|
Post by Mon The Flee on Aug 13, 2012 11:49:03 GMT
Recent Catches A better week for anglers fishing the Dee last week with FishDee beats reporting 221 salmon and 30 sea trout as I write. As I suspected the lower beats saw decent action with sport still being enjoyed all the way to the top of the river system. Park had a cracking week with 62 salmon and grilse where the Ghillies must have been running about like ‘dancing nuns on roller blades’ as seen in the Olympics closing ceremony last night; they certainly weren’t idle. Altries and Birse reported 15 each, Ballogie had 14, Kincardine 11 and Tilbouries and Lower Crathes also into double figures. There were continued runs of grilse and good sized summer salmon. Some grilse have been very small with fish of just over 1lb being landed. The very bottom beats have yet to get stocks of residents and fish appear to be sprinting upriver in a manner more reminiscent of Usain Bolt; much to the Ghillies disappointment. Lower water conditions should hopefully encourage fish to slow down and fill the lower beats. I spoke to Keith Cromar, Park Estates Head Ghillie this morning who enjoyed a quiet Sunday after the frenetic activity of last week. Keith commented ‘We had a fantastic start to the week with good runs of fish entering the beat. Anglers worked hard and were rewarded with their efforts. Colin McLean had 10 salmon to 20lbs for his two days; Craig Corbett had 9 for 3 days. River Dee regulars Jim Coates and Ron Low also had a couple each. We had a mixture of sea liced salmon and grilse where we had quite a few salmon between 15-20lbs with grilse down to 1lb in weight. Successful flies were the Park Shrimp and Gruinard Shrimp with the Black Frances accounting for a few; the Park Shrimp did very well.’ I also chatted to Kevin Fleming the Ghillie at Altries and Lower Drum this morning who advised ‘The Tony Smith party enjoyed some good sport at times but also lost quite a number, with 15 salmon and grilse landed and 11 lost. We had a mixture of grilse and summer salmon up to 18lbs.The yellow Ally’s Shrimp did well, as did the Monkey fly when the water was bigger at the start of the week.’ I was delighted to hear that the beat is fully let until the end of the season and I hope good sport continues there for visiting rods. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/IMGP0084.jpgCraigendinnie Ghillie George Murray helps a lady angler with her catch I was delighted to receive a few e-mails this week. Firstly, Bill Palmer, the beat Ghillie from Borrowston wrote advising ‘Dear Ken, This is the photo of Mr. Chris Coltart. This is the first salmon that he has caught and it weighed 28 lbs. He caught it on an executioner (one of my interpretations) at Mid Hole. He also had another take in the same pool and the fish looked about the same size, unfortunately this one got away. If there is anything else you need to know just get in touch with me. After speaking to you this morning I saw a lot of fish moving about and running. The man who was fishing the opposite bank said there were a lot of fish in the flats, but they were not looking at anything.’ When I visited the beat I did see a lot of fish leaping about and this is a big fish beat with great holding water. I also received an e-mail from Jonathon Woodcock commenting ‘Ken, Last week my family took a week at Craigendinnie. I had fished for 3 days prior to this but my wife and daughter had never fished. We had a fantastic week guided by the beat Ghillie George Murray who was a real star and between four of us we caught 6 Salmon between 6 and 9 pounds, and a sea trout. I attach a few photographs. We had a fantastic week and will be back again.’ George Murray is a delightful Ghillie who is a great ambassador for Craigendinnie. Tom Lumley enthused about his fishing experience at Park advising ‘Keith Cromar was just fantastic - his enthusiasm and professionalism was just amazing, he is an example to all other Ghillies - he went beyond the call of duty to get me a fish, he noticed I wasn't enjoying one particular beat, and moved me around to get me a fish, which I did.’ i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/chriscoltart.jpgChris Coltart with his first salmon at Borrowston There are a lot of visitors in Deeside at present and we sometimes can have an isolated incident of people fishing without permission. I would urge anyone noticing any suspicious activity to contact the River Office on 013398 80411 which is manned 24 hours per day to deal with such incidents. Visiting anglers to the river will see enhanced bio security measures in place as all beats have had disinfection kits provided. Anglers will need to follow the beat Ghillies instructions on disinfection, which will only take a minimal period to carry out. 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 23:21 on Mon 6th Aug 2012 SALMON & GRILSE: Culter 2, Altries and Lower Drum 15, Middle Drum 2, Tilbouries 10, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 9, Park 62, Lower Crathes and W Durris 10, Knappach 1, Crathes 7, Lower Blackhall 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 3, Cairnton 8, Woodend 2, Commonty 6, Sluie 5, Ballogie 14, Borrowston 3, Kincardine 11, Dess 7, Birse 15, Aboyne Water 8, Aboyne Castle 3, Craigendinnie 4, Dinnet 2, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 2, Crathie 7, Heughhead 2, Total 221 SEA TROUT: Altries and Lower Drum 1, Tilbouries 1, Crathes 2, Lower Blackhall 3, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1, Commonty 3, Sluie 1, Ballogie 2, Kincardine 1, Dess 6, Birse 2, Aboyne Water 2, Craigendinnie 1, Dinnet 1, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 1, Crathie 2, Total 30 Prospects With the Sepa gauges running at 5 inches at Mar Lodge and 10 inches at Park we have low water conditions for visiting anglers commencing their fishing today. This is the lowest the river has been since April. Will this last? It is looking doubtful with a number of weather reports suggesting some rainfall during the week. Some forecasters are predicting a risk of thundershowers with high humidity during the week. If we get thundershowers we could get a lift in river levels but to what degree will depend on the amount of localised precipitation that falls on the river catchment. It should be a mild week with temperature maxima around 19 degrees Celsius and overnight lows staying above 10 degrees Celsius. The maritime influence shows tides building through the week from 3.4 metres to 4.4 metres which should bring new runs of salmon into the river. Prospects look pretty reasonable for sport and a small lift in river levels later in the week will set us up nicely for the following week. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/IMGP0123.jpgGeorge Murray helps another successful angler in Jonathon Woodcock’s party As always listen to the advice offered by your Ghillie whilst fishing the pools on your beat. The River Dee Ghillies know their beat intimately and will help in no small way to increase your catch if you heed their advice. They will advise on fly choice, presentation, where to concentrate on fishing and at what depth. If you don't have the services of a Ghillie you would be advised to fish with a full floater with or without a sink tip and leader of perhaps 8 foot plus in low water conditions. Flies with a touch of red are starting to produce catches with river fish responding to more autumnal coloured flies. Fly choice, sizes 10 to 14 will do nicely, which could include the following popular Dee flies; Park shrimp, Cascade variants including the Ness C, black Frances and the yellow or orange Ally’s shrimp. If you need to stock up on flies you can visit Somers in Aberdeen, Orvis in Banchory, Kincardine O'Neil Post Office, Strachan's of Aboyne and Countrywear in Ballater where you will find a good selection of Dee flies at good prices. You can also purchase the 2012 Dalmore Dee Dram fundraising whisky from Strachan’s of Aboyne who have just received a new delivery. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/IMGP0057.jpgAnother successful lady angler at Craigendinnie There are a lot of visitors in Deeside at present and we sometimes can have an isolated incident of people fishing without permission. I would urge anyone noticing any suspicious activity to contact the River Office on 013398 80411 which is manned 24 hours per day to deal with such incidents. Visiting anglers to the river will see enhanced bio security measures in place as all beats have had disinfection kits provided. Anglers will need to follow the beat Ghillies instructions on disinfection, which will only take a minimal period to carry out. 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 Regards Ken www.salmonatlas.com/forums/images/misc/progress.gifKen Reid, Fisheries Development Officer DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA D +44 (0) 13398 80411 M +44 (0) 7979 878971 E-Mail ken@riverdee.org www.riverdee.org and www.fishdee.co.ukRiver Dee Trust Registered Charity No SC028497
