UPPER AND LOWER PARKHILL BEATS (Map link)

UPPER PARKHILL EXTENT

On the North bank from Parkhill bridge upstream to head of Cockers pool. South bank from Parkhill Road Bridge upstream to the weir above cemetery car park.

Car-parking: - Lay-by at Road Bridge, Cockers and Cemetery car parks. Members vehicles must not be parked anywhere on the road to Mill O'Dyce farm.

LOWER PARKHILL EXTENT

The north bank from Parkhill Road Bridge downstream to the marker post. Strictly no dogs allowed. No Sunday fishing. Access from Parkhill Road Bridge only. South bank from Parkhill Road Bridge downstream to the Farburn. Fly fishing for brown trout permitted on Sundays.

Car-parking: - near Asda and lay-by at Parkhill Bridge

History

Upper Parkhill was the first fishings to be purchased by the ADAA, which was formed in 1946/7. Upper and Lower Parkhill beats were offered to us in 1954 by Scottish Estates Ltd. The cost was £2000 for Upper Parkhill alone and £3000 for Upper and Lower Parkhill together. My father can recall attending an EGM held in the Music Hall when the exciting possible purchase was debated. The membership decided that £3000 was unaffordable and, being canny Aberdonians only the upper beat was opted for. Time and inflation moved on and Lower Parkhill was eventually acquired in 1978 from the executors of the late Robert Lawson of Dyce at a cost of £13000.

Incidentally, to put the figures in perspective, in 1955 the senior membership fee was £5 per annum.

Being one of our oldest beats, it has proved to be the backbone of our trout and salmon fishing, producing some truly magnificent bags over the years. Among these was a forty two pound salmon caught in the seventies. It also had the distinction of being a spring fish. I can recall one particular pool yielding over twenty springers one Easter holiday Monday, again in the late seventies. Other notable catches include a thirty two pounder to my father's rod, which was returned, hopefully to continue to strengthen the gene pool of these magnificent big fish. This was more recently in the autumn of 2002, giving hope to us all that there is still a chance of connecting with one of these leviathans. I can also recall a catch of eight salmon to one rod in a day, a feat made all the more remarkable in that they were caught on a Saturday, when there was plenty of competition in the form of other fellow anglers. Brown trout, for which the Don is quite rightly famed, also figure in notable catches. Just in the past couple of seasons I know of numerous trout of over 4lb caught, including one of over 7lb caught on the dry fly and returned. Sea trout have appeared in Parkhill catches for a relatively short period as far as the association is concerned. It is really over the past fifteen years or so that this wonderful fish has been a regular feature in our bags thanks to the great reduction of pollution in the river. There has been at least one double figure sea trout caught and once again this fish was very sportingly released.

I hope you are able to grasp just what potential Parkhill holds from this one short paragraph. I will now take a wander down the beat on the South bank from the top March, which is the Manse Pool weir and work downstream to the Far Burn where we march with Stoneywood, giving you a brief summary of the pools on the way.

Split Stone Stream

A bonny view up the Top Streams.

This isn't really a defined pool, more a series of runs and glides. When I started fishing as a child I was told by one of the ‘auld mannies' that the proper name for this stretch was the Split Stone Stream. If you look at the bottom of the pathway down from the car park, there is a big stone on the bank which has been split into three pieces.
Apparently a stonemason split the stone a long time ago, just to show how easily it could be done! The Streams fish best in a low to medium water, the most productive area being the fifty yards either side of the split stone. Throughout the length of the Streams there are little pockets and holes, all of which produce fish. Having said that the Streams fish in a low to medium water, it was in a big spring water that the forty two pounder was caught in the bay in front of the hut.

It was caught in March 1978 by ‘Scaffie' Rab Morrison. A spring fish of heroic proportions it allegedly broke the tailer when being landed. The Streams is one of the top producers of sea trout in the summer months and there was also a seven pound brownie caught here a couple of seasons ago.

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