Thinking of the 2016 season.

 Well it's the 29th December 2015 and I am starting to think of the new salmon fishing season and what needs to be done in preparation.

 I have taken out my salmon rods and reels and given them a clean and photographed them for insurance purposes.

  I have purchased another reel since this photo was taken a really nice Danielsson H5D eleven14 which matches well with the Vision 15ft 10# salmon rod. I have also added a couple of travel rods to the collection. The first was a second hand 15ft Bloke 6 piece 10/11# and the second a very nice, new, Guideline LXi Tpac 13ft 9" 9/10# 6 piece.

 My first salmon trip will be to the Aberdeenshire Dee at the end of March, beginning of April with my mates from Sweden. There will be 12 anglers including Anders, Clares and Goran who with myself make up the self proclaimed "A" TEAM. We meet up on the Sunday at a nice estate lodge and are put into teams of four who then split into pairs. This serves two purposes with the four fishing each of the beats together and the pairs having to cook a evening meal and a breakfast for the rest of the group during our week's stay.Really looking forward to this trip and meeting up with the guys again.

 Well I have decided to tie all my own flies for this season so plenty to do before March so I will close now and update when I have some flies to show off.

Tight lines for 2016

Alan            

Last three days of my salmon fishing season

Holylee, River Tweed 23rd, 24th, 25th November 2015.

  After a bout of the deli belly on Saturday I was in no fit state to travel up to the Tweed on Sunday the 22nd to meet up will my fishing mates, Ian, Jim and Geoff at our hotel in Innerleithen.
Feeling a bit better on the Monday morning I decided to drive up to the beat at Holylee and meet up with the other guys. I arrived about 13.45pm and the guys were still in the hut having lunch so we caught up on all the news over a cup of tea and a piece of pork pie supplied by Ian.
I spent a bit of time talking with Jack Melrose, the gillie, before getting into my waders and setting up my 14ft Vision GT4 Catapult double hander and a Danielsson H5D 9 thirteen reel. The river was still carrying a lot of water and was showing 2ft 6" on the gauge and so I loaded the reel with a Guideline Skagit Intermediate head of 600 grains and a 15ft T18 tip. I looped on a 15lb 9ft tapered leader and put on a Gold Bodied Willie Gunn aluminium tube fly to get down in the strong flow. I fished the water from the burn to just passed the hut for the 2 hours before the light went at about 16.15pm but had no luck but did see a fish rise close in on our side of the river. Jim had a fish on for a short time but lost it and no other fish decided to play.
  After a cup of tea we got out of our waders and drove to The Corner House Hotel in Innerleithen and arranged to meet up at 18.45pm as we had a table booked for 19.00pm at a great Indian just down the road. After an excellent meal we stayed at the table and chatted  until 22.00pm then returned to the hotel for an early night.

Tuesday 24th.

  We arranged to have breakfast at 07.30am and then left the hotel and arrived at the beat at 08.45am to be met by Jack who had a nice fire going in the hut. The river had dropped to 2ft 1" on the gauge and so I swapped my T18 for T14 and during the morning to T10 as the river had slowed down and the heavier tips were snagging the bed of the river.  The river was now in perfect trim but the salmon did not seem interested and we had no takes at all for the whole day.
  We returned to the hotel at 17.20pm and had a couple of beers in the bar and arranged to meet for a meal in the hotel at 19.00pm. The food in the hotel is very good and serves typical fare and also Chinese cuisine. I had a noodle dish with chicken as my stomach was still a bit off. The Spare Ribs went down well as well as the Ice Cream Sundae.

Wednesday 25th.

 After a hearty breakfast we settled our bills and drove to the beat and arrived at 08.30am. Geoff had gone to Boleside as he had a freeby for the day so only the three of us fished the beat. Ian and I decided to fish just above the power lines at Scrogg Bank. I had put up my 15ft Vision GT4 and matched this with a Danielsson H5D 11 fourteen reel. I decided to go with a Guideline 3D line, F/S1/S2, and a 5ft fast sink tip and a GBWG tube.
  At about 11.00am Ian hooked a fish just under the power lines but it came off after a short run downstream. As I reached the trees and opposite the burn on the far side, about 11.30am, I was rewarded for my hard graft over the last 2 days. I had made a long cast to the far side of the river in a fast flow running down to the burn. As the line started to swing across the flow the line ripped off at a pace and I lifted the rod and felt the strong pull of a fish. The fight lasted about 10 minutes and the fish left the water once and made 4 spirited runs both up and down the swim. Ian had come to help land the fish as we had no net as Jack had just returned to the hut to start the lunch so had to tail the fish on to the bank. I had noticed on first seeing the fish that it had a nice silver shine to it and when landed was a cock fish of 9/10lb that had been in the river for a very short time and was a bar of silver.

This was my only take of the trip but well worth the wait.
Ian had another fish on off the far side just below the power lines but what looked like a good sized fish decided to go round a boulder just under the water and that was the end of that.
Jim had no pulls so the trip ended with my fish the only one landed and I finished with 16 salmon for the season.
Roll on next season which I think will start with my weeks trip to the Dee at the end of March beginning of April with my Swedish mates, Anders, Goran, Clares, The A Team, and the rest of the guys.