ken@fishdee
New member
LAST WEEK
The summer equinox has heralded a significant change with weather systems bringing much needed rain to the catchment-hopefully some Ghillies were singing in the rain this weekend! FishDee beats picked away last week in very low water conditions with 86 salmon reported to 20lbs and a decent catch of sea trout with 81 reported from FishDee beats. In terms of salmon Dess reported 9, Lower Crathes 8, Park, Ballogie and Monaltrie & Lower Invercauld 6 apiece. The sea trout catch was by far the best of the season with Lower Crathes producing 11, Dess 8 and Ballogie 7. In the prevailing very low water conditions anglers have done well to record these catches and so pleasing to hear of sea trout being caught in reasonable numbers. They have been quite scarce so far this season.
Invery & Tilquhillie Ghillie Karl Revel sent me an e-mail with news from the beats commenting ‘Dear Ken, The attached pic is Thomas Johnson-Smith from Kent who caught this 10lb fish on Monday 17th in The Killing Hatch using a size 14 Red Frances. He also caught 2 sea trout. Thomas was delighted with his success on his first visit to the Dee and says he's looking forward to a return visit very soon. Ian Murray Jnr caught a lovely 3lb+ sea trout on Tuesday and late on Friday night/Saturday morning Neil Stephenson landed a 5lb grilse and 3 sea trout. Tight lines! Karl' that's pleasing news to read. Neil Stephenson is a talented and thoughtful angler who will catch fish when others can't.
Thomas Johnson-Smith from Kent who caught this 10lb fish on Monday 17th at Invery using a size 14 Red Frances. He also caught 2 sea trout.
I chatted with Eoin Smith, Dess Estate Ghillie advised he had a great team of anglers from Tweedside fishing last week who are very talented anglers and know how to catch salmon and sea trout. Their success was down to sheer persistence with fish coming to half inch black flies. He also advised they had landed a Grilse this morning covered in sea lice which is encouraging news. I also spoke with Robert Harper, Head Ghillie at Lower Crathes this morning. Robert advised that he had Gordon Dickinson fishing with regulars John and Anthea Fielding who caught 8 salmon and 12 sea trout for their week. Anthea landed a lovely salmon of at least 20lbs and Gordon had a nice 16lber. Given the conditions the anglers fished hard and got their rewards using flies between size 12 and 16. The sea trout were all in excellent order and were nice and fresh.
There is a new award for young anglers; The Callum Mackenzie Cup. The Cup has been provided by Ballogie Estate with the support of the Mackenzie Family. There has been an entry submitted already for Meriel Fisher who I reported last week had a lovely salmon whilst fishing with mum and dad at Lower Crathes.The award for the most notable capture will be to the youngster whose angling success has been selected as the most notable fish by the Callum Mackenzie Award Committee and will be made annually at the River Dee opening ceremony. Rules-Fisher must be under 18 years of age at time of catch for any species of fish within the Dee catchment, including Rivers Cowie and Carron or one of the many trout fisheries in the district. Entries should include a short story about the capture of the fish, Picture, date and location of capture. Witness details to confirm catch. Submissions will receive publicity through the local press and FishDee website. All entries to the Callum Mackenzie Committee should be sent by e‐mail to info@riverdee.org or by mail to River Dee Office, Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, AB34 5LA
News of catches, with or without images are always welcome, so please drop a line to ken@riverdee.org so I can share this news in the weekly report and FishDee blog. It could be another exciting week for anglers and hopefully we shall get some more good news to report next week. Tight Lines to you all! Copyright FishDee. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.
