River Dee Fishing Reports 2012

[ken@fishdee]

Whilst looking at fishing availability on the find fishing page on FishDee. I note there are a lot of new rod lets now available on the website, and I would encourage anglers hoping to catch the famed Dee Springer to venture forth to the River Dee and give it a go. Spring catches have risen steadily over the last few years with 2011 seeing over 2,800 landed during the spring months on the Dee; it is hoped this pattern of rising spring catches will continue in 2012 .The River Dee offers excellent value for the visiting angler on a variety of famous beats, which on their day can be really quite productive. The River Dee is arguably one of the top spring salmon river in the world based on rod catches and a great favourite destination for many European anglers.There are superb fishing flies collection prizes from Sean Stanton and Ross Macdonald for the first springer caught on opening day, and the biggest springer caught on opening day.

A lovely River Dee Spring Salmon

The River is cold at present with quite abit of grue coming down this morning, but this should hopefully have the river at a nice fishing height for opening day weather conditions permitting.I have been walking the river during weekend mornings and the river looks in superb order. I saw what looked like a springer heading and tailing half way down the Roe Pot at Inchmarlo.Lets hope we can see in excess of 100 springers caught and released in the opening few days of the season, with fish sure to be well distributed throughout the river following such an open winter.

The heaviest opening day fish in 2011 at 25lbs for Gary Webster

Full sinking or intermediate lines, with a perhaps sink tip attached are popular with anglers during the spring months. Fly choice sees anglers using tube flies with double hooks. The Black and Yellow or Black and Blue combinations are popular, as are the gold Willie Gunn tube fly and of course the Tungsten Monkey flies. I always use a Park shrimp or Maggies shrimp patterns in tube fly versions, with differing weights to suit the prevailing water conditions. As Crawford Little of Trout and Salmon magazine fame remarked 'The Park shrimp catches big fish' so these may account for some really good sized fish. During the opening weeks there are a lot of kelts about so please handle these with extreme care as some of these will return to spawn sometime in the future.

A fine 20 lb Spring salmon from the lower Dee

Finally for all supporters of the River Dee there is a grand fundraising auction taking place right now with full details here this link . Please take time to look in at the fabulous auction lots donated to help raise funds for the River Dee. There are extensive work programmes planned over the next few years which will put the river in good heart for years to come so your support is vital in helping us achieve our objectives. Copyright FishDee Ltd January 2012

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

The 2012 salmon fishing season commenced with the traditional opening ceremony held this year at the Potarch Bridge and a revamped FishDee website. The opening ceremony was very well attended with around 250 people gathered on the river bank to watch TV personality Paul Whitehouse perform the ceremonial cast and entertain the audience with his witty humour. Mr Whitehouse advised the audience that he is a regular visitor to Deeside and caught his first ever salmon at Commonty and his first ever salmon on the fly at Carlogie. River Dee Board and Trust chairman Ian Scott announced to the assembled audience that agreement had been received in principle from the Scottish Government for a permanent extension to the fishing season. This will see the river close for fishing on the 15th October for beats downstream from Aboyne Bridge, with beats above Aboyne Bridge closing on the 30th September as per the River Dee conservation code 2012.

River Dee chairman Ian Scott presents Charles Jeffrey with his prize for joint biggest salmon on opening day at 18 lbs

The first day of the fishing season saw the river at a low level with water temperature around 1 degree Celsius. There were 30 salmon reported on opening day from FishDee beats with catches from Middle Drum to Dinnet. Invery beat had a red letter day with 8 salmon recorded which delighted FishPal’s Iain Wood who had the tenancy for the first days of the season. Iain Wood, Jock Monteith, Charles Jeffrey with two, all had opening day success, Tina Cummings had her first ever salmon at Invery, and Dave Gordon had a trio of salmon in the afternoon, which rounded off a tremendous days sport for the Invery beat. The first fish of the season was landed at 9.45 am by delighted angler Graeme Scott with a nice 2lb fish at Commonty. I presented Graeme with a box of flies kindly donated by Ross Macdonald for the first fish of the season. Ghillie Ian Fraser has worked hard to get the beat in first class order for opening day and was thrilled to have two fresh salmon landed on opening day. The heaviest fish on opening day presented me with a little dilemma as there were two fish caught that measured 36 inches and only one prize up for grabs. I was really delighted when Ballogie Estates head Ghillie Sean Stanton donated two lovely boxes of flies to me to make presentations. River Dee chairman presented visiting angler Charles Jeffrey with his award at the Tor Na Coille hotel. I presented the other box of flies to Malcolm Thorne. Regular talented River Dee fisherman Jim Reid had asked me to tease Charles Jeffrey on the eve of the season that he wouldn’t catch a fish, he was naturally delighted when Charles duly went out and recorded an opening day double. There were other successes over the first few days of the season with Greig Thomson fishing at Lower Crathes making up for losing a fish at the net with another fresh fish a little later. Visiting Murthly Ghillie Tony Black had opening day success at Little Blackhall as did Mark Paterson with a fine 14 lb salmon at Ballogie. Thomas Thore from Sweden had a fish from Altries on Thursday.

Catch return from Invery on opening day

Weather conditions deteriorated due to the to the mercury falling significantly overnight to minus 9 degrees on Thursday and by Friday morning the river from top to bottom was full of grue and really unfishable. This really didn’t help the eager fishermen who had booked fishing who sat patiently waiting to see if conditions would improve to allow some fishing to take place. I was really pleased to hear this morning that Swedish visiting angler and River Dee Trust supporter Lars Terkildsen had amazingly managed to find a little pocket of water to fish at Kincardine on Saturday and winkled out 2 fresh salmon. He advised that only 1 cast in 10 would allow the fly to fish briefly. He is to be commended for his patience, guile and determination. So we had 2 days that were reasonable with 45 salmon reported to me and two days effectively lost. Top beat was Invery with 10, Park had 7 and Lower Blackhall had 6 fish. There are some reports of very small salmon being landed which Ghillies have commented as being quite unusual.

Malcolm Thorne receives his award for joint biggest fish on opening day at 18lbs from Ken Reid

To finish this week I would advise that Banchory beat Ghillie Walter Raitt was taken to hospital on the eve of the fishing season and all on Deeside will wish him a speedy recovery. There is a super fundraising auction taking place for the River Dee Trust which hopefully will see much needed funds raised for the River. Details of the auction can be found at River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome so please look in and have a look at the wonderful auction lots up for grabs. As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river.

Mark Paterson with his 14lb opening day salmon at Ballogie

Prospects


The first full week of the season will commence on Monday with the river levels running between 6 inches and 1 ft 1 inch. The water is very cold and anglers will have to be patient and stick at it. The weather forecast sees air temperature maxima around 6 degrees with night time frosts a regular occurrence. It will not be as cold as the last few days but it will feel cold with wind chill, especially on Wednesday. There will be occasional patchy rain and snow showers during the week. The maritime influence sees tides rising during the week from 3.8 metres to 4.3 metres. As the river is extremely cold I wouldn’t imagine that many new fish will venture forward from the warmer sanctuary of the sea. The web camera at Potarch Bridge is still showing a little grue coming downstream so there is a chance over the next few days that anglers will encounter a bit of grue first thing. When the river temperatures rise we shall hopefully see more salmon coming on the take as they are a bit dour unless a fly is presented right in front of them. Anglers who don’t have the services of a Ghillie to call on should present 1.5 inch tube flies deep and slow, with popular patterns like the Gold Willie Gunn, Park Shrimp, Monkey fly, Eternal Optimist and Ice maidens patterns worth a cast.
There are excellent angling opportunities for anglers looking for some fishing with FishDee beats offering rod lets for as little as £40 per day. This is very good value for anglers looking for an early season salmon. The River Dee conservation code states all fish must be returned carefully, including kelts. I noticed sadly some anglers lifting fish out of the water by their tails and suspending them above the water as they tried to extract hooks. This is not the way fish should be handled and the FishDee website explains clearly how to practice catch and release. I would urge anglers to read these guidance notes and spare fish unnecessary suffering.

The happy anglers at Invery on opening day

As always anglers should discuss tactics with their Ghillies and heed their wise advice. They really can make the difference to anglers trying for early season success. They have many years experience and are a resource visitors can ill afford to utilize. FishDee would like to welcome new Cairnton Ghillie Brian Brogan to the River Dee. He has a tough act to follow with renowned Cairnton Ghillie David Cowie retiring at the end of last season. Brian was the recipient of this year’s Redford Trophy for the largest salmon caught on opening day on the River Tay, so we hope his good fortune continues at Cairnton, and we wish Brian and the proprietors of Cairnton every success for the future.

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd, February 2012.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

This was a really challenging week for anglers for a number of reasons as winter tightened her grip on the river and brought angling to a virtual standstill for a number of days. There were many talented anglers on Deeside last week, keen and eager to get their season up and running with a coveted Dee Springer. The icy grue that closed the river ensured all they could do was sit and pray that the air temperature would rise and conditions would improve to allow them to fish. Thankfully towards the end of the week the weather did improve and grue disappeared from the river and new fish came forward. Some anglers decided to leave and other anglers decided to stay on Deeside and were rewarded. FishDee beats have reported 66 salmon to 24 lbs for the week with another couple I know of to be added. The super River Dee beat, Lower Crathes had a fantastic Saturday with 7 salmon and finished the week with 14 to go into the 2012 catch book. I am most grateful to Karl Revel from Invery for providing the following news from the beat. 'Another reasonable week on Invery saw 10 salmon caught by 5 anglers in 7 different pools. Top rod for the week was regular Dee visitor Colin Harvey with 5 fish weighing 7,9,12 and two at 13 lbs. All were caught using 1.5 inch black and yellow monkey flies tied green bodied plastic tubes with cone heads. The other successful anglers were Austin Todd with 2 salmon of 8 and 17lbs, Jeff Viner Invery proprietor had a 17 lb salmon, James Watts a 7lb salmon and Mrs Roni Viner had a 6lb salmon.'

Even in the early Spring you can get success at Dusk. Graeme Arthur with a nice last cast fish at Crathes.

Richard Thomas and Graeme Arthur visited Crathes Castle beat and had some good sport when they were able to fish. They did persevere though and were well rewarded on Saturday with 3 salmon of 12, 15 and 20 lbs on top of two fish taken earlier in the week of 12 and 15lbs. Graeme advised 'Well that was quite a week, ice, snow, plenty food and drink and very good company, and what a last day; over a dozen kelts and 3 fresh fish, which every angler dreams about. Both Richard and I were shaking with excitement with the prospect of having to net each other's fish, first the 20lb specimen just before lunch and then that 15 lber with my last cast, what a buzz after 50 odd years of fishing, you can't beat the feeling of the pure power of a fresh Dee Springer!' Dr Patrick Taylor also persevered and had a tough week but was well rewarded with 2 fine salmon on Saturday at Commonty of 10 and 12lbs on Ballogie Estates Head Ghillie, Sean Stanton's Willie Gunn Snaelda conehead. Neil Sneddon from Fife had a 10.5 lb salmon from Aboyne Water, the first of the season for the beat with the image on the FishDee Facebook site that Neil has submitted. I had a Kelt first cast on Friday at Birse and some other kelts but that was my lot and had a cast at Park on Saturday with little success. It was nonetheless a very enjoyable day out meeting friends old and new again. How true the saying 'There's more to fishing than catching fish.' I did hear of a 25lb salmon landed from another River Dee beat. So there have been good sized salmon being caught in the Banchory area.

Safely in the net-a fine Springer

To finish this week I would advise that the River Dee Trust are hosting an auction evening at the Savile Club, 69 Brook Street, Mayfair at 6.30 pm on Thursday 1st March. The River Dee Trust and River Office staff are looking forward to hosting this free to attend event in London and would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our visiting anglers from the south to come along and join us for what promises to be an enjoyable occasion. Guest speaker on the night is Fiona Armstrong, former BBC newsreader and journalist who is a keen salmon angler. Bernard Williams from Christies is the auctioneer for the event with 14 exciting lots going under the hammer. There will be canapés and Dee Drams provided for all guests who come along. To help us cater efficiently can anyone who intends to come along let us know the numbers they are bringing along to info@riverdee.org. Details about the auction lots can be found at River Dee Trust Auction.

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd, February 2012.

Beat Catches Reported

Week ending 20:28 on Sun 5th Feb 2012
SALMON & GRILSE: Altries and Lower Drum 1, Aboyne Water 1, Ballogie 4, Birse 1, Carlogie 1, Commonty 2, Cairnton 1, Crathes 2, Dess 1, Invery 10, Knappach 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 6, Lower Crathes and W Durris 14, Lower Blackhall 6, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 1, Middle Blackhall 3, Middle Drum 5, Park 5, Woodend 1, Total 66

Prospects

The river should fish well this week all being equal with decent river levels and a reasonable weather forecast for the week ahead. The Met Office are forecasting air temperature maxima around 8-9 degrees and possibly a little more during the first few days of the week with temperatures forecast to drop back a bit on Friday for the weekend. It will be a mostly cloudy week with occasional patchy rain showers. Winds are variable and may be blustery at times so it may feel cooler with the wind chill. River levels are currently sitting at 7 inches on the mar Lodge gauge and 1ft 4 Inches at the Park gauge. The maritime influence indicates tides are dropping back from 4.2 metres to 3.6 metres by mid week and then rising again to 3.9 metres at the weekend. River temperatures are warming up and new fish will be running the river and heading up to perhaps Aboyne. There appears to be fair amount of new salmon in the Banchory area.

Richard Thomas with a February salmon at Crathes

Anglers who don't have the services of a Ghillie to call on should present 1.5 inch tube monkey flies well down, with popular patterns like the Gold Willie Gunn conehead, Park Shrimp, Phatakorva, Maggie's Shrimp and Snaelda patterns worth a cast. There are some really excellent angling opportunities for anglers looking for some fishing with FishDee beats offering rod lets for as little as £40 per day. This is very good value for anglers looking for an early season salmon. The River Dee conservation code states all fish must be returned carefully, including kelts. I would urge anglers to read these guidance notes and spare fish unnecessary suffering. Remember to sign your Gyrodactylus declaration when arriving at your chosen fishing beat.
As always anglers should discuss tactics with their Ghillies and heed their advice. They really can make the difference to anglers trying for early season success. They have many years experience and are a resource visitors can ill afford not to utilize. I receive feedback reports from anglers using the FishDee booking engine, where time after time anglers comment how helpful our River Dee Ghillies are. Comments like 'He picked the right fly, put me on the right spot and told me what line to use' indicate only too readily to me how valuable our Ghillies are to our visiting anglers.

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd, February 2012.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

Last week saw an increase in catches with FishDee beats reporting 92 salmon and 1 sea trout which was well up on the previous week's total of 66 salmon. The best return for the week was reported again by Lower Crathes with 16 salmon and 1 sea trout, Invery had another good week with 9 salmon, Lower Blackhall had 8 including a 22 lb salmon, Little Blackhall and Park reported 7 each, with another 22 lb fish reported from Little Blackhall. There were a lot of good anglers out fishing last week I believe and conditions were by and large pretty favourable through the week until a blizzard hit the river on Saturday afternoon. It is pleasing to hear that fish are now being caught in the Aboyne area which will provide encouragement for anglers fishing the Upper Dee beats that will be fished in March. Many thanks to the anglers who have sent in images of their recent catches.

