Fantastic 23lb salmon for River & Green client

Italian client Sig. Marco Boldrini had much to celebrate while visiting Scotland as part of the Babini group’s fishing break last week. Of all the members of this terrific group of 10 gentlemen, mostly from Milan, Marco was the first to predict that he would catch nothing. How wrong can you be… during the morning of the group’s only day of salmon fishing on the Dalmarnock and Dalguise beats of the Tay, Marco managed to land this perfect 23lb bar of silver.

Many thanks to all the guys for making the weekend such a great experience. Thanks also to ghillies Stan (Dalguise) and Colin and Stuart (Dalmarnock) for their outstanding contribution to the day.

Congratulations also go to Paolo Frova for saving the day with two decent pike on Loch Venacher on the Sunday.

Sea trout in April!!!

Last week we returned to Nirvana… the Kinchurdy beat on the Upper Spey, near Boat of Garten. This special place is for me the most beautiful and possibly underrated beat in Scotland. First and foremost it’s a sea trout beat, but the salmon fishing from mid-April to the end of July and in September is also excellent. It was fantastic to back on the beat.

I arrived at about 5pm on the Thursday. My pal had been fishing all day and although he hadn’t had a fish, several had been seen in most of the likely pools. On arrival, given that I wasn’t fishing until the Friday, my task was to get the barbeque going and open the wine. While we turned the sausages and excitedly considered the prospects of returning for our sea trout week in July, a few fish began to show off the famous Kinchurdy Stones. To my surprise and my pal Stuart’s disbelief, I was sure that the first of these fish to actually come fully out of the water, was in fact a sea trout. Now I don’t blame Stuart for his lack of confidence in my fish identifying skills. In the 25 years I’ve been fishing the beat I have never seen the sea trout arrive before mid-May at the earliest.

As the sunshine weakened and dusk approached, we commented on how we would gladly take these conditions in July. It was flat calm, about 14-16 degrees and the river was at summer level. Then, again we started to see movement, not only at the Stones but also at the tail of the huge Kinchurdy pool – the classic place for sea trout to show. I was by this time absolutely convinced and managed to persuade Stuart to give it a go on the single-handed rod for an hour at least.

Fishing a 1 inch stoat’s tail Waddington on a sink-tip, Stuart gradually covered the water at the tail of the pool, while I sat above him on the bank, wine glass in hand. After 10 minutes of expert casting (half a bottle of wine can have that effect), a spanking fresh sea trout crashed out of the water just below where he was standing. Two casts later, as the fly was slowly worked approaching the dangle, a savage take almost pulled the rod from Stuart’s hand. There was no longer any scope for dispute. The first of the sea trout were there. As is often the case with these early fish, although their intent is ferocious, their mouths are soft and the fish failed to hang on.

As the air temperature began to plummet, we knew that the window of opportunity was open only briefly. On fishing through for a second time, another pull produced another rush of adrenalin, but no prize. Soon it was agreed that the window had now closed and the best course of action was to head for the Boat Hotel and to savour the anticipation of what lies ahead of us in July.

Could it be that this very early arrival means that the fish have wintered well on a better than average supply of sand eels? Could it be that the restrictions on the sand eel harvest have produced heavier, fitter sea trout that feel ready to head for fresh water early? I suppose we’ll just have to wait a few more weeks before we find out. I for one can’t wait!

Great fishing on Carron Valley Reservoir

I had a great day on Carron Valley Reservoir on Saturday. If you’ve never fished it you should certainly give it a go.

I was accompanied by two experienced trout fishermen from Milan. When we arrived, things didn’t look too promising. The level of the water is still high and there was a strong and gusty wind blowing white horses onto the surface of the loch. Despite the temperature being around the seasonal norm of 12-14 degrees, the wind made it feel very much colder.

Although the reservoir is, by definition man-made, it is nevertheless set in a truly wild and dramatic landscape, lodged as it is between the Campsie Fells to the south and the Trossachs to the north. We decided to get the motoring out of the way and head into the wind, all the way up to the western dam wall.

Absolutely nothing was showing on the surface for the first hour or so and it looked like we were in for a dour day. But as the morning progressed, the wind started to drop and the clouds gave way to intermittent sunshine and that brought the air temperature up by a couple of degrees. Soon we started to see the swallows working and fish began to take tiny black gnats from just below the surface.

Changing over from tin-headed lure patterns fished on sink-tip and intermediate lines to small diawl bachs fished on floating lines, it wasn’t long before we started to hook up. Fishing about three or four rod lengths out from the shore, the first fish was a superb fully-finned rainbow of about 2.5lbs. We then alternated throughout the day between catching small brownies and really excellently conditioned rainbows in weights ranging from about 2-4lbs. We ended the day with an even balance of 6 brownies and 6 rainbows to the boat.

Now the competition fishers would be moaning about such a modest tally. But for us, Carron Valley provided yet again, stunning scenery, uncrowded water and steady sport. The guys that run the fishery should be commended. They run a superbly well managed operation – clean and tidy boats (with landing nets), engines that start every time, friendly and helpful service and, most importantly, a healthy population of rainbows living in perfect balance with the native population of brownies. If you’re looking for huge bags of flabby stockies and boats fishing yards apart, then go elsewhere. For all the reasons mentioned above, Carron Valley will always be my pick of the best fisheries in Central Scotland.

