A.D.A.A. Angling Reports 2008
As the fishing information obtainable by the Conveners is limited why not drop the Webmaster a line on a good catch, by you or fellow members with some details if possible and I will include it in the reports as soon as I receive them. Or post them on the Forum. |
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| Week beginning 29th September | FEUGH - Now closed Dee DON YTHAN LOCH It's a small world and it's amazing who you bump into in your travels. Julia Fleming's brother swears he met Paul Young when he was over in Georgia.
Dee PROSPECTS FOR COMING WEEK As we enter the last full week of the extended season we have ideal conditions for anglers able to fish and those who will take up the availability currently listed on fishdee. This morning the river height at Park was 2ft 6 inches and with no heavy rainfall expected on Deeside for the week we should see good sport in the catchment. Forecast high air temperatures are between 46 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit and water temperatures will be below 48 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning itís time to switch from full floating lines to sink tips or intermediate lines. The maritime influence indicates weekly neap tides with highs in Aberdeen harbour of 3.7 metres to 3.2 metres. There are sufficient river levels to allow a free passage of fish from sea to river. As always your expert Dee ghillies will advise what set up and fly choice to use to optimise the opportunities you have on your beat. If you donít have a ghillie then reports indicate small tube flies such as Gold Willie Gunnís, Red Francis, and Monkeys are doing well. It is important to ensure all fish are handled carefully and returned to the river as quickly as possible when caught and consideration should be made about tactics being used. The Conservation Code requests that all anglers fish the fly at all times. Prospects look good and there will be many anglers enjoying sport so tight lines to you all. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org.Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee October 2008
LAST WEEK'S REPORT Last week the fish and anglers appeared to take every opportunity to become acquainted, with 245 fish reported for the week. That figure would have been even higher had a rise of water not occurred at the end of the week. Some of the beatsí catches reported to FishDee were topped by Park recording 60 fish, including two 30 and 31 lb fish, Lower Crathes reporting 26 fish to 27lbs, and Ballogie reporting 22 fish and Carlogie 19 fish. Some interesting statistics for the week were noted with the high weights of fish reported on FishDee - many in the 20-30 lb range. I am grateful for the correspondence received and I would like to mention Mr Allan Smith who was fishing Park and had six fish on one day to 31lbs on his ruffian fly. Both Allan and his colleague Victor English had a memorable week, each catching personal bests of 31 pounds and 25 pounds respectively from their combined total of 23 fish. I am also grateful to Ignacio Paz who was fishing Lower Crathes and had a very exciting encounter with a big fish that was safely netted by expert ghillie Robert Harper after quite a tussle. Ignacio reported ìI am 37 years old and started fishing when I was around 6- 7 years old but I have never seen any salmon like this. According to the measurement, and the tables we use in Spain I think the salmon should be around 14 kgs. This is my first time fishing in Scotland. Once I hooked it at the top of the beat, it started running and took all my line off including some backing. When I first saw it, it jumped together with another salmon, and I was wondering which of those my salmon was! Then it suddenly started to go downstream so I didn't have any choice and had to follow it downstream until I saw my father fishing the next pool. I was shouting "I have a very, very big salmon". He came to help me and at that point Robert appeared with the net. The salmon continued going downstream and, after one hour and a half, we were able to land it very close to the bridge. It is really the salmon of my life. I cannot remember the name of the fly (perhaps Robert can advise) but the body was silver and was dark blue. It is worth saying that the rod was a 13 feet long and the line was for 14 pounds! I have received a lot of congratulations once I arrived at Galicia (Spain) as this a truly trophy salmon and very hard to match in the rest of my life!!! These reports indicate the real pleasure anglers are getting on Deeside and with a few days left anglers should make the most of the limited availability on FishDee. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org.Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee October 2008 Beat catch details for week ending 4th October were: |
| Week beginning 22nd September | Dee
On Thursday afternoon I visited Ardlethen for the first time. After a few hours of casting this beautiful salmon took my lure. 15 mins of exciting play and I managed to land it, made a quick photo and safely returned fish back to the river. 93cm and ~19.5lbs that's my new PB!
