The Wild Fishing Forum

Spring 2010 : A Very Special Fly Auction In Aid Of The River Don Trust

In continuing the WFF policy of supporting the River Don Trust through real fund raising effort, some months ago  I asked several members who I knew to be top fly tiers and successful anglers if they could tie up a selection of their favourite flies for an auction.

Some of  these guys are river specialists, some loch, some all-rounders and all are dedicated wild fishers. I reckoned I would get a good selection and a great  response  and boy, I most certainly did!

Before continuing  can I first say a warm and heartfelt thank you to the members who tied the flies and gave their time and materials so willingly.

They are, in no particular order:

Allan Hutton (Clan Chief)
Donald McAllister (Black Don)
Dennis Shaw (Scotfly)
Colin Wilson (Col)
Steve Queen (Steve)
Mark McGee (Buzz)
Norman Ford (Clan Ford)
Steve Smith (Ardbeg)
Brian Tulloch (Brian)
Derek Roxborough (Breac Uaig)
Hans Drost  (Hans)

I even tied a few myself.

The auction is for 175 custom tied flies in a Wheatly style combination eyed and compartmentalised brushed aluminium  box.

These are not cheap  flies tied in some far eastern sweat shop. They are flies tied and as used by some of the best wild trout fishers around.

Here are a few photos

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The auction will remain open for a few weeks. The closing date will be set later. Please consider  making a realistic bid, the cause is good and the product unique. These flies catch fish on river and loch!

Once again, the auction is for 175 custom tied flies in a Wheatly style combination eyed and compartmentalised brushed aluminium  box.  Dries, wets, nymphs, bumbles, emergers, CDCs, Klinks - you name it they are there.

We are the ONLY fishing forum that supports the River Don Trust by real  action and deeds - not just words!

Thanks in advance.

Hi Fred

Can I take this opportunity of thanking the members of the WFF for their fund raising efforts on behalf of The River Don Trust. As I know you appreciate it takes a substantial amount of finance to keep the Trust up and running and funding projects and therefore raising the money takes up a lot of our time.

At the moment we are about to start our habitat surveys, which will involve walking all the tributaries and the main stem in order to identify a range of issues such as poor habitat, erosion, diffuse pollution, invasive species to name but a few. Jamie, our biologist, has co-opted Dave and myself to assist in this, together with other volunteers and Board staff, so we better lay of the pints for a wee while! Subsequently the electro fishing starts and we have just purchased the necessary equipment at a cost of over ?4000. This will allow us to identify where the populations of all types of fish are distributed and to start planning for solutions to improve the numbers , if considered necessary. If anyone is interested by the way is seeing electro fishing operations please do let us know, I am sure we could get something arranged if there enough interest and having done it I can vouch for it being a very rewarding day out.

As you may recall last year we identified obstacles to fish migration, both migratory and brown trout within the river and within the last two weeks have received engineers reports on how they can all be made "fish" friendly. The reports will be considered by the Trust within the next few weeks to decide the way forward. Meantime we are carefully monitoring and considering the proposals for  three large Archimedes hydro generating systems which it is proposed  be installed at the former Don mills. The proposals are currently out for consultation from SEPA so we await the final outcome with great interest.

We will be attending the River Don open day at Castle Forbes on 30th, May where you can meet all of the Trust Directors and Jamie if you want to discuss all of the projects we currently have underway  or simply have a chat. Once again thanks very much for your help its very much appreciated

best Regards

Iain

(Machar)

The River Don Trust
www.riverdon.org.uk

Quote from: buzz on May 22, 2010, 08:36:27 PM
Do the Peter Ross flies not detract from its value :lol:

I'm not saying who put that in, but  his second name is Smurf and his first named is Banned.  :lol:

Fred

A great collection and all who have contributed should be congratulated, except for the un-named one who is to be banned.

I have said this before but I could not afford to put in a realistic bid for that collection as 1 job lot! 175 hand tied flies by a collection of rogues who know how to steal catch fish in any condition must be worth well over ?100.

Split into 2 or 3 bundles I may well have bid.

Good luck and I am sure there are others who will be in a position to do this collection credit.

Alan

No interest then guys?

OK as mentioned above it's a valuable and unique lot so perhaps we should have set a starting bid  level /  reserve.

Anyone prepared to open at ?50?   :D

Bids in ?5 increments please.  :D

Thanks Davy

Current bid ?50.