|
|
|
Post by Mon The Flee on Aug 22, 2012 13:56:50 GMT
Recent Catches Having just arrived back in the UK after a trip to Barcelona I was informed by some river contacts that things had been a bit Messi last week on the river. At times sport was out of this world and at other times the river was dark and seemingly dispirited, with salmon seemingly as difficult to capture as a refugee at a London Embassy! The culprit was the great British weather which as always can be quite unreliable. I wrote last week hoping that we would get a rise of river levels towards the end of the week to set us up nicely for this coming week. Inclement conditions saw the river levels rising on 4 separate days during the last week; never ideal for great salmon fishing. FishDee beats have reported as I write 181 salmon to 20lbs and 30 sea trout to 8lbs-the largest reported from the river this season. Park reported 29 salmon, Carlogie 16, Heughhead on the Feugh 15; a super week with Cairnton and Ballogie 14 each. Catches were again a mixture of nice summer salmon and grilse. I received an e-mail from Alex and Kathleen Brown at Heughhead on the River Feugh which I wanted to share, as it highlights what a great resource the FishDee website is for those that use it. Alex and Kathleen advised ‘Good Morning Ken, just a quick word about a new customer we had fishing on Saturday. Graham Bruce, from Fife, booked through FishPal on Friday afternoon and travelled up on Saturday with his friend John, and after a late start as the river was still quite high after Friday morning's rain, they managed to catch (and release) a total of 7 salmon between them, ranging from 2 small grilse to a 10lb fish which is the biggest we have had off the beat this season. That took the beat's total for the week up to 15 salmon and 5 sea trout, obviously helped by large spates on Tuesday and Thursday and that smaller one on Friday/Saturday. This was by far our best week since we started managing the beat. Hope things are well with you, Alex & Kath’ I am sure John and Graham travelled back to Fife thoroughly delighted by their visit to this nice fishing beat. I received an e-mail from Mr. John Walne about a recent trip to Birse. Mr. Walne commented ‘Should have emailed you weeks ago but things kept getting in the way. Thought I would just let you know how very much I enjoyed 3 days on Birse back in July. It`s many years since I last fished the Dee (Tweed is nearer home) but 25years ago I caught my best ever salmon (25lb Springer) on the Bruach Pool at Dinnet, so for old times’ sake I decided to treat myself to a trip down memory lane. I hadn`t fished Birse before and arrived (12th July) as it was starting to fine off after heavy rain on the 10th. First morning - a very nice 12lb fish from Irrigation Pool; Doug Murray netted it for me, he`s a great character. Second morning a 7lb fish from Trees Pool and third morning a nice sea trout from Red Rock and in the afternoon lost a cracking fish on Belwade Pool. The river was improving steadily and if I remember right the total bag that week was 26 salmon and about 12 sea trout. Doug Murray was most helpful and friendly, especially on the first day as I was the only rod to score, and he keeps the hut so well stocked and immaculate. By coincidence I booked B&B at Dinnet House so there was much reminiscing about times past - Marcus and Sabrina Humphrey rooted out their old 1987 record book to confirm the date of my prize catch and Marcus even took me down and invited me to wet a line on Bruach Pool - what wonderful hospitality. Having reconnected with your lovely river I hope to return next season - trouble is I`m getting a bit long in the tooth and at 77, three full days solid fishing is becoming more of a challenge so must find someone to share a rod. I`m only a lad compared to Doug at 83! I see from your fishing reports you like to hear how visiting rods get on so here`s one who went away very happy. Best wishes, John Walne, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.’ As so many people remark that their week at Birse is made so special with Doug Murray holding court. It was also pleasing to see that Birse reported the capture of an 8lb sea trout by Mr. Gibson. Mr. Albert Sutherland from Fraserburgh dropped me a line advising about a productive trip to Park where he caught 4 salmon.’ My First fish 15lb 11.20 main hut down to pylons beat 4, on home tied size 10 gold Willie Gunn. Three others of 5lb, 10lb, and 20lb all taken between 5 and 7 pm on the same home tied Gold Willie Gunn tied the night before! I was fishing on my first visit to Park with my friend Stephen Hadden who got one at 14lb. ( I took his photo that is on your web page) 6 rods North bank produced 7 fish total and 2 on the South bank. Big thanks to Keith the Gillie who was so helpful and more or less promised the fish.’ As always heed the wise advice from your knowledgeable Ghillie. River Dee Trust director Jim Coates reported he had a grilse, a sea trout and a cracking 15lb sea liced salmon at Ballogie which made a bit of a mess of his Park Shrimp. Jim advises ‘What a great little hook to hang on to such a strong fish. It’s worth paying for good quality flies.’ i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/AlbertSutherland.jpgAlbert Sutherland with a fine Dee summer salmon There are a lot of visitors in Deeside at present and we sometimes can have an isolated incident of people fishing without permission. I would urge anyone noticing any suspicious activity to contact the River Office on 013398 80411 which is manned 24 hours per day to deal with such incidents. Visiting anglers to the river will see enhanced bio security measures in place as all beats have had disinfection kits provided. Anglers will need to follow the beat Ghillies instructions on disinfection, which will only take a minimal period to carry out. 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 18th August) SALMON & GRILSE: Culter 1, Altries and Lower Drum 3, Middle Drum 1, Tilbouries 8, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 7, Park 29, Lower Crathes and W Durris 12, Crathes 5, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 3, Cairnton 14, Woodend 3, Commonty 4, Sluie 9, Ballogie 14, Borrowston 2, Kincardine 2, Carlogie 16, Dess 3, Birse 9, Aboyne Water 2, Craigendinnie 7, Dinnet 2, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 3, Crathie 6, Mar Lodge Estate 1, Heughhead 15. Total: 181 Largest: Dess 20lbs SEA TROUT: Park 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 2, Sluie 2, Borrowston 2, Carlogie 4, Dess 2, Birse 3, Aboyne Castle 1, Craigendinnie 3, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 4, Crathie 1, Heughhead 5. Total: 30 Largest: Birse 8lbs Prospects Conditions on the river could be unsettled at times with forecasters suggesting a strong possibility of some heavy thunder showers and persistent rain through the forthcoming week. Air temperature maxima will be around 20 degrees Celsius and dropping back during the course of the week to cooler more seasonable conditions. Winds may light and variable with the chance of blustery conditions at times. The maritime influence sees tides dropping back from 4 .5 metres to 3.6 metres. The river is at a good fishing height today with the Sepa gauges running between 7 inches at Mar Lodge and 1 ft 4 inches at Park. Fresh fish will be coming off every tide and making their way into the river with good summer fish being reported and smaller grilse. As always listen to the advice offered by your Ghillie whilst fishing the pools on your beat. The River Dee Ghillies know their beat intimately and will help in no small way to increase your catch if you heed their advice. They will advise on fly choice, presentation, where to concentrate on fishing and at what depth. If you don't have the services of a Ghillie you would be advised to fish with a full floater with or without a sink tip and leader of perhaps 8 foot plus in low water conditions. Flies with a touch of red are starting to produce catches with river fish responding to more autumnal coloured flies. If the river rises don’t be wary about fishing a small tube fly, cone head, pot bellied pig or a Dee Monkey. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/MadsPedersen.jpgA cracking summer fish at Culter with Ghillie Mads Pedersen reporting great opportunities for sport are available at the beat Fly choice, sizes 10 to 14 will do nicely in lower flows, which could include the following popular Dee flies; Park shrimp, Cascade variants including the Ness C, black Frances, the yellow or orange Ally’s shrimp and Duncan Egan’s Flamethrower range. If you need to stock up on flies you can visit Somers in Aberdeen, Orvis in Banchory, Kincardine O'Neil Post Office, Strachan's of Aboyne and Countrywear in Ballater where you will find a good selection of Dee flies at good prices. You can also purchase the 2012 Dalmore Dee Dram fundraising whisky from Strachan’s of Aboyne who have just received a new delivery. There are a lot of visitors in Deeside at present and we sometimes can have an isolated incident of people fishing without permission. I would urge anyone noticing any suspicious activity to contact the River Office on 013398 80411 which is manned 24 hours per day to deal with such incidents. Visiting anglers to the river will see enhanced bio security measures in place as all beats have had disinfection kits provided. Anglers will need to follow the beat Ghillies instructions on disinfection, which will only take a minimal period to carry out. 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 Regards Ken Ken Reid, Fisheries Development Officer DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA D +44 (0) 13398 80411 M +44 (0) 7979 878971 E-Mail ken@riverdee.org www.riverdee.org and www.fishdee.co.ukRiver Dee Trust Registered Charity No SC028497
|
|
|
Post by Mon The Flee on Aug 27, 2012 18:02:01 GMT
s report FishDee beats have reported 235 salmon to 28lbs and 22 sea trout. Fishing was a bit of a mixed bag at times with good sport if you were in the right place at the right time. Park reported 43 salmon, Culter 23, Lower Invercauld and Monaltrie, Lower Crathes and Tilbouries 13 apiece; Crathie and Crathes beats reported 11 each. There were smaller runs of new fish coming forward later in the week but some good runs of grilse at the beginning of the week. Tides are building this week and a fair bit of rain is forecast so we should see some good runs of new fish coming forward as the late running fish do usually come in good numbers as we head into September. As always the fish have the final say on this and we do hope we get good runs coming forward to delight visiting anglers over the next few weeks as we head towards the end of the 2012 fishing season. There are still plenty of rods available on FishDee with prime autumn beats like Park and Lower Crathes both having rods available now. I spoke to Park Ghillies Keith Cromar and Bert Webster to get some information about the weeks fishing. Keith advised it was a bit of a mixed bag with some anglers doing well at times. He advised Mr Crawford had 3 for his day and Mr Law had 4 for his day; with a small red Ally’s shrimp doing very well. There was a good 42 inch long salmon, estimated at 28lbs landed on Park South by Mr John Kane from Ayrshire. This fish was hooked in Bulwarks and landed down beside the Sheeoch burn some 40 minutes later. Mr Kane had 10 fish during his 3 day visit from a 2lb Grilse to this cracking 28lb cock salmon. All the fish were taken on a size 13 orange Flamethrower pattern; this popular design was created by Duncan Egan and is a highly successful fly. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/DSC00352.jpgA good Dee summer fish Mads Pedersen provided a report from Culter where there were 23 fresh salmon reported. He advised that Stephen Farquhar enjoyed a red letter day on Friday with 6 salmon landed and 3 lost to his own rod. They only had 2 rods fishing each day last week so the catch of 23 was a good return for the amount of rod effort. The beat has good stocks of new fish which should continue to provide decent sport to rods that have booked to fish there. Kathleen Brown provided some feedback from Heughhead on the Feugh advising ‘Here are a couple of pictures of brothers Stan and Geo Youngson who fished with us on Monday and Tuesday and had a total of four Salmon to 10lbs. Stanley said ‘Thanks for a momentous time on a fantastic sporting fishing beat, I am sure we will see you again next season.’ Another customer, Douglas Cameron also had a salmon on Tuesday but I have no more details of it at the moment.’ This productive beat saw 9 salmon reported for the week and offers excellent value for money. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/GeoYoungsonSalmon20_8_12.jpgGeorge Youngson with a small summer salmon at Heughhead I managed to secure a rod with a fishing friend Stuart Buchan on Saturday at Birse where we were well looked after by Birse Ghillie Doug Murray. It’s one of my personal favourites as it offers a good variety of fly fishing water and provides opportunities at times for big fish. I fished a little in the morning in Lummels and had a few casts in Irrigation with no success other than a pull to a Monkey fly fished at the tail of the Lummels pool. Lunchtime saw all the rods gather at the hut for a chat and refreshment. Stuart and I were allocated the bottom half of the beat in the afternoon and went downriver seeking some action. I must confess that I took 40 winks beside Belwade and woke an hour later ready to have a cast. I waded into the neck of the pool and checked my set-up; on the business end, a lovely size 13 Maggie’s shrimp tied by Ross Macdonald-a super fly. I had a feeling of Déjà vu when my first cast saw a beautiful silver ten pound salmon nail the fly. I had a similar experience in Belwade in April when a fish took first cast. I was thrilled to catch such a lovely fresh fish which gave a good scrap before being landed and returned to the river safely. My friend Stuart was also successful in Red Brae with a 5 lb cock fish that was just starting to colour up. Now we shall see the stocks in the river increase steadily until the end of the season and there is a chance of hooking a fish from 1lb to perhaps over 40lbs. Anglers will need to ensure their tackle is sound, and strong enough to withstand an encounter with a big fish. Large cock fish do become aggressive in late summer. Anglers will need to follow the beat Ghillies instructions on disinfection, which will only take a minimal period to carry out. 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 SALMON & GRILSE: Kingcausie 2, Culter 23, Altries and Lower Drum 7, Middle Drum 5, Tilbouries 13, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 10, Park 43, Lower Crathes and W Durris 13, Crathes 11, Invery 5, Middle Blackhall 3, Cairnton 10, Woodend 2, Commonty 12, Sluie 6, Ballogie 3, Borrowston 3, Kincardine 4, Carlogie 6, Dess 3, Birse 6, Aboyne Water 2, Craigendinnie 5, Dinnet 1, Headinch and Cambus O'May 1, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 13, Birkhall 3, Crathie 11, Heughhead 9, Total 235 SEA TROUT: Upper Drum and Lower Durris 2, Park 1, Cairnton 1, Commonty 1, Ballogie 1, Kincardine 1, Dess 3, Craigendinnie 5, Waterside and Ferrar 1, Dinnet 1, Headinch and Cambus O'May 2, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 2, Heughhead 1, Total 22 Prospects With Tropical Storm Isaac lashing Florida we are not short of wild weather conditions on Deeside as I write this report. Aberdeen saw an inch of rain fall in 30 minutes on Saturday causing no end of problems in the city. We are in for a spell of wild weather with heavy rain and gale force winds forecast for the next day or so. There will be continued showers during the week with really blustery winds interspersed with sunny intervals and some warmth when the sun makes an appearance. An air temperature maximum is forecast to be around 19 or 20 degrees Celsius this week. The maritime influence sees tides building through the week from 3.7 metres to 4.5 metres which should encourage good runs of summer salmon and grilse to come into the catchment. River levels