River Dee Fishing Reports 2010

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches


The FishDee beats reported 171 salmon and 231 sea trout for last week which is down a bit on recent weeks, but not by any means disappointing. There was good angling effort and we cannot blame the footballing extravaganza in South Africa for putting the fish catches down, rather a rise in river temperatures and a drop in river levels ensured catches fell during the latter part of the week, after a strong start to it. When this happens fish become harder to catch during daylight hours when more stealth and guile are required to winkle a fish or two out. Right continuing with the topical footballing theme, onto the scores, Waterside reported 17 salmon, Park 16,Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 15 with Crathie and Aboyne Castle reporting 14 each. The biggest fish at 24lbs was reported at Borrowstone, a well known big fish beat and a favourite of mine. Sea trout catches continued strongly with 231 reported to 5lbs. I have also just received confirmation of an amazing 11lb sea trout being landed at Altries a couple of weeks ago, of which more later. Dinnet and Deecastle reported 24 sea trout, which could have been more as many fish were lost, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld reported 19, which would have delighted Ian and David Murray, Aboyne water performed strongly with 18 and Waterside another good return with 15 reported. Park incidentally was lightly with fresh fish coming forward in good numbers. The running total for the season from FishDee beats is standing at 2656 salmon and 1280 sea trout and June's catches already above the 5 year average, so congratulations are due to our successful teams of anglers and Gillies, who are doing a great job in finding taking fish for their guests.

11 lb Sea Trout from Altries

Now onto correspondence and I have had a few e-mails today which I am always delighted to receive news to share with our readers through the mixed media who provide a platform for our news. Firstly I was pleased to receive a note from River Dee Board and Trust Chairman Mr Ian Scott, who advised 'Mike Wrightson's party were delighted with their week at Carlogie with 12 Salmon and 9 Sea trout. Mike, (79) has fished the Dee for 32 years, and this week caught the 100th fish of the season on the beat. Alan Lankshear (86), a member of Mike's party, caught the largest at 16Lbs. This Year 2010, is Alan’s 49th consecutive year fishing Ballogie Estate water' .What a fantastic supporter of our River Alan Lankshear is and hopefully he will celebrate his golden anniversary of visits to Deeside in some style next year. I am sure he has many fine stories to tell spanning almost half a century. I was really pleased to receive an e-mail from Kevin Fleming the super Gillie at Altries who reported the capture of a really big Sea Trout by Dee standards. Kevin reported 'Just thought I would forward this picture to you of a sea trout caught by David Wakefield on Altries and lower Drum in the Hotel Pool on the evening of the 05/06/2010. The fish is estimated to be around 11lb and was 30 1/2 inches in length. It was caught on a home tied 1 inch and a half tube. The fish gave a fantastic fight and was returned safely to the river.' What a fantastic experience it must have been for David to land this fish on a single handed rod. I was delighted to receive this report from Mark Farnsworth who commented ' We had 3 days at Crathie with Gillie Archie Hay the week before last and I'm happy to report a first fish for my brother in law, Chris Stafford. He had 3 fish in 3 days on his first trip to Deeside. His first fish was a lovely 14lb fish in Garlum, taken at 10pm, he then had a second fish 12 hours later in exactly the same spot, and finished with a third fish in the Brig of Dee pool on Saturday afternoon. He's now hooked and will be back next year! I attach 3 photos, 2 of Chris with his first and second fish and then a third photo of one of the two fish I had which was a 6lb fish from Polmonier. We had a total of 5 fish for our three days.' It’s great to hear of good sport at Crathie which must be helping Gillie Archie convalesce following his serious prolonged illness through the winter months. Finally I received a report from David Main who reported 'My friend and I were on Middle Dee on Saturday, we had a great day hooking up to 9 fish! But only managed to land 3 of them. Everyone of them was in pristine condition, with sea lice and one of them the biggest 9lb had long tailed sea lice. Sadly we both left our cameras at home so have no images.' This can happen when fresh fish are running and not taking the fly properly but what a great days sport they enjoyed with all these taking fish.

Chris Stafford 10 pm Salmon at Crathie

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As some European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There is a risk of this parasite coming into our river from anglers arriving from Europe for example, where the salmon stocks from many European rivers are resistant to this parasite. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, June 2010

Chris Stafford second fish at Crathie

Prospects

Well the weather forecast models I look at are suggesting different outlooks so I will make recommendations on the one I rely on UK Weather Forecasts - Radar, Alerts, News and More - Netweather.tv who are usually reliable. The Met Office suggests 25 degrees tomorrow for Grampian region and I am dubious about this. The suggested forecast is for temperatures between 14 and 19 degrees Celsius with the highs on Tuesday and Saturday. Winds will be light with cloud cover variable with Monday, Wednesday and Thursday being suggested as offering the cloudier conditions which are desirable to anglers. In terms of precipitation we may see some rain showers and these are suggested for the latter part of the week but with no real volume of rainfall forecast. Winds will be predominately light and from southerly directions, also pleasantly warm providing some rippling of the water surface to provide cover for anglers. For anglers fishing late and early sunrise this week will occur around 4.20 am with sunset around 22.10 pm. This means for some a very long day of angling effort so please ensure you cover the water as well as resting it occasionally as levels are low. The maritime influence is indicating rising tides through the week peaking at 4.1 metres with 7 high tides during the night this week which will allow fish to enter the river under the cover of darkness.

Mark Farnsworth fish at Crathie

As we go into the summer months with a good head of fish in the river and good water levels caused by snow melt, I am delighted to report that there is a lot of availability for last minute bookings on the FishDee website. I would recommend anglers to come and fish if they can possibly manage as they have a good chance of encountering some exciting sport with both salmon and sea trout. Please look at the find fishing page on the FishDee website to book your fishing on line. Given that sport has been really good for many beats, especially in the upper reaches, it is perhaps worthwhile exploring some of the upper beats with Mar Lodge, Abergeldie, Birkhall, Balmoral, and Morven all having rods available now and with good stocks in all these beats. They have fantastic streamy fly water that’s just a pleasure to fish and enjoy with good company. There are also plenty of rods available in middle and lower beats where new runs of fresh sea liced fish are coming forward from the sea. For those who have booked fishing then as always heed the wise counsel of your Gillie if you have one to advise you. Our Gillies know their beat intimately and will know the best tactics to employ and advise where the taking lies are. If you do not have the services of a Gillie to call on and are unsure what tactics to employ then you may consider the following suggestion; a 13 foot rod with an 8/9 weight floating shooting head, short poly leader with a long leader of over 10 feet and small flies. As the water level continues to fall and the water temperature rises, the best chances of sport are early mornings and evenings where beats allow this. As to fly choice, well feedback indicates small and very lightly dressed flies are doing well. Black Brahan, Stoats Tail, Executioner, Crathie, Black Frances as well as tiny cascades, Frances flies and silver bodied Ally's shrimp. The Sunray can be successful fished square and stripped fast with many takes both visible and bordering on violent at times. This is a tactic that can be utilised to good effect at dusk as fish move from the deeps into shallower flows and the streamy necks of pools. Fish will find more dissolved oxygen in the streamier flows so they are well worth fishing diligently as fish seek lies in this type of water. A worked fly in low water can succeed when a conventionally down and across presentation is ignored and a figure of eight retrieve can be utilised to keep the fly on the move.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As some European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There is a risk of this parasite coming into our river from anglers arriving from Europe for example, where the salmon stocks from many European rivers are resistant to this parasite. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, June 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

FishDee beats have reported 90 salmon to 22lbs and 257 sea trout to 5lbs which given the water heights is a really good result. With the river running low and warm at 16 degrees Celsius it has been under the cover of night that the bulk of the catches have been made. The Dess beats produced 14 salmon, Ballogie reported 7 salmon to 22lbs, with Cambus O'May and Woodend reporting 6 salmon. Sea trout sport has been first class with Birse reporting 52, of which more later, Dess beats reported 33 and Aboyne water 23.I should also offer congratulations to Alec Coutts who has just reported the 100th salmon of the season for Aboyne Castle. This is the first time in 22 years under his stewardship that this figure has been achieved before the end of June.

Fabian Sweeney with a fine salmon at Ballogie

I have not received any correspondence this week from anglers so can only provide a report about some days sport at Birse. I had some fishing there on the later part of the week with Jim Coates and John Beard CEO from Whyte and Mackay and John Finneran. As the river was low we decided that the best tactic was to fish lightly during the day and concentrate fishing effort through the night focussing on sea trout. This was a tactic that paid off well and all the anglers did well, especially on Thursday night when we had 19 sea trout to 4lbs.It was the first time night fishing for Mr Beard who did very well fishing with a single handed rod and small flies and it was a pleasure to assist him with his captures through the night. Jim Coates had an alarming encounter with what he described as a 'flatulent' roe deer making a real noise which he found quite disconcerting. He was assured that given there was a full moon there was nothing to really worry about-apart from the impending football match on Sunday afternoon. Mr Finneran scored well with sea trout and lost salmon when he fished through the dawn. How nice it was to be able to fish through the short midsummer night’s where the sea trout were so active. It was a pleasure getting so many tugs and plucks from sea trout coming to a well presented fly. Alas Saturday evening sport finished at midnight and we all had pleasant memories to discuss with the ever youthful and entertaining Ghillie Doug Murray who arrived back at midnight to shut shop. What a pity another angler fishing the beat had failed to notify anyone that he was on the beat and found himself locked in for the night until released at 3 am by one of our river bailiffs.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As some European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There is a risk of this parasite coming into our river from anglers arriving from Europe for example, where the salmon stocks from many European rivers are resistant to this parasite. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, June 2010

Prospects

It could be tricky to predict how the week will go, but in keeping with the footballing theme thats catching the headlines, it looks like a week of 2 halfs. We will have pleasant dry conditions during the first half with perhaps the scores being made in the early mornings and late evenings, anglers may score heavily with sea trout. If as some weather forecast models are indicating we get rainfall, then the second half of the week could see the catchment get a 'hammering' and the river will rise. How heavy the rainfall will transpire to be is difficult to gauge but Thursday and Friday will see heavy rain. If the river rises, which it hopefully will, we will surely see salmon sport picking up and new runs of summer salmon and grilse arriving into the system, with the lower and middle beats perhaps doing well. Forecast temperatures are to be between 14 degrees Celsius and 24 degrees Celsius with Thursday likely to be cool and windy. The maritime influence is indicating high tides of 4.1 metres falling back to 3.6 metres on Sunday.

As the river is currently running at 4 to 6 inches on the Sepa gauges then stealth will be required, and our super beat Ghillies will advise on what tactics to use, perhaps some may wryly suggest using a German snaelda with a smile. For the first half of the week the night fishing potential should be excellent where beats allow this. Feedback suggests that between 1 am and 5 am are the hours that many fish are reported to be taking well. Night fishing with single handed rods and small flies is not everyone’s favourite fishing method, but it can be tremendously productive as we found out last week. If the river rises and colours during the second half of the week and fish get on the move then Ally's, Park shrimps and of course the small German snaelda could score heavily. For sea trout fishing a stoat’s tail, dark mackerel or black Fritz may be productive.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As some European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There is a risk of this parasite coming into our river from anglers arriving from Europe for example, where the salmon stocks from many European rivers are resistant to this parasite. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, June 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches
Last updated: Monday 5th July

Forgive the mendacity of my predictions last week as I predicted we could see good sport in the lower beats if we saw increased river levels, alas the river levels rose too late in the week to provide the hoped for increase in sport in the lower beats. That’s not to suggest it was a disappointing week for visiting anglers as FishDee beats reported 59 salmon and 269 sea trout. The FishDee beats have reported season to date 2831 salmon and 1821 sea trout which is quite satisfactory with an expected and hoped for good run of summer and early autumn fish still to arrive. Dess reported 8 salmon with Park and Invery reporting 8 and 7 salmon respectively. The Dess beats reported 35 sea trout, Aboyne Castle 31 sea trout and Waterside recorded 30 sea trout. This is another really good week for sea trout catches, and perhaps for some a quieter than hoped for week for salmon.

I have received some correspondence this week I am pleased to report. It was nice to receive a report of good sport from the FishTay franchise's reporter, respected Cargill Ghillie David Godfrey, who reported 'Just a short note to congratulate Ian and David Murray and the Dee Board for supplying myself and fishing companion Malcolm Anderson (Highland Flies) with a fantastic days sport on the Dee. We hooked well into double figures of salmon, and actually had a double hook up 100 yards apart. Keep up the good work.' I also received an e-mail from Crathie Ghillie Archie Hay who advised 'Just a short note about last week’s fishing, sorry it is so late, but this was due to internet problems at home and a group of brand new fishers arriving today which prohibited me from visiting the office to use their computer. I had a very varied group of fishers last week most of whom were only fishing for a day by kind invitation of Proctor's of Blairgowrie. The week started well with a salmon and a grilse caught on Monday morning, this was to prove a very rare event with only 1 salmon, 1 grilse and 1 sea trout caught during the day for the rest of the week. All 22 sea trout were caught on the Crathie fly size 12/14/16 or 10mm Eumer micro crayfish tube. Of the 17 salmon and grilse, the same flies accounted for 14, with a size 12 silver stoat catching the remaining 3. Most of the salmon were caught between 10 and 11 pm with the sea trout caught in the hours of darkness. Biggest salmon was a fine 19lber caught on Saturday evening at 10.45pm with a superb 5lb sea trout caught at 12pm on Wednesday.' I would like to take this opportunity to advise anglers that there is plenty of rod availability on the River Dee at the moment and anglers who are thinking about coming to fish should take the plunge and book fishing. There are prime Dee beats offering fishing at really good value over the next 3 months. Given the stocks in the system and the hoped for summer and autumn runs that should be arriving then anglers could see really good sport through the summer and autumn months provided we have reasonable water levels. Given the prolonged dry spell I hope we will see reasonable steady rainfall through the summer months to facilitate healthy runs of fish.