Beat Catches Reported
Week ending 14:06 on Mon 17th Jun 2013
SALMON & GRILSE: Tilbouries 1, Park 7, Lower Crathes and W Durris 8, Crathes 3, Invery 2, Lower Blackhall and Kinneskie 2, Upper Blackhall 3, Cairnton 2, Commonty 2, Sluie 1, Ballogie 6, Carlogie 1, Dess 9, Birse 4, Aboyne Water 3, Aboyne Castle 1, Craigendinnie 5, Waterside and Ferrar 3, Dinnet 3, Deecastle 3, Headinch and Cambus O'May 4, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 6, Birkhall 2, Balmoral 2, Crathie 4, Total 87
SEA TROUT: Tilbouries 3, Park 7, Lower Crathes and W Durris 11, Crathes 4, Invery 5, Tilquhillie 4, Lower Blackhall and Kinneskie 1, Upper Blackhall 2, Cairnton 2, Woodend 3, Sluie 1, Ballogie 7, Kincardine 1, Carlogie 5, Dess 8, Birse 4, Aboyne Water 4, Aboyne Castle 2, Craigendinnie 3, Waterside and Ferrar 4, Deecastle 2, Headinch and Cambus O'May 2, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 1, Total 86
PROSPECTS
The weather forecast from the Met Office advises that the first few days of the week will be cool however it will warm up towards the weekend. There will be some outbreaks of rain at the beginning of the week and perhaps on Friday. Air temperature maxima may reach 20 degrees Celsius with overnight lows of 4 degrees curtailing night time sport in the early part of the week. That shouldn't be too much of a problem now as the river has risen significantly overnight with the Sepa gauges reading 2ft 2 inches at Mar Lodge and falling and 3 foot 3 inches at Park and rising. This much needed spate is perfectly timed coinciding with high spring tides this week of 4.5 metres before dropping back to 3.6 metres at the weekend. The jet stream is to the south of the country however will progress further north during the week allowing air pressure to build. All things being equal we could have a super week for anglers this week if there are good numbers of fish offshore waiting to run the river. Conditions are ideal for a good run of fish to come forward into the river. There is availability on the FishDee website so my advice to people who have a bit free time is to stick the rods into the car and come fishing for a few days. You may get some superb sport anywhere on the River Dee and some fish may ascend the falls of Feugh and get their season really going.
Always heed the advice offered from your beat Ghillie as they know best about what tactics and flies to use to give you a chance of some sport. If you don't have a Ghillie to obtain advice from then you may wish to consider the following flies this week as worth a go with. Tosh, Silver Stoats tail, Black or Red Frances, Cascade, Flamethrower, Kinermony Killer and of course the Sunray Shadow is always a good fall back for salmon and sea trout. Full floaters are the order of the day now with a 13-15 foot double handed rods and 9-10 weight lines are more than sufficient with leaders of 5-8 ft in length. If you need more flies or other equipment please visit Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis in Banchory, Strachan's of Aboyne and Countrywear in Ballater. Another must visit place at lunchtime is Kincardine O'Neil Post office for a super range of sandwiches and fishing flies.
Popular places to dine out are the Boat Inn Aboyne, Franco's in Banchory, Derbar Indian Restaurant in Banchory, with the Milton of Crathes providing super food,Tor Na Coille Hotel, Raemoir House Hotel and of course the Banchory Lodge Hotel all in Banchory. The Glen Lui and Darroch Learg in Ballater offer superb meals too.
At this time of year with warmer air temperatures day and night please report any suspicious activity you find on your beat. Opportunist rod and line poachers can turn up at this time of the year so it's important you contact the River Office, 013398 80411 any time of the day if you see anyone acting suspiciously on your chosen beat.
Finally an important thing for you to remember when you arrive on your chosen beat. All anglers and Ghillies are being asked to ensure anglers have their waders and any landing nets sprayed with a mild disinfectant prior to commencing fishing, even when they are fishing different River Dee beats during their week on the river. It's a condition of the River Dee Conservation code and must be strictly adhered to; all beats have supplies to ensure this is carried out prior to entering the river. It's a quick procedure that will help the river and prevent ingress of unwanted pathogens and non native species entering any part of the River Dee watercourse. We also want to prevent the transfer of the highly problematic ranunculus from the lower part of the river to the upper part. Please write with any news of catches or anecdotes with images to ken@riverdee.org Tight Lines to you all! Copyright FishDee. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.