Angler Geordie Doull carefull returns a lovely salmon to the river

For anglers looking for some great fishing there are some great fishing opportunities I would like to inform you about. I would advise that the River Dee Trust is hosting an auction evening at the Savile Club, 69 Brook Street, Mayfair at 6.30 pm on Thursday 1st March. The auction has some great fishing opportunities for anglers loyal to the River Dee who would like to support the planned programme of River Dee habitat restoration works. There is fishing in exciting global destinations such as the Rio Grande in Patagonia, The Yokanga in Russia, The Ranga in Iceland and The Mörrum in Sweden. Not only that, but we have two fabulous fishing opportunities in Norway. Well known fishing personality Matt Hayes has provided fishing on the Gaula River in June at his lodge Wisnes, with Matt acting as your guide for a few days. FishNorway have also offered a fabulous fishing opportunity at the Reisa River, which is a big fish river like its sister river the Alta. The River Dee Trust and River Office staff are looking forward to hosting this free to attend event in London and would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our visiting anglers from the south to come along and join us for what promises to be an enjoyable occasion. Guest speaker on the night is Fiona Armstrong, former BBC newsreader and journalist who is a keen salmon angler. Bernard Williams from Christies is the auctioneer for the event with 14 exciting lots going under the hammer. There will be canapés and Dee Drams provided for all guests who come along. To help us cater efficiently can anyone who intends to come along let us know the numbers they are bringing along to info@riverdee.org. Details about the auction lots can be found at this link River Dee Trust & Dee District Salmon Fishery Board: Home: Welcome

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd, February 2012.


Beat catches reported
(week ending 18th February)
SALMON & GRILSE: Altries and Lower Drum 1, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 2, Park 7, Lower Crathes and W Durris 16, Knappach 6, Crathes 8, Invery 9, Lower Blackhall 8, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 7, Middle Blackhall 3, Cairnton 4, Woodend 1, Commonty 4, Ballogie 5, Kincardine 1, Carlogie 3, Dess 3, Birse 2, Aboyne Water 2.
Total: 92 Largest: Lower Blackhall & Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 22lbs
SEA TROUT: Lower Crathes and W Durris 1.
Total: 1 Largest: Lower Crathes and W Durris 2lbs
TROUT: None reported

Prospects

The conditions look ideal for anglers fishing the River Dee this week with a very favourable weather forecast allied to high spring tides which should bring new fish forward. The BBC weather forecast for Banchory is showing air temperature maxima around 11 degrees Celsius with no overnight frosts predicted. It may be a bit breezy on Wednesday with some rainfall which may see the river levels rise with rain and snowmelt from the mountains. The maritime influence sees tides rising this week from 4.0 metres to 4.4 metres and then dropping back to 4.1 metres at the weekend. As long as we don't get a big rise in river levels then sport should be reasonable for anglers during the week.

Talented lady angler Mrs Jean Marshall with a nice salmon at Ballogie-Jean won the Moriston trophy for the largest salmon of the Deveron last year at 29lbs

Visiting anglers would be wise to consult their beat Ghillie if they have one to discuss tactics on their chosen beat. The River Dee Ghillies know their beats well and can give you much needed advice that may help make your trip to the River a successful one. If you don't have the services of a Ghillie to call on you will be well advised to use an intermediate line and fish with tube flies. Patterns that are popular can be found on the flies for the Dee page on the FishDee website. You may wish to fish with patterns such as the Gold Willie Gunn, German Snaelda, Maggie's Shrimp, Posh Tosh, Blue Monkey and Cascade.

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd, February 2012.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

This was a big fish week for some anglers on Deeside this week with my nomination for an Oscar going to Jamie Hammond for his tremendous effort in catching two salmon in excess of 20lbs, more of this later. FishDee beats reported 65 Salmon for the week with Lower Crathes once again finishing the week with the highest return of 13 salmon to 24 lbs; Invery had 10 salmon with the Blackhall beats between them reporting 13. Water levels were good during the week and water temperatures were as high as 8 degrees Celsius that saw fish get on the move to the upper reaches of the river. This saw normally productive lower beats finding things very quiet. I had Crawford Little, David Pool, Jim Coates and Stuart Buchan fishing with me for a few days on a lower beat and we hardly saw a fin flicker in 3 days. Jim did catch a 15lb fish when he visited Park on Saturday on a black and blue monkey.

As always I am grateful for feedback and I would like to share correspondence received from Jamie Hammond who commented 'Robert Harper asked me to drop you a line along with a couple of pics of 2 springers I had this week at Lower Crathes. I have been fishing LCWD in the spring for the last 15 years and it was a pleasure to be there this week with good water conditions. Although the wind made fishing tough on a couple of days, I was fortunate to land 5 springers over my 3 days. Both rods and ghillies commented that many larger than usual spring fish had been seen running through the beat so I was delighted to land a 22lb long tailed sea liced cock fish at 5.30pm on Friday evening and a 24lb hen fish at 10.30am on Saturday morning. Both fish were witnessed, expertly netted, measured and photographed by head gillie Robert Harper and both were caught on a Guideline Triple D shooting head Inti/2/4 and a 1.5" GBWG copper tube. Keep up the good work - it's great to see the river with a healthy stock of MSW fish.'

Jamie Hammond with a fine 22lb Springer landed at Lower Crathes on Friday evening 5.30 PM

There was good sport for anglers at Invery with the effusive Rae Borras teasing me at the Tor Na Coille Hotel about a fish he had landed when it was very bright. He mentioned 'It would have taken a genius to catch a fish' and I agreed, then he smiled broadly and said again 'It would take a genius.' and I laughed and asked 'How big?'. Rae chuckled with pleasure as he had a lovely fish of 15lbs; he did very well to catch that fish given the conditions at the precise time of capture. Invery Ghillie Karl Revel very kindly submitted the following report yesterday when he called in to see me. 'Another satisfying week on Invery saw 10 fish caught. Successful anglers included Craig Corbett from Portlethan (25lbs), Willie Roy, Aberlour 20lbs and 11lbs, and Callum Highett with his first Springer of 15lbs. A blank Saturday was saved at the last knockings by young Martin White from Renfrew, who ventured into the Kirk Pot with neither wading staff nor net. He succeeded after a somewhat nerve wracking fight to land a lovely 8lbs salmon which was skilfully netted by his Dad Bill.' Sandy Scott had success with 2 fish and commented he had exceptional service from Karl at Invery.

Jamie Hammond with a 24 lb salmon landed at 10.30 am on Saturday at Lower Crathes-2 20lb plus salmon in a couple of hourse fishing time-a tremendous result for him

To finish this week I would advise that the River Dee Trust auction takes place this week in London and there is still time for people to submit sealed bids for the 14 fabulous auction lots on offer. There are some real once in a lifetime opportunities for bidders so please look at the website for details and get bidding .River Dee Trust Auction. As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.


Beat Catches Reported
SALMON & GRILSE: Ballogie 6, Birse 4, Borrowston 3, Cairnton 2, Crathes 5, Dess 1, Invery 10, Kincardine 1, Knappach 2, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 7, Lower Crathes and W Durris 13, Lower Blackhall 4, Middle Blackhall 2, Park 4, Sluie 1, Total 65

Prospects

I called Sean Stanton this morning, Head Ghillie at Ballogie and asked for his thoughts. He said 'We are fishing the summer pools now, and will be trying summer tactics with the water being low and very warm for the time of year.' Well his observations are always worth listening to and I had been thinking about anglers fishing with floating line combinations and smaller flies in the middle reaches of the river. The weather forecasters are suggesting the temperatures tomorrow could go to 18 degrees Celsius which would of course break records for February on Deeside. It will start mild and may get a little cooler by the end of the week. They are suggesting night time temperatures of 6-8 degrees Celsius which is really unseasonable. What little snow reservoirs there were up on the hills will in all likelihood have gone and we will have to rely on rainfall to keep the river going through the spring. Winds will be Sou'westers with occasional strong winds, but around 15 mph during the week. There will be patchy drizzle and perhaps some rainfall, suggested for Thursday. The maritime influence sees tides dropping from 3.9 metres to 3.3 metres and rising towards the weekend to 3.5 metres. There may be some new fish coming forward so fingers crossed fish decide to come forward into the warmer waters of the river, which should be above sea temperature.

The upper river sees angling starting in earnest for some beats later this week and I am sure that these beats could do very well. Ghillies will be keeping their fingers crossed that the running salmon will stop in their beats and give anglers a chance for sport. With the unseasonable conditions, Deeside Ghillies will be providing real encouragement and advice to anglers so please heed their wise counsel. If you don’t have the services of a Ghillie to call on then you may try fishing with a full floater with sink tip or intermediate line with dressed doubles, perhaps 6-8 or small tubes or conehead of perhaps 1 to 1.5 inches. The monkey or Sunray fished high in the water may produce some sport for those wishing to experiment with a stripped lure. Patterns to try are Black and Yellow, Black and Blue, Park shrimp, Snaelda and Frances flies and don’t worry if the flies are lightly dressed, that may be advantageous.

If you arrive with the wrong flies expecting big cold water then don't panic. You can call into George Strachan's store in Aboyne or the Kincardine Post office and get a great selection of Dee flies there tied by Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very reasonable prices. These venues also provide great sandwiches for visiting anglers etc and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a great selection of flies to choose from.

To finish this week I would advise that the River Dee Trust auction takes place this week in London and there is still time for people to submit sealed bids for the 14 fabulous auction lots on offer. There are some real once in a lifetime opportunities for bidders so please look at the website for details and get bidding. River Dee Trust Auction.

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

Fluctuating air temperatures seemed to really unsettle the fish during the week as Monday saw FishDee beats report 20 plus fish and then the weather changed and cooled significantly and catches fell away during the week when Friday and Saturday saw only 3 and 2 Springers reported caught for these days. The water temperatures, which were unseasonably high, plummeted quite significantly and that seemed to make the fish very dour and unresponsive. The week's total reported by FishDee beats was 59 salmon to 22lbs with Invery reporting 9 for the week, Ballogie and Lower Crathes reported 7 each for the week. Lower Crathes was top beat for the month in terms of rod catches with 48 salmon reported with Invery just one behind on 47. These were great results for these beats where fish were reported to be responding well to the hard working anglers in these beats. Other beats however found it tough going in February with fish flying through normally very reliable lower beats.

As always I am really grateful for correspondence and Anne Rodger reported nothing was forthcoming to her Hairy Mary. Dr Patrick Taylor was again back on Deeside with the intrepid Dr Ade Warburton, along with some talented Tay fishermen at Commonty, and they did have some success with Dr Taylor reporting 'Commonty fished well for the first three days of the week, even with low water, and we managed 6 fish to our 3 rods. There are plenty of kelts still in the system, but fresh fish are moving through. For the back-end of the week, fish were moving, but not that much action. Dr Ade Warburton lost a cracking fish in the Garden Pool on Friday morning, the fish straightened his hook! For our week, we were joined by some Tay-side fishers who'd not fished Commonty and they all agreed that it's a great beat. Plenty of banter and a good laugh - so even if the fish weren't interested, we had a great time. All fish were on your typical Spring Dee patterns Black/Yellow/Silver/Blue - albeit a Green Highlander derivative also worked - so you never know - back-end of the week just need to try something different. Thanks go to Ghillie Ian Fraser for looking after our party and providing advice and tuition where needed (mostly me!).'

Dr Patrick Taylor with a fresh salmon which was safely released

Invery Ghillie Karl Revel very kindly provided some more news; I am really most grateful when Ghillies provide news to share with our angling fraternity who love to hear how the river is doing. Karl advised 'Hi Ken, I look forward to hearing about your London trip. Top rod on Invery this week was Dougie Miller from Kinross with three fish. All were caught using a one inch Red Frances tied by his fishing buddy and expert flytyer Ken McEwan. His third fish, a 10 pounder from the S-Pool, brought the beat's total for February to 47! Tight lines! Karl.'

Dr Patrick Taylor with another of his salmon for the week

Well talking about London, it seems appropriate to report that the River Dee Trust hosted the fundraising auction at the Savile club last Thursday which was attended by around 80 people. The auction was a great success and virtually all of the lots attracted a successful bid on the night, either just below or well above guide price. It is hoped around £40,000 will have been raised once all the lots have been allocated to the winning bidders and income received. Thanks to all involved and the wonderful hosts at the Savile Club who really ensured the night was memorable. The speakers, including Ian Scott and Fiona Armstrong were very entertaining, and the auctioneer Bernard Williams from Christies showed once again he is the best in the business and has a really tremendous sense of humour. Finally I would like to thank all the very kind friends of the Dee who donated the fabulous auction lots to help with the ongoing restoration work on the River Dee.

Guests mingle prior to the auction

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.


Beat Catches Reported
SALMON & GRILSE: Culter 1, Tilbouries 1, Park 4, Lower Crathes and W Durris 7, Invery 9, Lower Blackhall 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1, Middle Blackhall 3, Commonty 6, Ballogie 7, Borrowston 3, Kincardine 1, Carlogie 3, Dess 3, Birse 1, Aboyne Water 2, Craigendinnie 3, Waterside and Ferrar 1, Headinch and Cambus O'May 2.
Total: 59 Largest: Carlogie 22lbs
SEA TROUT: None reported

Prospects

Now that virtually all the River Dee beats have anglers coming in droves to fish, we hope that the salmon inhabiting the pools co-operate and provide great sport. The weather forecast for the next few days shows high pressure dominating ensuring reasonably calm weather. Air temperature maxima will be around 10 degrees Celsius with overnight lows dipping below zero. There will be generally light variable winds and some light precipitation, perhaps the odd snow shower on the hill tops; a spate is not expected during the week. River levels are quite low for the time of year so anglers will have to use a bit of stealth. The maritime influence shows tides building during the week from 3.7 metres to 4.6 metres.

Some celebrities attended last Thursdays auction

Ghillies will be keeping their fingers crossed that salmon will be more co-operative in their beats and give anglers a chance for sport. Deeside Ghillies will be providing real encouragement and advice to anglers so please heed their wise counsel. If you don't have the services of a Ghillie to call on then you may try fishing with a full floater with sink tip or intermediate line with dressed doubles, perhaps 6-8 or small tubes or conehead of perhaps 1 to 1.5 inches. The monkey or Sunray fished high in the water may produce some sport for those wishing to experiment with a stripped lure. Patterns to try are Black and Yellow, Black and Blue, Park shrimp, Snaelda and Frances flies and don't worry if the flies are lightly dressed, that may be advantageous. Be patient as always and persevere.

If you arrive with the wrong flies expecting big cold water then don't panic. You can call into George Strachan's store in Aboyne or the Kincardine O'Neil Post office and get a great selection of Dee flies tied by the enterprising Ballogie estates Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices. These venues also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon etc and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a great selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire. Please ensure visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the Dee District Salmon Fisheries Board, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing.

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

Salmon anglers worked hard for rewards last week on Deeside with FishDee beats reporting 50 salmon to 26lbs for the week. Fish were creeping up through low water with Ballogie reporting 7, Invery 5, Little Blackhall & Inchmarlo and Borrowston reporting 4 for the week. Pockets of new fish are creeping through with some nice specimens being seen moving through the beats. There are numbers of kelts dropping back downstream as the water has warmed up with water temperatures reported to be around 7 degrees Celsius. I visited new Dess beat owner Jeremy Clayton last week who had some fine fishermen fishing his beat last week, including Lawrie Hickman, Paul Devlin, Matt Hayes and Ed Brown. I was delighted to meet up with the party for a fine dinner at the Tor Na Coille hotel where a beaming Lawrie Hickman, from Guideline, told me of his success with a fine Springer estimated at 26lbs. Lawrie had landed an earlier fish of around 14lbs in the morning and he decided to go back to the top of the pool and fish down again when the big fish took his fly. He had a great scrap with the fish and was delighted to see it swim off safely.

Lawrie Hickman with a fine salmon estimated by Dess beat Ghillie Eoin Smith to be 26lbs

I was delighted to receive correspondence from Karl Revel, Invery beat Ghillie who advised 'Hi Ken, very little to report but on Thursday I enjoyed sharing the excitement of Simon Neighbour from Fareham in Surrey when he caught his first ever salmon in the Kirk Pot, a 12 pounder which took his Helmsdale Tackle 1" Red Frances. This fish took our total for the season to 50. Later the same day using the same fly, he landed a 13 pounder in the Killing Hatch. On Friday a Sean Stanton tied 1/2" Purple Frances proved successful for G Loomis rep/casting instructor David Burgess attracting a 9 pound fish from Birkwood. Simon rounded off a memorable week for himself on Saturday with a 6lb salmon from Pantoch.' Visiting angler Charles Jeffrey, who some may recall had the joint biggest salmon on opening day, was back on Deeside for a few days fishing with Brian Sim and Cleeve Cowie at Crathes and was again successful. Charles advised 'Home after 3 good days with Brian and Cleve at Crathes. Muggins managed a 15/16lb fish on Tuesday and my colleague John Laurie scored yesterday. Both fish caught on a Black Frances. Charles.' I was also pleased to hear that David Ramsay had a lovely Springer at Craigendinnie when I popped down to thank him for supporting the River Dee Trust. David is a great supporter of the work of the Trust and he has been very generous in supporting some of the important projects on the river that are ongoing. River Dee Trust and Dee District Salmon Fisheries Board chairman Ian Scott was also successful last week with a fish from Aboyne Castle.

Many thanks on behalf of the FishDee team to anglers who have been booking fishing through the FishDee website. Bookings are 25% up on the same time last year and it is very heartening to see many anglers in Deeside supporting the local economy. There are good numbers of rods available over the next few months when we hope to see numbers of spring salmon arriving in ever increasing numbers to fill the pools of the river.

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.


Beat Catches Reported
SALMON & GRILSE: Aboyne Water 1, Ballogie 7, Birse 1, Borrowston 4, Craigendinnie 2, Carlogie 1, Commonty 1, Cairnton 2, Crathes 2, Deecastle 2, Dess 3, Dinnet 2, Invery 5, Kincardine 1, Knappach 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 4, Lower Crathes and W Durris 2, Lower Blackhall 2, Middle Blackhall 1, Middle Drum 1, Park 2, Tilbouries 2, Waterside and Ferrar 1, Total 50

Prospects

With the river at summer low at present we all hope to see a good amount of rainfall to encourage a good run of spring salmon in from the sea. The weather forecasters are not providing too much optimism on that front, however there is a chance of a bit of rainfall later in the week. I was advised that temperatures rose to 18 degrees Celsius on Deeside yesterday and the Met Office are suggesting another reasonable mild week with the chance of a touch of frost overnight. Winds are predominately from a westerly direction however as the temps rise during the day it is common for an upstream breeze to spring up in the afternoons. The maritime influence indicates tide are dropping back this week from 4.4 metres to 3.5 metres and rising on Sunday to 3.7 metres. There may be some fish that decide to move forward into the river and they will move swiftly upstream.

A fine spring salmon landed at Craigendinnie by David Ramsay of Aboyne

With low water Ghillies will be working very hard to keep anglers fishing hard and provide good sound advice. Patience and stealth will be the order of the day and with the river running low anglers will need to fish lighter lines to help minimise disturbance when casting their flies. Heed the wise counsel of your beat Ghillie and be prepared to fish in the areas they suggest. If you don't have the services of a Ghillie to call on you may find fishing a floating line advantageous with a small tube or dressed double. Salmon will also take Frances tube flies fished deep but you may have to accept you may snag some on the river bed. Fish will perhaps make an appearance in your beat some point during your day and you will have to persevere. When you have a break it is also nice to sit awhile and appreciate the beauty of your surroundings and flora and fauna becoming more active.

If you find you have the wrong flies with you for your fishing trip then pay a visit to some of our super retailers; George Strachan's store in Aboyne or the Kincardine O'Neil Post office have a great selection of Dee flies tied by the enterprising Ballogie estates Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices. These venues also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon etc and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a great selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire. Please ensure visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the Dee District Salmon Fisheries Board, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing.

Finally for anglers looking for a nice accommodation in the middle Dee I can advise that Ballogie House is available for rental to anglers. This lovely detached property nestles in beautiful surroundings on the magnificent 6000-acre Ballogie Estate, in the heart of Royal Deeside. Extensively refurbished throughout, the accommodation is finished to a high standard and is a wonderful property for larger groups or family gatherings, for special occasions or a memorable holiday. Bookings this year can be made through The finest holiday cottages in Scotland | Scottish Country Cottages (a member of the Hoseasons Group)

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

A very trying week for anglers and Ghillies alike with very poor river conditions limiting catches from FishDee beats to 39 salmon for the week, which by normal spring standards would be classed as very poor. This spring is unlike recent springs though, where there had been good river levels to allow new fish to come forwards in reasonable numbers. There is no snow reservoir on the hilltops and corries to speak off, and a prolonged dry and relatively warm period has seen river levels shrink to high summer lows, with water temperatures well above the norm for the time of year at 7.5 degrees Celsius. Fishing conditions are very poor at the moment and may remain so until we get a good lift in river levels to bring new fish forward in decent numbers.

I met a group of talented visiting Dee anglers from all around Europe, who are regular visitors with party leader Lars Terkildsen from Sweden. The group had the Ballogie beats for the week and I stopped by for a chat prior to dinner on Saturday night at Ballogie House to discuss their weeks sport. They had fished extremely hard until night fall every night during their stay and reported most of the action was in the last hour of daylight. They reported 19 fish for their week and they were caught on a variety of flies from long winged monkey flies to small dressed doubles. Mawill Lüdenbach had the misfortune of playing a huge fish on Saturday for nearly half an hour only to lose it when his hooks straightened. He had the fish close in and estimated that it was perhaps 1.1 metre long and suggested comfortably over 30lbs; he did have the satisfaction of catching a lovely 18lb salmon earlier in the week. Ghillie Sean Stanton commented in his Ballogie Beats blog ‘At the end of this week the Ballogie beats had caught over half the fish caught on the whole of the river Dee! We finished up with 19 salmon for the week which was fantastic considering the conditions we had. I hope to see some rain soon or the fishing will become almost impossible due to the height of the pools, I can only hope that over the weekend more fish have moved quickly through the lower river and will rest at the Ballogie beats, this was happening last week as we caught numerous fish with sea lice and 1 with long tailed lice!!’

Mawill with his 18lb Springer at Carlogie

Dinnet Ghillie Euan Reid dropped me an e-mail commenting ‘The low water and often bright sun meant we had difficult conditions, but we managed a fish on Monday morning and a couple on Thursday. We are seeing fish in almost all of our pools now, some of them very fresh, but they are a bit unwilling to take a fly. Maybe a change in the weather this week things will fix themselves. The fish we had on Monday morning was caught by John Little in Cobbles and only when I netted did I realise it was a fresh one- I thought it was a kelt primarily down to the fact it was lucky if it was 4lb! I collected scales and dropped them into the river office and the details of which you can get from Adrian. (This was confirmed as a 2 sea winter Springer that came in early) John Little caught a 6lb fish from Trochie later in the week and John Carmichael had an 8lb Springer from the Haugh on the Deecastle side’. Ghillie Mads Pederson from Culter called this morning to advise that Clive Williamson, a regular Dee fisherman landed a 7.5 lbs Springer on Saturday on a size 14 Ally’s shrimp fished off a long leader. I spoke with Robert Harper the head Ghillie at Lower Crathes this morning who advised that he had some fish to go onto the website following a problem with the FishPal server on Saturday. His experienced team of anglers fished hard for only a few salmon and an early sea trout.

Received this e-mail from angler Charles Jeffrey 'Just returned from a further three days at Crathes, where the levels fell from 3" to 2" over that period. The river was stuffed with fish, the majority of which were kelts. My colleague, John Laurie scored again on Monday with a 6lb fish out of the Auld Kiln, but that was the final score come Wednesday night. We will not be deterred tho' and will be back mid May for more punishment. Best to you all on the Dee'

Peter Lonsdale playing a hard fish at Ballogie

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

Beat Catches Reported
Week ending 12:00 on Mon 19th Mar 2012

SALMON & GRILSE: Culter 1, Altries and Lower Drum 1, Park 3, Lower Crathes and W Durris 2, Crathes 1, Invery 2, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1, Cairnton 1, Commonty 2, Ballogie 10, Borrowston 2, Carlogie 6, Dess 1, Birse 2, Aboyne Castle 1, Waterside and Ferrar 1, Dinnet 2, Deecastle 1, Total 40
SEA TROUT: none reported
TROUT: none reported




Prospects

It will be very difficult week for visiting anglers arriving to fish the Dee, with river levels desperately low for the time of the year allowing very few new fish to come forward. Water temperatures have dropped back overnight and the river temps are around 5 degrees Celsius as I write but I expect them to rise quite a bit during the week. We need a good lift in river levels following a prolonged dry spell to encourage new fish to come forward and I see nothing in the weather forecast to indicate this will happen this week. Weather forecasters are predicting a continuation of the current high pressure dominance which is pushing weather systems, and much needed rainfall to the North West of the British Isles. Air temperature maxima may reach 17 degrees Celsius this week with a chance of overnight frost. Later in the week we may see coastal Haar, which may come up the valley and chill the air quite a bit if it appears. The early part of the week may see the edges of a weather system brush the Grampian Mountains providing some blustery conditions on Tuesday or Wednesday. There is no precipitation of note forecast for the week which will ensure river levels continue to stay unseasonably low. The maritime influence sees tides building in Aberdeen from 3.8 metres to 4.2 metres. Whether this new water brings new fish forward in any meaningful numbers is doubtful. There may be the odd one which will come forward, with fish now reported to be building up in the Lower River at Aberdeen. This may provide some early season sport for Aberdeen Angling Association anglers.

The Franc N Snaelda fly that has done well at Ballogie this season

Anglers will be tackling the river more in hope than expectation and Ghillies will be doing their best to provide useful advice to anglers. Sean Stanton at Ballogie is encouraging his anglers to fish the faster streamy water and the known taking lies. Fish that have been lying in pools and occasionally leaping about will have seen many different patterns of flies passing overhead and anglers will need the patience of a saint to get their rewards this week. As has been commented the best times to catch fish off guard will be the last hour of daylight and fishing into the dark. If you don’t have a Ghillie to advise you on what flies to fish then you will probably be wise to start with a float / sink tip combination with a small lightly dressed fly or perhaps a small monkey on a ½ inch tungsten tube in faster flows. I think perseverance is the key to trying to get a fish to respond, but it won’t be easy.

If you find you have the wrong flies with you for your fishing trip then pay a visit to some of our super retailers; George Strachan's store in Aboyne or the Kincardine O'Neil Post office have a great selection of Dee flies tied by the enterprising Ballogie estates Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices. These venues also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon etc and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a great selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire. Please ensure visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the Dee District Salmon Fisheries Board, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing.

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

A continuation of drought conditions on Deeside coupled with unseasonable and remarkable daytime temperatures has made fishing extremely difficult for anglers and Ghillies. With the mercury rising to over 22 degrees yesterday on Deeside, I looked at the river from my balcony and haven’t seen the water as low for the time of year. Anglers fished extremely well last week to produce 57 salmon and a sea trout from FishDee beats, trying every trick in the book to get a fish. Well done to the anglers and Ghillies for producing these catch returns given the conditions. Invery reported 8 for their week, Ballogie 6 and Birse 5 with other beats from Park to Dinnet reporting the odd few.

I phoned around a number of our Ghillies this morning to get their thoughts which are extremely helpful. Alex Coutts, the experienced Ghillie at Aboyne Castle beat cannot remember a March like this and whilst seeing fresh fish in the beat pools, he was only able to report kelts being caught and released. I spoke to Brain Brogan, Ghillie at Cairnton, which did produce 4 salmon for the week. Brian advised that they had 4 fish for the week with a sea liced 8lb salmon from the Grey Mare on a size 14 executioner on Saturday. Another angler during the week had fished through another pool a couple of times and then decided to fish a large Sunray Shadow through it. He was really pleased to hook and land a 12lb salmon after seeing fish move. They had another couple of fish around 7 and 8 lbs during the week. Fish were being hooked during very bright conditions proving perseverance can pay off. Robert Harper advised that they have the odd new fish coming forward and kelts dropping back downstream. Anglers are fishing with all sizes of flies and working away but it is tough, and will remain so until we get a rise of river to bring new fish forward in decent numbers. Some fish will perhaps have dropped back downstream due to the low water conditions waiting to run upstream again. I have heard of an angler catching a fish down in Aberdeen, where fish are starting to hold up. Sean Stanton, Ballogie Estates Head Ghillie, has an excellent blog which is updated regularly. You can view this at The Ballogie Beats and see local reports and images of fish being landed from their beats. Sean comments there ‘Conditions have now become very hard! Bright sunshine combined with very low water has meant that fishing the pools is becoming hard work, with all the fish now lying in the streamy necks and tails of the pools, we have very limited areas to fish.

The ever enthusiastic Philippe Koehler, a regular visitor from France dropped me an e-mail commending the service from the River Dee Ghillies advising ‘Hi Ken, 4 Frenchy’s back from the Royal Dee. No fresh fish for us this week, but very good moment on the river and with the Ghillies. Special thanks for Willie (Tilbouries) for Kevin (Altries) and Charlie (Park South). We fished very hard and they were very kind with us and supporting. We try everything but only kelts were taking our fly. Kind regards, Philippe’. As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.


Beat Catches Reported
SALMON & GRILSE: Park 1, Lower Crathes and W Durris 4, Knappach 1, Crathes 3, Invery 8, Lower Blackhall 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1, Middle Blackhall 2, Cairnton 4, Commonty 1, Sluie 1, Ballogie 6, Borrowston 1, Kincardine 5, Carlogie 2, Dess 3, Birse 5, Aboyne Water 1, Craigendinnie 1, Waterside and Ferrar 1, Dinnet 3, Deecastle 2, Total 57
SEA TROUT: Altries and Lower Drum 1, Total 1

Prospects

Prospects are not looking encouraging on the fishing front but are great if you want to go home with a suntan! The Met Office is suggesting that yesterdays record high of 22.8 degrees may be exceeded today. The forecast is suggesting it will remain very bright and warm for the next few days with perhaps over night frosts and coastal Haar which may come up the valley during the late afternoon and evenings. It is unseasonably warm and the river is extremely low, and fishing is really quite dour and challenging for anglers and Ghillies alike. There is light at the end of the tunnel though with the Met Office suggesting that it will turn cooler towards the weekend with freshening north westerly winds and perhaps light rain. In the longer term they are suggesting that the weather will cool down and we shall see more seasonable weather with perhaps some hill snow next week! If we do get rain and cooler temperatures then anglers and Ghillies will be more optimistic. Will the forecast materialise into reality? Well only time will tell, but all anglers need a bit of optimism. The maritime influence sees tides dropping back now from 4.0 metres to 3.2 metres at the weekend so I don’t expect to hear of good runs making their way upstream. I expect salmon will remain at sea until conditions improve significantly and allow them to run upstream.