Malcolm Anderson with a nice summer salmon

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As some European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There is a risk of this parasite coming into our river from anglers arriving from Europe for example, where the salmon stocks from many European rivers are resistant to this parasite. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, July 2010



Beat catches reported
(week ending 3rd July)
SALMON & GRILSE: Park 7, Lower Crathes and W Durris 1, Invery 8, Sluie 1, Ballogie 1, Carlogie 2, Lower Dess 6, Upper Dess 2, Birse 4, Aboyne Water 1, Aboyne Castle 7, Craigendinnie 2, Waterside and Ferrar 2, Deecastle 3, Headinch and Cambus O'May 3, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 3, Crathie 5, Mar Lodge 1.
Total: 59 Largest: Upper Dess 16lbs
SEA TROUT: Park 3, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 3, Cairnton 3, Woodend 2, Commonty 1, Ballogie 9, Borrowston 21, Kincardine 9, Carlogie 12, Lower Dess 10, Upper Dess 25, Birse 2, Aboyne Water 25, Aboyne Castle 31, Craigendinnie 10, Waterside and Ferrar 30, Dinnet 18, Deecastle 24, Headinch and Cambus O'May 7, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 18, Birkhall 1, Crathie 6.
Total: 270 Largest: Ballogie & Borrowston & Carlogie & Upper Dess & Deecastle & Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 5lbs

Prospects

It's always a bit of a gamble making a prediction on how the weather forecast is going to affect our anglers prospects and one could question the veracity of the forecasts provided by some websites. As we are affected by a maritime influence we can forgive our forecasters for having their forecasts going askew from time to time. One common theme this week from analysing the weather forecast models is rainfall, and this is likely to be a regular feature for the week, in what volume? Well that’s a question that's difficult to answer accurately. Hopefully enough to maintain river levels at a nice height for salmon fishers who have seen sport quieten down due to low and warm water conditions. It looks like a breezy start to the week with winds quietening down through the week, but a series of fronts will sweep across the country and hopefully will reduce water temperatures. The maritime influence this week shows high tides rising from 3.5 metres to 4.1 metres with some good high tides occurring through the hours of darkness from Thursday to Sunday. This should encourage fresh bright summer salmon and grilse to make an appearance in the lower and middle beats. River levels have seen a welcome rise on both Friday and Sunday with river heights currently running between 9 inches and 1 foot 11 inches on the SEPA gauges on the main stem of the river. When water temperatures rise to over 16 degrees Celsius, as they have done, salmon become quite dour and less inclined to take the anglers fly. It is also a time of the season when salmon that do take the fly really need to be quietly and quickly returned to the river forgoing the trophy picture shot, and held facing upstream to allow a good flow of oxygen across their gill plates to help them recover from being captured. If they are kept out of the water for even a short time this is seriously detrimental to their chances of surviving so they must handled with real care and consideration. I urge anglers to ensure salmon are returned in water that has a good flow.

David Godfrey returning a summer fish

All things considered prospects for this week look better than last week given the current conditions with a good head of fish in the river. Sea trout sport has been really first class over the last few weeks which has really added another dimension for visiting anglers who are coming to fish the Dee. There should be better sport with salmon and grilse, and hopefully a continuation of lively, and at times frantic action with sea trout. As to tactics to employ to good effect then as always heed the advice of your beat Ghillie if you have the services of one to call on. They will provide an opinion and views on what tactics that should be utilised, and where the fish are likely to be on your chosen beat. If you don’t have a Ghillie to assist you on your chosen beat then you may find a full floating line with a small polyleader useful with a leader of approx 10 feet length. Flies to utilise to good effect could be the Smith's shrimp, Cascade, Park shrimp and silver bodied Ally's shrimp for salmon and as a good all round option the silver stoat, Crathie, Editor and silver shrimp. At dusk on beats that allow it a collie dog fished square and fast or a riffled hitch mini tube may produce spectacular sport if fish are in the mood to respond to these surface lures. Anglers fishing through the wee small hours may find sea trout take a teal blue and silver, dark mackerel, silver march brown and perhaps a jambo wake lure or sunk needle fly. The most important bit to remember is to fish hard and diligently, and persevere as fish are in the pools from the top of the river to the bottom. The stocks of fish cannot be active 24 hours a day but when they are on, it may be short and fast sport. A word of caution though; as it is high summer there are now a lot of visitors to the valley, and some may be opportunists looking for a cast on your beat. If you see anything suspicious please contact the river board emergency hotline on 013398 80411 which is managed 24 hours a day, where river bailiffs will respond to any reports of unauthorised angling .Can we remind restaurant owners and hotel owners that it is illegal to buy rod caught salmon and sea trout in Scotland, so please refuse any that are offered to you. This helps the rivers security and fish stocks which are recovering slowly after years of declining numbers. Deeside is a marvellous destination for visiting anglers where there are a wealth of activities for visitors to enjoy. Some anglers are bringing their golf clubs with their fishing rods, and they will find the local courses in Banchory, Aboyne and Ballater in reported super condition. Please access the FishDee website for day time activities, in the local websites section, if you are bringing the family to Deeside with you. They can find a wide range of facilities and activities to enjoy through the length of the River Dee valley.

Fish On

Fish Being Returned

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As some European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There is a risk of this parasite coming into our river from anglers arriving from Europe for example, where the salmon stocks from many European rivers are resistant to this parasite. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, July 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Last Week’s Catches


Salmon catches rose considerably last week from the week before with good new fish coming forward leading to a productive Friday and Saturday with 103 salmon and 123 sea trout being reported by FishDee beats. There are also reports of new fish being hooked and lost, especially in the lower beats. Lower Crathes reported 9 salmon with Park reporting 8 salmon, however the top reporting salmon beat for the week was Crathie who reported 15 salmon. Crathie was also top sea trout beat recording 12 with Craigendinnie reporting 10 sea trout and Birse and neighbour Aboyne Water reporting 8 each. I have received quite a few pieces of correspondence with some witty contributions which I hope will entertain you as much as I was. Firstly David Gordon reported some success and commented ' My host Alan Maughan encouraged me to have a wee cast in the Roe Pot, a famous pool I have wanted to fish for some time. The rain was pouring down but after coming out from the city, I thought a cast would be very pleasant. The river was low but the colour of the Dee Dram. I took a size 12 cascade out of the box (well you would) and threw a floating line with an intermediate tip down my bank to get the line out. Then cast it out off the top jetty to just above the boil at the top of the pool. As usual I immediately hooked the rock, and lifted to pull the fly free, however the rock was having none of it and took off downstream! A fine tussle ensued, with the fish taking line off upstream and then doggedly fighting in among the rocks. I phoned Alan, telling him I had a fish on and thanking him for the cast, he was just finished his meal so was on his way! I decided the best course of action now was to knock my net off the jetty into the river, and then immediately decided this was a bad idea. However the fish, feeling pity on me allowed me to lead it into the shallows, to be carefully hand tailed. I unhooked it in the water and, so Alan would believe me took a quick picture on the bank. Unfortunately, as I did this, just after clicking the button, the fish jumped, knocking said camera / Blackberry into the water as well. Nothing would dampen my delight however. I cradled the fish under water, carefully taking it back into the stream to be released. Just as I reached the end of the jetty a toot behind me alerted me to Alan and a car load of anglers, eager to share my enjoyment as I returned the 12 lb fish to much hilarity, leaving my cheeks feeling rosier than a glow worm.'

Dave Gordon with his fine catch

I also received a humorous anecdote from Jamie Sampson who very much tongue in cheek observed 'Who would give up hospitality at The LTA for Women's Semi and Women's Final at Wimbledon last week - we did! My wife Ingrid and I are just back from a week fishing on Craigendinnie. Having fished all the Dinnet & Glentanar beats over the last 30 odd years it was the first return to Craigendinnie for 17 years. Last fished with Colin Espie the Spring before he returned to Deecastle, then I watched him land a 19lb Springer. We met George Murray our Ghillie for the week on Monday morning where he had been fully briefed on us by Colin! Imagine the thrill by 11am of having 2 salmon on the bank 7lb & 9lb out of Tanarmouth. The week progressed and at its end I returned to Ayrshire a happy man with a tally of 8 salmon-largest 17lbs and 12 sea trout. This sport is a great leveller - on Wednesday I lost 3 salmon and had my first ducking for 11 years. I feel that George should be inducted into 'The Guards Division' of Glentanar Ghillies along with Colin, Fergus & Davie at the rank of Full Colonel. The week was immense. We saw Eoin Smith - with honey, stayed at The Cambus O’May, well fed by The McKechnie girls, met the late Jimmy Oswald's cousin Mr Syme, and last but not least met 4 charming fishers at the hotel from Lancashire - they fished Cambus. One of their number Garry McDonald was so thrilled to catch a 8lb grilse he booked a day through the FishDee site on Mar Lodge successfully landing a 9lb salmon-not bad for a 40 mile round trip. Finally having spent the last few years fishing in the cold of March/April with little to see, this week was like the fishing's were 20 years ago. Thank you Eoin Smith for teaching me to respect the fish, thank you Colin & Fergus, but a big thank you to George for last week. . Also there was a party of retired officers from the 7th Lancers, lead rod Peter Horseburgh. They were fishing exclusively for sea trout across Dinnet/Deecastle, Waterside & Craigendinnie/Aboyne Castle. Deployed at 00.00hrs till 05.00.Up to noon on Saturday, they had 92 sea trout! All troops deployed 22.00hrs Sat evening to break 100 you might like to check with Edward if the made it? Also many thanks to Edward and Michael for allowing The Bandit to fish their lovely water fish, or no fish. Special request Michael can we have a lovely hut like the ones your sister put up on Cambus - suggest Pol Bar or Red Brae South side.'

Philippe Koehler with Crathie Ghillie Archie Hay

Crathie Ghillie Archie Hay provided this report this morning 'Another good week on Crathie, with Mr Tom Saville's party enjoying good sport. The week started well with our gauge reading 1'6" after Sunday's heavy rain, Mr Peter Skelton a complete novice caught his first ever salmon on the Monday morning a fine 10lb fish from MacLaren. On the Tuesday Mrs Pat Saville caught the first of her fish in Garland, Wednesday saw four fish caught two by Mr Mark Skelton another novice starting his account with an 11lber from Maclaren, Mrs Saville again adding to her tally. By Thursday the river was almost back to her previous low level and had cleared nicely, three salmon and five sea trout were landed all on a size 12 Crathie in the evening/dusk. Friday saw Mark complete his hat trick with an 8lb fish, not bad for your first week (he will learn), Pat again had success with sea trout of 3 and 4 pounds from Ploughboy, the water then rose a foot and it was not until dusk/daybreak the remaining fish were caught. Saturday daytime produced nothing and it was not until 9.30pm fish again began to take with fish of 8lbs, 7lbs and 4lbs being caught and more 3 sea trout were added before 12 when we had to stop fishing.' Regular visiting tackle dealer from Strasbourg in France Philippe Koehler was back on Deeside and again was successful on his visit and commented 'Hello Ken ,it was a pleasure to meet you, my wife and I appreciated the Dee dram we had together with you , your friends and of course Doug Murray. I had a nice week fishing, a lot of pulls ,1 sea trout ,4 grilse,(thank you Keith) the biggest was at Crathie (thank you Archie) and I lost 3 salmon , 2 at Park and 1 at Lower Crathes where we meet again a lot of very interesting and nice people .I come again the 19/20/21 July with 3 friends at Park and hope it's going to rain there. It was a real pleasure to have Ghillie Doug Murray entertain us when we met you with the Whyte and Mackay executive team.' And finally I received an e-mail from Iain Wilson a regular visitor from the Borders Gunroom who wrote ' Hi Ken, just a wee note to tell you of our success over the last two weeks on Upper and Lower Dess, the first week was fished by the Chan party, and they had 13 salmon And 31 sea trout, mostly taken late evening on small micro tubes and size 10 Peter Ross, a well known Dee pattern (NOT). All the salmon were fresh and some sea-liced, sea trout were fresh also but not liced. The second week was fished by The Wallace party, as the river levels were now down to 3",we fished late evening, and into the night finishing about 2.30 am, again using small flies and micro tubes, and the BIG FLEE in the dark ,we finished the week with 8 Salmon and 33 Sea Trout, losing Friday to a 6" rise in water, which seemed to switch the fish off, until the Saturday, but what a great two weeks they were, Total 20 Salmon and 64 Sea Trout. Many thanks, and keep up the good work, we'll be back on Dess on Oct 4th for a few days, so will keep you informed of our success/failure.'

Philippe Koehler, Ken Reid and Birse Ghillie, the ever youthful Doug Murray

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, July 2010

Prospects

I am optimistic that we shall see good catches of salmon this week from the River Dee as there seemed to be a run of new fish coming into the River on Friday and Saturday, which coincided with some small rises in river levels and cooler air and water temperatures. The weather forecast is indicating a cooler and fresher week ahead with frequent rain showers and blustery winds, with perhaps Wednesday seeing heavy rainfall. Air temperature maxima will be in the region of 15 degrees with overnight temperatures falling back to 10 degrees Celsius which will keep the river temperatures ideal for salmon fishing. The maritime influence is indicating high tides rising from 4.2 metres today to 4.5 metres in mid week and falling back to 4.1 metres on Sunday which will encourage new fish to come forward into the River. With the SEPA gauges running between 9 inches and 1 foot 6 inches and dropping back from a rise on Sunday we should hopefully have enough rainfall through the week to keep the river at a nice fishing height, so fingers crossed we don’t receive a deluge which could lead to a flood that would slow sport down dramatically.

Summer Beauty on Deeside

If you are fortunate to be fishing the River Dee this week then it's important to listen to the advice of your Ghillie if you have one on the beat. With fresh fish coming into the system and river fish also getting on the move then we should see fish running throughout the catchment. This means your Ghillie could be the key to your sport this week as they will know every nook and cranny on their beat and where a taking salmon may be found. Your Ghillie will advise on what tactics to utilise and what flies to try to intercept running fish. When the river is clear black, silver and blue seem to be the preferred colour for flies and if there is a hint of colour in the water flies with orange, yellow and red can be utilised with confidence. I spoke to an angler who was successful on the Dee this week who advised me that Dess beats Ghillie Eoin Smith predicted exactly where a taking fish would be and the angler duly hooked and landed a fish precisely where Eoin predicted. Some of the Ghillies are busy doing maintenance on the river banks at this time of year so make sure you speak to your Ghillie when you can. A word of caution though; as it is high summer there are now a lot of visitors to the valley, and some may be opportunists looking for a cast on your beat. If you see anything suspicious please contact the river board emergency hotline on 013398 80411 which is managed 24 hours a day, where river bailiffs will respond to any reports of unauthorised angling. Can we remind restaurant owners and hotel owners that it is illegal to buy rod caught salmon and sea trout in Scotland, so please refuse any that are offered to you. This helps the rivers security and fish stocks which are recovering slowly after years of declining numbers.