are currently sitting between 7 inches at Mar Lodge and 1 foot 2 inches at Park. There is every possibility we could have a big coloured river if the forecast is accurate. As always listen to the advice offered by your Ghillie whilst fishing the pools on your beat. The River Dee Ghillies know their beat intimately and will help in no small way to increase your catch if you heed their advice. They will advise on fly choice, presentation, where to concentrate on fishing and at what depth. If you don't have the services of a Ghillie you would be advised to fish with a full floater with or without a sink tip and leader of perhaps 8 foot plus in low water conditions. Flies with a touch of red are starting to produce catches with river fish responding to more autumnal coloured flies. If the river rises don’t be wary about fishing a small tube fly, cone head, pot bellied pig or Dee Monkey. Fly choice, sizes 10 to 14 will do nicely in lower flows, which could include the following popular Dee flies; Park shrimp, Cascade variants including the Ness C, black Frances, the yellow or orange Ally’s shrimp and Duncan Egan’s Flamethrower range. If you need to stock up on flies you can visit Somers in Aberdeen, Orvis in Banchory, Kincardine O'Neil Post Office, Strachan's of Aboyne and Countrywear in Ballater where you will find a good selection of Dee flies at good prices. You can also purchase the 2012 Dalmore Dee Dram fundraising whisky from Strachan’s of Aboyne who have just received a new delivery. As a special offer B&B accommodation can be obtained for £55 per night from the following hotels for stays of 3 nights or more with groups of 3 anglers or more; Tor Na Coille Hotel, Raemoir House Hotel, Banchory Lodge Hotel & Loch Kinord. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/malcolmbirthdayfish005.jpgAn example of a big summer salmon that can run the river in late summer-Lower Crathes saw this one landed by Malcolm Tocher pictured with Ghillie Robert Harper Visiting anglers to the river will see enhanced bio security measures in place as all beats have had disinfection kits provided. Anglers will need to follow the beat Ghillies instructions on disinfection, which will only take a minimal period to carry out. 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 Regards Ken Ken Reid, Fisheries Development Officer DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA D +44 (0) 13398 80411 M +44 (0) 7979 878971 E-Mail ken@riverdee.org www.riverdee.org and www.fishdee.co.ukRiver Dee Trust Registered Charity No SC028497
|
|
|
Post by Mon The Flee on Sept 3, 2012 13:54:04 GMT
Recent Catches A pretty decent week overall for FishDee beats with 295 salmon to 25lbs reported and 27 sea trout. There were some good days during the week which was somewhat hampered by a large flood on Tuesday and another rise on Thursday. This coincided with high tides which encouraged a good run of new fish into the river. Park reported 43 salmon and grilse, Lower Crathes 22, Crathie 18, Aboyne Castle 16, Tilbouries and Culter 14 each with quite a few other beats into double figures. Nick Armstead from Edinburgh landed the 25 lb salmon at Park which was reported as being in excellent condition. Bookings through the FishDee website have also been excellent with close to 3,500 rods let for the season. The season to date catch is approaching 5,000 salmon & grilse for FishDee beats and prospects for the remaining few weeks of the season look ideal with a good head of fish throughout the whole river catchment and plenty of good summer salmon coming forward. Willie Falconer wrote about his experience at Park on Saturday on FishDee’s Facebook page, which was quite eventful advising 'Just had a great day at Park. Charlie was on form as ever, had a great laugh with Jim, Mike and another guy, I don't know name and a lovely couple from Sweden; sorry I meant Denmark, they will get the joke. Anyway started fishing - wind blowing - water up, and to make it even harder there was a seal chasing the fish, it even swam up to me with a lovely silver grilse in its mouth. Keith and co' managed to chase it downstream so I bet it went to see Willie Banks. After lunch the wind got up a bit and the rain started, around 5pm it settled and after having changed my fly for the 20th time, and had a discussion with another fisherman who thought it would be alright to push in front of me as he was fishing the other bank and thought north bank had priority over south; he didn't expect me to cast all the way to his side. I pushed past him and within two casts bang a lovely 13lb fresh fish covered in sea lice. It took a black and yellow monkey tube. After taking care to put the fish back I fell climbing the bank ripping my waders and snapping my rod. Never mind the memories of the fight took over. I went back to the car and got my sea trout single hand rod and back into the same spot, bang again another fresh fish this time slight smaller, what a fight with an 11 foot rod. Days like this will stay with me forever.' Just a reminder to anglers & Ghillies if they see anything that looks out of place in the river whether on 2/4 legs, finned, feline or with flippers, to please call the river office on 013398 80411 to make your report. Fiona Martin wrote from Glen Tanar advising 'Georg Reutter whose fishing party have been on the beat for the week commented. 'We were staying at Birkelunn this week for some walked up grouse shooting, stalking and of course fishing the lovely Headinch and Cambus O'May beat. With a good amount of rain at the beginning of the week, the river was fishing well for most of the week. We had several first time fishermen and women in our group and it was great that two of them (William Shirley from Norfolk and Benedikt Traun from Austria) were able to land their first ever salmon. By Friday we had caught 4 fish in total with the biggest coming in at 13lb.We caught all our fish on the Ally's shrimp fly which proved to be very effective for both the larger resident salmon we caught but also a couple of clean grilse that had made the long run up to the upper Dee in quick time. With the week not over yet we are optimistic that we might yet have some good fishing today and Saturday.' I wonder if they managed a MacNab? Alec Coutts dropped me a note about sport at Aboyne Castle last week advising 'Kenneth Carruthers party had a good week on Aboyne Castle with 16 salmon and grilse plus a sea trout. Kenneth caught 6 and the sea trout. Guest Alex Robertson caught his first salmon and finished with 3 for his day on Monday. Also a first fish for Colin Shand with grilse of 3 and 5 lbs, a converted trout fisherman! David Robinson had 3 and John Grandison one. Cascades, Park Shrimps and Sunray Shadows were doing the business for the party. We had our 100th fish for the season on Friday.' The Aboyne Castle beat is well managed by expert Ghillie Alec Coutts who is much revered for his knowledge and good humour. Lower Crathes Head Ghillie Robert Harper advised me this morning 'We had a really good week for the 3 rods fishing with 22 salmon and grilse landed by anglers. Lewis Gray had 10 to his own rod with brother Jim having a couple, James Watt had 3 of 10, 7 and 22lbs. River Dee Board Chairman Ian Scott a fish and visitor Jim Reid had 2 fish.' The detailed story about Mr Watt's big fish is included in the FishDee web blog with images fishdee.wordpress.com/ 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. Beat Catches Reported (Week ending 1st September) SALMON & GRILSE: Culter 14, Altries and Lower Drum 13, Middle Drum 8, Tilbouries 14, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 8, Park 43, Lower Crathes and W Durris 22, Crathes 3, Lower Blackhall 4, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 8, Cairnton 16, Woodend 8, Commonty 3, Sluie 6, Ballogie 10, Borrowston 7, Kincardine 4, Carlogie 4, Dess 2, Birse 14, Aboyne Water 2, Aboyne Castle 16, Craigendinnie 6, Waterside and Ferrar 8, Dinnet 12, Deecastle 2, Headinch and Cambus O'May 5, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 14, Crathie 18, Mar Lodge Estate 1. Total: 295 Largest: Park 25lbs SEA TROUT: Culter 4, Altries and Lower Drum 1, Middle Drum 1, Park 4, Crathes 1, Lower Blackhall 1, Woodend 1, Commonty 4, Kincardine 3, Dess 1, Aboyne Water 1, Aboyne Castle 1, Dinnet 2, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 2. Total: 27 Largest: Park & Commonty 3lbs Prospects Now