Johnny Walker tackled up for the trout at Parkhill A wee reminder that the Brown Trout season closes on Tuesday 30th September.
Dee Prospects An autumnal depression is forecast this week with the promise of snow on the mountains and strong to gale force winds and overnight frost. This will see sterner conditions than have been observed of late for the visiting angler who is fishing into the month of October. We also have spring tides running this week where we will see the peaks of 4.4 metres falling back to 3.7 metres. As always seek the guidance of your ghillie to ensure you optimise the opportunities that exist whilst fishing during this period where the weather is cooling down significantly. It will be prudent to utilise sink tips lines or intermediate lines on beats where you have no ghillie and the reports I am getting indicate a preference from the big fish to take tube flies from 1-3 inches in a variety of patterns. The pool tails are getting populated by many fish these days and it is there that you may find aggressively taking fish. Please ensure you handle your fish with extreme care and unhook it and return it in the river wherever possible. During this extension period, all fish must be returned to the river. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org.Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee September 2008
Last week I am delighted to receive the correspondence informing me of the tremendous sport the Dee is offering anglers at present and many thanks to all contributors for supplying their reports to me. The river ghillies reported a catch of 242 fish for the week which is an excellent total. Keith Cromar from Park reported that Mungo Ingleby on his first visit from Stirling to Park had 3 fish of 14, 14 and 16 lbs to his own Park shrimp tube fly and that regular rod from Kingswells, Mr Gary Webster had five for his day up to 22lbs. Park had an excellent week with 56 fish reported. Other beats reported fine sport with Lower Crathes 21 fish, Altries with 20 fish, Ballogie 16 fish and Crathie 14 fish. Good sport for the anglers being ably looked after by Robert Harper, Kevin Fleming, Sean Stanton and Archie Hay must add many thanks to all Dee ghillies on behalf of the river board for their efforts in making all anglers to Deeside have an enjoyable time on the river. With Fishdee bookings currently running at 60% over last year there can be no doubt that the ghilliesí efforts have been significantly appreciated by all visiting anglers. Now I did say a few weeks ago that I expected some big fish to be encountered as the season draws to a close. I am pleased to say that there have been a number of fish reported in excess of 30lbs over the last few weeks and every day last week saw fish captured in excess of 20lbs. Pride of place goes to the 32 lb fish captured and returned safely by Mr Russell Kay who I spoke to this morning. Russell reported the following story to me, ìI was fishing with a friend, Dave Jackson at Woodend, who invited me up for the day. Dave wanted me to give the Garden Pool a go so I was sent up there and started fishing around 7.00 am. Within ten minutes I hooked a fish which promptly fell off, but fish were showing and prospects looked good. I fished towards the tail of the Garden Pool, using a 2" Red & Black Pot Bellied Pig with Jungle Cock cheeks, tied for me by ghillie Terry Paton from Lower Blackhall and Inchmarlo. The fly was swimming over a known submerged rock which was pointed out to me as a good lie when I had 3 strong draws one after another and was into a fish. I immediately knew that this fish was a big one due to the nature of the take as it is was a take like no other I have had before. I was fishing with the Monteith multi tip line, which had the 15' Fast sink tip attached. I leant into the fish and it immediately turned downstream and headed towards the next pool down -"Chestnut". I relieved some pressure on the fish hoping it would turn back upstream which it did and then it ran upstream at speed and threw itself clean out of the water. I then saw the size of the fish and realised I was in for a tough battle. It was a deep cock fish, with a huge Kype and neb and I measured him at 43". His girth was also very substantial. He was fairly coloured but not a complete kipper. My guess is that he had been in fresh water for 4-6 weeks. At this point Dave appeared only to be met with the sight of me about to return the fish. The fish took some time to recover but finally he swam off hopefully none the worse for wear! Later in the day I caught another fish leading to a trip that will be remembered for some time to comeî. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org. Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee September 2008. Beat catches reported
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| Week beginning 15th September | Feugh - Nil Loch - rainbows up to 2.5lb and blues up to 3.5lb. Below is a photo of Thomasz' first trout from the loch, Well done Thomasz! Thanks for the photo.