Brig O'Dee in high summer

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, July 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

Fishing on Deeside last week was steady and would perhaps have been quite spectacular if anglers had managed to land the fish that were hooked. I have received reports of many anglers losing fish up and down the valley which is tremendously frustrating for anglers and Ghillies alike. As it was though FishDee beats reported 132 salmon and 89 sea trout for the week with a number of beats reporting 20lb salmon including one to my own rod at Ballogie. The salmon catches for the season have broken through the 3000 barrier last week and 2000 barrier for sea trout from FishDee beats which is quite encouraging. Lets hope we have good water levels and see a good summer run of fish that hang about in the lower and middle river beats and give them an opportunity for some good sport. Fish seem to have been in a hurry to move upriver with Ghillies seeing fish running hard through their beats. Ballogie reported 10 salmon for the week with Park, Crathes and Aboyne Water reporting 9 salmon, however top beat again this week was Crathie with Archie Hay delighted to see 12 salmon landed and 16 nice sea trout.

As I hadn't received any correspondence this morning I took the opportunity to phone a few Ghillies this morning. Sean Stanton reports that the Watson Party enjoyed good sport at Ballogie and Carlogie with all anglers catching fish. Mrs Watson was delighted to catch a fine fresh 18 lber from the Top Gannets on Saturday. Keith Cromar at Park reported a good run of grilse went through his pools on Saturday when 8 were landed by anglers. Regular Park fisherman Andy Forbes did well landing 3 fresh Grilse. Some of the Grilse were small with red vent syndrome which is caused by a parasitic nematode worm. I also was pleased to see Phillip Wood drop in to the office and he provided me with a report about his party's sport on GlenTanar beats last week. He was as always quite effusive about his parties sport enthusing about all his fishermens successes. John McGrath had his first ever salmon a fine 13lber, Kevin Wood had 2 salmon, Wayne Stirling had a salmon and a sea trout, and last but not least Phillip had 1 salmon, 1 grilse and 7 sea trout. He endured a largely unproductive season last year so it was pleasing to see him bang on form and enjoying his sport. Edward Humphrey from Dinnet popped into the office to give me a heads up on his beats for last week. He advised that Mike Stevenson's party did well with Mike landing a feisty 20 lber from Red Brae on the Dee Castle side. The party had 6 salmon and 17 sea trout for their week but lost many more fish. Let's hope he sees more fish landed this week when he continues his tenancy on the Lovely Dinnet and Dee Castle beats.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it's imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, July 2010



Beat catches reported
(week ending 17th July)
SALMON & GRILSE: Blairs 1, Altries and Lower Drum 1, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 2, Tilbouries 3, Park 9, Lower Crathes and W Durris 6, Knappach 2, Crathes 9, Invery 1, Lower Blackhall 2, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 2, Middle Blackhall 6, Cairnton 3, Commonty 2, Sluie 2, Ballogie 9, Borrowston 4, Carlogie 7, Lower Dess 1, Upper Dess 2, Birse 4, Aboyne Water 9, Aboyne Castle 7, Craigendinnie 6, Waterside and Ferrar 5, Dinnet 3, Deecastle 3, Headinch and Cambus O'May 1, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 5, Birkhall 1, Crathie 12, Mar Lodge 2.
Total: 132 Largest: Ballogie & Birse & Deecastle 20lbs
SEA TROUT: Altries and Lower Drum 1, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 1, Tilbouries 2, Park 2, Invery 1, Middle Blackhall 3, Cairnton 1, Sluie 1, Borrowston 2, Lower Dess 2, Upper Dess 4, Birse 14, Aboyne Water 2, Aboyne Castle 5, Craigendinnie 3, Waterside and Ferrar 7, Dinnet 5, Deecastle 12, Headinch and Cambus O'May 1, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 4, Crathie 16.
Total: 89 Largest: Borrowston & Birse & Aboyne Castle & Deecastle & Headinch and Cambus O'May & Crathie 4lbs

Prospects

There should be a continuation of rising salmon catches this week providing the river levels don't fluctuate too much. The weather forecast models I look at are suggesting regular rainfall throughout the week with heavy showers over the mountains a common theme. The week should start off reasonably mild with temperatures perhaps reaching 21 degrees Celsius and continue like this until Thursday when the wind changes to a northerly airflow and temperatures fall back and heavy rainfall reaches the catchment. Things should improve on Friday and Saturday with temperatures and barometric pressure rising. The maritime influence is indicating tides falling back from 3.8 metres to 3.6 metres on Thursday and then rising again to 3.8 metres on Sunday. Taking the good current river levels into account,with Sepa gauges running between 6 inches to 1 foot, then there is every likelihood that grilse runs will continue to build, with perhaps some good multi sea winter coming into the river. With a lot of fish reportedly hooked and lost last week then it's clear that grilse are running hard through the lower beats.

If you are fortunate enough to be fishing this week on Deeside then ensure you speak to your Ghillie for advice. We have a team of extremely talented Ghillies who are very knowledgeable and know the tricks likely to work to deliver the elusive silver prize we all seek. Your Ghillie can advise you about what rods, lines and flies to use, as well as where taking fish are likely to be located on your chosen beat. If you dont have the services of a Ghillie to call on you will be best advised to use a floating line with perhaps an intermediate tip or poly leader. I used this outfit on Saturday with a size 11 Park shrimp and was highly delighted to be rewarded with a sea liced 20 lb salmon on the third cast of the day. As there are grilse running then you can expect to have your flies tweaked and pulled, which can be quite frustrating when they are not taking properly, so perseverance is the key word here-keep at it and eventually you will get your reward. There are still reasonable numbers of sea trout being caught so an evening cast could be profitable if you fish on until dusk. A word of caution, at this time of year there are a lot of visitors to Deeside, and some are opportunists looking to take some fishing without booking. If you see anything suspicious please contact the river board emergency hotline on 013398 80411 which is managed 24 hours a day, where river bailiffs will respond to any reports of unauthorised angling. Can we remind restaurant owners and hotel owners that it is illegal to buy rod caught salmon and sea trout in Scotland, so please refuse any that are offered to you. This helps the rivers security and fish stocks which are recovering slowly after years of declining numbers. Looking at availability over the next few weeks it is clear that there are a good number of rods on prime Dee beats and I would encourage anglers to book fishing now as opportunities to fish on the best beats don't come up very often.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, July 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches


There was some hot action on the Dee last week following on from a reasonable mid week rise that encouraged a good run of fresh salmon and grilse to come forward. I had a feeling this would happen and was really delighted to hear of many anglers successes especially in the beats from Park to Cairnton who have been watching salmon hammering through their beats into the upper beats where good catches had been made. The beats that have reported so far this week are reporting 231 salmon and grilse to 21lbs and 55 sea trout to 5lbs.Park was top FishDee beat for the week with 25 salmon/grilse which is credible as it was lightly fished. Brian Sim had a super week at Crathes with at least 17 salmon and Jim Turnbull and Karl Revel saw 16 landed at Invery. It was also a very good week for the Dess beats where 30 salmon were reported between the upper and lower beats. It was also good to hear Cairnton had some encouraging catches and a nice 5 lb sea trout. I do hope that salmon slow down and hang around in the lower and middle beats giving the hard working Ghillies plenty of action to smile about. I have also heard of quite a number of grilse being affected with Red Vent Syndrome which is caused by the parasitic Anaskis nematode worm. Now that there are a lot of new fish coming in I would encourage anglers in the River Dee and its tributaries to support the River Dee Conservation Code and return all fish that are landed. It is important to allow as many salmon as possible to reach the redds in the main tributaries following many years of declining numbers. Many anglers including myself have wholeheartedly supported the code and it's vital that all anglers show restraint no matter how tempted they are to kill their catch, as a dead salmon cannot spawn. By supporting the code you are doing your bit to ensure one day there will be sufficient stocks to allow a sensible cropping policy to happen, but for now we must all return fish and adhere to the sensible guidelines that are in place. The conservation code applies to the main River Dee and its tributaries including the Feugh, Gairn and minor spawning burns.

The Durris Stream at Park last week-beautiful fly water

Now to correspondence. I was pleased to hear of a number of successes last week as mentioned above and I received correspondence from Stephen Paterson who commented 'Just back from our annual week and what a week it was! We started at Crathes on Monday with Brian Sim telling us he needed 4 to reach a hundred for the season, (ha I thought, no chance!) But by lunch we already had 3 and 1 lost, not long after lunch Brian came down with the news my father had done it landing number 100 and 101! By 5 o'clock we had landed 6 and by 7 I had added another 3, making an amazing 9 for the day. All were sea liced ranging in size from 5 - 12lb, not bad for 2 rods and a beat record Brian says! On Tuesday we managed another 2 before the water rose and the fish went off. On Wednesday we were on Craigendinnie where I managed to land 1 just before the River Dee decided to come out onto the banks to join us! No fishing on Thursday, but Friday saw us on Invery where I landed 2 and lost 2 in the morning, I also had 3 big pulls as well! So we ended what was really 3 days fishing with a total of 14 salmon landed, 5 lost and at least 8 other takes, quite a week and one that will be remembered for a long time to come.' I also received an e-mail from Stuart Buchan who advised 'A fantastic day was had on Invery Beat on Saturday under the enthusiastic and entertaining guidance of Karl Revel. I managed to land two very fresh fish in the morning, one at 6lb and the other at 8lb, both fought well and punched well above their weight. I also hooked into something very substantial but it was having none of it and it sadly came unstuck as it self released. I had a break in the afternoon and concentrated on the deck chair at home then returned to fish in the evening. Arriving at the beat, I saw Alan Michie working through a pool and at that very moment I stopped to speak to him when a willing grilse took his fly then after a tussle, Alan landed it. A few minutes later he hooked and landed a second fish making his total for the day three and then he had another. You then joined us and took over Greig Thomson's rod and landed an 8lb fish with more than its fair share of sea lice (and even had one in the inside corner of its mouth). It was encouraging to see the Dee in such good condition with a plentiful supply of running fish and on such a pleasant beat. As a famous Austrian actor once said "I'll be back".' And finally regular Dee fisher and tackle dealer from Strasbourg in France M.Phillipe Koehler was back for a few days with friends at Park enjoying some lively action and he wrote 'My friends and I are back in France, like every time I visit Deeside; it's very hard to leave the River Dee. This time we leave, it was Wednesday at 4 pm, because it was rising very quickly at this time. When the level rises fast the Dee is impressive. We had 3 nice days with 9 salmons and 5 sea trouts. The Park shrimp was the most successful fly for this time; more than 90% of our fish was captured with this wonderful pattern. Of our catch, 6 of 9 salmons were sea liced, but the sea trout were not. Special thanks for Bert Webster and Charlie Yates the Park South Ghillies." I am pleased to hear about the successes of the Park shrimp fly as designer Ross Macdonald designed this almost 3 years ago to this day for me to use at Park and it got its first freshwater trials which were quite spectacular. I recall landing 5 salmon between 12 and 18 lbs on the Saturday morning on a size 11 and on the following Monday landing six fish including 28 lbs,22lbs and 20lbs fish on another size 11 Park shrimp. The beat saw tremendous runs of fish during August and September which saw 527 salmon landed. Hopefully all the lower River Dee beats will see runs like these returning during August and September where anglers catch many fish.

River Dee Chairman Ian Scott with a 14lb salmon at Crathes

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, July 2010

Prospects

I am very optimistic we shall see good catches continue this week with many aspects that contribute to our sport being favourable. Firstly the weather forecast looks very reasonable with most days being a bit overcast and warm with showers a regular feature throughout the week. Winds will be predominately weak sou'westers and will not hamper casting for newcomers to Deeside who are looking forward to the opportunities of casting into pools with fresh running salmon and grilse. The predicted rainfall through the week looks reasonable and should ensure that the river levels stay reasonably consistent as they are currently running between 7 inches and 1 ft 1 inch on the Sepa gauges. The maritime influence is also favourable with high tides between 4.2 metres and 3.9 metres encouraging new shoals of returning salmon and grilse into the river. Barometric pressure is also looking steady throughout the week with it perhaps dropping a little on Saturday. If you are able to come and fish then please book a rod from FishDee where River beats are showing their rod availability. There are plenty of opportunities to come and fish and there are good stocks of new fish in the river.

Phillipe Koehler with a fresh salmon

If you are fortunate enough to be fishing this week on Deeside and I hope as many anglers as possible do, then ensure you speak to your Ghillie for advice. We have a team of extremely talented Ghillies who are very knowledgeable and can perhaps help you achieve your goal- a fine Dee salmon caught on the fly. Your Ghillie can advise you about what rods, lines and flies to use, as well as where taking fish are likely to be located on your chosen beat. If you don't have the services of a Ghillie to call on you will be best advised to use a floating line with perhaps an intermediate tip or poly leader. As to fly choice well I don't look beyond the Park shrimp but many other flies are popular. River Dee chairman Ian Scott positively enthused about the sport he had last week on a lightly dressed thunder and lightning pattern. Other anglers swear by the silver stoat's tail, Ally's shrimp, Silver shrimp and the black Frances fly. In the fast necks of pools a sunray shadow fished fast and square can also be tremendously exciting, with fish at times hammering these flies at pace. Such a visual piece of action to behold, but it can also lead to many poor hook ups. As it's high summer, a word of caution, at this time of year there are a lot of visitors to Deeside, and some are opportunists looking to take some fishing without booking. If you see anything suspicious please contact the river board emergency hotline on 013398 80411 which is managed 24 hours a day, where river bailiffs will respond to any reports of unauthorised angling. Can we remind restaurant owners and hotel owners that it is illegal to buy rod caught salmon and sea trout in Scotland, so please refuse any that are offered to you. This helps the rivers security and fish stocks which are recovering slowly after years of declining numbers. Looking at availability over the next few weeks it is clear that there are a good number of rods on the river and I would encourage anglers to book fishing now as opportunities to fish on the well stocked beats don't come up very often.

Tide fresh salmon

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, July 2010

 

[Editor]

Hi Ken

I enjoyed three wonderful days on Aboyne Water a week ago (thur - sat (17th). I shared my rod with a friend of mine and between us we caught 6 salmon, one fat sea trout and lost four others. Two of the fish we hooked had long tailed sea lice along their back and were in mint condition. The Dee was generous once again. I love it!

Keep up the good work!

All the best

Colin

 

[ken@fishdee]

Last Week’s Catches

Another week of steady sport on Deeside with FishDee beats that have reported so far notifying catches of 210 salmon and 27 sea trout. There appeared to be reasonable runs of fresh grilse and small summer salmon last week which is borne out with the bulk of catches coming from lower and middle beats. Park reported 25 for the week; Lower Crathes reported 20 fish, with Ballogie and Birse reporting 12 salmon each. It is pleasing to see lower beats such as Blairs, Tilbouries, and Upper Drum picking up new fish, hopefully this will kick off the start of a period of sustained good sport for the lower beats right through until the end of the season. I was pleased to hear that it was well known talented Deeside angler Malcolm Tocher who had the fishing at Lower Crathes. I met him briefly on Friday evening where he seemed very pleased with the weeks sport and was looking forward to his Saturday on the beat. I met Ian Scott, Gordon Anderson and visitor Steve Barnes at Park on Monday lunchtime where they had enjoyed some steady sport with new Grilse. Regular Blairs fisherman Rory Campbell has also being rewarded for his efforts at Blairs.