stocks in the river continue to increase steadily until the end of the season and there is a chance of hooking a fish from 1lb to perhaps over 40lbs. Anglers will need to ensure their tackle is sound, and strong enough to withstand an encounter with a big fish. Large cock fish do become aggressive in late summer. We seem to be in for a spell of settled weather according to weather forecasters this week. Air temperature maxima will peak around 20 degrees with the risk of rain showers today, tomorrow and Thursday. It will be quite windy at times so anglers will need to take care with their fly casting. The maritime influence sees tides dropping back from 4.4 metres to 3.3 metres with river conditions still ideal to encourage new fish forward of every tide if they choose to run the river. Sepa gauges are between 9 inches at Mar Lodge and 1 foot 4 inches at Park. Anglers would be advised to have some sun cream as it will feel warm when the sun makes an appearance during the week. There are no frosts predicted this week although we did have a frost last Friday. As always listen to the advice offered by your Ghillie whilst fishing the pools on your beat. The River Dee Ghillies know their beat intimately and will help in no small way to increase your catch if you heed their advice. They will advise on fly choice, presentation, where to concentrate on fishing and at what depth. If you don't have the services of a Ghillie you would be advised to fish with a full floater with or without a sink tip and leader of perhaps 8 foot plus in low water conditions. Flies with a touch of red are starting to produce catches with river fish responding to more autumnal coloured flies. Perhaps you may consider using a tube fly, cone head, pot bellied pig or Dee Monkey. Some of the big fish may respond to a well sunk Gold Willie Gunn, Red Frances Cone head or Snaelda where they can be lurking in the deep pools of the Dee. Fly choice, sizes 10 to 14 will do nicely in lower faster flows, which could include the following popular Dee flies; Park shrimp, Cascade variants including the Ness C, black Frances, the yellow or orange Ally's shrimp and Duncan Egan's Flamethrower range-the red flamethrower may do really well. If you need to stock up on flies you can visit Somers in Aberdeen, Orvis in Banchory, Kincardine O'Neil Post Office, Strachan's of Aboyne and Countrywear in Ballater where you will find a good selection of Dee flies at good prices. You can also purchase the 2012 Dalmore Dee Dram fundraising whisky from Strachan's of Aboyne who have just received a new delivery. Visiting anglers to the river will see enhanced bio security measures in place as all beats have had disinfection kits provided. Anglers will need to follow the beat Ghillies instructions on disinfection, which will only take a minimal period to carry out. 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
|
|
|
Post by Mon The Flee on Sept 10, 2012 18:25:50 GMT
Recent Catches Lovely late summer weather saw just about everyone in Deeside smiling and enjoying the belated dry and warm late summer conditions, except anglers and Ghillies that is. River levels dropped very quickly during the week and fish became very dour and quite uncooperative. FishDee beats have reported 168 salmon to 20 lbs and 10 sea trout as I write with perhaps some more to be added once late catches are reported to beats. Rising river temperatures and falling river levels are never a great combination for anglers at this time of year, who had to work very hard for scant rewards. Park reported 19 salmon & grilse; Birse 15, Kincardine 14, Dess 13 and Lower Crathes 12. Catches were well down on recent weeks pretty decent numbers. Visiting angler from Nova Scotia Byron Anderson with a nice fresh fish i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/ByronAnderson.jpgI visited Dess during the week to meet Jeremy and Jenny Clayton who had prepared a most enjoyable lunch in the lovely Upper Dess hut. Jeremy had enjoyed some success during his stay. I enjoyed meeting the visiting anglers and chatted with them about the river and FishDee beat improvements and website developments. I was delighted to meet a keen fisherman from Nova Scotia, Byron Anderson who’s a pilot with Air Canada. He enjoyed his trip to Deeside immensely and kindly sent an e-mail and picture. He commented ‘Hello Ken, It was great to meet you on Wednesday. When I booked my fishing through your site, I certainly didn’t envision getting to have lunch with owners of the Dess Beat; super hosts Jeremy & Jenny, and yourself. What a way to cap off an incredible fishing journey. I wanted to say thank you for your FishDee website, as without it, I would not have had such easy access to the information needed for someone ‘from across the pond’ to realise his dream of fishing the Dee. The river lived up to her reputation. Just standing on the bank, thinking of her storied past was a powerful experience. It’s hard to pinpoint a favourite moment of the trip, but a few include releasing a fresh five pound male on my first morning, the Upper Dess ‘fishing hut’ (I felt like royalty), swinging a fly through such a classic salmon pool as Pitslug, and sitting down having a dram of 15 yr old Scotch with Ghillie Eoin Smith, who is one of the finest gentleman I’ve met. Eoin was kind enough to show me his late 1800’s era Hardy Perfect. Many thanks, and hopefully I will see you on the Dee again in the future.’ I do hope Byron makes a return trip with some more anglers from Nova Scotia to pit their wits against the River Dee salmon with their flies. Anglers fishing the Nova Scotia waters also catch Atlantic salmon, and tend to fish with single hooked flies and floating flies called bombers, which can provide exciting surface action for the fisherman. Dess Ghillie Eoin Smith & Byron Anderson i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/byron1.jpgDinnet Ghillie Eoin Reid called this morning to advise that Tony Gahagan had his first ever salmon last Monday at Cobbles. The salmon took a shrimp fly fished of a hover/intermediate line. Eoin advised that he waded into he river above welly boot height, got his Tweeds wet and was in his second pair for the day by 10.00 am. But they did get the fish! He advised that the only way to get salmon to take a fly was to fish it well down. Regular River Dee visitor Sean Harvey dropped me an e-mail advising about a recent visit to Upper Drum. ‘Hi Ken. I only did three days at Jim’s. I got a 12 pounder and my son Simon got one about the same size. Mine was on Conray Shadow fished conventionally without stripping, I find that fly works everywhere, Iceland, Dee, Spey etc. Everyone else was fishing little flies and kept getting tentative takes that didn’t hook up. Best regards, Sean.’ 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. Beat Catches Reported Week ending 11:54 on Mon 3rd Sep 2012 SALMON & GRILSE: Culter 15, Altries and Lower Drum 3, Middle Drum 1, Tilbouries 5, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 6, Park 19, Lower Crathes and W Durris 12, Invery 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1, Middle Blackhall 1, Cairnton 3, Woodend 1, Sluie 9, Ballogie 6, Borrowston 10, Kincardine 14, Carlogie 2, Dess 13, Birse 15, Aboyne Water 5, Aboyne Castle 3, Craigendinnie 4, Waterside and Ferrar 3, Dinnet 1, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 7, Crathie 8, Total 168 SEA TROUT: Altries and Lower Drum 1, Park 1, Crathes 1, Birse 2, Aboyne Water 1, Aboyne Castle 3, Craigendinnie 1, Total 10 Prospects I note with interest that weather forecasters are suggesting Hurricanes Leslie and Michael may merge this week in the Atlantic and make their way across the Atlantic courtesy of the Jet stream and introduce blustery and perhaps very wet conditions to the United Kingdom. Whether this comes to pass remains to be seen but we could really do with a spell of cool weather and significant rainfall to really freshen up the river and put fish back in a taking mood. Air temperature maxima will be around 17 degrees and falling during the week as weather fronts approach and sweep over the country, so it’s fair to say that it could be quite blustery at times. River levels are currently running between 6 inches and 10 inches on the Sepa gauges-the lowest they have been since March. Tides are building this week from 3.3 metres to 4.4 metres which will hopefully encourage a good run of new fish