The summer equinox has heralded a significant change with weather systems bringing much needed rain to the catchment-hopefully some Ghillies were singing in the rain this weekend! FishDee beats picked away last week in very low water conditions with 86 salmon reported to 20lbs and a decent catch of sea trout with 81 reported from FishDee beats. In terms of salmon Dess reported 9, Lower Crathes 8, Park, Ballogie and Monaltrie & Lower Invercauld 6 apiece. The sea trout catch was by far the best of the season with Lower Crathes producing 11, Dess 8 and Ballogie 7. In the prevailing very low water conditions anglers have done well to record these catches and so pleasing to hear of sea trout being caught in reasonable numbers. They have been quite scarce so far this season.
Invery & Tilquhillie Ghillie Karl Revel sent me an e-mail with news from the beats commenting ‘Dear Ken, The attached pic is Thomas Johnson-Smith from Kent who caught this 10lb fish on Monday 17th in The Killing Hatch using a size 14 Red Frances. He also caught 2 sea trout. Thomas was delighted with his success on his first visit to the Dee and says he's looking forward to a return visit very soon. Ian Murray Jnr caught a lovely 3lb+ sea trout on Tuesday and late on Friday night/Saturday morning Neil Stephenson landed a 5lb grilse and 3 sea trout. Tight lines! Karl' that's pleasing news to read. Neil Stephenson is a talented and thoughtful angler who will catch fish when others can't.
Thomas Johnson-Smith from Kent who caught this 10lb fish on Monday 17th at Invery using a size 14 Red Frances. He also caught 2 sea trout.
I chatted with Eoin Smith, Dess Estate Ghillie advised he had a great team of anglers from Tweedside fishing last week who are very talented anglers and know how to catch salmon and sea trout. Their success was down to sheer persistence with fish coming to half inch black flies. He also advised they had landed a Grilse this morning covered in sea lice which is encouraging news. I also spoke with Robert Harper, Head Ghillie at Lower Crathes this morning. Robert advised that he had Gordon Dickinson fishing with regulars John and Anthea Fielding who caught 8 salmon and 12 sea trout for their week. Anthea landed a lovely salmon of at least 20lbs and Gordon had a nice 16lber. Given the conditions the anglers fished hard and got their rewards using flies between size 12 and 16. The sea trout were all in excellent order and were nice and fresh.
There is a new award for young anglers; The Callum Mackenzie Cup. The Cup has been provided by Ballogie Estate with the support of the Mackenzie Family. There has been an entry submitted already for Meriel Fisher who I reported last week had a lovely salmon whilst fishing with mum and dad at Lower Crathes.The award for the most notable capture will be to the youngster whose angling success has been selected as the most notable fish by the Callum Mackenzie Award Committee and will be made annually at the River Dee opening ceremony. Rules-Fisher must be under 18 years of age at time of catch for any species of fish within the Dee catchment, including Rivers Cowie and Carron or one of the many trout fisheries in the district. Entries should include a short story about the capture of the fish, Picture, date and location of capture. Witness details to confirm catch. Submissions will receive publicity through the local press and FishDee website. All entries to the Callum Mackenzie Committee should be sent by e‐mail to info@riverdee.org or by mail to River Dee Office, Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, AB34 5LA
News of catches, with or without images are always welcome, so please drop a line to ken@riverdee.org so I can share this news in the weekly report and FishDee blog. It could be another exciting week for anglers and hopefully we shall get some more good news to report next week. Tight Lines to you all! Copyright FishDee. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.