I was pleased to receive an invitation to spend a day at Park on Friday with some of the Park estates staff who are novice anglers. I was really pleased to see Rosalind Chrisp, who handles all the Park bookings finally catch her very first fish after a number of years trying. It wasn't the biggest fish for the week, but Ghillie Charlie Yates carefully returned a fine sea liced Grilse that really made the day for Rosalind. Another newcomer to do well was Jacob Rhodes who landed his very first salmon, a sea liced hen of 32 inches from the Durris stream on a small Park shrimp fly. Jenny and Morag fished hard but were unsuccessful and Alison hooked a fish on her first cast only to sadly lose it. Ross Macdonald was visiting and had 2 nice fish of 11 and 9 lbs, and I was very lucky to catch 6 salmon and grilse to 9lbs on a size 13 Park shrimp fly for the day. It is very good to see Park operating an initiative during July for novices and youngsters to come and fish to see if they like the sport, and perhaps become regular anglers. We need to do all we can to encourage another generation of anglers to enjoy our wonderful river. I understand Stuart Fleming from Aberdeen Angling Association was successful during his day at Park. The biggest fish of the week at 20lbs was one that was landed at Kincardine by David Brooks, who many will know as his wife Susan runs the Post Office and general store in the village of Kincardine. It is a super shop offering first class lunches for visiting anglers. David will be delighted with his catch as he has been troubled by a sore foot following surgery a few months ago, which has taken a long time to heal. I know he had some real discomfort when he visited Russia this year with a group of anglers from Deeside, so it is fitting that he gets rewarded for his perseverance with his biggest fish for many years.

Jacob Rhodes with his first salmon

I have received some correspondence from visitors to Deeside. I received a telephone call a few weeks ago from Steve Barnes looking for advice and was delighted he booked fishing and came to Deeside last week. He wrote to me yesterday and commented ' Thanks for your advice, the visit was really enjoyable. Luckily I managed to get 3 grilse on Park on Monday which was the day we met. The following two days saw me on Cairnton, the Tuesday yielding a supercharged 10lber, and the Wednesday a small grilse. All the fish were chromed and dripping with sea lice. I saw lots of fish and the two ghillies were absolutely fantastic. I cannot praise the river enough. Once again many thanks, I hope to be back in late August.' I was delighted to hear of his good fortune at Cairnton, which had over 30 salmon and Grilse during July. Let’s hope the catches keep rising there and keep expert Ghillie David Cowie smiling. It's a very pretty beat that has a great tradition of being the home of greased line fly fishing pioneered by AHE Wood many decades ago. For those interested in the history of Cairnton and AHE Wood I can recommend the informative website of Cairnton The Cairnton salmon fishing beat on the river Dee. I also received correspondence from Gareth Headland who is a well known face in the angling retail business. He is UK sales manager for Loop products who manufacture top quality salmon rods, reels and lines .I have known Gareth for a number of years and he is a regular visitor to Deeside with many big fish to his own rod over the years. Gareth advised 'regarding the pictures I have sent, my picture was a sea liced 12lb'er at Ballogie’s Top Gannet Pool-one of 3 fish I hooked there in a short time. I landed 2 and lost 1, with both captured fish being sea liced .I was using a s1/s2 line with a Frede's Nightmare mini bottle tube fly at business end! The other picture is of Ed Foster who owns 2 well known trout fisheries down here in Northant's- Elinor and Ringstead. Ed is also a co-England International Stillwater team member of mine too. It was his first ever salmon, and while only 3lb was sea liced all over and made Ed as happy as a 20lb'er! Ed and my other friend Paul Haskey (who is not pictured as lost all 3 fish he hooked) are now "hooked" on the Dee, and will be back. Thanks Ken'. What a pleasure to hear of so many newcomers first fish of the Dee this week.

Ros Chrisp with her first fish

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, August 2010

Prospects for the coming week

The same again would do nicely and if we have more fish then that would be a bonus. Given the number of novices who have been catching their first fish last week it is encouraging that a lot of fresh fish are coming forward and entering the catchment. The weather forecast is similar to last week’s which will probably suit anglers as it should be changeable throughout the week. Air temperature maxima will be in the region of 18 degrees with rain showers a regular occurrence throughout the week, perhaps some localised heavy thundershowers. Wind will generally be from the south swinging round to the north later in the week before reverting back. Barometric pressure will start high and drop a little before rising again towards the end of the week. Just in time for the Aboyne Highland Games where a crowd of around 9000 visitors may attend this highly popular annual event. The maritime influence is indicating tides of 3.8 metres dropping to 3.4 metres and rising again to 3.8 metres by the end of the week. The river levels are quite good at present with the Sepa gauges showing levels between 7inches at Mar Lodge and 10 inches at Park. There should be enough water if levels hold up to encourage new fish to come forward if they choose to. I expect Grilse numbers to build and these fish should move quickly through the lower beats to the middle and upper beats. We may also see a few big multi sea winter salmon arriving and hopefully we will be notified of some big fish captures for the Fish of the month prize. I have not received any submissions for some months now so hopefully people may wish to submit entries that are verified captures.

Ross Macdonald with a fresh sea liced salmon

Water temperatures are around 16 degrees Celsius, which is really quite cold for the local school children going for a dip as they while away their summer holidays, but the temperatures are good for anglers, and of course the salmon and sea trout which are cold blooded animals. Anglers fishing the river should heed the wise words offered to them by their Ghillies as they know their beats intimately and know where the fish lie, what tactics to use and what flies to utilise. Floating lines with a small poly leader seem to be popular at this time of year. I prefer just now to use a 13 foot rod with an 8/9 weight Rio AFS shooting head system. Depending on where you are fishing in the valley the advice offered by Ghillies may be different. I know some suggest very small lightly dressed flies and the further down the catchment there is a advice to use shrimp type patterns like the Park Shrimp, Smiths Shrimp, Cascade and Calvin’s Shrimp. Some anglers hedge their bets by using a small silver stoat’s tail as a dropper and use a shrimp fly on the point. Whatever fly you do use its important to persevere as running fish can appear one minute and seem to be gone the next.

As its high summer, a word of caution, at this time of year there are a lot of visitors to Deeside, and some are opportunists looking to take some fishing without booking. If you see anything suspicious please contact the river board emergency hotline on 013398 80411 which is managed 24 hours a day, where river bailiffs will respond to any reports of unauthorised angling. Can we remind restaurant owners and hotel owners that it is illegal to buy rod caught salmon and sea trout in Scotland, so please refuse any that are offered to you. This helps the rivers security and fish stocks which are recovering slowly after years of declining numbers. Looking at availability over the next few weeks it is clear that there are a good number of rods on the river and I would encourage anglers to book fishing now as opportunities to fish on the well stocked beats don't come up very often.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, August 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

I commented last week and suggested same again would be ideal and if we have more, that would be a bonus. Well the salmon rod catch did increase over the week with FishDee beats reporting over 50 fish on Monday and again on Saturday. This helped boost the weekly catches to 238 salmon and 36 sea trout. There were some super results last week reported by FishDee beats. Park, which was lightly fished reported 59 salmon and grilse. Lower Crathes, which is a 2 rod beat at this time of year reported 20 fish between Italian visitor Paulo Cesana and a guest. Beats in the Aboyne area produced good catches with Jim Cowper’s Aboyne Water reporting 14 salmon, just ahead of Alec Coutts 13 salmon at Aboyne Castle. Willie Banks at Tilbouries and Brian Sim at Crathes would be pleased with their anglers landing 11 salmon/grilse. Cairnton again produced double figures and their website reports 'another successful week' which will have pleased Ghillie David Cowie and his anglers. As I am writing this I have received a message from Rory Campbell who's been having a cast before work this morning at Blairs, and he reports the capture of 2 new sea liced fish before 7. 00 am. Fish are running in from the tide and anglers in the right place at the right time are doing well.

Donnie Whiteford with one of his 6 fish catch at Aboyne Castle

I have received some correspondence from visitors to Deeside. I was delighted to receive an e-mail this morning from Donnie Whiteford. Donnie was the fishing consultant for the Thuras a Bhadrain TV series broadcast on STV and BBC Alba. Donnie visited Deeside last week with his partner and TV programme presenter Neen Mackay. He was visiting some beats including Morven which he described as delightful, and a productive Aboyne Castle with Alan Green on Saturday. He wrote ' Hi Ken. I've just returned from my first day fishing on Aboyne Castle and will take a week to recover! Every cast was covering fish and I ended up landing 6 salmon/grilse from 3 to 18lbs plus 2 sea trout at 2 and 3lbs. The pools are stunning and I had to drag myself away at the end of the day. Ghillie Alec Coutts was outstanding and added greatly to one of the most enjoyable days salmon fishing I can remember.' I also received a message from Jim Coates from Whyte and Mackay who advised 'Hi Ken, had a great day on Saturday catching 5 bonny fresh Grilse covered in long tailed sea lice. It's great to see them running in good numbers this year.' I have also received an e-mail from Iain Gray this morning who Keith Cromar had advised me about his productive visit to a lightly fished Park. Iain commented 'I thought I’d give you a report on a few days’s fishing that myself and a few mates had on the Dee at Park. I was lucky enough to secure the winning bid for 2 days for 2 rods on Park via the Dee Trust Auction. I was given my choice of dates and picked last Friday and Saturday (6 and 7 August).I fished with Ewen Steele on Friday and 2 other friends – Campbell Pitt and Phil Lowe – fished the Saturday. We were all Dee virgins. Conditions looked good on the Friday; the hardest part was finding the correct entrance for the fishing. It’s always the last mile! Keith Cromar made us very welcome when we arrived and we were allocated our pools. To cut a long story short, I landed 4 by lunchtime and 7 for the day. Ewen blanked in the morning, but landed 3 in the afternoon (this is only his second year of fishing).Keith spent a lot of time helping Ewen which was brilliant. On the Saturday, Campbell had landed 3 by 11:00 but things then went a bit quieter for him; Phil had blanked in the morning, but again with some advice from Keith, landed 2 in the afternoon. 15 fish landed for 2 days, with plenty more hooked; all in all a great couple of days. We will certainly be back. Finally, I think I may have met you quite a number of years ago on the Brora. I was part of John Grant’s party at the time and I remember you and your brother fishing around the same time. I’m back on the Dee at Banchory on the 30th August, and while a repeat of Friday would be too much to hope for, some sport would be good. Keep up the good work.'

Park Shrimp Flies that worked tremendously well last week on Deeside

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, August 2010

Prospects

If we have a another good week and the prospects look likely, then catches from FishDee beats will accelerate quickly through the 4000 barrier this week for salmon catches, which will be pleasing for all the anglers fishing on Deeside this week. Weather-wise we have a mixed bag forecast but in local parlance, at times it will be gie dreich-great for the angler but not for the holiday makers visiting Deeside. There is a chance overnight this evening we could have some significant rainfall as a weather warning has been issued by the met office. Air temperature maxima will be in the region of 18 degrees Celsius this week with winds forecast to be gusty at times, but as they are from the south it shouldn't feel too cold. It is highly probable we could see rising and falling river levels this week and provided they are not too great then fishing will be productive all week. The maritime influence sees high tides peaking in Aberdeen at 4.1 metres on Monday rising to 4.7 metres on Thursday and Friday before falling back to 4.4 metres. This will bring new fish forward and these should consist of grilse and salmon. We may hear of some big fish being encountered too, as was suggested last week, when we saw Birse report a 25 lb salmon. For those who take an interest in barometric pressure we shall see the air pressure just over 1000 mb's at the beginning of the week which will rise over the week to 1025 mb’s. Many novice anglers are catching their first fish and experienced anglers are catching good numbers of fish. This could be the best week of the season so far if all goes well and fingers crossed it will be.

Angler Ken Reid fishing the Lorne Pool, Aboyne Castle where stealth is required

I have been speaking to Robert Harper from Lower Crathes and Keith Cromar at Park, who are both optimistic for the week ahead. Keith’s advice was to stick with small flies from size 12-14's rather than size 8's which anglers are reaching for from their fly boxes. The River Dee Ghillies are very knowledgeable and helpful to visiting anglers and anglers should heed their wise words of advice about catching salmon and grilse from their beats. They know the salmon lies at all heights of water and can make your visit highly productive and rewarding. If you don’t have a Ghillie service to call on then perhaps you will use a floating line and poly leader with a leader perhaps of 6-10 feet and a small shrimp type fly on the point. I know an angler had 5 on Saturday to his rod on a size 13 Park Shrimp and another angler had 6 to his rod on a similarly sized Calvin's shrimp and a collie dog. (See flies for the Dee page) As fish are running hard through some of the beats it's important to stick at it and make the most of your opportunities when a new run of fish enter your pool. Spending too much time in the hut over lunch could deny you the opportunity of a bumper days catch. As an alternative to fishing with dressed flies, anglers could try a collie dog tube fly or perhaps a riffled hitch tube fly in the faster water where fish are located in the heads and tails of pools. The Grilse are fighting very hard and many anglers land a 5 lb Grilse and think it’s a much heavier fish given the fight from them. There are many Grilse that are hooked and lost, and that is quite often the case with running fish nipping at the fly and not taking a good hold to ensure a good hook up.

Ross Macdonald's Calvins shrimp fly
Info at Salmon Flies

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to ken@riverdee.org. Copyright FishDee Ltd, August 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

I had high hopes that catches for the week may have been the best weeks catch for the whole season, alas high water midweek damped catches down a little, and nevertheless it was still a great week for anglers on Deeside with FishDee beats reporting so far 311 salmon for the week and 35 sea trout. There were some impressive tallies for some of the beats with Park reporting 54 salmon, Lower Crathes , a 2 rod beat reported 32 salmon, Crathes did well with 19, Upper Drum 18, with 11 on Saturday, Kincardine and Carlogie reported 17 apiece and Cairnton reported a solid 14 for their guests. There was an impressive run of new fish coming in on the high water and big tides at the end of last week and we should see a continuation of great sport for anglers fishing the river this week. There is a mixture of Grilse and decent 2 sea winter fish coming forward now and this should hopefully continue now until the end of the season.

