Cruives fishings continued
Sea Trout and Finnock:
Salmon, however, are not the only fish worthy of your attention on this beat. It can be a very good seatrout beat, with these fish being caught from April onwards. June, as would be expected producing the best of the fishing. The Don seatrout are totally different from the slim seatrout of the Dee, with an average weight of over two and a half pounds they are all plump, hard fighting fish. When fresh in, as most in this beat are, they take the fly readily, even during daylight hours. It is quite common to hook them while fishing the dry fly for the brownies. Although they can be caught throughout the beat, there are a few spots worth concentrating on. The neck of Snuffies and the neck of Benzies produce. The Flatties, which is a small pool directly below Benzies, can hold surprising numbers at times. I once hooked six here one morning (and lost them all!). The streamy water at the neck, on the South side of the Smiddy often has a taker waiting. Down at the pedestrian Bailey bridge is a definite hotspot when they are about. The pace of this stream seems to suit seatrout, as well as looking the part for fishing the fly. The main taking spot is again, almost directly under the bridge. The two streams at the limit of the beat, just above the Coffin stone at Seaton have also been kind to me when looking for seatrout. Both of these are suited to fishing the fly and it can be worth paying attention to the state of the tide for these particular spots. If you time your visit to within an hour of high tide, it can definitely pay dividends. I sometimes feel that a slightly larger fly fished a bit faster than normal seems to provoke more response from these fish which are clean off the tide.
The normal trout fishing outfit of a 9'-10' rod, floating or intermediate line with a 6lb breaking strain leader, moving up to 8lb during the hours of darkness should be sufficient for seatrout fishing. I have said that 2 ½ lb is the average weight for seatrout on the Don, but fish up to 9 lb and perhaps more have been caught on our waters. As for fly selection, my own personal favourites are the Dunkeld and a silver stoat in sizes from 10 to 16. Without a doubt the best fly is the one you have confidence in though. Seatrout are not only caught on the fly, the flying ‘C' accounts for a large number, as do the various other spinning baits in use. It must be said that to get the best out of these wonderful fish you should give the fly a try. Once experienced, never forgotten.
Brown Trout:
Brown trout are also prolific throughout the length of the beat, mainly wild with perhaps a sprinkling of travelling stockies washed down from Parkhill. The best brownie that I am aware of caught on this beat weighed four and half pounds and was taken on a size 18 dry fly down at the pedestrian Bailey bridge. As I mentioned, there is no shortage of brownies throughout the length of the beat and most days when conditions are favourable trout can be found quietly and confidently feeding on the surface.
Further information from Norman Nicol ADAA member on Pool names:
Ater reading John and Ian Fyfe's excellent summary of the lower Parkhill beat .They mentioned Caroline's Pot, stating they had no idea as to why it was so called. How many times have we fished the Don pools without giving their name or area history a second thought?
The Pools on the lower Don are steeped in history,and after some research, I have found possible name sources based on local historical records. bearing in mind ,this is a fishing site ,I shall be as scant on the history as possible.
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Snuffies Pool
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Grandholme Bridge |
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Benzies Pool |
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Bakers Pot Lower Cruives
James Jopp laird of cotton,an extesive estate ranging from Old Aberdeen to Woodside with the river Don as it's north boundary.In the year of 1797 he offered the estate up for sale deviding the estate into 8 seperate lots with an excellen description of each lot.
Lot 3. Deansloch and Baker's Park.
Comprehending about 13 acres,lying in the immediate vicinity of the old town,and well fitted for gardens or nursery ground.
Deans loch was the name given to the loch situated where the university's Zoology building now stands on Tillydrone avenue an Baker Park's north boundary would place it exactly where our Baker's Pool would be. whether the field was leased by a baker, or a man named Baker is unknown,but it is reasonable to assume that this was the name source
Smiddy Pool Lower Grandholm.
A popular pool situated some 400 yards above the Grandholm road bridge at Woodside.The burgh was named Woodside around about1750
Before that it was called the Old Cruives and earlier it was, The Land of the Cruives and as far back as the 1400s, it was known as Smithyhaugh. |