Dee Prospects We have high pressure building which will allow the river to settle after the recent frequent rises that have been a regular occurrence throughout September this year. Daytime air temperatures will be between 13 and 16 degrees Celsius with night time temperatures falling back to 2 to 4 degrees which may bring overnight air frosts.The tidal ranges see tides falling from 4 metres to 3.5 metres on Wednesday and gradually building again to 4.1 on Saturday. As far as sporting prospects go then it would appear to be a nice week to be on Deeside where there are fish in good numbers well spread throughout the system. I have heard some beats have very large stocks of salmon which augurs well for the spawning activities in a few weeks time. There has also been a ìharvestî run of sea trout, mostly finnock which should be returned to the river as they will hopefully come back next year as fully fledged sea trout in the 2-3 lbs range. It is a pleasing sight to see this late run of these sporting fish, which is a regular occurrence on many Scottish rivers at this time of the year. Ensure you consult your ghillies as to fly selection next week as he knows best. If you are fishing without a ghillies then you may wish to fish with floating or sink tip lines, with flies in the 6 -10 range. Alternatively fish tube flies in the deep pots as big fish can show a preference for a big fly fished deep at this time of year. Patterns of choice indicate Cascades, Park shrimp, Tosh, and orange flamethrowers will be as good a choice as any. Some anglers swear by a touch of red in the fly when fish start to colour up. On looking at the availability section on FishDee today I note there are really excellent opportunities for sport available at Invery, with availability kindly donated to assist the River Dee Trust auction fund raising activities. There are 6 rods for 6 days available at the end of September which may be an excellent opportunity for someone to obtain a regular back end slot on a regular basis there. The revenue will all go to the River Dee Trust which is important as it funds the habitat improvement and environmental initiatives on the river. You can find more information at www.riverdee.org.uk about the River Dee Trust . I would urge anglers that are able to fish to get out to the river now and take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that currently exist whilst the season has a few weeks left to run. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org. Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee September 2008.
Last week An excellent weeks sport reported with 207 salmon and 37 sea trout caught during the past week. We have seen a new run of sea trout and the continuing pattern of really big salmon being encountered by anglers. Park reported 36 salmon for the week with fish of 28lbs and 30 lbs reported in their weekly catch. Congratulations to Mr Eastham and Mr Evans for returning their fish to the river carefully. Lower Crathes reported 26 fish, Ardoe 24, Aboyne Castle 14 fish and Crathie reporting 13 fish. Orvis from Banchory have advised they have an open day on Saturday 11th of October with many interesting activities taking place in Banchory. They have casting tuition provided by Ben Dixon, fly tying by Magnus Angus from fly fishing and fly tying magazine. There will also be gun dog training and jewellery manufacture for the ladies. Refreshments will be provided to visitors to what sounds like an excellent day out. Finally I would respectfully ask for all anglers to be very careful with the catch and release of their salmon as they will be on the redds at the end of October/november to produce another generation of Dee salmon for us all to admire and with luck catch. Please ensure you donít lift a salmon up by the tail or drag it up on sandy or rocky shores. It will significantly improve the fishís chances of spawning successfully if the fish is unhooked in the river by long nosed forceps, and the salmon is supported facing upstream until it is ready to be released. You will feel a pulsing and surging motion from the fish as you hold it, and that movement indicates it is time to be released. What pleasure you get seeing the fish swimming away strongly. Please observe and support the Dee Conservation Code and release all fish whether on the main river or a spawning tributary. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org.Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee September 2008. Beat catches reported |
| Week beginning 8th September | Dee Dee Prospects We should see the river settle after that recent mucky rises that have put a dampener on catches over the last few days. The fish are there in good numbers from the necks to the tails of pools and more and more fish will be found in the tails of pools over the next few weeks. Air temperatures are forecast to be in the region of 12-15 degrees Celsius with light southerly winds predicted which is nice autumnal weather, ideal for fishing, perhaps there may be some local showers with rain forecast for Thursday. Now the maritime forecast indicates huge tides, the biggest of the year, from 4.1 to 4.6 metres encouraging fresh fish off the tide. There is a large amount of big fish being observed in the river and these fish are becoming aggressive and responsive as numbers increase in the pools and water temperatures cool. The water levels have cooled down so heed your ghillies advise if you have one on fly selection, and if you do not have the service of a ghillies to call on then you could try using cascades, silver or copper Allyís shrimps, temple dogís or tube flyís at varying depths. The latter two patterns can produce strong takes from running fish who are coming into the pools, and more and more will be found towards the pool tails where spawning will occur in a few months time. A huge 35lb plus fish was taken from the tail of a middle Blackhall beat pool this morning on a sunken Allyís shrimp tube fished in the pool tail deeply so these tactics work. On looking at the availability section on fishdee today I note there are really excellent opportunities for sport available over the next few weeks with back end slots available right now through the fishdee booking facility. I would urge anglers that are able to fish to get out to the river now and take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that currently exist whilst the season has a few weeks left to run. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org.Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee September 2008.
