River Beauly Fishing Diary

James Norris’s River Beauly Fishing Diary Week 15-20th August Monday Sean Bennett caught a 6lb Salmon on the Priest Pool on a Golden Willie Gunn, Sage 15ft Z-Axis fly rod, and an old System II 10/11 reel. I got a 5lb cock fish on the Downie Beat, using a 1” Cascade Tube, 14ft Loop Opti Power spey rod and a Hardy Demon 9000 Reel and a Fly line Rio AFS Shooting Head Clear Intermediate. Tuesday The only fish caught today was 6lb, caught by one of the ladies in the group fishing, well done Liz. Wednesday Michael Buckman on his second cast hooked a 13lb Salmon, it was released back into the River.  This Fish was caught on the Home Beat on a 1” Cascade Tube, 14ft Loop Opti Power spey rod, Hardy Demon 9000 Reel. This was the second Salmon that Michael has been lucky enough to catch, well done.  Michael Buckman also landed a 6lb Salmon using the same Fly/Rod/Reel combination on the same beat some 20 minutes later.  Thursday I was delighted to be there to watch Edward Bennet, only 12 years old, catch his first ever Salmon, a beautiful 6lb fish.  He caught it using a Golden Willie Gunn size 11  on the Downie Beat.  Look at his smile, it’s so great to see young fisherman getting their first catch and hopefully getting hooked on the sport. I couldn’t understand where a lot of my Salmon flies had disappeared to………..Ben!!!! Little Ben Jackson thought they looked better on his new fleece than in my fly box. Friday Michael Buckman had a 5lb and 6lb Salmon both on a Golden Willie Gunn he was top rod for the week with 4 fish in total. Michael was very impressed with his new Guideline Dee waders they kept him dry and cool all week as the weather was very warm.