if they are there to come. Noel Harvey fishing at Upper Drum i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/NoelHarvey.jpgAs suggested by Ghillie Eoin Reid, anglers may enjoy more offers from fish if they get the fly down a bit deeper. As we approach the autumnal equinox we expect to see falling air temperatures and rising river levels. Fly sizes can also be increased depending on water levels. Small tube flies may be used to good effect and long tailed shrimp flies. It may pay you to fish well down into the tails of pools where you may intercept a fish which has just run upstream into your pool. As always please heed the advice of the Ghillie who really knows best when it comes to finding taking fish on their beats. You ignore their advice at your peril. Fly patterns that can do well at this time of year are Ally’s Shrimp, Park Shrimp, Calvin’s shrimp, Flamethrower and Gold Willie Gunn; flies with a bit of orange, yellow black and red to reflect the approach of autumn. If you need to stock up on flies you can visit Somers in Aberdeen, Orvis in Banchory, Kincardine O'Neil Post Office, Strachan's of Aboyne and Countrywear in Ballater where you will find a good selection of Dee flies at good prices. You can also purchase the 2012 Dalmore Dee Dram fundraising whisky for the River Dee Trust from Strachan's of Aboyne. Visiting anglers to the river will see enhanced bio security measures in place as all beats have had disinfection kits provided. Anglers will need to follow the beat Ghillies instructions on disinfection, which will only take a minimal period to carry out. If anyone notices anything untoward in the river please contact the river office on 013397 80411 to report your findings. The telephone number is manned 24 hours a day. 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 Regards Ken Ken Reid, Fisheries Development Officer DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA D +44 (0) 13398 80411 M +44 (0) 7979 878971 E-Mail ken@riverdee.org www.riverdee.org and www.fishdee.co.ukRiver Dee Trust Registered Charity No SC028497
|
|
|
Post by Mon The Flee on Sept 17, 2012 17:45:26 GMT
Recent Catches Salmon catches picked up last week on Deeside with Thursday providing over 70 salmon as a result of much cooler and fresher weather conditions which saw the river temperature drop significantly and put salmon back in a taking mood. Whilst there were days where it was very bright with little cloud cover, the sport nevertheless picked up throughout the length of Deeside. FishDee beats have reported 265 salmon to 26lbs as I write with perhaps some late catches to be added. Park reported 34, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 20, Crathie 19, Lower Crathes and Ballogie 17 apiece, Birse 14, with Culter and Altries reporting a dozen for the week. This week’s catch was a good increase over the previous week. Crathie Ghillie Archie Hay returns an Autumn salmon at Crathie i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/Archiefish.jpgI have received some correspondence which I would like to share with you. Firstly Miranda McHardy wrote about an exciting encounter her son Andrew had at Woodend commenting ‘Last night Andrew (our son) went down to Woodend to fish with my brother George Forbes-Leith. Andrew hooked a fish, in the dark, and played it for an hour, George said there was no way it was coming in and he did not want to beach it for fear of damaging or losing it, and they had no net at this point. It got darker, George got hold of me when he found a signal and we went down with the net. It was impossible to see anything, it was pitch black and whenever we shone a torch for George to see where the fish was to net it, the fish scarpered off up the pool again away from the light. Finally George took a chance and tried to scoop it into the net as we were getting nowhere. Torch ran out of battery! And we only had a mobile. The fish fell back out as it was bigger than the diameter of the net. He had another go and tried to lift it, the handle of the net bent and tipped the net, and the fish fell back over the side free. It was Andrew's first ever fish at Woodend and he is devastated! It was the worst feeling in the world he said when the line went slack and he realised the fish had fallen back into the river before he even saw it. It’s hard to tell how big it was as neither of them really saw it, the diameter of the net is 32". George said it had a huge tail and that was about all he could see apart from the flashes of bright silver every now and again.’ Oh my! What a disappointment-to lose a big fish creates a wound that never seems to heal and these fish are always the ones that stay in your memory forever. Salmon angling can be the school of hard knocks and anglers have to accept these desperately sad moments when they come along. River Dee Trust director and very talented salmon angler Jim Coates had his annual 3 day trip to Park South with his father Geoff and family friend David Golder, where they enjoyed some good sport. Jim advised ‘Just a quick note to let you know how much I enjoyed a holiday on Deeside last week. I was visiting with my Dad Geoff and friend David Golder. I’m happy to report that we shared 18 fish between us for our 3 days fishing, mostly from Park South but with some from a beat just above Banchory as well. We were superbly entertained and looked after by Charlie Yates- who kept us full of cheer and fishing in all the right places! Let’s hope for some rainfall to top up the river and give visiting rods some more great sport over the last few weeks of this season.’ I enjoyed two pleasant evenings in their company and it was really pleasing to see how much enjoyment they got taking fish in what were at times very trying circumstances. Jim is a hugely determined and thoughtful angler who is always aware of changing conditions and adapts his techniques to suit these moments. Many times I have seen him take a number of fish when other anglers hardly get an offer. Ross Macdonald with an autumn cock fish at Park i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/Rossweetroot.jpgI was pleased to receive an e-mail from Rob Fuller who writes to me annually about the Hawkins parties fishing week on a number of fishing beats. Rob advised ‘Dear Ken, the Hawkins Week Team have had another highly enjoyable week ending on Sat 15th. Thirteen of us fished on 5 beats notably Birse, Carlogie, Ballogie, Inchmarlo and Park South. Conditions were difficult with low water, high water temperatures, and strong winds on 2 days with bright sunshine yesterday. However we persevered and caught 26 salmon and grilse up to 13lbs and 4 sea trout for the week. Our biggest problem was trying to catch decent sized cocks. The River seems to be full of girls this year with very few male planks showing! This made it very difficult for us in finding suitable entries in our annual contest for the largest cock fish! The trophy was awarded to Richard Taylor for a 10lb fish which is rather less than what we were all hoping. Top rod was fortunately me, with 7 fish and 2 sea trout. We all rated Ballogie as the best beat which is verified by the fact that it is taken for a week by its own ghillie, notably the maestro himself Sean Stanton! With all good wishes for the rest of the season. Rob Fuller.’ 