I have received some correspondence from visitors to Deeside. Firstly Mr Davie Adams wrote to me advising ' I had a day on Park (north bank) on Saturday 14th august. This was a first wedding anniversary present from my wife Nicola. After a blank morning, I was allocated to fish in front of the main hut. Mid afternoon, I hooked a fish, and played it, finally losing it at the net! Most of the other rods packed up by 5pm, and I fished on. Again, I hooked and lost a fish in front of the hut! Well, by around 7 15pm, my wife came to pick me up, and having one last cast; I hooked another, and landed it. A fish of around 5 lbs, on a size 11 park shrimp, the fish being returned. I had a great day, on this wonderful river. I have enclosed a photo.' That's good to hear that Mr Adams endeavour and persistence finally paid off with the capture of a handsome fish.

Davie Adams with his hard earned Grilse

I was also pleased to receive an e-mail from regular Dee visitor Dr Patrick Taylor who was fishing with his friend Dr Ade Warburton. Patrick commented ' We fished Commonty this week and conditions were fantastic. Monday we lost fish, Tuesday we had 2 fish (Ian Fraser accounting for a Grilse). Wednesday saw the river on great form, the day started well with a 7lb fish from Dr Ade Warburton and a 15lb fish from myself (my biggest fish to date at that point). In the afternoon, Ade went to do family duties and I had the beat to myself. Wednesday for those that were fishing saw a torrential downpour. The water stopped showing any disturbance from the sub-surface structure and looked like it was being hit by a hail of bullets,however, the fishing was brilliant. I was soaked to the skin but had a 5lb grilse from the Garden pool and shortly after, a 13lb fish from the Loop. Ten casts later I tied into another big fish (16lb Cock fish). It took me 20 minutes to land it, being well into the backing. Thursday the river rose quickly but Ian got a nice an 8lb fish from the Garden pool. The river stayed high on Friday, Ade having 4 fish take in quick succession and finally getting a beauty of 14lb. To top off the week, I had a 5lb grilse on Saturday, pretty much last cast. The majority of the fish Ade and I caught were on a Gledswood Shrimp derivative Ade had tied for the Salmon Fishing Forum 'Tie of the Month' in April. Anyway, a fantastic week and can't wait to be there in Feb' It sounds like they had a really enjoyable week at this pretty beat which is really doing well since Ian Fraser joined as Ghillie on the beat. I was very fortunate to be given an opportunity to fish on Saturday at Dinnet and visited the beat with my friend Ross Macdonald. We both caught Grilse, and I had a sea trout. The hillsides at Dinnet are magnificent just now with the purple heather blooming profusely providing excellent opportunities for taking photographs. I was also fortunate when I was out during the week to see the Osprey flying above Raemoir trout fishery. It's an ideal venue for anglers to take up fishing and proprietor Ron Low advised that there has been good numbers of youngsters fishing the bait pond this summer. Children have been thoroughly enjoying themselves, so well done to Mum's and Dad's for taking their children to the fishery for a good fun day outdoors.

I should mention a few events taking place on Deeside in a few weeks time. Firstly Dr Richard Shelton is presenting 'To the sea and back' at the Victory Hall in Aboyne on Wednesday 15th September at 7 pm. Richard combines memoirs and deep scientific knowledge to reveal the remarkable life cycle of the salmon in both sea water and fresh water which it inhabits. He will also discuss the history of ocean exploration for salmonids and demonstrate the importance of salmon as an indicator of the health of our rivers and oceans. Admittance to this event is £4.00.At 5pm on Sunday 19th September at Finzean Hall, Andrew Greig presents ' At the Loch of the Green Corrie' where he uses a fishing trip to explore the themes of love, loss, friendship, and what it means to be Scottish. This honours a dying mans wish, which becomes a meditation on life, a literary biography and a celebration of the natural beauty of the Scottish Highlands .Admittance to this event is also £4.00. On Sunday 12th September the Salmon Hunt event leaves from the Boat Inn, Aboyne at 1.30 pm to 3.30 pm , cost £5.00, where you can join staff from the River Dee Trust for this walk along a section of the River Dee around Aboyne, looking at the habitat in the river and on the banks, and discovering which species depend on that habitat. Discover the environmental and land use management practises that have an impact on our salmon. How does fishery management impact on the ecology of the river? You will see a demonstration of electric fishing (a technique which is only legally allowed for research and not for catching a salmon) and identification of the fish species present. The River Dee is so important that it has been given a designation as a Special Area of Conservation - recognising the social and economic value of the river Dee as a fishery in local and international terms. For further details and how to book look into Active Aboyne Outdoor Activities Festival 2010

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it's imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I am away next week to Iceland so am unable to write the report however River Director Mark Bilsby will write the report and I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes to him at mark@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust: Home to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, August 2010



Prospects

Angling prospects for Deeside look most promising this week with good numbers of new salmon flooding in from the sea and running the lower and middle beats. We have had a recent substantial lift of water levels which has given the river a good clean out and salmon are taking the opportunity to get on the move. When this happens anglers can expect to see good sport when they encounter running salmon and anglers who plan to come and fish should book now as rods are becoming very scarce. There were no rods available on Saturday through the FishDee website. With excellent catches last week from many of the lower beats, it's probable that the biggest catches will again be in the lower beats, however sport should be steady for the middle and upper beats as well. River levels are excellent for this time of year with the Sepa gauges showing heights between 7 inches at Mar Lodge and 1 foot at Park. The maritime influence has high tides of 4.1 metres dropping back to 3.5 metres and then rising by the end of the week to 3.8 metres. The weather forecast is predicting a mixed bag with rain at times through the week and cloudy overcast skies a regular feature. Air temperature maxima are predicted between 18 and 20 degrees Celsius. Barometric pressure is likely to rise and fall over the week starting at 1021 mb's and falling to 1001 mb's and rising again to 1014 mb's. Winds are forecast to be variable but generally light. I hope to see catches approaching the 350 mark for the week and am pleased to say that salmon catches last week did in fact accelerate quickly through the 4000 mark for the season. I am also pleased to hear that Kincardine have had their best ever sea trout catch for the season. This productive beat has some great holding pools and sea trout have provided some excellent sport for their visiting anglers which will have delighted top Ghillie John McGinley.

Now finding yourself on the riverbank this week with fish in your pools requires you to decide what tackle to use, fly selection and what bit of your designated beat to concentrate your efforts on. To make this a less arduous proposition I would urge you all to seek the opinions and advice of your Ghillie on your chosen beat. The River Dee Ghillies are an extremely knowledgeable and talented team who know how to maximise the opportunities for success on your beat. They will advise what tackle to use, what flies to tie onto your leader and where you should concentrate your efforts. If you are fortunate they may even be on hand to net your capture and help you take a quick photograph as a memento of your successful encounter with a salmon, grilse or sea trout. If you do not have the services of a Ghillie to call on then you may consider using a 13 or 14 ft double handed rod with a floating Spey line or Shooting head and small fly. I had success last week with a size 13 Calvin's shrimp tied for me by Park Shrimp designer Ross Macdonald. A Silver stoat's tail, Thunder and Lightning, and perhaps a Jeannie may be worth trying, not forgetting the ever popular shrimp patterns like the Park Shrimp, Ally's shrimp or cascade. The Sunray or Collie dog can be very productive at this time of year with running fish so make sure you give this a try.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it's imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I am away next week to Iceland so am unable to write the report however River Director Mark Bilsby will write the report and I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes to him at mark@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust: Home to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, August 2010 Copyright FishDee Ltd, August 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Last Week’s Catches

Having just returned from a busman’s holiday to Iceland I was delighted to see anglers enjoy another steady weeks sport reported from FishDee beats, with 271 Salmon and Grilse to 24 lbs reported as well as 24 sea trout. Park reported 41 Salmon and Grilse, Tilbouries reported 24 Salmon and Grilse, Both Upper Drum and Lower Crathes reported 22 each which indicates that new salmon took advantage of the good water levels to come into the river and run upstream. I was really most pleased to hear that Park Estates proprietor John Foster and his wife Clarinda had caught 3 fish each whilst fishing for a day last week and they enjoyed the pleasure of simultaneously catching fish at the same time which must have given them tremendous fun.

Willie Banks at Tilbouries reported ' We had steady sport through the week from reasonable river levels for our syndicate rods with good runs of salmon and grilse observed'. Ian Murray was delighted to report 'We had some nice fish last week at Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld with an 18 lb salmon landed and a hefty 24 lb cock fish also landed. The big fish was landed by Mrs Catherine Dennis on a size 10 silver stoats tail, which was her first fish on her new rod. This was netted expertly by Martin Thompson with images to follow.' Mr John Pelly also reported to River Director Mark Bilsby 'Two young anglers both caught their first salmon last night (Thursday 26) on Drumnagesk. Brothers Nicholas and Jonathon Astor on their first attempts of fishing landed fish within 15 and 30 mins of their first casts. Both were delighted. Visitor John Gordon-Smith commented 'I had a great week fishing Park (south) in Graham Watson's party with my best ever 5 in the week. Keep up the good work and hope to see you next year. Best wishes'

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust: Home to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, August 2010

Prospects

The prospects for the next weeks fishing on Deeside look very encouraging following recent rises in river levels keeping fish on the move. The weather forecasters are predicting a spell of mild, calm days with high pressure building during the week which will suit anglers for the next few days. Air temperature Maxima will be around 18 degrees Celsius with overnight lows to around 3 degrees in the upper valley producing some overnight frosts. Winds are forecast to be reasonably light with sunny spells interspersed with light clouds. Air pressure will be between 1016 and 1025 mb’s. The maritime influence is indicating tides of 4.0 metres falling to 3.5 metres on Thursday rising to 3.9 metres at the weekend. Current river levels are running between 1ft 1 inch at Mar Lodge to 2ft 3 inches at Park and falling slowly. There is a slight peaty tinge to the water which will clear over the next 24 hours or so. There will be a continuation of fresh Grilse and Summer salmon entering the river providing good sport with the earlier running large cock fish hopefully coming on the take again.

With the river running at a good level it is important to listen to your Ghillies advice as to what flies to use and where on your allocated beat to fish hard. In all likelihood the conditions suggest that mornings and evenings could be the most productive times this week. If you do not have the services of a Ghillie to call on the perhaps you may wish to fish with a floating line with sink tip and fish with a variety of flies. You may choose a Park Shrimp or Ally's shrimp, Flamethrower, Red Frances or silver stoat’s tail. The Sunray or Willie Gunn tube fished square and fast may deliver some aggressive takes too if given a go. There is some availability on the FishDee website so please look in and book fishing if you can manage to visit the river.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust: Home to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, August 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

As I write I am delighted to advise it has been the best week of the salmon fishing season for catches on the River Dee, with so far 395 salmon and 34 sea trout being reported by FishDee beats and perhaps a few more to come once Saturday evening numbers are reported. There were some excellent daily results with days of 99 and 95 in midweek. Well done to the party of anglers fishing at Cairnton who had 21 salmon to 22lbs which will have pleased expert Ghillie David Cowie. Park reported 73 salmon for their week, Lower Crathes reported 35 to 2 fishermen for their week which delighted Ghillies Robert Harper and Robert Fettes, and Jim Paton's Upper Drum beat reported 24 salmon. Good to see catches over the 20 mark also reported from Altries and Ballogie. We had good falling river levels last week which encouraged fish to get on the move and it appears there were good runs of new salmon and grilse. Some milestones were achieved last week with Karl Revel commenting 'Hi Ken, I'm glad to report that our 200th salmon of the season was caught on Friday 3rd Sept. It was a small grilse, one of four salmon caught by regular Dee visitor Jim Reid from Edinburgh. All of the fish were taken on Carron Shrimps neatly tied by himself. Tight lines! Karl'. Ballogie Ghillie Sean Stanton also reported catching their 200th salmon of the season to his own rod. Edward Humphrey wants to congratulate Aboyne Castle Ghillie, the popular Alec Coutts, who so far this season has had his best ever season since he joined in 1989 with 170 salmon beating his previous best year of 165 salmon. Edward mentioned 'All our anglers will want to recognise Alec's fine achievement in reaching this milestone and we are homing in on the all time beat record now' There will have been many happy anglers and Ghillies on the river last week. All these fine catches last week take FishDee beats through the 5,000 mark for the salmon season with a good few productive weeks to follow, where there are still rods available on the FishDee website. I would urge anglers to book fishing now as there are good numbers of fish throughout the catchment with some super back end beats in the lower river offering rods.

Gill Donkin playing a salmon at Ballogie

I was very pleased to receive an e-mail from well known fisherman Richard Donkin, who's an excellent writer and is published widely. He is a regular Deeside visitor with his wife Gill, and he reported 'Just back from the Dee after a good week at Ballogie. I had six fish but my wife Gillian, had the big ones - 20 lb, 19lb and 16lb. I lost a very big one, but there we are. I wrote up the catches on my blog and there are other pictures there. I would be happy if you wanted to use any on the FishDee site. Best regards, Richard' Like all keen salmon fishers it's always exciting reading stories of peoples success, even more so when big fish are involved. Richard sadly lost a huge fish and you can read fully about his dramatic exciting encounter on his entertaining blog Tight Lines - Richard Donkin's fishing notes: Big Salmon and one that got away....again .I will give you a little sample to digest, lifted from his blog, which I always find highly entertaining. Richard writes 'There were some big fish about on the Aberdeenshire Dee last week. Really big ones, the sort you dream about, that entice you back to the river time and again in the hope of hooking in to one. I did just that a few years ago. It tore off down the pool with such power and at such a rate I felt utterly helpless to stop it, and when, finally, I put on the pressure in an attempt to turn it, it took my hook. It was a little after 7 pm when I waded to the top of the pool and cast in to the spot that I knew held some good fish. I could see the boil around a submerged rock and it was around that boil, just two casts later that my line stopped dead. The thought that I might have snagged the rock had barely formed in my head as in a swirl of water, a great fan shaped tail broke the surface and the biggest salmon I have ever hooked began to run, stripping line from my reel at an alarming rate.' He also comments in his article 'How big was it? It was very big; into the forties I would guess, knowing this is bound to attract the sceptics. It was fresh too and full of fight. I've had several fish around the 20 lbs mark, some of them springers - the biggest running to 23 lbs - and none of them came remotely close to this one' So there you have a flavour of a tremendously exciting encounter for Richard on the River Dee with one of our big back end salmon. I know only too well how he felt after playing a salmon myself this June, estimated to be between 35 and 40 lbs, which sadly slipped the hook after a dramatic 30 minute encounter which left me numb for some time . This fish made a run of over 250 yards where I was astonished at the raw power of this freshly run salmon. To see a leviathan of this size cart wheeling about the pool 3 times was just astonishing to observe, and my guide commented 'very special fish!' To this day It still haunts me.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, September 2010

Prospects

After the best weeks catches for the season last week I would pray for the same again this week. Whether these prayers are answered is a different matter-time will tell. We have a real autumn feel to the weather now with a strong depression homing in on Scotland over the next few days with strong winds forecast and the potential for some really heavy rain at times during the week. If it is not too much then it will be a blessing as the River levels have dropped to between 4 inches and 8 inches on the Sepa gauges. Air temperature maxima will be around 18 degrees however the winds will make it feel considerably colder. This may well put a lot of fish in the mood to respond to a well presented fly. The maritime influence sees high tides rising from 4.0 metres during the week to 4.8 metres on Friday and Saturday which should bring new fish forward into the lower beats which are really starting to see really good sport. There will be a mixture of Grilse and big back end salmon and perhaps we may see some real big ones landed this week. I would urge anglers to snap up what fishing is available as there will be really good potential for some good sport. Jim Coates for example has had over 20 salmon during his last 4 days on the River fishing in the lower reaches.

