The Helmsdale River Board has regretfully decided to abandon the 2025 Open Days ceremony in the Helmsdale High St. due to take place on Saturday 11th January owing to snow and ice and general bad weather.
The Open Days offering free fishing will remain available until Saturday 25th January.
Continuing recent tradition the Helmsdale district salmon fishery board is opening the river to all anglers without charge from the first day of the 2025 season Saturday 11th January until Monday 20th January. Anglers are required only to sign in, with names and addresses, at Glencoast the tackle and retail shop in the High St.
The beat system is suspended during Open Days. The whole river up to the Falls at Kildonan is available on any pool. Fishing is by fly only and all fish must be returned to the river unharmed.
Any kelts hooked and caught — potentially the future generation of Helmsdale salmon — must be returned as fast as possible and with care.
The opening ceremony complete with piping starts in the High St at 10am. Anglers are asked not to start fishing until the ceremony is over.
The season started with wintry conditions persisting until April. Catches in March and April were lower than normal although there were short periods of good fishing in April.
Then for 8 consecutive weeks catches were above average. Furthermore catches to the end of June were almost entirely spring salmon. Few grilse had arrived. The fishing in May was especially good.
Even in June temperatures remained low. On 13th June, a week short of midsummer, the temperature half way up the river at Kildonan was below freezing. Early July was hardly warmer.
Low temperatures to mid-summer were expected to result in less invertebrate life and consequently less food for young salmon. In addition, high water levels and frequent spates during the winter 2023/2024 threatened to have washed out some shallower redds resulting in lower fry survival. The electro-fishing programme, counting and ageing young salmon in the headwaters, showed lower numbers of fry and also lower numbers of parr. Scottish Government’s provision of new electro-fishing equipment improved the speed and accuracy of this research.
Following good catch figures for the season to the start of June catches in July and till mid-August were lower than normal. The last 6 weeks of the season were good with two weeks producing over one hundred salmon/grilse on the beats.
The season catch finished at around 1300, including 93 on the Lower Helmsdale. This is the highest catch for 4 years. This good recovery season was owing to steady rain, and in most weather aspects the opposite to the previous low rainfall season in 2023.
The Helmsdale has retained its Conservation Grade 1 status.
Spawning started in late October and was over quickly in only 10 days. Conditions were ideal with clear and steady water. Observers saw large numbers of spawners in the system and the redds were visible into mid November when rain recommenced.
Continuing recent tradition the Helmsdale district salmon fishery board is opening the river to all anglers without charge from the first day of the 2024 season Thursday 11th January until Saturday 20th January.
Anglers are required only to sign in, providing names and addresses, at Glencoast, the tackle and retail shop in the High St.
The beat system is suspended during the Open Days. The whole river up to the Falls at Kildonan is available for fishing in any pools of the anglers choosing.
Fishing is by fly only and all fish must be returned to the river unharmed. Any kelts hooked and caught, which potentially form the next generation of Helmsdale salmon, should be returned as fast as possible and with care.
The opening ceremony complete with piping will start in the High St at 10am. Anglers are asked not to starting fishing until the ceremony is over
The early anglers faced cold and wintry conditions. River levels were good. May provided some productive fishing until a period of dry weather commenced.
Rain fell but not in quantities to significantly raise water levels and move fish around in the system. Whist the ground was not parched light rain failed to change fishing fortunes. June was an abnormally dry month and catches languished.
In July significant rainfall changed fishing on the river. Rain started in the second week. There were considerable catches in the last half of the month and recurrent rainfall kept water heights good. Anglers commented on the seemingly poor grilse run. Catches were mainly of springers which had moved station in the river and fish from a good run of summer salmon. These are the older multi-sea-winter salmon which form the backbone of a salmon population.
The sea-trout were of above-average weight. Unusually there were fresh sea-tout entering the system until late summer.
In mid-summer dry weather resumed. Catches were steady but unspectacular. Towards the end of the month low atmospheric pressure produced more cloud bursts and with them higher catches. Some late August fishing was excellent.
The last month of the season, September, is when catches can vault sharply upwards. This did not occur until the last fortnight when for the second time in the year the private beats caught over a hundred in a week.
The beats ended with 1,107 salmon and grilse and around a hundred caught on the Lower
Helmsdale produced a final River Helmsdale catch of about 1,200. The rate of fish caught and returned was 97%. Therefore the huge majority of fish caught by anglers were released to contribute to spawning and re-stock the river.
The Helmsdale is Conservation Grade 1, meaning stocks are considered to be in good health. After angling had ended really heavy rain lasting two days and a spate big enough to change the profile of the river arrived on 21st October. Gravel was moved, spawning redds disappeared beneath sediment, and new redds appeared from upstream shifting silt. Parts of the Strath of Kildonan were underwater from side to side. It resulted in the highest high-tide mark for floods for 30 years. Electro-fishing in 2024 will reveal the effects on populations of young fry.
Bringing the Helmsdale to life in a special way the Board welcomes for the first time an occasion reserved for Lady Anglers on Saturday 27th May.
Between 10 am and 4 pm the Lower Helmsdale fishing will be reserved for a ladies event with casting demos, tuition and guided fly fishing from some of Scotland’s foremost lady anglers on one of Scotland’s foremost fly-fishing rivers.
After learning new casting techniques and fishing skills ladies will join for a delicious lunch, to be followed by gin-tasting at the tackle and outfitter shop Glencoast on the High St.
For info and booking contact Yvonne Grant at: yvonnetorrish@hotmail.co.uk Tel Glencoast 01431 821372.
In an autumn of wind, rain and snow the dry warm summer of 2022 seems a long way off. The Helmsdale with the aid of compensation water released from Badanloch dam managed to maintain catches throughout the year. Intermittent light rain helped to freshen the flows even though river levels did not markedly rise all through the summer.