Thanks Dod

Current bid ?55.

Go on then great cause ?60

Thanks Richard

Current bid ?60.

Thanks Dod.

You are right it's a spectacular bargain of flies just not available elsewhere.

Current bid ?65.

Quote from: machar on May 22, 2010, 06:49:50 PM
Can I take this opportunity of thanking the members of the WFF for their fund raising efforts on behalf of The River Don Trust. As I know you appreciate it takes a substantial amount of finance to keep the Trust up and running and funding projects and therefore raising the money takes up a lot of our time.

It's a pleasure Iain and the least we could do to help support your hard work on behalf of the river.

My own belief is that it is only those of us  who genuinely care about the welfare of the river  who will put giving ahead of taking and self interest, get off our backsides and actually do something real..

Keep up the great work.

I will bid ?70, just hope if i win the wife doesnt find out!

Many thanks John.

Current bid ?70.

Quote from: fishindaft on May 29, 2010, 01:27:12 PM
just hope if i win the wife doesnt find out!

Don't worry John, just tell her you are a member of the only Scottish fishing forum  where members back up their words with action and  put their hands  in their pockets to support The River Don Trust.

I'm sure she will be most impressed by that.  :lol:

Current bid ?70.

Come on guys, still lots of time to get in on the fly bargain of the year!   :8)

Eighty smackeroos from me.

Alex

Many thanks Alex

Current bid ?80.

The generosity of the members of  this  forum and their willingness to provide real support for the River Don never ceases to amaze me.   :D

Still time to get in on the fly bargain of the year chaps AND feel that warm glow  you get by being a member of the only forum supporting the Don Trust by fund-raising grow even warmer!   :8)

Don't just be an ordinary WFF elitist, be the highest bidder and become the  WFF elitist of the  elitists.  :ang4

Hell, I'll even send you a certificate.  Think of the Kudos!!!    :lol:

Don?t let Alex run away with this, he already catches more fish than the rest of you put together. Come on chaps, do it   for me, please.  I have to go to New Zealand with him and watch him catch all the fish.  If he gets these flees he?ll be unstoppable. I'll  never  get him off the water while the pubs are still open.   :goog


Current bid ?80.

QuoteI'll  never  get him off the water while the pubs are still open

So we'll be off by 6.30pm then :shock:

Alex

Quote from: haresear on June 01, 2010, 01:25:01 AM
So we'll be off by 6.30pm then :shock:

good point.  :D

My final bid of 85 quid! got to be worth it just for they klinks!

John

Many thanks John.

Current bid ?85.

I just hope that the Manager does not find out, but the flies are wonderful. Put me down for ?100, please

Many thanks Bruce.

I promise  I won't tell Ann.    :D

Current bid ?100.

Quote from: admin on June 01, 2010, 09:56:42 PM
Many thanks Bruce.

I promise  I won't tell Ann.    :D

Current bid ?100.

:D :D :D
Hans

Auction now closed.

Winner Bruce Sandison with a great bid of ?100


Thanks Bruce

Well done Bruce,
congratulations.
Hans

Hi all

On behalf of the River Don Trust can I thank all members of the Forum for this most generous donation, especially Bruce who placed the winning bid. We have something specific to purchase in mind which will help us in various ways but need to get that confirmed, once done I will post advising you about it and what it can do for us. Thanks once again.

Iain
Trust Chair

Machar and I have been discussing the auction today and are delighted with the results. Many thanks to all those involved, a great idea and well supported.
We are hoping to use the funds buy a camera to attach to an underwater video system. We have borrowed this system from the Dee trust, who we work closely with, and got saw some fantastic images whilst i was diving the Linn of Dee for the trust. Unfortunately these were not recorded. We have used this for a couple of Don jobs, just getting used to it, and viewing fish under bridges, but see this being used in the future to collect images and video clips for use in our educational projects and for research. Things like Salmon in the classroom, a live web link in winter, so you can watch our Don fish hatch and grow on line.
I would also like some shots of fish on the Redds, and the system could be placed in the river and then we can sit well back in the (warm)  landrover and record the activity, again for use on the River Don website.

The great thing about this is it is a tool we can use for current and future River Don trust projects, and it will hopefully produce images and video clips of interest to anglers and our scientist.

Many Thanks

Dave