Gill Donkin with her 16lb fish being returned

Finding yourself on the riverbank with pools full of salmon is tremendously exciting, but to get them to take your fly can be a different matter. To give yourself the best opportunity of success then listed to the wise counsel from your beat Ghillie. Our expert team of Ghillies can really make the difference and ensure you have the best chance of good sport by providing advice on fly choice, line selection, and where to fish in your allotted beat. I always listen to their advice and am always delighted to report to them successes based on their suggestions. If you do not have the services of a Ghillie to call on then you should select your equipment to suit the conditions, which may be changeable through the week. I would think a floating line with sink tip would be useful to utilise with fly, perhaps a size 8-12 hook. Popular patterns at this time of the year are Park Shrimp, Allys Shrimp (in orange or red) Flamethrower, Silver Stoats tail, small sunray or monkey fly. Another option would be to fish a small heavy Willie Gunn or Pot Bellied pig tube fly, and work it across the stream a little faster than a conventional down and across cast. Fish will be found in greater numbers in the pool tails now as well as in the main taking lies. Mornings and evenings may see the best movement of salmon and perhaps the best opportunities for catching fish with lower beats seeing fish coming off every tide and entering the river. I would urge anglers to handle fish carefully and return them quickly to the river.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, September 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Prospects

Summer looks to be well and truly over with weather forecasters predicting snowfall in the mountains this week. We have a series of autumnal lows sweeping in from the Atlantic which may see river levels fluctuating throughout the week. Looking at the forecast in more detail sees forecasters suggesting periodical heavy rainfall on Monday and again perhaps on Tuesday accompanied by thunder with the other days seeing regular showers and quite breezy. Air temperatures are forecast to reach 20 degrees Celsius but I have a feeling that this is ambitious. I would expect temps to be in the range 0f 10-15 degrees Celsius and evening lows falling under clear skies to perhaps under 5 degrees. Heavy condensation on my car over the last week in the mornings has been an indication that temperatures are dropping significantly with the onset of longer nights. The barometric pressure is set to fluctuate a bit this week but will be influenced by low pressure. The maritime influence sees tides falling back from 4.4 metres to 3.6 metres through the week however the Sepa gauges are running between 8 inches and 1 foot 4 inches as I write which should allow new fish to come forward of every tide. There has been a web camera installed at Ballogie beat overlooking the Potarch bridge which has gone live today so people with access to the internet can look at current conditions by visiting River Dee Webcam - Potarch Bridge We have also set up a Facebook site with hundreds of images and video links related to angling on Deeside and readers can visit this site at FishDee 1 | Facebook

7lb Brown Trout Caught at Crathie

With the tricky weather conditions forecast its difficult to predict how big the catches could be as many are reporting fish to have been on the dour side last week. There are many fish in the river system but just because they are there in big numbers doesn't mean they are easy to catch. I would think the lower beats will get the best of the weeks sport however catches will come from throughout the whole catchment and persistence is called for. To ensure you give yourself the best chances however I would strongly recommend you consult your Ghillie for advice on your chosen beat Our River Ghillies are very knowledgeable and have a keen eye when monitoring river conditions and they can give you the best advice on where to fish and what to use. If you do not have the services of a Ghillie to call on then you could use a sink tip line with confidence and use fly’s or small tube fly’s. As the water cools the cock fish can become more aggressive as they become territorial and chase of intruders. Fly choice could see the use of Red Francis or Black Francis patterns, Willie Gunn, Ally's shrimp in yellow, orange or red and the Monkey fly. I managed to winkle a fish out on a German Snaelda last week which was fished deep. The Park shrimp tube fly is one I will use when I visit a lower beat for 3 days so will be keeping my fingers crossed for some action.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, September 2010

Recent Catches

Another steady weeks sport on Deeside which saw catches from the top to the bottom of the catchment with the lower beats seeing new fish coming forward. As I write FishDee beats have reported 211 salmon and 23 sea trout with Park reporting 40 salmon and grilse, Tilbouries did very well again with 27 salmon and grilse, Middle Drum reported 13, Borrowston 12 and Lower Crathes 11. Given the wild conditions and big river on Wednesday I am sure anglers that day would have been delighted with their catches which saw a very coloured river drop and clear slowly over the remainder of the week. Quite a few anglers reported seeing new fish in the lower beats which seemed a bit reluctant to take the fly so perhaps these fish will settle in taking lies this week and be a bit more obliging.

Rosalind Chrisp from Park Estates with only her second salmon-a grilse

I received some feedback this week by phone and e-mail and thank people for getting in touch. Ghillie Archie Hay reported the capture of a 7 lb Brown Trout at Crathie and the fish has been taken for scientific analysis by the River Dee Trust. This is a very rare capture as the River Dee is not renowned for big brown trout. I was pleased to receive a photograph of this fish this morning. Alex Knox wrote 'Enjoyed two days on Park (North) 31st Aug 1st Sept. James and his son Alexander Knox landed 13 salmon and a sea trout. This was the best of them, a 19lb salmon off the Greenbank pool (see picture).My dad landed 7 salmon of 5lb Sea liced, 8lb coloured, 8lb coloured, 14lb fresh, 31st Aug! 19lb fresh, 7lb coloured, 7lb sea liced, 1st September, I landed 6 salmon of 8lb coloured 5lb sea liced, 6lb sea liced, 10lb sea liced, 4lb sea liced, 6lb sea liced. All fish caught on half in orange Pot bellied pig tubes (if you want one then ask Keith because I gave him a couple!) Shooting head floating lines with 10 foot 2.6 inch per second sink tips. The beat was full of fish.'

I also received an e-mail from Steven Reid who I had met during the week at Middle Blackhall. Steven was one of a number of visitors to Deeside enjoying the very kind hospitality of Paul Devlin from Glasgow Angling Centre, who had booked both Middle and Little Blackhall beats for his visiting guests. Quite a number of angling representatives were visiting the beats for the first time. Steven Reid, who is an AAPGAI casting instructor and gentleman, landed a fine fish approaching 19lbs following advice from hugely experienced and talented Ghillie David Gibbon. He commented 'Good to have met you again yesterday Ken, pity we didn’t get more of a chance for a blether but I had a long drive home. Please find attached a picture of the fish I caught yesterday, the fish was caught on a 1 1/4 inch plastic body sunray shadow, the fish was holding just behind one of the large stones this side of the beat, a few gentle plucks were followed by a long draw and the fish 'was on' The first run was way into the backing followed by 2 only slightly shorter runs, then a dogged head down 15 minutes slog when it turned to show 'the tail' giving us the first glimpse that it was a good fish, shortly after it was netted, weighed, David took scales and a DNA sample and the fish was returned. A great day was had, in good company, with one of the nicest ghillies I have had the pleasure to fish with, all in fantastic surroundings. Hope to see you up there again soon.' I was delighted to spend time with many of Paul’s guests during the evenings last week and it was a real pleasure to see so many well known people enjoying the challenges that faced them throughout the week. Certainly the evening’s entertainment was worth the trip alone in the local hostelries so well done to Paul and his guests for a memorable week with the Karaoke being a popular way of having fun.

AAPGAI'S Steven Reid with a fine 19 lb salmon

I also received a picture from Rosalind Chrisp from Park who was fishing as a guest of Jim Coates at Park and was delighted to catch only her second salmon with Jim providing much needed support and encouragement. The fish was newly in from the tide and was covered in sea lice. Jim had advised he had 28 fish from his last 5 visits to Deeside so was more than happy to guide for Rosalind for the day.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, September 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

The best week of the season and for many years with FishDee beats reporting to date 522 salmon to 26 lbs and 33 sea trout to 5 lbs. What makes this all the more remarkable was the tricky river conditions over the week with the river rising and falling a number of times which is never ideal. There are some FishDee beats that have not reported catches so it's reasonable to expect catches to have exceeded the 600 barrier for the week. Catches are well ahead of the 5 year average and 2009's excellent catch, and with good water levels and numbers of fish in the river, things are set for a dramatic conclusion to the season. Let’s hope the weather is kind to anglers for the remainder of the season. As it's been a fantastic week there are many reports pouring in to me from anglers and Ghillies and I am grateful for all for getting in touch. Individual beats saw some remarkable catches last week with both Park and Crathie reporting 64 salmon each, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld reported 33, Tilbouries 32 and an amazing finish to the week saw Aboyne Castle report 31.It's very encouraging to hear of catches from virtually every River Dee beat, with new fish being observed running the river at the ADAA water at Aberdeen. I had a cast for a few days on a lower Dee beat last week and saw many fish during my visit and was delighted to catch 7 salmon on Saturday and a sea trout. I don't think I have ever seen so many fish in over 25 years fishing the River Dee. Firstly Congratulations to River Dee Bailiff Mark Walker who had his best ever days catch on Saturday with 6 salmon/Grilse to his small monkey fly on a Middle Dee beat. His smile was as wide as the river when I met him on Saturday evening.

Now to the reports which have arrived over the weekend and this morning. Mr Paul Christie wrote and advised 'Just dropping you a line to thank you for your advice on the beats for the Dee. I fished the Commonty beat, as suggested, yesterday, and had a most enjoyable day. I managed to catch a fish, and the only downside was the absolutely fierce wind, which made fishing very difficult. Thanks again for your assistance.' Middle Drum Ghillie Shane Christie advised 'Hi Ken, Just dropping you a line to let you know that the anglers fishing with me last week enjoyed landing some 20 salmon, which included two fish of 22lbs and 24lbs caught on consecutive casts for regular Dee angler Eddie Sinclair. Chris White also managed to land his first salmon a fine sea liced fish of 12lbs.'Invery Ghillie Karl Revel wrote to me advising 'Jamie Urquhart, biologist for the River Don Trust, was treated by his partner's Dad, Scott 'Ginger' Macleod from Shetland to a day's fishing at Invery. Jamie was very happy to catch his first ever salmon, a 6 pound grilse, in the Greenbank Pool. I was pleased to net a 10 pound hen fish for Ian Wilson who was having a successful day on Knappach. Ian who has The Gun Shop at St. Boswells on the Tweed was using a Posh Tosh, the fly he invented (see T&S Feb 2010). He kindly opened his fly box and gave me a self tied sample to thank me for my assistance. I also lost my Maclean Weigh net in the river on Saturday and would be grateful if anyone comes across this get's in touch as the net has sentimental value-reward offered.' Karl can be contacted on 07875 892839.

Billy Johnston with Aboyne Castle Beats 200th salmon of the season

I have also received an e-mail from Edward Humphrey commenting as follows 'I think I will start by quoting Ghillie, Alec Coutt’s, comments he wrote for me on Sunday morning: What a week, 31 fish caught and safely returned, with the beat record at 184 beaten and we are also through the 200 barrier, now 208 with Saturday being the best day in my time on the beat with a total of 16 salmon & grilse. Billy Johnston had 10 to his rod & Jock Gubby 6 to his rod, including finishing a remarkable day, a 20 pounder from Symons. This week will be hard to match. Ken you and I have been rebuked by Alec for giving him too much publicity, but at the risk of incurring his displeasure again, how can I not thank Alec on behalf of the beat owner, my brother Simon & myself and all the visiting anglers throughout the season who have benefited from his knowledge and enthusiasm. Sorry Alec, but I had to say something after such a tremendous season, not finished yet, and indeed to Billy & Jock for their fantastic day on Saturday. I am sending the photos of the 200th fish caught by Billy Johnston in Crofts being released back into the river by Alec Coutts.' For a 2 rod beat the catches have been tremendous this season and Alec and his anglers deserve plaudits for their achievements.

Ghillie Alec Coutts returns Billy Johnston's fish safely

Regular visitor to Deeside and correspondent Bjorn Riise from Norway commented 'I've just finished my annual trip to the Dee together with some friends, and it made a lasting impression! We had 2 rods on Waterside & Ferrar wed-sat, 2 on Deecastle Thu – Sat and one on Dinnet on Sat. Not all rods fished at the same time, so we made 13 rod-days. The weather was awful at times with very high winds. Together with a lot of rain and the river rising twice in the period, it put a lid on the fishing at times. But we pushed through, since the river was full of fish and these beats are a joy to fish. In total we landed 15 fish: 2 sea trout, 4 grilse and 9 salmon in the 8-15 lbs bracket. With most of the salmon being in very good shape and around 10 lbs. I caught 9 of these fish myself (1 st, 2 grilse and 6 salmon), and it’s no wonder that I was very pleased.' and finally I am also delighted to hear of remarkable sport at Crathie where Ghillie Archie Hay has reported some excellent sport. 'Hi Ken, just a short note about the fantastic weeks fishing on Crathie, the week started slowly with 16 being caught between Monday and Wednesday, with father and son team Kenny and Peter Scott accounting for 5 and George Renwick a first time visitor to the beat catching 7, considering the conditions high winds and on Tuesday very heavy rain. By Thursday the river was 2' 6" and dropping nicely with fish showing in great numbers, visiting French angler Mr Carlos Ribeiro had a great day catching 8 salmon, George pitched in with 3 and Mr G Corbett 2 and 2 Sea Trout. Friday saw George Renwick catch another 5 totalling 15 for his week, the Ford party took 4 and Ian Johnstone 1. Saturday Donnie Whiteford another first time visitor caught 4, Ian 2, Greig Thompson 2 and Mike Ford 1. I fished throughout the week and caught 18 to my own rod with several others catching singles. The successful flies were silver Ally's, Cascades, Red Francis, orange pot bellied pig, Crathie, and Park shrimp.'