The rod catch for the season was around 1300 fish, a considerable increase on 2021. The grilse run was believed to be stronger than in the two previous years.
Spawning took place before heavy rain had arrived and good numbers of spawners were seen in every part of the catchment. With eventual high water in mid-November spawners were swept to sea and few kelts were found in backwaters and bays.
Looking forward to 2023 the Helmsdale River Board welcomes all anglers to its Open Days starting 11th January.
Fishing will be open to all visitors without charge until Monday 23rd January. Anglers must sign in at the tackle shop Glencoast in the High St giving their addresses. Angling is by fly only and all fish must be returned.
The hooking of any remaining kelts must be avoided where possible. Kelts are potentially multi sea-winter returning fish, the most valuable component of the stock. They need all their strength of the enormous migration ahead.
For the Opening Days the beat system is suspended and anglers may fish anywhere they choose. Fishing above the Falls on beat 6, however, is not permitted. No early salmon are likely to have got that far anyway. The river below the Falls constitutes the major part of the fishing.
The opening ceremony, complete with piping, will take place at 10am on the 11th. Anglers are asked not to commence fishing until the opening cast has been taken by a local angler.
The Board looks forward to a good salmon and sea-trout migration in 2023 and wishes all anglers an enjoyable time for the forthcoming fishing season.
16th December 2022.
The season 2021 is now finished and will be remembered for low water and lack of rain from mid-June. Frequently through the season rain clouds headed for the Helmsdale catchment then veered past and fell on neighbouring rivers. Water was low by mid-summer. The compensation water behind Badanloch Dam was critical in preserving some flow on the 24 miles of Helmsdale angling water through to rain in late September.
Covid restrictions limited the amount of fishing to efforts by local anglers until the end of April. Fortunately in that time fishing conditions were good. Fishing on the private beats resumed its normal pattern in the last week in April. The rod catch for the season topped 1,000 fish which in light of the warm dry summer was reasonable. It was comforting at any rate that the Scottish government recognised, as Covid took a grip on the country’s well-being, that outdoor activity including fishing in rivers posed a lesser threat than meeting indoors.
The capture of broodstock for the Helmsdale hatchery continued in October and the requisite breeding fish were quickly caught. The DNA programme with the University of the Highlands and Islands to determine the effect of the hatchery programme on the migration continues and accumulates more evidence with every year.
Spawning is presently taking place and good numbers of pairs are visible in the upper
tributaries.
Looking forward to 2022 the Helmsdale River Board welcomes visiting anglers to its Open Days, starting on January 11th 2022.
Fishing will be open to all visitors without charge from Tuesday 11th January through to Monday 24th January. Angling will be by fly only and in accordance with government regulations all fish must be returned. The hooking of kelts in the tails of wider pools should be avoided if possible. If hooked, kelts should be played as fast as possible and returned.
The beat system is suspended for the Open Days and anglers may fish anywhere they choose.
Every angler must check in at the tackle shop in the Helmsdale high street, Glencoast. The
telephone number of the shop is 01431 821372, or: info@glencoast.co.uk.
Whatever travel and other restrictions are current will be adhered to and the event is contingent on government regulations at the time.
The opening ceremony, including the Sutherland Schools Pipe Band, will start at 10am. Anglers are asked not to fish before it finishes.
The Board looks forward to a good salmon and sea-trout migration in 2022 and an enjoyable time for all anglers in the Strath of Kildonan’s wild and beautiful scenery during the whole angling season.
The Helmsdale District Salmon Fishery Board is regretfully obliged to cancel the Open Days due to commence on January 11th.
We had all been looking forward to this exit from lockdown, treading the banks of the river undisturbed since September. However the First Minister’s statement on January 4th makes it clear that opening the river to all anglers will not be possible.
The Board meantime looks forward to welcoming you to this event in future and takes this chance to offer you the best possible New Year.
The Helmsdale River Board welcomes visiting anglers to its Open Days in 2021.
Soundings have been taken by the Board with community bodies and all are in agreement that it would be a great shame not to continue with this outdoor activity, where participants are in the nature of fishing spaced well apart. Also it is a time when many will be keen to be out-and-about again and enjoying the beauty and wild scenery in the Strath of Kildonan. The chance of an early salmon is one not easily passed by. Fishing will be open to all visitors without charge from Monday January 11th to Saturday January 23rd.
The usual rules will apply. Angling will be fly only and, in accordance with government regulations, all fish must be returned. The Board asks that anglers handle kelts with due respect, play them as fast as is reasonable, and return them to the water quickly.
Anglers may fish anywhere of their choice on the river. The beat system is suspended for the Open Days and all pools are available. Please try and avoid hooking kelts in the wider tails of the pools if possible.
Owing to the risk posed by groups of people gathered together the tradition of the opening ceremony and the pipe band marching the High St has been abandoned for 2021. The Board trusts that visitors will understand why. The Board and local community bodies are as keen as all to minimise the risk of spreading virus infection. The performance of the Sutherland Schools Pipe Band and the Opening Cast by a local angler will be missed by everyone. We look forward to resuming the traditional format the following year.
Every angler must check in at Glencoast in the High St. This year Yvonne Grant will take checking in electronically in advance to minimise unnecessary crowding in the shop. Full details will be requested, including both address and telephone number in order to comply with track-and-trace. Anglers should contact: info@glencoast.co.uk The telephone number of the shop is 01431 821372.
It is assumed by the Board that whatever travel regulations are in place at the time will be adhered to.
The Board hopes that all who come will enjoy fishing this wonderful river and being in Sutherland at the dawn of a fresh season.