Last week The reported catch of 142 fish from the river has indicated that fish are spread throughout the river from Blairs to Crathie. I note Park had 32 fish, Crathie 13, Lower Crathes 10, and Woodend had a good Saturday with 5 fish reported for the day. The catches started strongly but a peaty rise seemed to put the fish of over the last few days. The water will clear and fish will come back on the take again. Regular fishing guests at Park House and beat for many years, Mr Harry and Mr Paul Whitehouse and friends have been had some great sport with numerous salmon and a sea trout in during their stay. Mr Chris Johnson had a strong 22 lb fish in his catch so Television comedian Paul Whitehouse had fish to 22 lbs, and his father has fish as did party member Mr Daryl Ewer. Many regular Dee fisherman will be pleased to hear Mr Reid Hagelin, who runs the Global club of flyfishers trips to Deeside, and proprietor of No-Limits fishing tackle from Norway, was having an early cast at the rockheads pool at Middle Blackhall beat landed a 7 lb fish and returned promptly for another cast. He observed a great fish moving upstream into his pool tail where there was a tremendous wake. He cast his Allyís shrimp tube and this was taken by the fish, Some 25 minutes later Mr Hagelin returned safely a cock salmon of 115 cmís approximate weight 35 pounds plus. The fish was a strong dogged fish that recovered well and swam away leaving Mr Hagelin shaken somewhat by this awe inspiring encounter. And finally I would respectfully ask for all anglers to be very careful with the catch and release of their salmon as they will be on the redds soon to produce another generation of Dee salmon for us all to admire and with luck catch. Please ensure you donít lift a salmon up by the tail or drag it up on sandy or rocky shores. It will significantly improve the fishís chances of spawning successfully if the fish is unhooked in the river by long nosed forceps, and the salmon is supported facing upstream until it is ready to be release. You will feel a pulsing and surging motion from the fish as you hold it, and that movement indicates it is time to be released. What pleasure you get seeing the fish swimming away strongly. If your fish is deeply hooked please cut the leader and leave the hook or fly in the fish, itís better not attempt to extract a deeply embedded fly. Please observe and support the Dee code and release all fish whether main river or tributary. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org.Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee September 2008. Beat catches reported |
| Week beginning 1st September | Feugh - Grilse 5lb Dee Prospects Water has not been in short supply this summer and early autumn and it appears we are set for another week of rainfall with more rainfalls predicted. If these falls materialize then we may see a rising river with some slight colour. Temperatures are forecast to be in the region of 10-15 degrees Celsius with light southerly winds predicted. Tides are due to start rising again encouraging fresh fish off every tide now. There is a large amount of big fish being observed in the river and these fish are becoming aggressive and responsive as numbers increase in the pools and water temperatures cool. The water levels have cooled down so heed your ghillies advise if you have one on fly selection, and if you do not have the service of a ghillies to call on then you could try using cascades, Allyís shrimps, temple dogís with the option of worked German Sneldaís and Red Frances tube flyís. The latter two patterns can stimulate crunching takes from aggressive resident cock fish who are becoming territorial and will be found towards the pool tails where spawning will occur in a few months time. A huge fish was taken from the tail of a middle Blackhall beat pool this morning on a sunken Allyís shrimp tube fished in the pool tail deeply. On looking at the availability section on fishdee today I note there are really excellent opportunities for sport available over the next few weeks with back end slots available right now through the fishDee booking facility. I would urge anglers that are able to fish to get out to the river now and take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that currently exist whilst the season has a few weeks left to run. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org.Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee September 2008.