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. Beat Catches Reported Week ending 13:05 on Mon 10th Sep 2012 SALMON & GRILSE: Kingcausie 7, Culter 12, Altries and Lower Drum 12, Middle Drum 1, Tilbouries 6, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 17, Park 34, Lower Crathes and W Durris 15, Knappach 1, Invery 4, Middle Blackhall 1, Cairnton 1, Woodend 1, Lower Woodend 2, Commonty 4, Sluie 10, Ballogie 17, Borrowston 14, Kincardine 9, Carlogie 5, Dess 5, Birse 14, Aboyne Water 6, Aboyne Castle 8, Craigendinnie 1, Waterside and Ferrar 6, Dinnet 1, Deecastle 11, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 20, Crathie 19, Mar Lodge Estate 1, Total 265 SEA TROUT: Upper Drum and Lower Durris 1, Park 2, Sluie 1, Ballogie 1, Dess 1, Birse 3, Waterside and Ferrar 2, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 2, Total 13 Prospects Weather conditions on Deeside will play their part this week determining if we have improved catches-I suspect that we may have a week with over 300 fish and keeping my fingers crossed that this will transpire. The weather forecast models I have been studying this morning suggest that air temperatures will continue to drop this week with an air temperature maxima today of perhaps 14 degrees Celsius. During the week this will fall and a result of falling air temperatures will see river temperatures drop back. This should hopefully put more fish into an aggressive mood resulting in good catches. I note one website suggesting wintry showers on the hills later in the week. There will be rain showers, some which may be heavy at times with blustery winds that will swing round to the north. It will feel autumnal so remember to wrap up well and fish appropriately to suit the conditions with intermediate lines and larger flies. The maritime influence sees tides peaking at 4.6 metres until Wednesday and then dropping back to 3.7 metres at the weekend. This may encourage a run of new fish into the lower beats where good sport may be had with fresh silver salmon. Aboyne Castle Ghillie Alec Coutts returns an autumn cock fish carefully i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/IMG_0566.jpgAs has been reported to me by visiting anglers, the Ghillies are best placed to offer advice on where and how to fish on your chosen beat. Whilst water levels are quite low it will pay you to heed their counsel and follow their direction. If the Ghillie advises to fish deep, then make sure you get your fly well down. You may lose the odd fly as a result of fishing deep, but it is a small sacrifice to make in pursuit of sublime sport. I know of one talented angler who did very well last week by fishing a plain black snaelda tube slow and deep. Fly choice is as always a matter of suggestion, choice and experiment. You may wish to fish with a Dee Monkey, Black Frances or Black Snaelda, Flamethrower, Park shrimp, Calvin’s shrimp or a Red Allies shrimp. If you need to top up your supplies during the week please drop into Countrywear in Ballater, Orvis in Banchory, George Strachan’s store in Aboyne or perhaps your Ghillie may be able to provide suitable flies. Be aware that there are big fish throughout the river, some of which may have been in the river a while and are well rested. You would be wise to fish with a strong leader in case you encounter a big fish. Perhaps we may see a really big fish captured this week where I will be able to report about an exciting encounter. There are more visitors coming back to Deeside from Scandinavia as a result of a lot of rivers being closed for the season. There are still a good amount of rods available to fish the well stocked beats of the River Dee, so please make every effort to come and fish if you can before the fishing season draws to a close. Visiting anglers to the river will see enhanced bio security measures in place as all beats have had disinfection kits provided. Anglers will need to follow the beat Ghillies instructions on disinfection, which will only take a minimal period to carry out. If anyone notices anything untoward in the river please contact the river office on 013397 80411 to report your findings. The telephone number is manned 24 hours a day. 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 A nice autumn fish caught by Jim Coates at Park being returned safely cid:imageC7370A68-8D48-4015-9A5E-BBDE1A491EB2 cid:image4D4333CC-7BDE-4E47-80F5-E79EEB40EE84 cid:image5BC6C96E-D39D-46C9-B821-E359826A426B Jim Coates with a nice fresh fish at Park South Regards Ken Ken Reid, Fisheries Development Officer DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA D +44 (0) 13398 80411 M +44 (0) 7979 878971 E-Mail ken@riverdee.org www.riverdee.org and www.fishdee.co.ukRiver Dee Trust Registered Charity No SC028497
|
|
|
Post by Mon The Flee on Sept 25, 2012 17:05:06 GMT
LAST WEEK I suggested last week that we may see a return of over 300 salmon and some big fish caught where I could report about some significant fish. This has transpired with this week being a big fish week. FishDee beats have reported as I write, 333 salmon to 30lbs and 26 sea trout. There were at times some outstanding catches and news filtered through of some great sport from last week too. I should mention that Andrew Callaghan landed a verified 35lb fresh salmon at Ardoe and Ian Murray's rods at Lower Invercauld and Monaltrie had 12 salmon and a sea trout in one day. Birse reported 31 salmon, Carlogie and Aboyne Water both had 23 salmon for the week, Park 22, Dess 20 and Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 19. The water temperature has dropped significantly and salmon are becoming more aggressive which in turn has led to significantly increased catches from the river. Grant Gibson with a PB at Craigendinnie www.flyforums.co.uk/images/statusicon/wol_error.gif This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 799x448 and weights 114KB. Click the image to open in full size. With the increase in outstanding daily catches for some beats and big fish being reported, I would like to share some of the news that's coming through to me. Firstly Bill Palmer from Borrowston has advised that the beat has been fishing really well. Bill commented that salmon seemed to be only interested in taking a Red Frances fly with a gold hook and would not look at any other colour of hook! Bill landed a 30lb salmon, a fresh run 28lb salmon and his son Mark had a 24lb salmon. Hugh Lane landed a 28lb salmon at Birse assisted by Cleeve Cowie. This big coloured fish took a size 12 silver stoat's tail fly at Red Brae. I spoke to Archie Hay the Ghillie at Crathie this morning to catch up on how things are going at one of the most popular and scenic beats on the River Dee. Archie advised that a visiting angler Mr James Williams hooked and landed a 25 lb coloured cock fish on a size 12 Munro Killer. They had a couple of inches rise in river levels which stirred the fish up a bit and the water temp had dropped to 48 degrees Fahrenheit. Ian Murray and Stene enjoy an opportunity to play some tunes on the river bank www.flyforums.co.uk/images/statusicon/wol_error.gif This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 799x618 and weights 120KB. Click the image to open in full size. Grant Gibson wrote advising about a rather painful personal best for himself at Craigendinnie commenting 'Ken, Please find above picture of fish caught from Craigendinnie on Tues 17th Sept. George Murray asked me to send it to you. The fish was 40 and a half inches long and estimated at 24lbs and a bit. The story behind why I am not actually standing in the water to release the fish is as follows. About an hour before the capture I was in the pool above and on getting out fell down one of the concrete walls hurting my knee and straining my groin severely. I had sat in my car in agony with tears rolling down my face for an hour when I decided I either went home or kept on fishing. I decided to find an 'easy' pool to fish and shuffled to the edge of the water. I did not dare get into the river. On my third cast I caught the fish. I could not move, walk or bend over! I was just beginning to realise I had no chance of landing the fish when George turned up and done the job. As I stood there motionless he placed the fish in my hands, took the picture then released it. So in the picture I was standing there in excruciating pain while holding the biggest salmon I had ever caught. So I named the photo 'The Agony and Ecstasy'. To finish the day, one hour later I had another of16lbs.' What a great effort and congratulations to Grant for his perseverance. Ken Reid returns a sea liced salmon at Culter landed by Thomas Thore www.flyforums.co.uk/images/statusicon/wol_error.gif This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 799x620 and weights 144KB. Click the image to open in full size. Joy Wadsworth wrote about a great days sport for her husband at Birse commenting 'Dear Mr Reid, My husband, David Wadsworth, has asked me to tell you of his most memorable day, ever, on the River Dee. Today, at Birse, he caught 7 salmon in 3 hours. Their weights were; 25lbs, 16lbs, 2X 15lbs,13lbs, 10lbs and 5lbs.He will try and forward images on Monday to you.' Sounds like a fantastic days sport at Birse which is a big fish beat. I visited a lovely group of talented Swedish fishermen who were fishing part of the week at Lower Invercauld & Monaltrie and then part of the week at Culter. The visiting party came over with River Dee supporter Thomas Thore and enjoyed a super week of sport. They were looked after magnificently by Ian & David Murray at Lower Invercauld and then at Culter by Ghillie Mads Pedersen. I was fortunate to return a lovely sea liced bar of silver for Thomas at Culter where we got some lovely photographs. The other anglers did very well catching a good amount of fresh run sea liced fish. The gentlemen advised that they cannot wait to come back and fish the River Dee as the experience was truly outstanding for them. 