As we are now into British summertime and experiencing conditions like it then anglers and Ghillies will be adopting tactics to suit summer conditions, with some anglers fishing mornings and evenings. Fish may become a bit more responsive at first light and late in the evening and stealth will be required to try and winkle a fish out of the pool necks. Heed the wise advice of your Ghillie and remember they will know where on their beat the likely taking fish might be encountered. There will be little point in fishing heavy Skagit fly lines under the current conditions with small double handed rods and trout rods perhaps coming to the fore with lighter lines and longer leaders. As to fly choice then the smaller and lighter dressed flies may be more productive but ring the changes and be prepared to experiment. I would imagine a size 14 Crathie fly would be more productive than a size 8 cascade!

If you find you have the wrong flies with you for your fishing trip then pay a visit to some of our super retailers; George Strachan's store in Aboyne or the Kincardine O'Neil Post office have a great selection of Dee flies tied by the enterprising Ballogie estates Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices. These venues also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon etc and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a great selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire. Please ensure visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the Dee District Salmon Fisheries Board, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing.As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

Another week of drought conditions on Deeside saw anglers resorting to high summer conditions by fishing in the early mornings and evenings with the clocks now having gone forward. Anglers were seeing numbers of kelts in middle and lower beats and some newer salmon. The thing about salmon as all anglers know is that just because they are there doesn't mean you will catch them, as they do not by and large feed in fresh water; there is no need for them to take the anglers flies in earnest. People speculate to this day as to why salmon take a fly and many theories abound. It's perhaps for the best that anglers don't know all the answers or they perhaps wouldn't bother going fishing. As it was, FishDee beats reported 58 salmon for the week and 4 sea trout, with salmon ranging from 2 lbs to 24 lbs. The 2lb salmon was caught on a dry fly, a size 14 Greenwell's Glory at Lower Blackhall by angler Andy Smith. Colin Simpson the beat Ghillie had initially thought it was a sea trout Kelt but on inspection he saw it was a small fresh salmon, which was landed at Sandy Haven. House of Hardy product development manager Howard Croston also had a nice 6lb fish from the Bridge Pool.

The 24 lb Salmon reported by angler Roald Meyer

I phoned around a number of our Ghillies this morning to get their thoughts which are extremely helpful. I spoke to Archie Hay, Crathie Ghillie who was delighted to report the first two fish for the season for the beat. Archie had a 10lbs salmon from McLarens on Thursday and Mr Martin had a 9lb Salmon on Saturday. There were 2 salmon lost on Tuesday. Archie's fish was caught on a Crathie tube fly. There are fish in the pools of the beat and the beat is virtually fully booked now for the entire season. Brian Sim at Crathes Castle reported 4 salmon for the week between 5 and 8lbs which were caught on small Frances flies in hard fishing conditions. Mr Phil Taylor had 3 and Mr Nigel Wooley had 1, with the fish reported to being pretty fresh. A regular visitor from Norway, Mr Roald Meyer dropped me an e-mail advising 'Hi Ken. I attach some pictures from our recent fishing trip to Lower Crathes. The fish weighed 24 pounds and was 40 Inches long, and took a Red Frances (size 10) In the Bridge Pool. My first trip to the River Dee was with Global in 2006. I have since then been fishing Lower Crathes every year during week 13. We already look forward to next year. All the best from Norway, Roald.'

Low water at Lower Crathes

Lars Terkildsen sent an e-mail from Sweden advising, ‘Just a short note about from Allan Bloch's week on Waterside & Ferrar and Birse with a group of customers. Allan, who hosted the week, is my associate in the shop for information. A strange March week at the Dee, this extreme low water level is something we have never seen during our years at the Dee, and wish we will never see again. Despite the low level, Birse produced a fantastic number of springers, a lot of thanks goes to Doug Murray for his fantastic spirit and great help - as always, Lummels was the top-top pool of the week with 7 springers, out of the 10 we got at Birse. Mr Rafael Kaminsky did not get as many as he usual does, but a cracking 20 pounder out of Lummels ( pict. attached )was caught on our proto type of the G.Loomis NRX 12 FT 6 Inches # 9-10. Waterside & Ferrar was hard to crack but in the end, with great help from Davie Goodfellow, we got one of these small springers (68 cm), Dee has had this year, and one early sea trout. To inspire others; we used the treble density shooting heads from Guideline in the density Floating / Intermediate / Sink2 with fluorocarbon leader, and best fly in our week was Black and Orange Monkey with a 5 cm wing. The conclusion; Fishing deep was the answer, and for once the Orange Monkey out fished the usual Yellow Monkey. Another fly that worked was the Silver Blue Monkey in same size.'

So the month of March has come and gone, and will perhaps be remembered by some as being memorable for a variety of reasons. In terms of rod catches, the FishDee catch returns were well below the 5 year average, although some beats like Ballogie estates did in fact beat their five year averages for the month. Anglers were up against it fishing during such unseasonable drought conditions and unbelievably high temperatures. Now it is a matter on record, Aboyne now holds the record of being the warmest place in Scotland in March at 23.6 degrees Celsius. We are now into April and the weather forecasters are reporting significant change and much more precipitation is forecast during the next few weeks. This will mean lots of new salmon coming into the river and running upriver to populate the River Dee pools. When the river does rise significantly we all are hoping for vastly improved catches. As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

Beat Catches Reported
SALMON & GRILSE: Park 5, Lower Crathes and W Durris 7, Crathes 4, Invery 4, Lower Blackhall 2, Cairnton 1, Woodend 1, Ballogie 4, Borrowston 2, Kincardine 5, Carlogie 4, Dess 2, Birse 10, Aboyne Water 1, Aboyne Castle 1, Craigendinnie 2, Headinch and Cambus O'May 1, Crathie 2, Total 58

Prospects

The River Dee is currently sitting at very low levels, which are more akin to high summer than the month of April. That situation is about to change though, as the blocking area of high pressure which has been entrenched over the British Isles for weeks is moving away, and a series of weather fronts are due to sweep across the country bringing a real change to the weather. Last Monday saw the mercury siting at 72 degrees Fahrenheit, and this morning it was sitting at 32 degrees Fahrenheit and snow is falling on the hills. This is welcome news for anglers and Ghillies alike who must be exhausted after all the rain dancing that will have been going on around the valley for weeks. The Met Office is suggesting there will be snow for much of the afternoon and evening with wintry showers following along on Tuesday. There should be more rain showers during the week and perhaps the promise of heavier rain on Friday in time for the high tides. The long range forecast is for much more precipitation and normal spring temperatures. The fortunes of anglers should change for the better over the next few weeks.

A big springer landed at Birse by Rafael Kaminsky

As weather conditions are due to change then anglers should heed the advice offered by their Ghillies. Whilst you may start the week fishing with very small flies, you may be fishing with much bigger flies by the end of the week. The River Dee Ghillies are respected worldwide for their expertise and knowledge and it is worth while asking for their views when you get time with them on a one to one basis. If you don't have a Ghillie to call on for advice then perhaps you will start the week with small flies, perhaps size 10-12 dressed doubles. Patterns to try as always are the Park Shrimp, Crathie Fly, Frances Fly, and Calvin's Shrimp, Monkey, Tosh and Ally's shrimp.

If you find you have the wrong flies with you for your fishing trip then pay a visit to some of our super retailers; George Strachan's store in Aboyne or the Kincardine O'Neil Post office have a great selection of Dee flies tied by the enterprising Ballogie estates Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices. These venues also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon etc and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a great selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire. Please ensure visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing.

Latest Newsletter published here http://www.riverdee.org.uk/FileLibrary/March 2012 approved newsletter .pdf

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

What a change to the fortunes of anglers fishing the Dee last week with the continuation of unseasonable weather. Two weeks ago it was blazing sunshine and record high temperatures and last week saw heavy snowfall with Michael Bruce at Glentanar advising a foot of snow had fallen on Mount Keen. Well this change in weather conditions saw the River Dee temperatures drop to a level that appealed to the humour of the salmon, with FishDee beats reporting to date 119 salmon to 26 lbs and 10 sea trout for the week. Park finally had some good sport and reported 19 for the week; Lower Crathes were into double figures as was Kincardine, with Lower Invercauld and Monaltrie reporting 9 for their week with some lovely fish to 18lbs. River levels rose during the latter part of the week and Saturday saw a 3 foot rise which will have hopefully put the river in good heart for the coming week.

Ingolfur David with a 25 lb Salmon, one of over half a dozen he landed during his week

I occasionally get around beats and it's always nice to see a fish being caught however I had a first this morning when calling Dess Estates Ghillie Eoin Smith for a catch up. Eoin reported that Jeremy Clayton, the new proprietor was just in the process of landing his first fish of the season ! Eoin advised that local angler; Mr Peter Beckett from Aboyne landed a 41 inch salmon on Saturday in Jock Rae which gave him a great fight. Eoin was on hand to net the fish and return it to the river. The fish had been in the river a few weeks. I have been following Mattias Helde and Jonas Runnberg's blog during the week where they had a group of fishermen fishing on a number of Dee Beats. You can find their weeks report at fiskebloggen.com where you will find a good selection of video clips and super pictures of the exciting weeks sport their anglers experienced, which culminated with Icelandic angler Ingolfur David landing over half a dozen salmon to 25 lbs. The big fish was landed at Commonty which will have delighted both Ian Fraser and Sean Stanton. If you have time please visit their website.

A springer on a sunray-cortesy Fiskebloggen.com

Highly respected Lower Crathes Ghillie Robert Harper dropped me an e-mail over the weekend commenting about the good sport at Lower Crathes enjoyed by Geoff Fisher; he's a talented and thoughtful angler. Robert commented 'Ken, I'm sure recent catches will help your report greatly. Lower Crathes regular Mr Geoff Fisher had a fantastic day last Monday, landing 4 cracking salmon, 14lbs,16lbs,18lbs and 20lbs, he also lost a fish in the evening which he got a good look at, over 20lbs. Geoff's guest Mr Laing landed a beautiful 14lbs salmon. During the week Geoff landed another 3 fish, two at 12lbs and a 14lbs fish. Mr Milani also a Lower Crathes regular added 2 salmon, one a fantastic 18lbs sea licer.' This super beat has produced many outstanding fish this season.

Mattias Helde with a nice springer being returned-courtesy fiskebloggen.com

I was also delighted to receive an e-mail from Nick Evans this morning providing a detailed report from his recent productive trip to Park. Nick is a regular Dee visitor who is a very diligent angler and has a great sense of humour. Nick advised 'Hi Ken, Just back from the Dee after 6 days on Park – 3 on South, 3 on North. As ever I was looked after really well by ghillies Keith and Bert, and enjoyed a great week of fishing in difficult conditions - low, clear water and only a few fish running. My week started with very low, cool water ( 3 inches on Park gauge) on Monday. I had a rawner in the morning and lost a fresh fish in the evening. Monday night it snowed, we had about 6" and was very cold. This sudden drop in temperature seemed to kill the fishing on Tuesday. On Wednesday there was a slight lift in water, and it felt a bit warmer. I had a pull, then lost a Springer just as I was about to beach it ! Then I lost a much bigger fish in play, all before lunch. I was cursing after 3 losses on the trot! Then in the afternoon I got a long tailed sea liced fish of 14lb. Thursday the river was 6inches, and I got a 16lb licer before lunch and a strong take from another fish, then a 7lb licer after lunch. On Friday another 16lb licer, then a 8lb licer after lunch. Then snowmelt got the river up 4ft on Saturday, and I had 1 pull only, in very peaty water. My mistake was to continue fishing for runners - I should have gone deeper for resting fish, as Jim Coates managed to winkle out a couple fishing this way. All my fish and takes were on an 8wt rod, floating line and 10ft clear intermediate poly with a size 12 (yes 12 ) Yellow cascade. So, my best spring trip ever, with a bit more luck, I should have had 8 fish, rather than the 5 I landed. My fish had probably all come in on the night tides and were some of the strongest fighters I remember, particularly on such a light outfit. I chose to use that 8wt as the water was low and clear and I wanted a gentle presentation, and it seemed to work for me.

Nick Evans with one of his nice springers at Park

As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

Beat Catches Reported (week ending 7th April)
SALMON & GRILSE: Tilbouries 1, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 7, Park 19, Lower Crathes and W Durris 10, Knappach 2, Crathes 1, Invery 3, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 4, Middle Blackhall 1, Cairnton 3, Commonty 3, Ballogie 3, Borrowston 6, Kincardine 12, Carlogie 3, Dess 3, Birse 3, Aboyne Water 9, Craigendinnie 1, Waterside and Ferrar 3, Dinnet 2, Headinch and Cambus O'May 4, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 9, Morven 1, Crathie 6.
Total: 119 Largest: Dess 26lbs
SEA TROUT: Altries and Lower Drum 1, Park 4, Invery 2, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1, Kincardine 1, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 1.
Total: 10 Largest: Park & Invery 3lbs

Prospects

All things being equal we could see the best weeks fishing of the season on Deeside; hopefully the recent high water will have encouraged a good number of new salmon to enter the river. The weather forecast provided by the recently revamped Met Office is showing a period of more typical Deeside Spring weather with daytime highs around 9 degrees Celsius and overnight lows in the upper reaches perhaps as low as zero. What is of interest to anglers and perhaps farmers is the likelihood of reasonable rainfall during the week with hill snow forecast. It looks likely that anglers can expect to see rain showers throughout the week where some maybe heavy and prolonged. The maritime influence sees tides at the start of the week at 4.5 metres, a big tide, and dropping back to 3. 5 metres; really optimum conditions for new fish to come forward.

Winter returned to Deeside with Aboyne Water Ghillie Jim Cowper-courtesy Fiskebloggen.com

I am sure that the River Dee Ghillies will be optimistic about this week's sport and it will pay anglers dividends to heed their wise counsel. As we have a good river level and hopes of new fish coming forward and running the river, we can have a degree of optimism that we may find fish in the mood to take an anglers fly. When it comes to choice of fly then your beat Ghillie will want to make good suggestions, so please ask for advice. River Dee Ghillies know their beat intimately and where taking fish are likely to be and they will suggest flies to suit the condition and clarity of the water. If you don't have the services of a Ghillie to call on then perhaps fish with an intermediate line or sink tip shooting head. Small tube flies or dressed doubles should suffice with patterns such as Allys shrimp, Park Shrimp, Calvin's shrimp, Tosh, Crathie fly worth a try. You can also try a Monkey fly or Sunray, but be prepared to experiment during your week. If you do experience a sudden and unexpected flood then perhaps you may enjoy a round of golf to kill a few hours. There are some super golf courses in the valley with Peterculter Golf Club offering some fabulous views of the River Dee in a glorious setting. Club Professional Dean Vannet can be contacted at info@petercultergolfclub.co.uk to secure tee times if required; the course is in excellent condition. You could perhaps visit the McEwan gallery beside Ballater to view some lovely art works of the River Dee or if you are more energetic, then go to Deeside Activity Park near Dess and have some fun on driving a variety of vehicles from Quads to Tanks.