These reports give a flavour of how things have been on the river and there are still rods available to let at tremendous value for money. If you are looking for your first fish then please come to Deeside where you will have every opportunity to succeed.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, September 2010

Prospects

As we approach the autumnal equinox we have a real mixed bag weather-wise forecast this week. The weather models I look at are suggesting periods of heavy rain, regular showers, sunny interludes and cool night. The air temperature maxima this week will be 17 degrees Celsius and river temperatures are around 9 degrees Celsius. River levels are currently ideal with heights currently between 1 ft 4 inches and 2 feet on the Sepa gauges. The maritime influence indicates tides rising from 3.8 metres to 4.3 metres this week which will bring new fish forward. The barometer is reasonable steady this week and will rise later in the week as conditions improve. There has been a web camera installed at Ballogie beat overlooking the Potarch bridge which has gone live so people with access to the internet can look at current conditions by visiting River Dee Webcam - Potarch Bridge We have also set up a Facebook site with hundreds of images and video links related to angling on Deeside and readers can visit this site at FishDee 1 | Facebook

With really good numbers of fish in the river and water levels ideal it's hoped that catches will continue strongly this week; whether they match last week is difficult to predict as catches were tremendous. I do hope that catches bear up strongly and would encourage anglers to fish hard until it gets dark. At this time of year fish are on the move and there are good populations of resident fish in pools which are getting stirred up as waves of fish move through the beats. Now the water is cooler more anglers are using a variety of tactics to encourage salmon to take their fly. The best advice I can offer is to consult your Ghillie who will give you excellent sound advice about what tactics to utilise. By looking at the latest catches you will get an idea of the flies that are doing well. If you do not have the services of a Ghillie to call on then I would suggest a sink tip line or intermediate line allied to a strong leader and fly. The patterns that are doing well are Monkey fly fished square and with a slow retrieve, Pot Bellied pigs and Francis flies, Park Shrimp or Ally's shrimp. Bottle tubes or large doubles may do the trick. Perseverance is called for and do be afraid to ring the changes during the day if fish are slow to respond to what you offer them.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, September 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

Another solid weeks sport last week for anglers fishing the River Dee with FishDee beats reporting so far 360 salmon to 25 lbs and 22 sea trout to 5 lbs which is over 6,200 salmon, and 2450 sea trout for the season, and there are still rods available for anglers to come and fish the river during September, and the season extension fortnight until the 15th October for scientific research. As we head into the last few days of the salmon fishing season there is no doubt that there are good stocks of fish in the river as they are visible, with the cock fish becoming more aggressive and territorial. Now to individual beats results; Park reported 53 salmon for their week, Kingcausie reported 38, Upper Drum reported 30 for the week and Tilbouries had another excellent week with 28 fish, giving the beat their best seasons total for many years. The river is full of fish from top to bottom which is really encouraging to see for visiting anglers, with many commenting favourably about their experiences on the river. We all hope that the fish go on to spawn successfully and start the lifecycle again for another generation of River Dee salmon.

Top ladies caster Nicola Jackson with a fine fresh salmon

Now to the reports which have arrived over the weekend and this morning. Firstly Mr Robert Fuller wrote 'The Hawkins Week- I thought you might like to attach the following report concerning the activities of the 11 members of the Hawkins Week (named in memory of the late Richard Hawkins who died in 2008).This relates to our week’s fishing commencing 13th September through to Saturday 18th September last. The 11 rods fish on 5 beats being Birse, Carlogie, Ballogie, Borrowston and Park South (Durris) rotating so that each member fishes different water every day. We managed to land 27 salmon and 4 sea trout which very much reflected the difficult conditions experienced with the water rising and falling with effect from Monday evening through to Thursday. The best sport was had on Monday morning, Friday and Saturday with Peter Stovold landing 4 fish to his own rod at Ballogie and Borrowston during Saturday. The recipient of the Hawkins Trophy for the largest cock caught before Friday evening went to Graeme Dixon with his 16 ½ lb fish which he took out of the Gannets at Ballogie Unfortunately Richard Taylor managed to better this on Saturday with the largest fish of the week being a 20lb cock taken out of the Greenbanks at Borrowston which didn’t qualify. Unfortunately 4 of the team managed to blank all week (possibly as a result of extended lunches) with Messrs Peter Stovold and Paul Saunders catching 5 each and the team leader Robert Fuller catching 7 and a sea trout even though he only fished on 5 days. All in all another wonderful week and it is so exciting to know that the salmon fisheries of Scotland are returning to their former glory. Regards, Robert Fuller.' It sounds like they had an enjoyable week with some successful and some not so. How true the motto of the Fly fishers club 'PISCATOR NON SOLUM PISCATUR' (It is not all of fishing to fish).

Raymond Drysdale in action at Sluie

I was also delighted to receive an e-mail from Raymond Drysdale who had a very enjoyable time visiting Sluie for a few days and he advised ' Dear Ken, On only my 2nd visit to the Dee I had fantastic sport catching salmon each day and a Sea Trout, I had salmon of 9lb - a bar of silver, 6lb, and three 3lb grilse and a 2lb Sea Trout. On the Saturday I also had a magnificent cock salmon of 20lb which put up a terrific fight making this a visit I will never forget, catching most on Stoats tail flies and the 20lb one on a Park Shrimp. I must add I received good advice from the beat owner Richard Strang Steel when the river levels rose. I have enclosed some pics of the 20lber, all were safely returned. Regards Raymond' I have to agree the photographs indicate a truly impressive salmon in full 'wedding dress'- if you didn't know the lifecycle of salmon you could be forgiven for thinking that the Spring Atlantic salmon and autumn Atlantic cock salmon were two different species of fish. Where for example, the appearances of the Atlantic salmon can be compared to the Pacific Coho salmon in the spring, and the Pacific Chum salmon in the autumn as it approaches sexual maturity. Finally I would like to mention Roy Anderson who was fishing at the productive Kingcausie beat last week with some success who commented to Henry Irvine Fortescue 'Many thanks to Ghillie Gordon Welsh for being on hand to net my big fish for me. Couldn't believe I then went on to catch another one around 15lb and finally a grilse about 6lb but just out of the sea. I had a brilliant day.' I am delighted to see anglers enjoying good back end sport at Kingcausie and hope many more fish are caught before the fishing season finally concludes.

Raymond returns his big autumn salmon

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. For anglers looking for ideal equipment to use on the River Dee then please look into or consult the tackle dealers who advertise on this site as well as our FishDee Megastore for products and advice. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, September 2010

Prospects

As we enter the last few days of the 2010 River Dee salmon fishing season we are delighted to have reasonable weather conditions forecast for our anglers. There will be a two week experimental extension until the 15th October to allow scientific research to be undertaken. Any fishing undertaken during this period is strictly fly only and all fish must be returned to the River-Bailiffs will be patrolling the River to ensure these guidelines are adhered to. The air temperature maxima will be between 11 degrees Celsius during the days and dropping back overnight to a few degrees above zero. There are some showers forecast with perhaps heavier rain on Wednesday and again later in the week. It will be reasonably calm for the first few days of the week however winds are expected to to get stronger as we head in to the weekend. Current river levels are between 9 inches and 1 foot 7 inches on the Sepa gauges which are really ideal now that they have dropped back from a significant rise last week. The maritime influence shows high tides dropping back from 4.2 metres to 3.5 metres and rising again at the weekend to 3.7 metres. There has been a web camera installed at Ballogie beat overlooking the Potarch bridge which has gone live so people with access to the internet can look at current conditions by visiting River Dee Webcam - Potarch Bridge We have also set up a Facebook site with hundreds of images and video links related to angling on Deeside and readers can visit this site at FishDee 1 | Facebook

Roy Anderson with a fresh run salmon at Kingcausie

With decent conditions for angling forecast, it is hoped catches will continue in the same vein as the last few weeks, promising good end of season totals. We have been most fortunate to have been blessed with reasonably good water levels for most of the season and this pattern appears to be continuing. With water temperature now around 5-6 degrees then it is advantageous to seek the advice from your Ghillie on how you fish the beat with falling water temperatures. The River Dee Ghillies will give advice on what flies to use and where to fish on your allocated beat. The Ghillies are extremely knowledgeable and can enrich the value of your fishing experience on the Dee. If you do not have the services of a Ghillie then you will want to fly fish and the patterns to use will be Flamethrowers, Park shrimps, Ally's shrimps, Pot Bellied pig tube flies, Monkey tubes or Sunray shadows fished with a slow retrieve. Make sure you wrap up well as the air does feel significantly cooler these last few weeks. River Dee biologists and bailiffs are out radio tagging rod caught fish and tracking them, so you may encounter the River staff during the course of the week. You can follow progress of radio tagged fish migrating upriver throughout the winter at our new website River Dee Tracking Please ensure you handle fish very carefully as they need all their strength to see them through the arduous spawning process over the next few months when the spawning season commences.

Roy with another sea liced Autumn salmon

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers it’s imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. For anglers looking for ideal equipment to use on the River Dee then please look into or consult the tackle dealers who advertise on this site as well as our FishDee megastore for products and advice. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome to access our latest newsletter Copyright FishDee Ltd, September 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

The last week of September was all about the size of the spates across the river as rain lashed across Deeside on Wednesday and Friday. For those that persevered between the spates the river gave good sport and produced 406 fish to the rods, including a fine 28 lb specimen from Borrowston.

Anglers were very nervous at Aboyne Castle last Thursday afternoon as the beat approached the milestone of 250 fish, which would have been an all time record for this two rod beat. Alec Coutts remained calm throughout and guided his anglers through this milestone, with the 250th fish caught at quarter to five by Ian Scott. There may have been more fish caught later that day if not for the impromptu celebrations that arose on the riverbank.

The sport was not just linked to the upper beats as fish were caught in good numbers from Kingcausie to Crathie. Of particular note was Bob Oram who had his 50th fish of the year from Kingcausie with a decent autumn salmon last week.

Charles Jeffrey wrote in to let us know of his time at Crathes – ‘Just home from a terrific 3 days at Crathes. Brian Sim was in great form and we kept him busy with ghillieing duties and cracking jokes. On Saturday morning, I hooked a huge cock fish in the Cash n Trough and Brian safely netted it and we returned it carefully. Whilst playing another some 20 minutes later, I had to phone Brian to say I'd hooked it's brother or sister and was having a bit of trouble getting it to come in. We safely netted it as well and estimate the fish to be 18lbs and 17lbs respectively. Not a bad mornings work. There was plenty of humour as it was suggested that he'd have time to have his lunch before netting the second one which was spanking new. A fish of 6lbs on Thursday was sea- liced and a wee beauty.’

Ken will be back next week so please forward any stories or anecdotes to him at ken@riverdee.org.


Visiting from Holland angler Dick Laarman with a fresh autumn salmon

Prospects for coming week

We are now into the third and final year of the two week trial extension to the fishing season. The forecast is looking like that river will finally settle down, as whilst rain is forecast for the next few days it is likely to be light and interspersed with periods of Autumn sunshine. As river levels start to drop then the catches should come alive as there are plenty of fish throughout the catchment. In short it should be a good week to come fishing. With the recent high water the fish will have been moving around the beats so please consult your Ghillie to find out the best tactics into how, where and when to fish.

As this is a trial extension to the season we would like to remind all anglers that fishing is by fly only during this two week period and that all fish must be returned to the water as quickly as possible.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. The simple steps outlined in these declaration forms can help stop this devastating parasite coming to the Dee. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. For anglers looking for ideal equipment to use on the River Dee then please look into or consult the tackle dealers who advertise on this site as well as our FishDee Megastore for products and advice at www.fishdeemegastore.com.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

This is the final weekly report of the 2010 salmon fishing season and the River Dee is still producing good numbers of salmon to anglers from Aboyne to Aberdeen. I have just returned from Prague and was eager to see how the catches have been going for the last few days; the lower beats have been doing extremely well as I had hoped. FishDee beats have reported so far 339 salmon to 23lbs and 15 sea trout to 4lbs, with Tilbouries reporting 40 salmon, Upper Drum 37 salmon and Lower Crathes 28 salmon. There were other good catches around Ballogie, Commonty and Carlogie, as well as Birse at Aboyne, Crathes and Park. I was advised by our biologist Dr Lorraine Hawkins that there were a lot of small silver fish caught on middle Dee beats last week that were too small to radio tag. The radio tagging is going well and readers can follow the progress of the radio tagged fish at our new website River Dee Tracking where we are naming the fish after 60 school children from 3 local primary schools who are involved in this year's project.

There are reports of some big fish being caught with Stuart Yeats from Blairs advising that Rory Campbell had a fine fresh 23lb salmon and that his father Graham had sea liced specimens of 18lbs and 22lbs. Dave Gordon was also successful with a fish of over 20 lbs of which more to follow. I have also heard of really big fish being hooked and lost from lower and middle Dee beats, so perhaps we may see a really big fish landed before the season extension closes on Friday. The Park Trophy is up for grabs for the biggest rod caught salmon from the Dee that is witnessed and verified so please ensure you have your entry submitted to me at ken@riverdee.org

Dave Gordon from the River Dee Trust had a productive day last week and his detailed report is as follows." I had 3 pulls in quick succession on my first run down the first pool Then I had a really good pull and hooked firmly into a fish of about 10lbs, a coloured hen, which fought really well, a real tough fish. I was just returning it when my Ghillie appeared, flashing the truck lights to stop me putting it back right away. He managed to get some scale and genetic samples from it. I feel that this aids the scientific research during the trial extension to the season. I fished the rest of the morning and had the odd knock but no serious offers. A leisurely lunch with great craic, and then a change of beat, again south bank, and my favourite casting side. I was happy about this. However the downstream wind was going to prove difficult. Again plenty of fish about though, and great to see many were residents, to be expected at this time of year. Though some were coloured residents, I saw some bright shiny fish charging upstream; heading for the hills I guess. In the afternoon I had another knock or two then a solid take from a larger fish, probably 14lbs, a silvery cock fish that fought very well taking me well into the backing, loads of jumps and hard runs. I had to walk it well upstream to find a place to land it. It had been in a few days, probably a week or so. It had a tiny kype, and was only just definable as a cock fish to me, so properly fresh. So a 50 / 50 split between fresh and coloured fish, probably what you would expect at the back end any Scottish river in dropping water.

Again I fished my way downstream and I had the odd knock, and then a really solid take and a fish that splashed on the surface and then gave a real dogged fight. The ghillie on the other bank shouted to ask if I needed help and I shouted back that I thought it was a good one, so he phoned my ghillie that drove round to help. The fish gave a really good account of itself, a dogged fight but also with some spectacular runs. I had seen its tail a couple of times, and it was both large and a long way from where my line was entering the water. It probably took 25 minutes to land, expertly netted by my ghillie. Again this was a large hen fish, quite coloured and it weighed 21lbs, an absolute cracker, and my largest on the fly, actually my largest on an anything! We got our genetic and scale samples and took a quick photo. I held the fish gently in the current, supporting it on the bottom. We discussed the fish and its condition, and that it was recovering well. Its dorsal fin rose up and I could see it was recovering fast. Then the fish shot off in a shower of spray, clearly none the worse for its encounter with me. I fished on, but as I was floating a couple of feet above the bank I did not mind what happened next. Mark Bilsby, River Dee Director visited me and during our discussions he watched me expertly miss an obvious take, but who cares, a red letter day, and my last day of the season on the Dee."

I will write a season review once the season has finished, but in the meantime I would like to take the opportunity to publicly thank so many people for assisting me this season with the production of the River Dee fishing reports. Firstly I would like to thank all the anglers who very kindly took time out of their schedules to write to me about their experiences on Deeside. Without their contributions the reports would be a pale shadow of what they are. I would like to thank both River Dee Ghillies and Beat Proprietors, who have worked so hard in looking after visiting anglers to Deeside and accommodating their needs. Anglers have been fulsome of praise for the support and advice given by Ghillies and Proprietor, and there is no doubt that this has helped many visiting anglers enjoy their experiences even more so. Finally I would like to thank all the accommodation providers, restaurant and hostelries, and service providers, the length and breadth of Deeside for looking after our many visitors, as these guests have been highly complementary about the quality service they have received and enjoyed. We head into the winter months and many beats are embarking on improvements and maintenance prior to the 2011 salmon fishing season commencing next February. It's been a good year, and all the FishDee team and directors wish all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year when it comes, and hope the salmon run in increasing numbers again next year, when once again anglers travel from far and wide to experience the magic of Royal Deeside. Keep in touch during the close season for River Dee news by writing to me by e-mail to ken@riverdee.org Copyright FishDee Ltd, October 2010

Prospects

We enter the last few days of the trial extension where anglers are fishing on lower and middle Dee beats, assisting our busy River Dee biologists by catching salmon that may be radio tagged and monitored throughout the winter as part of the River Dee Trust's 3 year scientific research programme. The conditions for visiting anglers look really ideal with high pressure dominating and providing calm weather conditions. Air temperature maxima will b around 12-15 degrees Celsius daily with overnight lows falling to a few degrees above freezing, perhaps there will be overnight frosts as it will turn distinctively cooler when the sun dips below the horizon. There will be very light winds, if any, and these will be from the south with virtually no rainfall worthy of concern. This means the river levels will drop a bit through the week. The Sepa gauges are currently between 7 inches at Mar Lodge and 1 foot 5 inches at Park. The maritime influence sees tides dropping back from 4.5 metres to 3.3 metres which will ensure any fish wishing to come forward into the river will be able to do so.

As always, please seek advice from your beat Ghillie, who will advise on tackle set up and fly choice whilst visiting your chosen beat. There are a few rods left on the FishDee for anglers looking for a last cast before the river closes on Friday. The Ghillies have worked really hard to ensure anglers get some success, and it pays to heed their wise advice and counsel as they know their beats intimately and how to give you the best chance of success. If you don't have the services of a Ghillie to call on then you should use a sink tip or intermediate line with a stout leader and small tube fly. Popular Fly choices at this time of year include the red or black Francis fly, small monkey fly, Willie Gunn or Cascade or perhaps a Templedog. Reports suggest the pools are full of fish and cock fish are becoming quite aggressive in the pool tails, where they are establishing territories prior to the spawning season kicking off in a few weeks time when the water really cools. All fish need to be handled firmly and returned quickly to the river to ensure minimum stress. Salmon will recover quickly if returned promptly to the river, and please ensure you do not lift a salmon by the tail, but support it with both hands when removing your fly and returning it to the river. Support it pointing upstream in the current, and hold it until it is ready to swim away strongly; this could take a few minutes.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. For anglers looking for ideal equipment to use on the River Dee then please look into or consult the tackle dealers who advertise on this site as well as our FishDee megastore for products and advice-We now have an international translation facility on the site. I would be really most grateful if you would forward any stories or anecdotes and pictures to me at ken@riverdee.org and remember to log onto River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome to access our latest newsletters. Copyright FishDee Ltd, October 2010

 

[ken@fishdee]

The River Dee salmon fishing ceased last Friday with the trial season extension, which is being carried out for scientific research, coming to an end with 60 salmon radio tagged for research. There were 294 salmon and 16 sea trout reported for the week until Friday. Park finished their season strongly with 50 salmon giving them a rod catch in excess of 800 salmon; Ballogie reported 30 salmon, Lower Crathes 22, Tilbouries 20 and Altries 19. There was also a flounder landed by an angler on a cascade tube on a lower beat which must have been quite a surprise for the angler.

Jesper Neilsen's 30lb Cock Salmon

It was an interesting week on the river for anglers with the biggest verified rod caught salmon being landed by a visiting angler Mr Jesper Holm Nielsen at Lower Dess. The fish which measured a whisker under 45 inches was estimated by Ghillies Colin Simpson and Eoin Smith to be 30 lbs. Jesper commented about the capture ‘Catching this Salmon was the peak moment in a great week! I like the late season fishing in Dee mainly for four reasons: First: Scotland is a great place to go on vacation – fantastic nature. Second: The people of Scotland are nice to visit – appealing sense of humour, and the now how to tell a tale in a charming and convincing way. Third: The chance of catching a fresh and shiny Salmon, racing upstream just in time for spawning! And finally: Fourth: The chance of catching one of these big and mean Cock Salmon.’

Lars Terkildsen tackles an autumn fish with the new G Loomis NSX rod

Well known Swedish tackle dealer and River Dee supporter Mr Lars Terkildsen brought a 16 man group over to fish a number of beats from Birse to Blairs, and they caught and released over 100 salmon for their week with many fine silver specimens reported. They had some super days on some of the beats with a daily catch of 12 at Birse reported as well as 14 at Blairs. There were some big fish hooked and lost as well but a number over 20 lbs were landed. I met the group on Friday night and spoke at their farewell dinner where they were very enthusiastic and happy about their stay on Deeside and to a man they promised they would return again next year if possible.

A happy Lars with his sea liced salmon

So the fishing is over now and the important scientific research continues where radio tagged salmon will be monitored on their movements up river to the spawning redds, as part of a 3 year season extension which is been carried out by the River Dee Trust. This is the last year of the three year research programme to monitor the effect angling has on fish caught in October compared to September. Full details about this important programme can be found at River Dee Tracking where readers can follow the movements of fish upriver weekly. To make the project more inclusive to the local community there have been presentations about the project delivered to primary school children at Aboyne, Finzean and Kincardine. All 60 radio tagged fish have been named after local school children. The website has a Google maps facility showing the location of the 60 fish using a coloured numbered flag which can be opened up to provide an image of the fish, details of the captor and location of capture and its movements during the programme.

Kolja Weihle with Ghillie John McGinlay with a fresh fish caught on 15th October

 

[ken@fishdee]

FishDee 2010 Fishing Season Summary Review​

Salmon Rod Catches for FishDee beats for the 2010 season are as follows. February 154 salmon, March 342 salmon, April 604 salmon, May 985 salmon, June 746 salmon, July 744 salmon, August 1312 salmon, September 1762 salmon and October 703 salmon. There is no facility from FishPal to separate Grilse catches from Salmon catches. This gives a total of 7352 salmon and grilse catch from FishDee beats. This is a 27.4% increase on last year’s catch which was viewed as a very decent season overall.


Opening day celebrations in Banchory at the Stag

Sea Trout rod catches for FishDee beats for the 2010 season are as follows. March 11 sea trout, April 63 sea trout, May 493 sea trout, June 1172 sea trout, July 455 sea trout, August 161 sea trout, September 133 sea trout and October 44 sea trout. This gives a total of 2,532 sea trout from FishDee beats which is a significant recovery from 2 years earlier when the catch was less than 1,200 sea trout.

Richard Millar with a super springer

River conditions were difficult during the early months of the season due to extreme cold days with quite a number of fishing days lost to the presence of grue causing fishing effort to come to a virtual standstill. The extreme cold conditions persisted until the middle of March which meant early running fish were keeping their heads down. When conditions warmed up fish got on the move and this was helped by regular lifts in water levels. The high snow mass in the mountains certainly helped sustain river levels for a long time and many commented that the spring weather was like the old days. Having looked at water levels throughout the season we have been remarkably lucky with regular spates and freshets throughout the spring, summer and autumn. This really helped keep fish on the move and ensured anglers were capitalising on the opportunities that the good water conditions provided.

Ken Rothwell with a big springer

Catches recovered during the spring and by the end of May the catch was 2083 salmon which was an increase of 23.1 % over last year and well ahead of the 5 year average. Considering how tough conditions were this was excellent news and congratulations to all anglers who fished hard during really trying conditions. There were the usual crop of big 3 sea winter fish running throughout March and early April and there were numerous good fish landed from the lower and middle beats. As always there were many visitors to Deeside who arrive from Scandinavia who take advantage of excellent air travel opportunities. The Scandinavian anglers add an extra dimension to Deeside during the spring where they really enjoy the opportunity to fish for springers during their long close season. These visitors are always welcome in Deeside and they fish hard and diligently with their Monkey Flies and Temple Dogs. Some talented Scandinavian anglers like Reid Hagelin and Mikael Frödin have been visiting Deeside for many years and bring many visitors to Deeside who in turn bring their friends over to experience the challenges of fishing for Springers.

Greig Thomson with a nice fresh salmon

Summer came to Deeside and large numbers of fish were on the move to the upper beats with beats reporting really good catches and good numbers being seen running. To cap it all there appeared to be really good runs of sea trout coming into the river which provided great sport for anglers fishing on into the evening. There were some remarkable sea trout catches in June with beats like Birse and Waterside having real bonanzas. As there were regular rises in river levels in June, July and August conditions favoured anglers and fish seemed to just keep on running with good grilse numbers arriving as well. The catches continued to rise and there was fantastic sport in late summer during August and September which saw salmon catches for these two months exceeding 3000 which would have been very much appreciated by many of the long standing tenants who take fishing on the River. The season finished on the 30th September and the two week trial fishing extension for scientific research commenced where anglers were able to fish and this allows Ghillies the opportunity to record catches, take scale samples and record the condition of fish. Fish from beats between Banchory and Aboyne were radio tagged by River Dee biologists and readers can follow their progress at River Dee Tracking which is a new website set up to allow people to follow the progress of this year’s tracking, as well as reading the full reports from the previous two years. This is very important research which will help the River Dee Board consider if it is appropriate to possibly extend the fishing season. I understand no decisions will be made until the Trust reports to the River Dee Board next spring. As it was the fishing continued for a fortnight and many anglers reported seeing good runs of new silver fish in the lower beats which were running the river. It promises to be a good spawning season with perhaps in excess of 80,000 salmon in the catchment and 20,000 sea trout.

Malcolm Anderson looking well pleased with his catch

There have been some really big fish reported by anglers and it is frustrating for anglers who land them to find they have no way of having these fish verified because they don’t capture good images or take accurate measurements. I would urge anglers to take a pocket tape measure to record the dimensions of big fish they are fortunate to land and if possible have the fish photographed where it can be reasonably accurately scaled against an object ie beside a fishing rod and take some scales which can be subsequently read by the River Dee biologists. The Park Trophy is awarded to the angler who catches the largest verified rod caught salmon and it appears that the largest verified rod caught salmon that was accurately verified and measured, was caught by Jesper Holm Nielsen at Lower Dess. The fish was a fraction under 45 inches and was assessed to be 30lbs by Ghillies Colin Simpson and Eoin Smith at Dess. If there is a bigger fish recorded that has not been reported then please write to me with details at ken@riverdee.org

Stuart Yeats with an opening week 15 lber

There have been extensive weekly reports with many images provided to the media which can be viewed at the excellent Salmon Atlas website http://www.salmonatlas.com/forums/dee-aberdeenshire/10639-river-dee-fishing-reports-2010-a.html as well as many other fora. We have created a Facebook site for FishDee which has extensive image galleries where images have been supplied by many anglers to me in their correspondence. The site can be accessed here Log in | Facebook Most internet sites I use for media work are free sites but you have to register with them to view content. This does not mean you get inundated with spam, and they are an interesting diversion for anglers wishing to chat and share news. We have also been actively developing the FishDee website where we have a link to a web camera at Potarch Bridge on the river levels page. We also delighted to have launched the FishDee Megastore which has been kindly provided by Mr Paul Devlin and this can be accessed at www.fishdeemegastore.com Proceeds from all transactions are going to the River Dee and helping with much needed restoration projects being carried out throughout the River Dee catchment where the River Dee staff endeavour to restore the river to its former glories. The website provides anglers with a massive range of highly competitively priced fishing products from arguably the largest tackle dealer in Europe. We are delighted to have many guest contributors commenting about what the River Dee means to them and what tackle they choose to use on the River. I would urge all anglers whether UK or Europe to try out the website where I am sure they will be delighted with the value and service provided and in the process help support the well being of the River Dee in the future.

To finish what has been a very good season for anglers fishing the River Dee, I would like to thank many people. Firstly, the directors of FishDee and River Director Mark Bilsby, for their support and help in developing the site and providing encouragement and support. I would like to thank Edward Humphrey, Ian Scott, Shane Christie and other Ghillies and proprietors who have helped cast a helpful eye on these reports prior to publication, to help ensure we have a good balance to the weekly reports. Finally I would like to thank all readers who have been ever so kind by writing to me and sharing their news, anecdotes and opinions about their experiences fishing on Deeside. I really cannot thank you enough for your support and for the enjoyment I get on receiving your correspondence. The reports would be a pale shadow of what they are without this most generous support and help. I wish all readers a happy Christmas when it comes and a prosperous new year. The 2011 salmon fishing season will soon be upon us and I sincerely hope the salmon and sea trout runs continue to grow and provide all anglers with much enjoyment. Make sure you keep an eye on the find fishing page to book fishing next year as demand is sure to be high.


Ken Reid
Fisheries Development Officer
DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office
Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne
Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA
D +44 (0) 13398 80411
E-Mail ken@riverdee.org
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