Beat Catches Reported
Week ending 14:06 on Mon 17th Jun 2013
SALMON & GRILSE: Tilbouries 1, Park 7, Lower Crathes and W Durris 8, Crathes 3, Invery 2, Lower Blackhall and Kinneskie 2, Upper Blackhall 3, Cairnton 2, Commonty 2, Sluie 1, Ballogie 6, Carlogie 1, Dess 9, Birse 4, Aboyne Water 3, Aboyne Castle 1, Craigendinnie 5, Waterside and Ferrar 3, Dinnet 3, Deecastle 3, Headinch and Cambus O'May 4, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 6, Birkhall 2, Balmoral 2, Crathie 4, Total 87
SEA TROUT: Tilbouries 3, Park 7, Lower Crathes and W Durris 11, Crathes 4, Invery 5, Tilquhillie 4, Lower Blackhall and Kinneskie 1, Upper Blackhall 2, Cairnton 2, Woodend 3, Sluie 1, Ballogie 7, Kincardine 1, Carlogie 5, Dess 8, Birse 4, Aboyne Water 4, Aboyne Castle 2, Craigendinnie 3, Waterside and Ferrar 4, Deecastle 2, Headinch and Cambus O'May 2, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 1, Total 86
PROSPECTS
The weather forecast from the Met Office advises that the first few days of the week will be cool however it will warm up towards the weekend. There will be some outbreaks of rain at the beginning of the week and perhaps on Friday. Air temperature maxima may reach 20 degrees Celsius with overnight lows of 4 degrees curtailing night time sport in the early part of the week. That shouldn't be too much of a problem now as the river has risen significantly overnight with the Sepa gauges reading 2ft 2 inches at Mar Lodge and falling and 3 foot 3 inches at Park and rising. This much needed spate is perfectly timed coinciding with high spring tides this week of 4.5 metres before dropping back to 3.6 metres at the weekend. The jet stream is to the south of the country however will progress further north during the week allowing air pressure to build. All things being equal we could have a super week for anglers this week if there are good numbers of fish offshore waiting to run the river. Conditions are ideal for a good run of fish to come forward into the river. There is availability on the FishDee website so my advice to people who have a bit free time is to stick the rods into the car and come fishing for a few days. You may get some superb sport anywhere on the River Dee and some fish may ascend the falls of Feugh and get their season really going.
Always heed the advice offered from your beat Ghillie as they know best about what tactics and flies to use to give you a chance of some sport. If you don't have a Ghillie to obtain advice from then you may wish to consider the following flies this week as worth a go with. Tosh, Silver Stoats tail, Black or Red Frances, Cascade, Flamethrower, Kinermony Killer and of course the Sunray Shadow is always a good fall back for salmon and sea trout. Full floaters are the order of the day now with a 13-15 foot double handed rods and 9-10 weight lines are more than sufficient with leaders of 5-8 ft in length. If you need more flies or other equipment please visit Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis in Banchory, Strachan's of Aboyne and Countrywear in Ballater. Another must visit place at lunchtime is Kincardine O'Neil Post office for a super range of sandwiches and fishing flies.
Popular places to dine out are the Boat Inn Aboyne, Franco's in Banchory, Derbar Indian Restaurant in Banchory, with the Milton of Crathes providing super food,Tor Na Coille Hotel, Raemoir House Hotel and of course the Banchory Lodge Hotel all in Banchory. The Glen Lui and Darroch Learg in Ballater offer superb meals too.
At this time of year with warmer air temperatures day and night please report any suspicious activity you find on your beat. Opportunist rod and line poachers can turn up at this time of the year so it's important you contact the River Office, 013398 80411 any time of the day if you see anyone acting suspiciously on your chosen beat.
Finally an important thing for you to remember when you arrive on your chosen beat. All anglers and Ghillies are being asked to ensure anglers have their waders and any landing nets sprayed with a mild disinfectant prior to commencing fishing, even when they are fishing different River Dee beats during their week on the river. It's a condition of the River Dee Conservation code and must be strictly adhered to; all beats have supplies to ensure this is carried out prior to entering the river. It's a quick procedure that will help the river and prevent ingress of unwanted pathogens and non native species entering any part of the River Dee watercourse. We also want to prevent the transfer of the highly problematic ranunculus from the lower part of the river to the upper part. Please write with any news of catches or anecdotes with images to ken@riverdee.org Tight Lines to you all! Copyright FishDee. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd.