Tulchan - River Spey

Last Saturday I fished on the famous Tulchan Estate stretches of the River Spey as part of Ian Gordon's group and there were about 14 of us spread out over all four beats. The river was sitting at a nice height around the 9" mark and several kelts had been landed over the previous two days.
Ian instructed us to meet at the hut on C beat in the morning and what a hut it is! It has everything you could need, toilet, dining area, sofas, big wood burning stove, fully equipped kitchen and a fantastic view looking down the river.

The fishing hut on B beat.

After a meet and greet with the fellow rods and a cup of coffee I was allocated to fish B beat with Matthew Will. We were shown to the beat by Tom Brown and the beat ghillie, Roddy took us up to the upper pools which consisted of George's, Ghillie's and Stones.  My set up for the morning was my 15ft Mackenzie DTX shooting head rod, 44g float/intermediate shooting head and a 10ft 3.9ips tip. My fly of choice was a 5/0 Akroyd. On first glimpse of the water it looked stunning. Every pool had a lovely flow going though it and the water looked very "fishy".

Fishing down George's. My first cast at Tulchan. Not a bad place to start.

Ghillie's. Another lovely pool which fishes the fly superbly.

Fishing down the Stones pool on B beat.

I started in George's and was to follow Matthew down through Ghillie's and Stones. Despite the quality of the pools we were fishing neither Matthew nor I had a touch and we decided to try and fish a bit deeper and get down in front of any fish which might be there so I changed over to my 42g Hover shooting head and a 10ft super fast sink tip for the afternoon so it was back to the hut on C beat for lunch with the rest of the rods.

The fishing hut on C beat. Not bad!

As I said before, the hut on C beat is very homely and you could quite easily live in the place. The dining table was all set and lunch was cooked up by Dufftown butcher, Jock. His stovies, accompanied with oatcakes and beetroot went down a treat. The craic at the table over lunch was top notch with numerous stories and jokes told over a wee dram but it was time to get back to the river.

Ian and Tom have a chat over a dram in the hut at lunchtime.

After lunch, Ian suggested I went down to fish D beat with young ghillie, Philip. This was another fantastic looking stretch and the Cragganmore pool outside the hut, looked superb. I was to fish the Wood pool first of all and then down to the March pool.

One of the signs for D beat.

The fishing hut on D beat.

Cragganmore pool opposite the hut on D beat.

The Wood pool was another nice bit of water and was very easy to fish. Lovely pools and Tuclahn estate seem to go hand in hand. Philip accompanied me down the pool and pointed out likely lies etc and even this early in the season you just felt like the line could go tight at any time. I fished down the pool right to the end and unfortunately I didn't get an offer so we headed off to the March pool for a go before close of play.

Fishing down the Wood Pool on D beat.

Looking upstream in the Wood Pool.

The tail of the Wood Pool.

The March pool really was a cracking bit of water. I would love to see the place in May/June time when the ghille said the place comes alive with fish! Maybe one day if my lottery numbers come in then I'll give it a go. Philip suggested I changed fly to a size 6 double as he felt I was fishing a fly just on the big side for the pool so I picked out a Cascade and went up to the top of the pool and worked my way down. We tried all the likely lies but sadly I couldn't connect with anything but just the thrill of fishing these pools was enough.

Looking downstream in the March Pool on D beat.

I hope to return to Tulchan again some day and would love see the place during the peak of the salmon runs in May/June time. It must just be awesome to fish a wee size 8 or 10 through the pools and know that you are covering plenty fish and there is a good chance that one will grab your fly. Until that time comes when I win the lottery, I'll just have to look in from the outside and dream but knowing at least I'll have the satisfaction of now being able to say that "I've fished Tulchan" and for that I'm grateful to Ian Gordon and Tom Brown for giving me the opportunity to do so.