Fly-fishing combined with cycling in Scotland

Spring has finally arrived in Scotland. The weather in Edinburgh today is beautiful – sunny and warm. I have just come back to the office after going out for a coffee in in a nearby café. This is my favourite time to sit and enjoy a small cigar and think out River & Green and how I can continue to improve the service we offer.

I have had an idea and I would love to know what people think about it. The idea is to combine cycling tours of Scotland with fly-fishing. This could be a completely new and exciting type of holiday which no other company could offer.

Guests would be collected from Edinburgh airport and taken to their first hotel or B&B. We would provide top quality bicycles and a detailed rote map and, if requested, we could also provide a full-time guide. Guests would also be equipped with a compact set of high quality fly-fishing gear – like a Hardy Smuggler rod, reel and selection of flies. Then, the guests set off on their tour and rest from the cycling at chosen places to fish for Scotland’s beautiful wild brown trout. Each day you would spend the night at pre-arranged accommodation.

We could tailor any tour to suit the particular requirements of any client group. You would really experience the natural beauty of Scotland and have the opportunity to fish in wild and remote parts of the country.

What do you think? Is this something which you think would appeal to people? I would be most grateful to receive any comments; ian@river-green.com

What makes a great ghillie?

I was fishing on the beautiful Dalguise beat of the River Tay on Friday. We didn’t get any fresh fish, but nevertheless it was a superb day on the river. The water was falling back and running clear, but at about 2ft 6in on the gauge, it was still quite high. I saw a couple of fish which I think were fresh springers, but most of what I saw throughout the day were certainly kelts.

Now, as I say, none of the rods produced a fish. In fact, nobody so much as touched a kelt all day, and yet, every rod there on Friday had a hugely enjoyable day. Certainly, the bright spring weather was a bonus, but I think what really made the day was the atmosphere of friendliness and conviviality that existed in the hut. And, in my experience, that atmosphere can only be engendered through the personality of the ghillie.

In Stan Pelc, Dalguise has one of the very best ghillies in the whole of Scotland. So what makes a great ghillie? As well as the aforementioned natural ability to bring rods together in a spirit of bon amie, I think that there are 4 other key assets;

Knowledge of his water
Paramount, above all other attributes, a good ghillie must know every inch of his beat. He knows where the lies are, he knows where the wading is safe and where its dodgy and he knows at what height to fish which pools. Norman Stone (dec.) of Kinchurdy fame epitomised this attribute. His knowledge of that fabulous beat was absolute.

Authority
A ghillie often has to make potentially controversial decisions; most commonly – who should fish where? The best of their kind will exercise their authority in an almost invisible manner, maintaining the harmony but ensuring that fairness prevails.

Personality
It takes a very special sort of person to be able to “read” clients. The good ghillie knows when to be formal and when to be more relaxed. He knows how to encourage anglers without being unrealistically optimistic. In short, he knows how to be pleasant, fun, interesting and a pleasure to be around.

Discretion
This is probably the least well possessed of my list of key attributes. Ghillies can be the most terrible of gossips. However, the really good ones know that this can be a dangerous flaw and instead they exercise a high degree of integrity – what is said on the river stays on the river! The ghillie with a fine-tuned sense of discretion knows that there is no such thing as a bad fisherman or a bad cast – there may be difficult conditions, tricky winds, awkward back eddies, etc, etc, but never a bad fisherman!

5 good reasons why to use River & Green to plan your fishing vacation

This is my list of good reasons to explain how it is that we can bring quality and value to our clients when planning a fishing trip to Scotland…

Experience and local knowledge

In my capacity as Managing Director of River & Green I am able to call on over 25 years personal experience of fishing for salmon, sea trout, brown trout and rainbow trout in Scotland. In order to know where, how and when to fish, it is imperative that you have an extremely good knowledge base.

Professionalism

My background is not in travel and tourism. My experience lies in the fields of environmental consultancy, land diversification and property development. As such, I have a long history of business development through attending to the needs of clients in a thoroughly professional manner.

Value

River & Green is a life-style business. We operate on low margins with the prime target being to develop a strong base of repeat clientele. We are a small, dedicated team, focused on that one clear objective. First and foremost we are motivated by client satisfaction. We have no bank borrowing, shareholders or burdensome overheads.

Standards of service

We know what our clients expect because we too have travelled extensively and have used agents to deliver personalised itineraries. Whatever the budget, we recognise that there is a minimum standard of acceptable service and we are absolutely dedicated to exceeding that standard. It is because of our uncompromising dedication to high levels of client care that we were selected to partner with Hilton Hotels.

Approach

The perfect custom-built vacation can only be designed through listening to the needs of our clients and entering into a constructive dialogue. We understand this and so we positively welcome client input at every stage of the planning process. Our aim is give the client exactly what they want, not to have the client conform to itineraries which are easy for us to deliver. The client is always king!

New website for Caledonian Hilton Hotel, Edinburgh and River & Green

Fantastic news! Our relationship with Hilton Hotels goes from strength to strength. Their brand new, greatly improved website has gone live and River & Green features very prominently.

What’s really exciting about the new site is that it incorporates our own “drop-down” questionnaire; so now, clients booking with the Caledonian can, at the same time, tell us exactly what sort of sporting program they would like. Whereas before, the only exposure hotel clients had to our vacations was through the Sporting Breaks Packages, now they have direct access to our tailor-made service.

I think that this is a major step forward for River & Green. Not only is it a resounding endorsement of the strength and mutual benefit of our relationship, but it also gives us a brand association with one of the most prestigious names in the entire global travel and hospitality sector.

Please check out the new Caledonian Hilton site and let us know what you think?