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. PROSPECTS Wild, windy and wet weather is forecast to hit the valley over the next 48 hours which should see river levels rise from their current low levels of between 5 inches at Mar Lodge and 8 inches at Park. Air temperature maxima will be around 12 degrees Celsius but it will feel colder due to wind chill. Anglers will need to wrap up well and battle it out through the difficult conditions. The plus side to this for anglers are the opportunities to encounter salmon eager to take a well presented fly. The maritime influence sees tides building through the week from 3.7 metres to 4.4 metres which should bring new fish forward into the catchment. If the river doesn't rise and colour up then we could see another week with catches exceeding 300 for FishDee beats. Niklas Larsson with a nice fresh fish at Culter www.flyforums.co.uk/images/statusicon/wol_error.gif This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 800x528 and weights 118KB. Click the image to open in full size. River Dee Ghillies are best placed to offer advice on where and how to fish on your chosen beat. Whilst water levels may alter during the forthcoming week it will pay you to heed their counsel and follow their direction. If the Ghillie advises to fish deep, then make sure you get your fly well down. You may lose the odd fly as a result of fishing deep, but it is a small sacrifice to make in pursuit of sublime sport. Fly choice is as always a matter of suggestion, choice and experiment. You may wish to fish with a Dee Monkey, Black or Red Frances or Black Snaelda, Flamethrower, Park shrimp, Calvin's shrimp or a Red Allies shrimp. If you need to top up your supplies during the week please drop into Countrywear in Ballater, Orvis in Banchory, George Strachan's store in Aboyne or perhaps your Ghillie may be able to provide suitable flies. Be aware that there are big fish throughout the river, which are being landed , some of which may have been in the river a while and are well rested. You would be wise to fish with a strong leader in case you encounter a big fish. Perhaps we may see more really big fish captured this week where I will be able to continue to report about more exciting encounters. There are more visitors coming back to Deeside from Scandinavia as a result of a lot of their rivers being closed for the season. There are still a good amount of rods available to fish the well stocked beats of the River Dee, so please make every effort to come and fish now if you can, before the fishing season draws to a close and you put away your rods until next year. Thomas Larsson with a fresh salmon at Culter www.flyforums.co.uk/images/statusicon/wol_error.gif This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 800x582 and weights 139KB. Click the image to open in full size. Visiting anglers to the river will see enhanced bio security measures in place as all beats have had disinfection kits provided. Anglers will need to follow the beat Ghillies instructions on disinfection, which will only take a minimal period to carry out. If anyone notices anything untoward in the river please contact the river office on 013397 80411 to report your findings. The telephone number is manned 24 hours a day. 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 Ken Reid,Fisheries Development Officer DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA D +44 (0) 13398 80411 M +44 (0) 7979 878971 E-Mail ken@riverdee.org www.riverdee.org and www.fishdee.co.ukRiver Dee Trust Registered Charity No SC028497
|
|
|
Post by Mon The Flee on Oct 8, 2012 18:47:04 GMT
LAST WEEK Autumn chills are very noticeable in Deeside with water temperatures really starting to fall significantly. This hasn't meant salmon angling has ground to a halt - far from it with some lucky anglers enjoying some moments of high drama with big River Dee salmon. In accordance with the River Dee Conservation Code fishing is now restricted for beats below Aboyne Bridge. FishDee beats have reported as I write 237 salmon to 35 lbs and 14 sea trout; undoubtedly higher catches would have been made if we didn't have a dirty rise in river levels during the week. Park reported 44 salmon; Lower Crathes had 37 to 4 fishermen, Carlogie 29, Ballogie 20 and Crathes 18. I met visiting angler Tono Puicercus who a very fine artist who specialises in fishing commissions. I had commissioned him to produce a painting for me and he travelled from Spain to bring the finished artwork to me-it's a super painting. As a result of this planned meeting we agreed to do some fishing and were able to secure some rods at Lower Crathes. Tono manages the Lax-A fishing business in Spain for Arni Baldursson and is a keen salmon angler and regular visitor to the River Dee. The fishing was really excellent with Ghillies Robert Harper and Charles Booth doing a great job in looking after the visiting anglers from Spain and Norway. Reid Hagelin who was over from Norway hooked into a huge fish, first cast at the top of the Mill Pool and had a real battle with a big strong male fish which took him hundreds of yards downstream. Charles Booth waited patiently providing great advice for the angler and Charles eventually managed to get the great fish into the MacLean landing net after it got stuck in some Ranunculus weed in the pool tail. The angler and Ghillie were delighted to see the scale drop to over 35 lbs and agreed that they would settle at 35 lbs and swiftly took some images for the angler and beat and returned the fish safely back to the river. The angler would never have landed this great fish without the Ghillie who waded out to secure the capture of this great specimen. The visiting anglers had some great sport with Frances tubes fished deeply on fast sink tip lines. Head Ghillie Robert Harper was absolutely thrilled to write up the capture of this big fish into the catch log; his first entry of over 30lbs in 36 years of being a top Ghillie. Meanwhile down at Park some visiting anglers were having some great sport with Tony and Phillip Black from Tayside landing 13 between them in one day. There were some new fish coming forward which were being landed as well as stirring up big resident fish. I was asked to fish Ross MacDonald's rod on Saturday and fished with River Dee Trust director Jim Coates. We had 7 between us including a beautiful sea liced 19 lber to my own rod. I was disappointed to lose a big fish in the tail of the cellar which straightened my new Owner Double hook after a very explosive encounter. The beat produced 13 on Saturday with the majority landed on the north bank. It was pleasing to hear that silver fresh fish were coming through the beat from time to time and happy to take an anglers fly. Ross Davidson had a first fish at Bakebare with Andy Forbes providing constructive tuition enabling him to get the rich reward for his hard efforts. I met visiting anglers who were fishing at Carlogie and Ballogie in the Potarch Hotel following the River Dee Board AGM on Thursday evening. It was nice again to meet Gareth Headland, Wayne Napier Gibbens, Andy Hutson and Thomas Bergen. They had a great week at Carlogie with Wayne having his best week with 7 salmon; Andy and Thomas were in double figures for their week. At Ballogie regular visiting anglers from Norway were having some good sport with Frede Hognestad losing a very big fish. He subsequently had a 1 lb silver grilse next cast! They had 10 fish in 3 days and fished Ballogie, Middle Blackhall and Culter. I hear Richard Torkar had a 24 lb salmon at Dess and Chema Moscardó had a 25 lber at Lower Crathes. Rob Bull had 4 to his own rod on Saturday at Ballogie including a 25lber.Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd Beat Catches Reported Week ending 10:25 on Mon 1st Oct 2012 SALMON & GRILSE: Culter 7, Altries and Lower Drum 11, Middle Drum 6, Tilbouries 12, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 10, Park 44, Lower Crathes and W Durris 37, Knappach 2, