How many of you fly fish?

Well, that section of the Itchen is so heavily fished that I couldn’t have caught a cold there. So there is that.

Still a beautiful place to blank.

Grouse

My personal high point had to be in Alaska. We were “up river” chasing big Rainbows. The guide said we had to use eggs, instead I tied on a Sculpin pattern I had tied up using pheasant feathers from a bird my daughter Sharon shot the year before. I hammered them; 30 nice Trout in a couple of hours up to 24 inches. The next day all the lodge’s guides cornered me and insisted I show them how to tie that pattern.

SR

What section of the Spey did you fish? I was there this fall but only fished for a few minutes with a single hand rod because that’s all I had time for. I was in Aberlour. Did you tour any distilleries? I can’t wait to go back and hire a ghillie, Scotland is an amazing country, especially if you love whisky and traditional fly fishing. I’m going to try and attach a picture of some of the Scottish salmon flies I’ve tied.

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TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Well, that section of the Itchen is so heavily fished that I couldn’t have caught a cold there. So there is that.

Still a beautiful place to blank.

Grouse

What section of the Spey did you fish? I was there this fall but only fished for a few minutes with a single hand rod because that’s all I had time for. I was in Aberlour. Did you tour any distilleries? I can’t wait to go back and hire a ghillie, Scotland is an amazing country, especially if you love whisky and traditional fly fishing. I’m going to try and attach a picture of some of the Scottish salmon flies I’ve tied.

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ajaikens31 wrote:

What section of the Spey did you fish? I was there this fall but only fished for a few minutes with a single hand rod because that’s all I had time for. I was in Aberlour. Did you tour any distilleries? I can’t wait to go back and hire a ghillie, Scotland is an amazing country, especially if you love whisky and traditional fly fishing. I’m going to try and attach a picture of some of the Scottish salmon flies I’ve tied.

Nice looking patterns. You’ll have to take a stab at the Green Highlander as well. Salmon in Scotland on a hand tied Green Highlander. Make sure to bring your tweed.

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tegg wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>ajaikens31 wrote:</div>
What section of the Spey did you fish? I was there this fall but only fished for a few minutes with a single hand rod because that’s all I had time for. I was in Aberlour. Did you tour any distilleries? I can’t wait to go back and hire a ghillie, Scotland is an amazing country, especially if you love whisky and traditional fly fishing. I’m going to try and attach a picture of some of the Scottish salmon flies I’ve tied.

Nice looking patterns. You’ll have to take a stab at the Green Highlander as well. Salmon in Scotland on a hand tied Green Highlander. Make sure to bring your tweed.

The Green Highlander is a great fly, I just don’t have all of the materials yet to tie it. Some of those intricate traditional flies are pretty crazy to tie!

ajaikens31 wrote:

What section of the Spey did you fish? I was there this fall but only fished for a few minutes with a single hand rod because that’s all I had time for. I was in Aberlour. Did you tour any distilleries? I can’t wait to go back and hire a ghillie, Scotland is an amazing country, especially if you love whisky and traditional fly fishing.

You’ll find yourself severely restricted fishing a single hander in Scotland, as you probably know. There’s a reason why we call the Double Handed rod the “Spey Rod”. It is not difficult to learn the basics of two handed casting. I do it poorly, but as my ghillie said my sole redeeming quality was I knew what to do when the fly finally got in the water.

Setting aside the traditional dress, the Scots are not as traditional about fishing as appearances suggest. They are master innovators when it comes to things like tube flies, weighted line techniques, and other aspects.

All fishing on rivers in Scotland is private, so gaining access requires research and can be expensive.

On separate visits, I’ve fished:

Wester Elchies – Beautiful beat just upstream of Aberlour and all my fish have come on this beat. Directly upstream of Easter Elchies, which is the home water of the famous Easter Elchies House, the “chateau” featured on the bottle of The Macallan whisky.

Carron – Also beautiful, more difficult to fish. Expensive.

Grantown (on Spey) – A beautiful stretch of water is available by joining the Association and fishing as a guest. I’ve never fished it in good conditions but had 1 fish on here. Probably the most accessible prime-time beat on the Spey, but heavily fished.

I have visited other beats, it’s very enjoyable there and I could easily spend a month fishing up that way.

I’ve visited distilleries all over Scotland including some of the most far-flung like Highland Park on the Orkney Islands.

As a note to the fly tiers, very few people still fish the traditional “fully dressed” salmon flies like the Green Highlander. These are largely seen as beautiful relics of the past. Almost all salmon fishing is now done with modern flies, mainly tube flies. The ability to control depth and drift is pretty much everything.

If ever anyone wants to go, get in touch and I can give specific recommendations on Ghillies and water to try to gain access to.

Grouse

@thefamousgrouse

Thanks for all of the information! The fishing in Aberlour wasn’t planned, so I didn’t have my Spey rod with me. I live in Michigan so I swing for steelhead all the time with switch and Spey rods. I like to tie the traditional flies just because they are fun to tie and I like the history of it. If I ever get to go back I will definitely be hitting you up for some information! I would love to get out to Highland Park! What’s your current favorite malt?