to hold them back.

[valleyboy]

Looks very nice this part of the world.I'm holidaying near hear the second week in July.Is the river worth a cast at this time of year,and if so how much is it to fish the association water,and is it possible to get on any of the private beats for the day or two.Ant info would be appreciated.

[carbisdale]

Hi VB, the Helmsdale is a nice piece of water indeed and is fishing well just now with the rain we've had up this way. The rest of the river (apart from the town water) is like dead man's shoes though and the only time ordinary folk get to have a cast on it is the first three days of the season in January. My local river The Kyle of Sutherland opens for business this Wednesday and is a smashing bit of water also and worth a cast:

www.kosaa.co.uk

Paul

[valleyboy]

May 29, 2011 21:48:29 GMT carbisdale said:

Hi VB, the Helmsdale is a nice piece of water indeed and is fishing well just now with the rain we've had up this way. The rest of the river (apart from the town water) is like dead man's shoes though and the only time ordinary folk get to have a cast on it is the first three days of the season in January. My local river The Kyle of Sutherland opens for business this Wednesday and is a smashing bit of water also and worth a cast:

www.kosaa.co.uk

Cheers for the quick reply Paul.How does your river perform in July?

[carbisdale]

It usually depends on whether it's been raining a lot or not if we get a wee dry spell then the fish will stick about a bit longer in the Kyle, there's a wee bit of info here:

www.kosaa.co.uk/Fishings/SalmonFishing/tabid/254/Default.aspx

Paul

[cannycatchacold]

May 29, 2011 21:32:50 GMT valleyboy said:

Looks very nice this part of the world.I'm holidaying near hear the second week in July.Is the river worth a cast at this time of year,and if so how much is it to fish the association water,and is it possible to get on any of the private beats for the day or two.Ant info would be appreciated.

Pm sent.

[macd]

top report John,

i havent fished it in a long time.

I had a a good day on it one April may moons ago-low water though, which as you say, slowsthem up a bit. I was fishing a silver 10 Ally treble with a 12 yellow Ally dropper...

I would recommend it too- especially when the grilse are- just to watch the local guys dibble as the fish come off the tide.

Plus Helmie is always good craic if he is on the go.