Last week Supplementary midweek report-I am delighted to receive the correspondence informing me of the tremendous sport the Dee is offering anglers at present and many thanks to all contributors for supplying their reports to me. Edward Humphrey, who very kindly produced the report in my absence last week reported ìFishing Aboyne Castle last week father and son, Martin & Alastair Gardner from Stonehaven, landed 6 salmon, 7 grilse and 1 sea trout with most caught on a size 12 silver stoat tail. Martin caught 3 on Wednesday and 5 on Thursday including a 12 pounder as he fished down behind his son as dusk fell. However, bragging rights will be shared, as although Martin caught most fish, Alastair had the largest at 16 lbs. At Dinnet, Marcus Humphrey landed two very fresh fish to 9 lbs also on a size 12 silver stoat, but on the same beat Ken Hillsden had 4 fish to 12 lbs, but on a cascadeî. Sean Stanton reported from Ballogie, Carlogie and Commonty ìJust a quick note to let you know about last week's fishing .We had a party from Lancashire, which is Peter Brown and guests, who were fishing Carlogie, Ballogie and Commonty. The total catch for the week was 20 salmon and 1 sea-trout, the largest of which were 22lb at Commonty (caught on Black Pot-Bellied Pig double) and 20lb again at Commonty (caught on a Monkey fly). Mark Tyndall landed 10 fish to his own rod and lost 9 others! These fishers have been coming for many years and this is one of their best weeks ever. Flies doing the business for us were Monkey flies, Sunray Shadows and Pot-Bellied Pigs. Regular fishing guests at Park House and beat for many years, Mr Harry and Mr Paul Whitehouse and friends have been having some great sport with 14 salmon and a sea trout in 2 days. Mr Chris Johnson had a strong 22 lb fish in his 6 fish catch so far. Television comedian Paul Whitehouse has also had 4 fish to 22 lbs, and his father has 2 fish as has party member Mr Daryl Ewer. They have the opportunity to produce a big total by the end of the week at Park as conditions are ideal. I wish them all the best as they are having a great trip and are in really good form according to Mr Cromar. And finally I have saved a great tale for last. At 6.45 am today, regular Dee fisherman Mr Reid Hagelin, who runs the Global club of flyfishers trips to Deeside, and is a proprietor of No-Limits fishing tackle from Norway, was having an early cast at the rockheads pool at Middle Blackhall beat landed a 7 lb fish and returned promptly for another cast. He observed a great fish moving upstream into his pool tail where there was a tremendous wake. He cast his Allys shrimp tube and this was taken by the fish, Some 25 minutes later Mr Hagelin returned safely a cock salmon of 115 cmís approximate weight 35 pounds plus. The fish was a strong dogged fish that recovered well and swam away leaving Mr Hagelin shaken somewhat by this awe inspiring encounter. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org.Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee September 2008. Beat catches reported |
| Week beginning 25th August | Feugh - Grilse 4lb & 6lb. Dee Prospects The heat and warmth have disappeared today to be replaced by much fresher, cooler and showery weather conditions. With quite heavy rain forecast for Wednesday river levels should be boosted and kept at an excellent fishing height. I hope the change in atmospheric conditions will make the fish more ameanable to taking flies and as usual I suggest the old favourites are tried again, Silver Stoat, Ally Shrimp etc before delving deeper into the fly box, but if you have a ghillie listen carefully to his advice. Let's hope for a cracking start to September.