Nightime sport for Jonas Runnberg-courtesy Fiskebloggen.com

If you find you have the wrong flies with you for your fishing trip then pay a visit to some of our super retailers; George Strachan's store in Aboyne or the Kincardine O'Neil Post office have a great selection of Dee flies tied by the enterprising Ballogie estates Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices. These venues also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon etc and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram which helps raise funds for the River Dee Trust. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a great selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire. Please ensure visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

It was a difficult week for many anglers, especially in the lower beats as fish were not hanging about in their quest to run upriver. FishDee beats reported 101 salmon and 7 sea trout for the week with Lower Crathes reporting 9, Craigendinnie, Crathes and Monaltrie 8 for the week. There were however a number of big fish encountered last week which saw a 22lb salmon caught on Monday, Tuesday 22lbs, Thursday 25lbs, Friday 20lbs and Saturday 20lbs. Given the recent rise in river levels anglers and Ghillies alike will have expected more fish landed given the angling effort on the river, alas the runs of fish this year appear to be well down on the same period last year which was an excellent spring period. We do have a lot of rainfall forecast for the week and hopefully we will see a decent run of new fish coming into the river.

Well known TV angling presenter and salmon fishing enthusiast Paul Young with a Dee Springer at Invery

George Murray at Craigendinnie was happy with the 8 fish landed on his beat which incidentally is a lovely 2 rod beat. Visiting angler Richard Ashby had a good week with 6 to his own rod including a 25lb salmon and a 22lb salmon, all taken on a size 8 cascade. They also had a sea liced 18 lb salmon from Simmons. Euan Reid at Dinnet reported that the Dinnet/Deecastle beats had a dozen for the week with a number of small fish being encountered between 5-8lbs. They started the week brightly with 4 fish on Monday, 2 on Tuesday 2 on Wednesday; however as the river levels dropped catches slowed with 1 on Friday and 3 on Saturday. Gordon Tait picked up some fish on a small Sunray type fly. There were a mixture of fresh bright fish and river fish (ones that have been in for a few weeks). Robert Harper from Lower Crathes reported a tough week for anglers at Lower Crathes. Although they landed 9 salmon, a mixture of fresh and river fish, the anglers really put in the hours to get their rewards, where they bulk of the catch was made towards the end of the week. I spoke with some of the anglers on Saturday night led by party leader Espen Sandstø, who were fishing Lower Crathes, Crathes, Birse, Sluie and Woodend beats during the week, and they were really delighted to catch 10 fish on Saturday. They reported seeing fish running hard just as dusk descended on Deeside.

I met up with visiting angler and well known television angler Paul Young on Monday evening for a chat, who was fishing with a crack team of anglers at Invery led by the talented Jim Fisher. Paul was delighted to catch a fish on Monday morning just after he started fishing however the rods reported that there appeared to be very few fish about. I was delighted to receive an invitation for a day’s fishing by Jeremy Clayton the new Dess beat proprietor. I was really delighted to land a really nice fish from the Mill Poll on Friday morning which was expertly netted by Mrs Jenny Clayton. I would like to thank Mr and Mrs Clayton for their very kind hospitality and really tremendous lunch in the superb upper beat fishing hut. Pontus Gunlyke from Sweden reported a Springer and sea trout from Middle Blackhall, which is a very pretty beat to fish with a hugely experienced Ghillie David Gibbon, and a selection of lovely fly fishing water.

Regular Dee angler Phillip Wood sent me an e-mail commenting ‘Good to catch up with you at the Office last Thursday. No doubt you will have already alluded to the weather conditions experienced on Deeside last week in your report, and certainly Bill Siddall and I had just about everything, other than a heat wave and drought, thrown at us at Aboyne Castle - the crowning glory being the snowfall before breakfast yesterday (Sunday) before our departure South. Certainly my anticipation for a cracking week following the rise in levels and the higher tides from the Easter weekend was brought back down to earth with a bump! After an early pull on Monday morning in Jocky, and then no further contact until losing a fish on Tuesday, again in Jocky, it was becoming increasingly obvious that despite seeing movement in most of the pools it wasn't going to be that easy. How our fishing companions on Craigendinnie were achieving success whilst we failed is yet another of the salmon fishing mysteries. In spite of the often extremely gusty wind we kept at it and both landed a fish on Thursday in Tanarmouth. On Friday I managed a further landing from Symons, an extremely feisty little hen fish who couldn't wait to get about her business when released, talk about 'off like a rocket', even Alec Coutts was amazed at her vigour. Saturday saw me have brief contact with another fish in Plantation, about the time of the Grand National, in yet another snow shower. To cap it all, as I gave it best with the light was fading that evening I found that an air frost had come about - with my line icing up, felt soles on my boots frozen and waders stiffening rapidly as I exited the river! At least we didn't blank, which it would appear some on the lower river did. It seems that pods of fish were moving up river rapidly making the most of what Alec said were ideal river levels for the Aboyne Castle beat. Yet another week where the upper third of the river, above Aboyne Bridge, produced the best tally. As ever it's always great to be on Deeside, meeting up with friends, old and new, having sport and the 'craic'! As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

Beat catches reported(week ending 14th April)

SALMON & GRILSE: Tilbouries 1, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 1, Lower Crathes and W Durris 9, Crathes 8, Invery 3, Lower Blackhall 5, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 3, Middle Blackhall 1, Cairnton 4, Woodend 1, Commonty 2, Sluie 1, Ballogie 4, Kincardine 3, Carlogie 5, Dess 3, Birse 4, Aboyne Water 3, Aboyne Castle 5, Craigendinnie 6, Waterside and Ferrar 3, Dinnet 6, Deecastle 6, Headinch and Cambus O'May 1, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 8, Crathie 7.
Total: 103 Largest: Craigendinnie 25lbs
SEA TROUT: Tilbouries 2, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 1, Lower Crathes and W Durris 2, Invery 1, Middle Blackhall 1.
Total: 7 Largest: Lower Crathes and W Durris 4lbs
TROUT: None reported

Prospects

With the river currently running at quite a low spring level, with the Sepa gauges reading 5 to 11 inches at their monitoring stations we are really needing a good lift of water. The weather forecasters at the Met Office are suggesting that we shall get a decent amount of rainfall in the catchment this week. There is heavy overnight rain forecast tonight with heavy and persistent rain showers forecast during the middle of the week. The air temperature maxima will be 8 degrees Celsius with overnight lows just above freezing. There will be strong winds at times during the week with the wind direction changing from a westerly direction to a north easterly direction making it feel cold with the wind chill factored in. Fishing will be difficult at times and anglers will have to be very patient and put the hours in to get their rewards. That said a visitor from Norway has just phoned to say he has landed 2 salmon this morning in the upper river. He fished last week on a lower beat with guests and the highlight of his week was a fish on the Monday and seeing his Ghillie now nicknamed Daffy, with a bunch of daffodils for his wife. Now mentioning Daffodils has reminded me that Dee Ghillies in the past used to plant Daffodil bulbs at the side of their pools which would grow adjacent to good taking lies.

My first Salmon of the season at Dess; this fish took a Calvin's Shrimp fly fished on a small Tungsten tube

Anglers will be well advised to discuss tactics with their Ghillie throughout their stay on the river as conditions could be tricky to predict given the weather forecast. The River Dee can rise very swiftly if we have a good fall of rain in the catchment so anglers need to take care when wading. The Ghillies will advise what tactics to employ when fly fishing the pools so heed their counsel. Water temperatures will only be around 5 degrees Celsius so anglers will need to think about getting their fly down a bit. Eoin Smith, the Dess Ghillie who is hugely experienced mentioned that when the leaf of the birch is the size of a mouse’s ear then you can expect salmon to come up for a fly. I have also heard that when Sandpipers populate the riverside you can fish a smaller fly higher in the water. All fishing lore of course but the Ghillies have their views and they are usually very good sources of advice. If you don’t have a Ghillie to call on then you could fish with fly patterns such as Dee Sheep, Dee Fox, Calvin’s or Park Shrimp, Monkey and perhaps a Sunray fished square if you see a run of fish entering your pool. The best advice though from the Ghillie is that if your fly is not in the water you will not catch a fish.

If you find you have the wrong flies with you for your fishing trip then pay a visit to some of our super retailers; George Strachan's store in Aboyne or the Kincardine O'Neil Post office have a great selection of Dee flies tied by the enterprising Ballogie estates Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices. These venues also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon etc and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram which helps raise funds for the River Dee Trust. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a great selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire. Please ensure visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

As I write this report prior to meeting 20 River Managers from Norway who are visiting Deeside for a few days I am able to report that visiting Norwegian anglers have done very well last week fishing the upper river at Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld. Ian Murray was delighted to report that his beats had produced some excellent catches with Rolf Ytterdahl landing 13 to his own rod to 22lbs. I attended and spoke at the dinner for this large group of anglers at the Glen Lui hotel in Ballater on Saturday night where they enjoyed a magnificent dinner provided by Susan Bell. Overall the catch for the Dee was reasonable with FishDee beats reporting 116 salmon to 24 lbs and 7 sea trout to 5lbs. Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld reported 25 salmon, Dinnet/Deecastle reported 14 and Park reported 8. The river conditions became progressively harder for anglers during the week due to persistent heavy rainfall which saw the river rising steadily for the last 3 days of the week.

I have received correspondence from Thomas Thore from Sweden who was fishing at Lower Invercauld who had to leave early to go home. Thomas advised ˜A small report from my week, despite the relatively high water, I began my fishing with a sink tip line and a small hardcore tube fly, the wing is only 1.5 cm. On this, I had 7 salmon, the 2 largest weighed 8 and 9 kg's and a fantastic sea trout of just over 2 kg. David Murray said to me one day, it's not a fly that is an insect! Hope anglers had a fantastic finish with Global, always good to see you my friend.' John Reynolds wrote to me last week and commented 'Whilst sadly I had no luck when I came up to fish Park at the start of March with my friend Ken Bird, I am pleased to report that my wife Jane and her friend Jeanette Tallis, who are fishing Park as I write from Devon today, both managed 2 fish each before lunch on Monday, with Jane managing to land a 19 pounder. Maybe I should take up golf.'

Mr Renede from Spain with his estimated 24 lb sea liced springer

I spoke with Robert Harper the head Ghillie for Lower Crathes and West Durris who advised that visiting angler Mr Renede had landed a superb 24 lb salmon, covered in sea lice. I received some images of this fabulous fish which could easily be over 24lbs. I would like to add this beat has been producing a really good number of springers over 20lbs this season and is a lovely beat to fish offering super facilities for visiting anglers. Robert advised that the river was now dropping to a good fishing height with a touch of colour and hopefully a run of new fish will come forward given the high river levels during the latter part of the week. I was delighted to get some fishing at Birse for the last 3 days of the week. I had 6 pulls to the fly on Friday morning and lost a nice fish and was delighted to net a salmon for Jim Coates on Friday night. This was the only fish for our 3 days however we understand that when the river is rising and colouring then prospects are not great. As always the Tor Na Coille Hotel provided a great place to relax in the evening and enjoy a fine dinner. I would also like to mention that the hotels in Deeside are offering great value and service to visitors. Both the Raemoir House Hotel and Tor Na Coille are offering B&B rates of just over £50 per night for anglers staying for 3 nights or more. I have also just received an e-mail advising the Iconic Banchory Lodge Hotel are offering B&B rates for anglers during June, September and October at only £55 with the provision they must stay for 3 or more nights. This means that visiting anglers can relax in super hotels after their days fishing enjoying excellent meals using local produce, in fine surroundings and have a very enjoyable fishing holiday on Deeside. As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.


Beat catches reported
(week ending 21st April)
SALMON & GRILSE: Tilbouries 1, Park 8, Lower Crathes and W Durris 4, Invery 5, Lower Blackhall 5, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 2, Middle Blackhall 4, Cairnton 2, Woodend 2, Lower Woodend 2, Commonty 3, Ballogie 7, Borrowston 4, Carlogie 4, Dess 1, Birse 3, Aboyne Water 5, Aboyne Castle 2, Craigendinnie 2, Waterside and Ferrar 2, Dinnet 10, Deecastle 4, Headinch and Cambus O'May 4, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 25, Crathie 5.
Total: 116 Largest: Lower Crathes and W Durris 24lbs
SEA TROUT: Park 4, Invery 2, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 1.
Total: 7 Largest: Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 5lbs

Prospects

Currently the river is at a very nice fishing height for anglers following heavy and prolonged rainfall during the latter part of last week. The Sepa Gauges are all falling or running steady with the water carrying a little colour caused by peat stain. After the prolonged dry spell we had hoped to have an underwater web camera installed towards the latter part of the week however the river conditions were too dangerous for this to take place. The Met Office are suggesting that the forthcoming week will see the continuation of cool and wet weather conditions with a series of fronts crossing the country driven by a north easterly air flow. Air temperature maxima will be 10 degrees Celsius at best with no frosts forecast. There may be heavy hill snow during the week and persistent heavy rain showers which may be locally heavy and prolonged. This may lead to river levels rising and falling during the week. The maritime influence sees high tides falling back during the week from 4.0 metres to 3.4 metres; however river levels are perfectly adequate for new fish to come forward should they be there to come forward. We are approaching the month of May which normally sees the peak of the Spring run so we hope to see an improvement in the catches which have been a bit disappointing this year overall so far. There are still good opportunities on the FishDee website for anglers to book fishing and anglers should feel encouraged to come and fish the River Dee.

Anglers have an impromptu jamming session at Birse when river conditions became too poor to continue on Saturday afternoon

The Ghillies will be encouraging anglers to fish hard with the improving river conditions and anglers should heed their advice. Last week anglers were catching fish on small flies, medium tube flies and large monkey flies depending on the pools they were fishing. Anglers were singing the praises for the advice offered to them by Ian and David Murray at Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld and there is no doubt that their excellent catch was as a result of the advice given and taken on board by anglers. As river levels are relatively higher now than during March and most of April, anglers will have to persevere and fish their fly round to the dangle and let it hang in case a fish is lying close to their bank, slowly retrieving line prior to casting. Fly patterns should be bright in coloured water with flies like the Ally's shrimp, Yellow Frances, Flamethrower worth a try as well as gold bodied Willie Gunn tubes and Monkey flies.

If you find you have the wrong flies with you for your fishing trip then pay a visit to some of our super retailers; George Strachan's store in Aboyne or the Kincardine O'Neil Post office have a great selection of Dee flies tied by the enterprising Ballogie estates Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices. These venues also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon etc and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram which helps raise funds for the River Dee Trust. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a great selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire using local produce in fine surroundings and have a very enjoyable fishing holiday on Deeside. Please ensure visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

The heavens opened last week and the river had a very big lift in levels to encourage new fish to come forward from the sea. The River height peaked around 6 feet above summer levels and the whole catchment had a good lift in water levels to get fish on the move. FishDee beats reported 130 salmon to 25 lbs and 6 sea trout. Ballogie reported a fine total with 28 salmon for the week, Middle Blackhall 9, Carlogie 9 and Borrowstone 8. The largest fish of the week was caught by the very experienced Eric Wardle, a regular River Dee angler, who landed the 41 inch salmon on a black and yellow fly at Aboyne Water, with an 18lber coming shortly after. FishDee beats have just gone through the 1,000 fish mark for the season and we all hope that the second thousand rod caught salmon follow in a much quicker time. Catches in 2012 are down on the excellent 2011 spring numbers but there are reasonable numbers of salmon in parts of the river as some beats have enjoyed a reasonable season to date. Lower Crathes has 96 so far this season, Ballogie 90 and Invery 81 with anglers and Ghillies reporting good sized fish this year rather than prolific numbers of fish. There appears to be a run of smaller fish coming forward from the sea at present around 5-8 lbs. Sean Stanton at Ballogie advises that he has seen more fish this morning leaping than he saw all last week.

Action at Carlogie

I received a phone call from my friend Jerk Sönnichsen, president of the Danish Fly Fishers Federation, who enjoyed a great week at Ballogie with friends Peter, Eric and Lars. They had 28 for their week, one less than last year, with some cracking sport enjoyed at times. Peter Terndrup had 5 on Friday morning from the Bridge Pool and lost another. Jerk advised that finding the right depth was the key to their success rather than fly pattern. He had 12 to his own rod with a couple of fish carrying sea lice. Jerk wanted to stress that the River Dee is one of the most fantastic rivers in the world for a visitor to fish. He said the Dee is challenging as it differs from Norwegian rivers because the flow at the bottom of the river can be as swift as it is at the surface; much different from Norwegian rivers and a challenge for all anglers to get the presentation right. He feels that correct fly presentation is the critical key to success, more so than pattern choice. Incidentally he did catch all his fish on a single hooked fly! Ballogie Estates Head Ghillie Sean Stanton was delighted that their 3 beats produced 42 salmon for the week. The Carlogie beat saw Ian Scott, River Dee Chairman land 4 salmon and Alan Lankshear had a couple. Jim Bridges lost a big fish which was hooked in the Boat Pool and moved downriver doggedly through the Village Pool and down towards Fraser's Pool. Jim couldn't proceed any further because of a line of trees on the river bank; as his spool was virtually empty he clamped on the line to stop all his line being lost and sadly the fish came off. Alan Lankshear hooked a nice fish in the village pool, during the fight a branch came floating downstream and snagged his line. As the fish and branch came to the surface the combined weight saw the fish come unstuck and his line came back to him with the fly intact!

Jerk Sonnichsen with one of a dozen landed for his week on the Dee

Edward Humphrey called to advise that David Leslie had a nice 20lb fish in Crofts on Thursday when the river was in flood. Middle Blackhall Ghillie Davie Gibbon called to advise that he was pleased that beat proprietor Mr Govett's party had a good week with 9 fish as the water height suited his beat with the fish lying on his side of the river. Mr Govett had 5 fish to his own rod and his guests had 4 fish. Lower Woodend proprietor Rory Cooper dropped me an e-mail with a nice picture of visiting Suffolk angler Robert Kemball with an 18lb salmon being returned in high water conditions. As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

Beat catches reported(week ending 28th April)
SALMON & GRILSE: Park 1, Lower Crathes and W Durris 4, Invery 3, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 4, Middle Blackhall 9, Cairnton 6, Lower Woodend 1, Commonty 5, Sluie 2, Ballogie 28, Borrowston 8, Kincardine 8, Carlogie 9, Dess 6, Birse 3, Aboyne Water 5, Aboyne Castle 7, Craigendinnie 1, Waterside and Ferrar 2, Deecastle 3, Headinch and Cambus O'May 1, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 5, Birkhall 3, Crathie 6.
Total: 130 Largest: Aboyne Water 25lbs
SEA TROUT: Middle Drum 3, Park 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 1.
Total: 6 Largest: Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 3lbs


Prospects

The River is currently at a nice fishing height with the Sepa gauges at 9 inches at Mar Lodge and 2ft 2 inches at Park. There is a lift in river levels at present on the Feugh and the Muick tributaries following heavy overnight rain. It is hoped this doesn't colour the lower river too much with peat stain as new fish should be coming forward on today's high tides. Tides are building through the week from 3.4 metres to 4.5 metres and the river should remain at a good fishing height all week as levels drops back steadily. The Met Office is predicting another cool week with north easterly winds predominating. There may be some coastal haar and drizzle on the coast at times which could move up the valley. There may be the odd rain shower during the week with rain and hill snow forecast for later in the week. Air temperature maxima may nudge 12 degrees Celsius but it will feel cooler. It is hoped catches will improve further this week with Spring tides but time will tell. Anglers may find it advantageous to fish on during the evenings towards dusk as fish can decide to move upriver at that time of the day.

Peter Terndrup with one of a 5 fish catch on Friday morning

If you are in the right place at the right time you could do well, however it is important to heed the advice of your Ghillie. I find it very helpful when fishing a Dee beat to establish the taking lies and what they suspect the taking depth may be in the pools. Finding taking fish is what it is all about and just because fish are jumping doesn't necessarily mean that they will be taking fish. Ghillies will give you advice on fly choice to suit the clarity of water so follow their guidance. Anglers should fish their beats and persevere as you never know when a run of taking fish will make their appearance on your beat. May usually sees a decent run of spring fish come into the river and move upstream, as do river fish which have been in for a few weeks. Traditionally fish move upstream in May to the upper beats and these can produce at times decent catches. Fly choice may include Ally's shrimp, Tosh, Park Shrimp, Monkey and Thunder and Lightning, perhaps size 6- 10, with the Monkey or Sunray fished well down on a floater and fast sink tip.

Robert Kemball returning a nice fish at Lower Woodend

If you find you have the wrong flies with you for your fishing trip then pay a visit to some of our super retailers; George Strachan's store in Aboyne have a great selection of fishing equipment and Dee flies tied by the enterprising Ballogie estates Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices. These venues also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon etc and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram which raises funds for the River Dee Trust. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a great selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire using local produce in fine surroundings and have a very enjoyable fishing holiday on Deeside. Please ensure visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

The River Dee in May is a wonderful place to be salmon fishing with many anglers coming back year on year to fish for spring salmon. This last week has been very special for some visitors as there have been some really big salmon landed. What we lacked in quantity has more than been compensated for in the quality of salmon being caught. FishDee beats have reported 142 salmon to 30lbs as I write with 10 sea trout also landed. Ballogie and Carlogie reported 14 salmon apiece, with Dess reporting 8 and Invery 7. I visited John Richmond, who was fishing at Invery where he landed a nice salmon he estimated at 30lbs which was fresh run. He told me he had a real battle to land this fish which is his biggest to date. Regular Dee visiting angler Ole Wisler, Editor of Sportsfiskeren Magazine, landed a 42 inch salmon at Lower Invercauld which was estimated at 28lbs. Ian Murray's beats have had some really nice big salmon this season which have delighted visitors to his beats. I met Peter Pleydell-Bouverie on Friday at Lower Crathes who was really delighted to report his first salmon of the season. This salmon was a fabulous 25lb specimen that was fresh run and very strong. Host for the week Arni Baldursson was delighted with Peter's success, and he was equally delighted to catch a very nice 22lb salmon to his own rod. Arni, who's a very talented angler, demonstrated his talents as an up and coming Gordon Ramsay by showcasing his culinary skills whilst using the beat barbecue during heavy rain and hail showers, and provided all the assembled guests with a memorable lunch. I believe Arni landed the 100th fish of the season at Lower Crathes. Mr Pinney had a super 25 lb salmon at Malt Steep, Middle Blackhall which measured 40 inches. Ghillie David Gibbon said the fish was a cracker. Jeremy Clayton, the proprietor of Dess had a nice 20lb salmon on Friday.

I received an informative e-mail from Greig Thomson, Salmo Fishing's proprietor who was visiting Deeside. He commented 'Just quick email to let you know that we had Richard Bath, editor of Scottish Field magazine out on Friday on the upper river at Mar Lodge Estate. We spent the day showing him the upper river, both below and above Linn of Dee and advised him on the fantastic, forward thinking work that is carried out by the River Dee board. We enjoyed fantastic hospitality from Mar Lodge estate as always, and have to credit them for the operation they run in such a fantastic location. For anyone who has not visited this part of the river as they feel it maybe too far up then I urge them to think again, as it is without a doubt one of the most scenic places in Scotland to fish. After our day we showed Richard Mar Lodge itself, along with some of the fine hotels that are available on the upper river for visiting anglers, such as the Inver at Crathie. We stayed the night at the Glen Lui Hotel in Ballater where Susan and her team provided a wonderful meal and hospitality, a truly wonderful establishment all round and we thoroughly recommend it. On Saturday morning to finish my trip I headed to see an old friend Neil Cook at Glenmuick, before he retired Neil was the head ranger on Balmoral Estates and at the grand old age of 75 was, and still is, an ambassador for wildlife conservation on Balmoral. Neil was telling me stories of when he remembers the upper Dee almost void of salmon not so long ago and how it was a delight to see almost 200 fish spawning at the Long Pool on Birkhall just last November. Being a conservationist, it was great to hear from one of the old school echoing the fact that catch and release is indeed a great thing.'

Angler John Smith brings a 20lb salmon to the net with Ghillie Brian Sim ready to net the fish

I was delighted to hear from Aboyne Water Ghillie Jim Cowper, who sent me a humorous e-mail commenting about his week looking after the visiting Woods party. He advised 'Hi Ken, normal week at Aboyne Water with Mr. D. Woods' party. Two anglers fell in, two mobile phones wet and a third phone fell into 7ft off water in the Irrigation pool. A visit to Aboyne hospital to remove a fly and 5 salmon landed. Saw many fish running on Thurs and Friday.' Aboyne angler David Ramsay wrote to me on Friday with images from his recent week at Crathes Castle advising 'Here are a few photos from Tuesday at Crathes Castle, where John Smith landed this superb 20lbs salmon, he also caught a 2lbs sea trout, on Thursday he followed this up with a beautiful sea liced salmon.So far John is the only one to make contact, I have fished hard but so far blanked, hopefully today is the day.'

Crathes Ghillie Brian Sim with successful angler John Smith weighing the fish in the McLean weigh net

I have just received an e-mail from Ole Wisler who recounts graphically his epic struggle with his 28lb salmon at Lower Invercauld. 'I had a splendid fish at the Brock Roy pool on Lower Invercauld. It was a wide, heavy fish measuring 104 cm, taken on a small fly 'grey and silver' with a small size 12 hook and a thin leader as well. The banks are pretty steep at that pool, so I was standing 10 feet above fighting this beautiful big fish watching almost every move it made, and it's impossible to beach a fish there. Well, after 20 minutes the fish went out of the pool and into the white water below. Me running after, under branches and over big rocks, after some 5 or 10 minutes I succeeded in grabbing the big fish's tail standing in one meter of water. It had a massive, powerful tail and it whipped the water white. Don't know how but I managed to hold the fish and was able to unhook it. I took a quick snapshot of the fish releasing it. Anyway, the big fish was, and is in good health, still swimming. Don't know 'bout others, but the Dee has certainly become a 'big fish river' to me as I've caught quite a few fish over 20 lbs during the years.' Its magic moments like these that become etched in an angler's memory forever. As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.


Beat catches reported
(week ending 5th May)
SALMON & GRILSE: Tilbouries 3, Park 3, Lower Crathes and W Durris 6, Crathes 1, Invery 7, Lower Blackhall 2, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 3, Middle Blackhall 5, Cairnton 5, Commonty 2, Sluie 4, Ballogie 14, Borrowston 4, Kincardine 7, Carlogie 14, Dess 8, Birse 7, Aboyne Water 5, Aboyne Castle 4, Craigendinnie 8, Waterside and Ferrar 6, Dinnet 2, Deecastle 4, Headinch and Cambus O'May 5, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 5, Birkhall 2, Balmoral 2, Crathie 4.
Total: 142 Largest: Invery 30lbs
SEA TROUT: Middle Drum 4, Tilbouries 1, Park 2, Lower Crathes and W Durris 1, Invery 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1.
Total: 10 Largest: Middle Drum & Tilbouries & Park & Invery 3lbs

Prospects

Anglers visiting the river will find it at a nice fishing height with the Sepa gauges running between 8 inches at Mar Lodge and 1 ft 6 inches at Park, but that may change. The Met Office advises that we shall see some heavy rainfall this week which may cause river levels to rise. Rain is forecast later today and into Tuesday with heavy rain showers at times occurring during the week, which may be prolonged at times. Hill snow and overnight frosts are also likely during the week and it will feel cold. Average temperatures will be around 9 degrees Celsius. The maritime influence indicates tides will drop back from 4.5 metres today to 3.6 metres by the weekend. There should be new fish coming forward on the current high tides; hopefully in good numbers to run the river.

Angler John Smith with his 20lb salmon at Crathes

Your Ghillie will be able to provide you with good advice when visiting your chosen beat. It is always wise to heed their words of wisdom as they are on the beat week in week out during the fishing season and know their beat intimately and where willing salmon may be encountered at any given water height. If you do not have the services of a Ghillie to call on you may want to fish with a floating line and sink tip combination. Fly choice may include the Park Shrimp, Ally's shrimp, Black or Red Frances, Monkey or Sunray shadow. Finding the taking depth will be a challenge as the river temperature will be around 6 degrees Celsius. Perseverance will be required in fishing your pools during your stay.

If you find you have the wrong flies with you for your fishing trip or run out, then pay a visit to some of our super retailers; George Strachan's store in Aboyne have increased their selection of fishing equipment and River Dee flies tied by the Ballogie Estates Head Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices too. They now stock a good range of fishing accessories, including waders, fishing rods and reels, fly lines and leader material. They also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon, and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram which raises funds for the River Dee Trust. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a vast selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire. The Countrywear shop in Ballater is a favourite destination for visiting anglers, where Norman Clements is always delighted to meet visiting anglers. They have a good selection of fishing equipment available and provide good service and value. I would like to add Kincardine O'Neil Post Office supplies nice sandwiches and a great selection of River Dee flies too. Please ensure all visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

The River Dee saw a lot of anglers fishing the length of the catchment looking for the elusive salmon with catches reported from Park to Crathie. If you were in the right place at the right time there were fish to be caught. The numbers of fish running this river so far do appear to be well down on last year’s excellent spring catch with season to date catch of 1286 quite a bit down on the 5 year average spring catch of 2028. That said FishDee beats reported 143 salmon to 21 lbs and 8 sea trout. Carlogie had an excellent total with anglers catching 21 salmon, Aboyne Water and Birse reported 10 apiece with Ballogie and Cairnton just one behind on 9 apiece. Conditions at times have been difficult for anglers and this week was no exception. The weather has been quite cold and the river levels have fluctuated a bit with quite peaty water coming down the valley which really does seem to put fish off the take. Anglers though are a resilient bunch and the people I met on the river last week seemed to be having a very enjoyable time in the valley, enjoying good Scottish hospitality.

Sean Stanton the Ballogie Estates Head Ghillie commented on his blog ‘A disappointing end to the week after the river came up on Friday night and lots of peat entered the river and I knew we would struggle, however it was still a great week with Carlogie claiming top spot on the river with 21 salmon, Ballogie finished with 9 and Commonty 6 which compared to last season was half of the catch on the same week last year.’ I visited Sean on Saturday afternoon whilst visiting Swedish angler Lars Terkildsen at Commonty and Sean’s anglers were frustrated at Ballogie with a good number of salmon hooked and lost; one unfortunate angler lost 5 in a row. Tony Wheeler caught a 19 lb salmon at Carlogie which was his biggest to date. Victor Gubbins dropped me a humorous e-mail with a picture for FishDee advising ‘ Well known international fisherman Anthony Roberts landed a nice 13 lb Springer from Woodend (last week) assisted by his ghillie Victor Gubbins.’ They plan to fish the Woodend beats until they fall of their perches !

Anthony Roberts with a nice Springer at Lower Woodend

I spoke to Jim Cowper at Aboyne Water this morning who advised Bill Currie and party were delighted to land 10 salmon for their week. Many readers will know Bill as a writer of numerous excellent books on fishing. He wrote a super book called ‘Days and nights of salmon fishing’ with a great chapter about Aboyne Water. Bill doesn’t fish much these days but still has an excellent knowledge which he is passing onto his son Mark. Tristan Sillars had 4, Andrew Dennis 4 and Mark Currie had 2 for their week. I had a visit from Arni Baldursson at home on Wednesday evening who was enjoying his Deeside adventures at Birse, where we shared a dram and discussed the sport he had been enjoying. His guests had a marvellous time with Doug Murray; the Birse beat Ghillie, who at 82 years young is still entertaining guests with his stories, jokes and music. Arni sent me an image of the group having a dance outside the fishing hut whilst Doug played tunes on his mouth organ and they looked like they were having a great time. I met Kiddi & Kristinn Gunnarsson at Birse on Saturday who were most enthusiastic about their experiences on Birse and success with salmon.

I spoke to Cairnton Ghillie Brian Brogan who reported that they were unlucky not to get into double figures for the week but pleased nonetheless. It was their best week of the season and was helped in no small way with retired Cairnton Ghillie Davie Cowie landing 2 salmon on Thursday when fishing as a guest; a size 10 Munro Killer did the trick for Davie, who must have been delighted. Most of the Cairnton fish were caught on size 8-10 Cascades and Silver Ally’s. I also had a phone call during the week from the Cairnton beat’s neighbour Davie Gibbon, Middle Blackhall Ghillie, informing me that visiting Norwegian angler Raymond Haaland had his first ever salmon. The fish weighed approximately 17lbs and was in pristine condition. The Middle Blackhall beat is blessed with having fabulous pools to fish with a great experienced Ghillie in Davie who is extremely knowledgeable, as well as being a qualified casting instructor. The feedback I receive from visitors to the beat is so positive about the enjoyment they get whilst being there, so please try and visit the beat as they do have availability over the next few weeks. As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

Beat catches reported
SALMON & GRILSE: Park 4, Lower Crathes and W Durris 4, Crathes 3, Invery 1, Lower Blackhall 3, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 4, Middle Blackhall 5, Cairnton 9, Woodend 2, Lower Woodend 2, Commonty 6, Ballogie 9, Borrowston 4, Kincardine 5, Carlogie 21, Dess 4, Birse 8, Aboyne Water 10, Aboyne Castle 1, Craigendinnie 4, Dinnet 6, Deecastle 3, Headinch and Cambus O'May 5, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 7, Birkhall 4, Abergeldie 3, Balmoral 2, Crathie 6, Total 145
SEA TROUT: Park 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1, Middle Blackhall 1, Cairnton 2, Sluie 1, Headinch and Cambus O'May 1, Birkhall 1, Total 8

Prospects

The prevailing cool weather conditions look set to continue with the met office suggesting grass frosts at the end of May. They suggest this week will see air temperature maxima peak around 12 degrees Celsius today and get a little cooler during the week. They are not predicting frosts but we could see temperatures drop to 2 degrees Celsius. Winds will be light and variable. There has been a rise in river levels during the night and the Sepa gauges are showing 1ft 4 inches and falling at Mar Lodge, 1 ft 10 inches at Ballater and rising and 1ft 6 inches at Park and steady. Dess Ghillie Eoin Smith advised me that the rise is probably caused by snowmelt as the water is not carrying too much colour. The maritime influence shows tides building through the week from 3.5 metres to 3.9 metres which may bring new fish forward. We may be a bit early for Grilse but we hope that they start to run the river in the next few weeks to augment numbers of salmon in the river.

Birse Ghillie Doug Murray playing the mouth organ for the Icelandic anglers showing their dancing prowess

As always please heed the advice of your beat Ghillie who can make suggestions about where to fish on your chosen beat and what flies and tactics to utilise. Time and time again I hear from anglers who let me know how helpful their Ghillie has been in putting them onto taking fish. Their knowledge is second to none and they can at times make a difference in helping you achieve success on their beat. If you don’t have the services of a Ghillie to call on then you will probably want to fish with a full floating line or perhaps with a 5 foot sink tip just to take the fly a few inches below the surface. Your fly choice might include a Black or Red Frances, Snaelda, Ally’s shrimp, Cascade or Maggie’s Shrimp. The Monkey or Sunray can also be used at times to good effect. Perseverance is the key though as you won’t catch a fish unless you have a fly in the water.

If you find you have the wrong flies with you for your fishing trip or run out, then pay a visit to some of our super retailers; George Strachan's store in Aboyne have increased their selection of fishing equipment and River Dee flies tied by the Ballogie Estates Head Ghillie Sean Stanton, at very attractive prices too. They now stock a good range of fishing accessories, including waders, fishing rods and reels, fly lines and leader material. They also provide great sandwiches for visiting angler's luncheon, and of course the highly popular Dalmore Dee Dram which raises funds for the River Dee Trust. The Orvis store in Banchory also has a vast selection of flies to choose from and equipment to hire. The Countrywear shop in Ballater is a favourite destination for visiting anglers, where Norman Clements is always delighted to meet visiting anglers. They have a good selection of fishing equipment available and provide good service and value. I would like to add Kincardine O'Neil Post Office supplies nice sandwiches and a great selection of River Dee flies too. Please ensure all visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

River Dee Trust Survey Bulletins Published

The Trust's Survey Bulletins are now published: 16th May 2012

- The Dee's juvenile salmon populations have remained healthy since 2006. read http://www.riverdee.org.uk/FileLibr... Survey Bulletin_Juvenile fish survey_pdf.pdf

- Instream enhancement works carried out 5 years ago are still supporting significantly greater populations of juvenile salmon. read http://www.riverdee.org.uk/FileLibr...vey Bulletin_Instream habitat enhancement.pdf

- Fish passes installed on the Dye in 2008 have enabled natural distribution of salmon. read http://www.riverdee.org.uk/FileLibrary/Content/Publications/2012 Survey Bulletin_Dye fish passes.pdf

- Salmon have now colonised more than 13km (8 miles) of the Coy burn since 2008. read http://www.riverdee.org.uk/FileLibr...ulletin_Colonisation of the Coy tributary.pdf

- The Allt Dinnie fish pass is effective but the burn is impacted by low flows/ abstraction. read http://www.riverdee.org.uk/FileLibr...012 Survey Bulletin_Allt Dinnie fish pass.pdf

- Our small watercourses - 1 m in width - are plentiful and important habitat for trout. read http://www.riverdee.org.uk/FileLibr...s/2012 Survey Bulletin_Small watercourses.pdf

- Two bridge aprons are significant barriers to migration of adult salmon in the Upper Dee read http://www.riverdee.org.uk/FileLibr...urvey Bulletin_Assessment of obstructions.pdf

Any correspondence on these publications can be addressed to lorraine@riverdee.org

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches


At long last warmer weather conditions have arrived on Deeside following last week's continuing cold spell. There were a number of days where the air temperature didn't get above 4 degrees Celsius and anglers had to wrap up well to keep warm. Fish don't like weather conditions chopping and changing nor do they like river levels rising and falling frequently. Fishermen and Ghillies worked hard during the week and beats have reported 150 salmon for the week to 25lbs and 15 sea trout. The biggest salmon reported at 25 lbs was landed by Ian Rose fishing at Lower Blackhall which Ghillie Colin Simpson described as a nice fish. Crathes beat reported 15 salmon for the week which will have delighted Brian Sim and his visiting group of anglers, Dinnet & Dee Castle reported 14 for the week and Carlogie reported 10. The Ballogie beats have just had their 250th salmon of the season landed by the laird himself.

I popped down to see Ghillies Robert Harper and Brian Sim last Thursday to get some advice about Bio Security, and was really pleased to have timed my visit to perfection at Crathes as angler Colin Chisholm landed a lovely fresh fish which was expertly netted by Brian. Crathes beat did well last week and had their top week of the season so far with 15 salmon. Regular visiting angler Charles Jeffrey was one of the group fishing there and dropped me an e-mail advising 'a quick note to say that four of us had another enjoyable three days on Crathes under the stewardship of Brian Sim. We had four fish on Thursday, one of which you witnessed at the hands of Colin Chisholm, and who landed three fish in total. The heavier water on Friday and Saturday was marred by the peat stain, which I'm sure put the fish off. A couple were landed though and we shall be back in early August at the same venue. Another highlight was our three nights at the Derbar Indian Restaurant!'

I was delighted to receive an invitation to fish at Dinnet by Edward Humphrey on Saturday and caught up with the regular group of visiting anglers for a pleasant lunch at the new fishing hut at '29'. The anglers worked hard during their week and produced 14 salmon and were in good form at lunchtime enjoying a nice barbecue which was expertly prepared by Colin Lowson. River Operations manager Edwin Third landed a fine 12lb salmon following really helpful advice from Ghillie Colin Espie. Edward Humphrey dropped me an e-mail advising 'Tricky conditions again last week with the river up and down as well as the cold air temperature and snow on Tuesday morning. However it did not stop Nicholas Verney from catching his first fish at 7lb from Tanar Mouth on Aboyne Castle on Tuesday morning. Nicholas only started fishing the day before but I am sure that he received many words of wisdom from his godfather Tom Wheelwright who has been visiting the Dee for more years than he may care to remember. Wednesday proved to be a red letter day for the Humphrey family with my father Marcus landing a 16lb fish in Crofts, under the watchful eye of Aboyne Castle ghillie Alec Coutts which I was fortunate enough to witness. My father retired 2 weeks ago after 46 years as a Councillor, what a way to start retirement! My evening's fishing was Tanar Mouth which was unusually quiet until my reel screamed as my 16lb fish gave me a great fight before I eventually landed it and returned it safely to the river. Sadly, I had left my mobile phone at home and so could not contact Alec Coutts and give him the chance to net a fish for both my father and myself on the same day. He could have also verified the weight of the fish and taken scales as it was a magnificent fresh fish and one that the Dee is quite rightly famous for.'

Marcus Humphrey with a 16lb Salmon from Aboyne Castle

I received a nice e-mail from Jonathon Graves which I want to share, who had an enjoyable visit to the Ballogie beats with friends commenting 'My team fished Carlogie week 18 ( 15 fish ) and my father's party on week 19 ( 20 fish ) and we appear to have been the top beat on the Dee both weeks. Week 18 was an all Anglo-Saxon team including the evergreen Alan Lankshear aged 88. In week 19 we had two octogenarians sharing with younger rods, my father Richard Graves and Barrie Welham, and our French 'fishing machine' Pierre Rumeau. Sadly my father did not have an offer on his 49th consecutive annual May visit to Carlogie; however Barrie contributed to our score. I had my best ever personal trip to Deeside with 8 fish each week and 4 losses after lengthy play. Of the 16 fish, four beat my best ever weight from the Dee at 15, 15, 16 and 18lbs. Tony Wheeler topped these with a fish of 19lbs from the Village pool. As usual we all enjoyed our time on Deeside and are already looking forward to next year. We thought there was definitely a shortage of new fish running the river when compared with the last two years; however there were enough to keep us interested, though we did put in some very long hours for our catch. I had my 2 biggest fish in pitch darkness around 2215-2230hrs which just shows what can happen if you keep at it. The savage takes to the bigger fly after dark are worth the effort. The changeable weather and up and down water temperatures did not help catches and made it very difficult to find a successful formula. We had fish on 2inch tubes on an intermediate line on the same day as fish were caught by the opposition on floating line and size 10 silver stoat. I tried to keep my eye on the water temperature more than the height and changed my tactics to that; but the truth is when your lucks in you hook fish whatever you try. Thanks for your coverage of the Dee it keeps us all keen when we are not there. Me; I'm off to the lower Wye next week to see if my lucks still in: 30lbs plus would be nice.' Let's hope Jonathon gets a 30lb salmon from the Wye which has had some really good 3 sw salmon this year I am told. As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

Beat catches reported(week ending 19th May)
SALMON & GRILSE: Park 1, Lower Crathes and W Durris 7, Knappach 1, Crathes 15, Invery 7, Lower Blackhall 3, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 4, Middle Blackhall 5, Cairnton 6, Commonty 4, Sluie 2, Ballogie 6, Borrowston 8, Kincardine 4, Carlogie 10, Dess 7, Birse 8, Aboyne Water 5, Aboyne Castle 5, Craigendinnie 3, Waterside and Ferrar 4, Dinnet 3, Deecastle 11, Headinch and Cambus O'May 6, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 4, Abergeldie 2, Balmoral 1, Crathie 8.
Total: 150 Largest: Lower Blackhall 25lbs
SEA TROUT: Middle Drum 4, Park 3, Crathes 1, Invery 3, Lower Blackhall 1, Cairnton 1, Commonty 1, Kincardine 1.
Total: 15 Largest: Commonty 4lbs

Prospects

With the prolonged cold and wet weather conditions that have prevailed on Deeside for a number of weeks, fishing conditions, by and large have been difficult for visiting anglers and it struck me how important it is for anglers to enjoy their holidays by staying in very comfortable accommodation with good service and hospitality. I am delighted to inform readers that the Scottish Hospitality Awards were held last night in Glasgow and two popular Deeside Hotels that welcome visiting anglers won national awards. The Raemoir House Hotel won the Scottish Country House Hotel of the year award and the Tor Na Coille Hotel won the Boutique Country House Hotel of the year award. These venues offer great value and service to visiting anglers with rates for bed and breakfast at just over £50 per night for stays of 3 nights or more. Congratulations to the hard working dedicated teams at these venues who provide a really first class service to our visiting anglers.

Jonathon Graves with a salmon landed at 1030 pm when many anglers had left the river for the day

It appears that the weather conditions are going to improve with a much milder week ahead forecast, with air temperature maxima around 18 degrees Celsius and overnight lows around 7 degrees. There will be light south easterly winds which may bring in coastal haar overnight. This should burn off the following day if it does materialise. There may be the odd shower but there should be little precipitation and the river levels should drop back slowly during the week. Tides are dropping back from 4 metres on Thursday to 3.5 metres at the weekend. The Sepa gauges are currently between 8 inches at Mar Lodge and 1ft 5 inches at Park. As always heed the advice on offer from your beat Ghillie who will give you all the advice you will need to help you in your search for a taking salmon. It may pay anglers to fish well on in the evenings if the afternoons are very bright as the sun does shine down the pools which make it difficult for the salmon to take the fly well from the surface as they are facing upstream into the glare. With rising river temperatures and falling river levels anglers will be fishing with smaller flies than of late and hopefully we shall see good catches this week. Fly choice may include Silver Stoats tail, Allys shrimp, black or red Frances, however do ask your Ghillie to look at your flies to help you pick one appropriate to suit the conditions you encounter.

Please ensure all visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

The last week on Deeside saw temperatures soar from Tuesday and hover around 26 degrees Celsius for the rest of the week. With clear blue skies and very little wind to talk off anglers were having to work hard to catch fish with 9-5 hours favoured by some anglers less likely to be productive. Anglers who fished on in the evening and made early starts in the mornings though had some success as the FishDee catches indicated. There have been 112 salmon and 39 sea trout reported for the week which is very reasonable given the prevailing difficult fishing conditions, water levels were good during the week which was a blessing. Dess produced 15 salmon, Carlogie 14 and Crathie 12 however the sea trout catch improved significantly this week with Invery reporting 9 and Kincardine 7. I am told Neil Stephenson had a productive evening session at Invery with 4 sea trout and a salmon after 10.30 pm.

Rossicks Pool at Dess

I have received some correspondence from anglers and was pleased to read of the success of the Rishworth Party at Lower Blackhall. Keith Rishworth wrote to me advising ‘I have emailed you in the past with our previous experiences at Lower Blackhall and I give below a brief account of our successes on the Dee at Lower Blackhall last week i.e. week commencing 7th May 2012. Along with two friends Andrew Thompson from near Skipton and David Oversby from Ingleton in North Yorkshire, we fished hard all week on good water and were rewarded with a fish each. David caught first, a fresh run 10lb Salmon and Andrew the following day with a sea liced Salmon weighing 9lbs. Things were beginning to look a little bleak for yours truly as the week drew to a close, however through perseverance and dogged determination I was lucky enough to be rewarded with a 20lb Springer on the last day. It was a wide, deep fish and measured 37" from the inside of its tail to the tip of its nose, a bar of silver. What a great week it turned out to be and we are already looking forward to next year. Many thanks to Colin Simpson and Lawrence Ross for making us feel so welcome at Lower Blackhall and in particular to Colin for his help and guidance on the river. Colin's sense of humour combined with his skills as an expert Ghillie, fisherman and fly tyer make our week so much more enjoyable.’ Well done Keith on persevering to get your reward-a 20lb Springer!

Fred Higham sent an e-mail this morning commenting ‘I fished Woodend for two days last week in bright sunlight and searing hot temperatures. The river had risen from recent snow melt when we arrived from Lancashire early Friday morning after driving through the night. I was with my fishing friend David Jackson (who I think you may know) and I write the river reports for the Ribble and Hodder for Trout & Salmon, but I'm not too familiar with the Dee. Little wonder it is called the Queen of rivers. The countryside was at its best and the river in good conditions although the bright sun and hot temperatures were not conducive for fishing. Despite this David landed two nice fresh fish of about 10lbs and 6lbs, both these fish took a size 11 Cascade variant fished off a sinking leader. David asked me to forward you one of the photos as he thinks you may wish to add it to your Dee report. ‘As Fred observed the river at Woodend is very pretty with the surrounding countryside looking tremendous just now with all the flowers and new leaves on the trees. Having lunch outdoors beside the river with all the lovely weather is a real bonus for visiting anglers.

David Jackson with a salmon

I was delighted to receive an invitation from Jeremy and Jenny Clayton to fish at Dess on Friday. As always they are very kind people and wonderful company. I was delighted to hear that Jeremy had landed a 15 lb salmon just before I arrived at 9 am. I was fishing in a pool above him and saw him get into a fish so I moved smartly down the bank with a landing net and netted his second of the day-a fine 14 lb salmon. Shortly afterwards Jeremy returned the favour when I was fortunate to hook a nice salmon in the Mill Pool. We retired to the Upper Hut for lunch and enjoyed a super feast provided by Jeremy and Jenny and discussed our mornings sport. All of the anglers had hooked fish in the morning and we all enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch in the super hut. I will post some pictures from the day on the new FishDee blog FishDee
As always please let me know how you get on by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences on the river. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

Beat catches reported(week ending 19th May)
SALMON & GRILSE: Upper Drum and Lower Durris 2, Park 2, Lower Crathes and W Durris 3, Crathes 3, Invery 1, Cairnton 3, Woodend 3, Lower Woodend 1, Sluie 1, Ballogie 7, Borrowston 2, Kincardine 4, Carlogie 14, Dess 15, Birse 2, Aboyne Water 7, Aboyne Castle 2, Craigendinnie 2, Waterside and Ferrar 4, Dinnet 1, Deecastle 6, Headinch and Cambus O'May 3, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 9, Abergeldie 1, Balmoral 2, Crathie 12.
Total: 112 Largest: Borrowston 23lbs
SEA TROUT: Upper Drum and Lower Durris 2, Park 5, Lower Crathes and W Durris 1, Crathes 1, Invery 9, Lower Blackhall 2, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 3, Woodend 1, Ballogie 2, Kincardine 7, Carlogie 1, Birse 1, Waterside and Ferrar 1, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 1, Crathie 2.
Total: 39 Largest: Kincardine 5lbs

Prospects

The fabulous weather we have been experiencing is forecast to break from tonight with cooler weather moving down from the north. This will see air temperatures drop back to a more seasonable 15 degrees Celsius with decent cloud cover and light northerly winds. This should help anglers and sport may be reasonable with salmon and sea trout reasonably well distributed throughout the catchment. The maritime influence sees tides building from 3.6 metres to 4.2 metres at the weekend which hopefully will bring some new fish forward. Night fishing may continue to be productive providing there isn’t a sharp drop in air temperature. River levels are good for the time of year with the Sepa gauges reading 10 inches at Mar Lodge and 1 ft 3inches at Park.

A lovely afternoon on the riverbank with an angler fishing the Trees Pool at Dess

As daylight hours are really stretching now as we approach midsummer anglers have the opportunity to fish mornings, afternoons, and evenings on through the night. It is important to seek the guidance from your beat Ghillie as to when the best sport may be expected. Your Ghillie can advise on where the fish are located on the beat you are fishing and advise on the tactics you should employ when fishing your beat. Your Ghillie can make recommendations about what flies to use and please show them your fly box and discuss the best ones to try. If you don’t have a Ghillie to call on for advice then perhaps you will fish with a full floating line and a size 8-12 fly. The patterns to try may include silver stoats tail, Cascade, Ally’s shrimp, Crathie fly and Frances. You may find fish located in the faster streams now where fish like to lie in the well oxygenated flows. At nightfall fish can be on the move and pool tails can fish well as running fish come into a pool. If you don’t have the range of flies you need then you can visit the Orvis shop in Banchory, Kincardine O’Neil post office and Strachan’s of Aboyne who all have a decent range of River Dee flies available.

Please ensure all visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms. These are vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

 

[ken@fishdee]

Recent Catches

With the whole country enjoying the Queens Diamond Jubilee celebrations even the salmon on the Dee seemed to rise to the occasion. The River Dee fished tremendously well with the beats around Ballater reporting excellent catches and ensured anglers had much joy and cause to celebrate. To provide a context here, the best week of the season had seen 150 salmon reported and Jubilee week has seen FishDee beats report 290 salmon and 66 sea trout as I write. Ian Murray’s beats at Ballater had a splendid catch of 66 salmon and 6 sea trout which will have delighted all the anglers fishing there. I met Ian on Saturday morning prior to fishing one of his beats and was delighted to hear of all the success anglers were enjoying. The Dinnet/Deecastle beats reported 31 salmon, Headinch and Cambus O’May reported 22 salmon and 9 sea trout, Crathie reported 21 with Carlogie and Park also producing 15 salmon. There was a good run of new fish last week which moved quickly through the catchment. There were some really big fish reported with Deecastle reporting a 27 lb salmon and Borrowstone a 24lb salmon.

One of Ian Murrays beats on the Upper Dee-image courtesy Salmo Fishings International

I phoned around a number of the Ghillies this morning to get news for the report and received a lot of good news. Archie Hay at Crathie advised ‘It was the best week of the season Ken with a lot of big fish being caught. One day saw salmon of 20lbs, 18lbs, 17lbs and 13lbs being landed with a good amount being bars of silver, indicating the freshness of the fish. Mr Bramley had 6 for his week and his son had 4 for their visit. The Crathie fly really does well in the clear waters of the beat and sizes 12 and 14 were favoured by the salmon. There was a frost over the weekend which has seen the water temperature drop to 8 degrees Celsius and we could do with a bit more water which hopefully will come this week with rainfall forecast. I’m really delighted with the weeks sport.’

Fergus Cummings from Headinch & Cambus O’May commented ‘The Mark Beattie party who are long standing tenants, had their best week since 1989. We were catching well above what we were seeing in the pools. Small flies, sizes 10 and 12 were doing well with a Dee Sheep type fly scoring well as did the Munro Killer and Stoats Tail. Floating lines and sink tip combinations were both doing well.’ Alex Brown dropped me an e-mail about fish being caught on the pretty Heughhead beat on the Feugh, the Dee’s biggest tributary which enters the river at Banchory. Alex commented ‘Just a quick note to advise that one of our regular customers, John Windsor, a lovely gent from Hayes in Middlesex, became our first successful angler of the season with a 2lb Sea Trout on Tuesday and a 4.25lb Grilse last night, quite appropriate for Jubilee weekend don't you think! Both fish were landed at 'Rothwell's Run ‘ a pool named after one of our volunteers, Ken Rothwell who was fishing convenor for Shell, the previous beat owners and took a size twelve teal blue and silver double. I am sure John, who lost his wife at Christmas, would be chuffed if he were mentioned in your weekly report.’ There are reports of grilse now arriving and sea trout numbers are building so hopefully anglers will pay a visit to the Heughhead beat to try their luck. The Feugh is a small spate river in comparison to the Dee but can be very productive at times, with night time fly-fishing popular I’m told. Fishing can be obtained on the Heughhead beat for £30 plus vat per rod day-excellent value.

Sean Stanton, the Ballogie Beats Head Ghillie reported ‘We had a mixture of sea liced fish and the odd river fish. The McGowan party at Carlogie had their best trip to the beat with 15 salmon. Andy Williamson had 6 salmon and 4 sea trout including a lovely 3.5 lb sea trout, his personal best. The trick was finding the right depth to fish the fly and we did well with small stoats tail micro tubes, using a combination of floating lines and sink tips to find the right depth.’ Sean’s Ballogie Beats blog The Ballogie Beats is very informative, and contains a good selection of images from the beat which readers will find of interest. He comments ‘With the spring run behind us we are now looking forward to the start of the summer fishing, even today the river has dropped down to under 1ft on the gauge, so now it's full floating lines, long leaders and small doubles. But if you fish with me you'll need heavy sinkers as well! Because I believe if they won’t come up for the fly, you have to go down to the fish; so what if you lose a few flies, it's worth it! Last week saw the biggest run of fish so far this year, hopefully more will have moved in over the weekend and we can build on the good spring catches we've had so far. Carlogie did very well and the rods fished as hard as they could on the 31st May to catch the 2 fish required to beat last year’s spring total. Unfortunately they only managed to get 1 - well done to Neil McGowan from East Haugh Hotel, Pitlochry for getting 1 from Alan's pool last night, this fish brought the total catch for the month of May to 70, equalling last year’s total.’ The Ballogie beats enjoyed good spring catches which bucked the trend, where by and large catches were quite a bit down on last year’s excellent catches.

Andrew Williamson with a lovely fish at Carlogie


Please ensure all visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms and follow Ghillies instructions. Bio-Security is vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing. The new FishDee blog will have reports through the week as I hear of them so please keep me informed of any news FishDee As always please let me know how you get on during your visit to the river by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.

Beat catches reported(week ending 2nd June)
SALMON & GRILSE: Culter 1, Tilbouries 1, Park 15, Lower Crathes and W Durris 10, Crathes 3, Invery 1, Lower Blackhall 2, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 5, Middle Blackhall 3, Cairnton 6, Woodend 2, Lower Woodend 1, Commonty 2, Sluie 1, Ballogie 11, Borrowston 9, Kincardine 9, Carlogie 15, Dess 12, Birse 12, Aboyne Water 14, Aboyne Castle 6, Craigendinnie 14, Waterside and Ferrar 9, Dinnet 13, Deecastle 18, Headinch and Cambus O'May 22, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 36, Birkhall 3, Abergeldie 7, Balmoral 5, Crathie 21, Heughhead 1.
Total: 290 Largest: Deecastle 27lbs
SEA TROUT: Middle Drum 1, Tilbouries 1, Crathes 1, Invery 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 2, Middle Blackhall 1, Woodend 1, Sluie 2, Ballogie 4, Kincardine 6, Carlogie 4, Dess 1, Birse 2, Aboyne Water 3, Aboyne Castle 1, Craigendinnie 4, Waterside and Ferrar 4, Dinnet 1, Deecastle 5, Headinch and Cambus O'May 9, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 6, Abergeldie 2, Balmoral 1, Crathie 2, Heughhead 1.
Total: 66 Largest: Kincardine 4lbs

Prospects

The Met Office forecast for Aboyne this week advises ‘Cool with bright or sunny intervals and scattered showers’ The air temperature maxima will perhaps reach 14 degrees Celsius and it will feel warm in the sun but cold when you’re out of the sun ! It may be increasingly windy later in the week; suggested rainfall will perhaps get heavier as the week progresses. Hopefully there will be enough precipitation to keep river levels topped up nicely. There have been recent night time frosts in the upper valley. This suggests to me that most angling effort will be employed during the hours of daylight. As daylight hours are really stretching now as we approach midsummer anglers have the opportunity to fish mornings, afternoons, and evenings. The maritime influence indicates current high tides this week of 4.4 metres will drop back from Friday. There will hopefully be a continuation of good runs of salmon with grilse now arriving with increasing numbers of sea trout.

Action at Carlogie

It is important to seek the wise counsel from your beat Ghillie as to when the best sport may be expected. Your Ghillie can advise on where the fish are located on the beat you are fishing and advise on the tactics you should employ when fishing your beat. Your Ghillie can make recommendations about what flies to use and please show them your fly box and discuss the best ones to try. If you don’t have a Ghillie to call on for advice then perhaps you will fish with a full floating line or sink tip and a size 10-12 fly on a long leader. The patterns to try may include silver stoats tail, Cascade, Crathie fly and black Frances. You may find fish located in the faster streams now where fish like to lie in the well oxygenated flows. At nightfall fish can be on the move and pool tails can fish well as running fish come into a pool. If you don’t have the range of flies you need then you can visit the Orvis shop in Banchory, Kincardine O’Neil post office and Strachan’s of Aboyne who all have a decent range of River Dee flies available. The catches last week from Culter to Crathie show a decent distribution of fish throughout the catchment.

Please ensure all visiting anglers sign the Gyrodactylus salaris declaration forms and follow Ghillies instructions. Bio-Security is vitally important to the river, ensuring all visitors are vigilant in ensuring we take necessary precautions and don't see this devastating parasite wiping out our stocks of salmon. If you are not offered one to sign then I would urge you to please ask for one to be provided to you prior to commencing fishing. The new FishDee blog will have reports through the week as I hear of them so please keep me informed of any news FishDee As always please let me know how you get on during your visit to the river by dropping me an e-mail to ken@riverdee.org with any anecdotes and pictures about your experiences. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.