Geordie Doull - Thurso River
This month, Geordie Doull, ghillie on the Thurso river, in Caithness sits in the hot seat and faces the Ghillies’s 10!
1. SSFS: What is the biggest salmon you have ever caught?
GD : An eighteen pound spring salmon, caught on the Crathes beat of the River Dee in Febuary.
2. SSFS: What is the most memorable salmon you have ever caught?
GD : I was fishing the River Naver in April 2008. It was my first time fishing out with Caithness. I had hooked a large spring salmon and after a considerable fight lost the fish. I then went back, covered exactly the same lie and within three casts, hooked a different fish, which turned out to be a nine pound springer.
3. SSFS: What is your favourite fly?
GD: My favourite fly has to be the Park Shrimp, as it is very effective on Highland rivers. The tail of the fly being constructed from artic fox, makes it very mobile and life like in the water.
4. SSFS: What is your favourite salmon pool?
GD: The stream going into Loch Beg on the Thurso river in May. When you hook a fish in the stream, it usually runs into the main loch. As the loch is a large expanse of water but shallow, the runs sometimes made by the salmon are akin to bonefish. Long, very powerful and never ending!
5. SSFS: If there was one place in the world you could salmon fish, where would it be and why?
GD: The Miramichi river in Canada. Canada in my opinion is one of the worlds last great wilderness and to catch a salmon on a surface bomber fly in such stunning suroundings, would be my ultimate salmon fishing dream.
6. SSFS: What is the most unusual sight you have ever seen on the river?
GD: It was a very windy day in early March on the Thurso River and there were lots of Starlings in the sky. Suddenly from nowhere we got a hail shower and the starlings got disorientated. They started falling out of the sky like bombs into the river. An astonishing sight!
7. SSFS: What is the worst conditions in which you have seen a salmon being caught?
GD: It was September and the Thurso River was running at four inches on the water gauge (very low) with no wind. My guest was lashing the pool to a foam, fishing over resident fish that had seen umpteen flies. Suddenly an old kipper from nowhere came and grabbed the fly. It was a fifteen pound hen fish!
8. SSFS: What do you love about being a ghillie?
GD: I love teaching children how to salmon fish and find it great to see the younger generation coming into our sport.
9. SSFS: What is your salmon fishing pet hate?
GD: I hate it when anglers fish the fly too slowly, either by putting an upstream mend in the fly line in slow water, especially when fishing for fresh grilse. This is one of the worst things you can do, when fishing on Highland spate rivers.
10. SSFS: What is your favourite fishing dram?
GD: I wouldn’t say no to a nice smooth Monkey Shoulder!
For more details on fishing the Thurso river visit:
www.thursoriver.co.uk