Last week Ken Reid predicted a bumper catch last week and while 120 in August is not to be sniffed at something definately turned the fish off as the river has plenty of fish, running through I grant you, but still showing in the whole length in good numbers. This is very trying for anglers as they plop around without showing any interest in the flies on offer but anglers on Park 35, Altries 10, Crathie 10 and Crathies 9 will not complain with their success. I wonder if the rise in atmospheric pressure took them off the take. Perhaps I should mention the five fish taken on Upper Dess as Board Chairman, Ian Scott, was fishing the beat and accounted for at least two, due reward for a very hard working (fishing) chairman! So far August has a total of 856 fish recorded on the website against a five year average of 534 and while the river has benefitted from good water levels it is still encouraging to see good numbers of fish both in the river and being caught. Sea trout are a different story, not only in the Dee but all over the UK and I know the Dee District Board are reviewing conservation measures for next season. Beat catches reported
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| Week beginning 18th August | Feugh Dee Recent Catches We had another bumper week for catches on the Dee this week with reported totals standing at 255 salmon which is in line with last week total and signifies the continuance of the main grilse runs, and as a bonus we have had many nice Multi sea winter salmon to 25 lbs showing in the returns most days. Notable successes have been reported from the following beats, Lower Crathes 29,Park 28,Crathie 22,Altries21, Banchory16, and Crathes 15.There will have been a great many delighted anglers on Deeside again. I received a call from David Gibbon the very experienced Middle Blackhall Ghillie who advisd that he had visitors from Norway.One of his anglers Mr Eivind Fossheim, who is an editor of a Norwegian fishing magazine, caught a lovely 15 lb salmon on a silver shrimp fly.The fish was caught on a 9 foot fly rod which would have been a very exciting contest for Mr Fossheim;he also captured a 3 lb grilse on the morning of his departure.It was a successful visit and hopefully we shall have more of the river Dee’s fame being written about in the Norwegian fishing media, encouraging more friendly Norwegian visitors to our valley.Col Campbell also passed on this feedback from a recent visitor “Back home now and had time to reflect on our tremendous week, looking through my fishing diary, the week was my best in 35 years of salmon angling. My total poundage of fish caught 177lbs giving an average of 11.8lbs per fish. I suspect that would take some beating on the Kola Peninsula, even if I could afford it. Steve caught his biggest UK salmon. I have never had two 20lb salmon in season before never mind two in day and three for the week.A great week for records. Bill and Maralyn gained much from the experience and are looking forward to returning next year”. I am very grateful having received a message from regular Trout and Salmon columnist Mr. Neil Stephenson who wrote the following paragraph;”My very good friend and regular fishing partner, Dr Bob Oram, was fishing Maryculter this afternoon in the pouring rain with the river rising and becoming darker with each passing minute. One last go, he thought. On went a large Eumer tube with the cone already part of the body and tied as a Willie Gunn. Fishing in the quietest water at the bottom of the highbank pool something took hold - 25mins later and in heavy water, he landed a tide-fresh 20lb salmon. The fish took a few extra minutes to land due to his rod snapping as he guided it over the waiting net, still the ending was a happy one and I'm sure the day became considerably brighter and warmer; moral of the story: even in high water - never give up; never surrender.” Finally I received a call from Alec Coutts to advise that 3 young teenage anglers fishing with Brigadier Robin Middleton’s party at Aboyne Castle and Waterside and Ferrar caught their first ever salmon. Congratulations go to Ollie and Jemima Middleton and Henry Webster. The party caught 6 Grilse and 2 Salmon during their stay. On looking at the availability section on FishDee today I noted there is still excellent availability on Dee beats right now. These river is seeing good numbers of fish entering right now and I would urge anglers that are able to fish to get out to the river now and take advantage of the excellent conditions and availability that exist. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org. Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee August 2008. Prospects This week looks like it may produce the biggest catches for the season with the forecast looking to be a lot kinder than last week’s. We have bright days with good visibility and little precipitation forecast and nice air temperatures between 14 and 18 degrees Celsius. The maritime influence indicates that fish will be keen to run on the rising tides with tidal peaks forecast to be from 3.8 meters to 4.3 meters during the course of the week. Persistence with tactics that have worked during the last couple of weeks still appears to be the best route to success. Tactics reported indicate that floating lines with flies between 6 and 12 are producing good catches and the successful patterns are the ever popular Ally’s shrimp patterns, silver stoats tail, sunray shadow and pot bellied pigs. Please ensure you seek the advice of your ghillies if you have one as he knows how best to capitalize on this summer salmon bonanza right now. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org. Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee August 2008. |
| Week beginning 11th August | Ythan I will send a picture and a story of the one that didnt get away over the weekend. Still drying out the camera as I waded a bit too deep !! Managed to get a small grilse but amazed at how many fish were in Alfreds pot. One angler from Tilbouries side got two in the morning, ( cant remember his name but is also in the association and was standing in for Wullie) He took me down the pool and I managed to get a grilse. The other side had three between them , largest 20lb. Also had a pull from a larger fish at the Larches. Hopefully get a pic etc for you over the weekend.