River Dee - Little Blackhall & Inchmarlo 21-06-14

On the 21st June I was delighted to accept an invitation to fish as a guest on the Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo beat of the River Dee. It was good to be back there again after the last time I was there yielded a nice sea liced springer of around 6lb in March. This time the water was much lower and was sitting around 6" on the FishDee website gauge. My set up for the day was my 13ft Hardy Uniqua and a Airflo QuickSpey floating line. Flies ranged in size from 10-14.

I arrived at the fishing hut at 8.30am and was met by ghillie, Terry Paton and fellow river Dee enthusiast, Paul Pritchard. After a quick cup of coffee and a good natter about the fishing with Terry, Paul and I set off to our pools for the morning. I was to start in the House Pool and Paul headed up river to fish the top part of the beat.

The fishing hut at Inchmarlo.

A look inside the well equipped fishing hut.

On my walk over to the House Pool there was a nice looking fish showed in the fast waster about half way down the pool. This got the excitement going even more than usual and I was eager to have a cast for it. Terry said that if there was a fish in the pool I would either get in on my first three casts or my last three. Well, after only two casts I had a fish take my #11 KS Shrimp! I soon realised it was just a wee brown trout and not the nice fish we saw as we arrived at the pool. At least I knew the fly was swimming nicely. The rest of the pool provided no more action so I made my way down to the next pool which was the famous Roe Pot.

Where I started my day. The House Pool looking downstream.

A greedy wee brown trout which hammered my fly just a few casts after starting.

Mid way down the House Pool.

The Roe Pot is one of the most famous pools on the whole River Dee and is mentioned in John Ashley Cooper's book "The Great Salmon Rivers of Scotland". It fishes in most heights of water and holds fish through-out the season. As parts of the pool were quite slow and required the fly to be worked, I changed over to a Collie Dog and stripped it just below the surface to try and induce a take from a fish. The only take I got the whole length of the pool was again from a greedy trout of similar size to the first one. After I finished the pool I headed back up to the top for a quick cast with a conventional fly just before lunch but nothing doing with that either.

The Roe Pot. Looking downstream from just below the neck of the pool.

Looking upstream towards the hut from about 2/3 the way down the pool.

The tail of the Roe Pot.

Looking upstream from the tail of the Roe Pot towards the hut on the Little Blackhall side.

After lunch, it was my turn to fish the top half of the beat with Paul fishing the lower half. Terry accompanied me as we made our way up river. He pointed out all the likely areas that would hold fish as we looked into the crystal clear water from the high bank. It was good to see the pools in low water, not really from a fishing point of view but it gives you a good idea of the areas to concentrate on when fishing it in higher water. It was also good to see the lie in which I caught my springer from the Nellie Hogg pool back in March. The water was 4ft 6in that day but you could see why fish would stop here when the water was high. We reached the top of the beat and Terry suggested a Sunray Shadow might be worth a cast as it had not been tried for a couple of weeks in these pools. I fished through all of the likely spots in the pools but didn't get an offer from neither trout nor salmon.

Looking downstream at the top of the beat in the Ice House pool.

Fishing down trough the Holly Bush into Nellie Hogg and Sandy Bay. Just where the bank kicks in is where I got my springer back in March.

Looking upstream into the pool which is called Seat from the opposite bank.

Carrying on downstream through Sandy Bay and into the Fawn pools.

The River Dee was like a mirror, reflecting everything from the banks. The water was also crystal clear and you could see every stone in the pool.

A concrete walk way makes the pool easy to fish and cover the lies from the bank.

Although I didn't catch any salmon this time at Inchmarlo, it was good to see the beat in low water conditions. The clear water revealed many of the lies which will hold fish in the higher water. Terry the ghillie knows his beat extremely well and is always on hand to help with setting up rods etc. I was very grateful to him for opportunity to fish here again. Like most of Royal Deeside, it is set in tranquil surroundings and you wouldn't know that the main road is only a few hundred yards away. I will look forward to returning again one day in the future and hope that there is a salmon waiting for me when I do.