Picture shows Brandon with his first fish from the Loch and Craig with his second. Our 2 newest junior members. Dee Prospects Last week I predicted that everything seemed to be in place for a bumper week and I feel that this is also the case for this coming week. We have average daily air temperatures forecast at 15 degrees Celsius, with light winds from the north to start with, later veering south east by the weekend. There are showers forecast on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with heavy rain forecast for Tuesday and Thursday. Providing this forecast rain isn't too heavy we should see good water levels being maintained throughout the week and hopefully some great catches. We also have spring tides of 4.2 metres rising to 4.4 metres midweek which will drop back to 4.2 metres by Saturday. These big tides will allow easy access for salmon running into the river from the sea all week. The patterns reportedly doing well are silver bodied Allyís shrimps, cascades, Willie and Georgie Gunns, and the ever popular silver stoatís tail. As the water temperatures are cooling from summer highs and very fresh fish are pouring into the river then the sizes reportedly being used are between size 6 and 12 depending on water height and clarity. Make sure you consult your ghillie though as he knows best about what you should use on his specific beat during your visit. Full floating lines are ideal and some advocate using a short 5 foot poly leader on the end of the floating flyline just to get the fly down a couple of inches further under the surface of the river. As there are large numbers of fish arriving there will be more anglers fishing on the river as a result of the significant runs arriving. It is worth remembering some of the nice courtesies that anglers observe and if you are a newcomer it pays to adopt these principles as best practice. If you are fishing a beat without a ghillie then never start fishing in front of a rod on the opposite bank, ensure you are at least 100 yards behind him when commencing. Please make a point of greeting your fellow anglers as a courtesy as it means you can make arrangements to ensure you both have an enjoyable days fishing. It is also important to take a step down river every cast and do not stop and linger at one spot .This ensures that both banks can cover pools properly without causing either side any difficulties. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org. Tight lines, Ken Reid @ FishDee August 2008.
Last week We had a bumper week for catches on the Dee this week with reported totals standing at 257 fish, which is the best weeks total for the season so far and signifies a good continuation of the main grilse runs. As a bonus there were some nice multi sea winter salmon of up to 25 lbs being caught on quite a few days. Now a snap shot of results from beats show that Altries reported 35 fish, Park reported 27 fish, Cairnton 25 fish, Banchory 24 fish, Lower Crathes 19 fish, Carlogie, 18 and Borrowstone 16. Some great stories of catches have been reported and I shall start with a first ever salmon. Visiting angler Mr Duncan Egan was able to let his son have some fishing at Banchory last Monday and Tuesday. His son, Master Alexander Egan, 9 years of age, under the guidance of expert ghillie Water Raitt captured his first fish a salmon of approximately 5 lbs, caught on an orange flamethrower a fly which was designed by his father. Many congratulations to both father and son and I am sure Alexander will be hooked on fishing after his first exciting capture. I visited the Smith party earlier in the week at Altries where they were having a real bonanza and was delighted to hear Mr Smith had taken 6 fish to 25 lbs by Tuesday afternoon. I hope to report next week the final totals from the successful visiting party. By any standards 35 fish between 4 rods for the week is first class fishing so I am sure they departed Deeside on a real high. I met Mr Edwin Whyte at Kincardine OíNeil and was delighted to hear he had take 4 fish during a hectic spell of activity on Tuesday and had lost many more. He reported that the Georgie Gunn fly was doing extremely well and I am sure Edwin would have taken quite a few more fish by the end of the week. As always if you have any interesting stories and photographs of catches to share then please contact me by e-mail at ken@riverdee.org. Tight lines, Ken Reid © FishDee August 2008. Beat catches reported
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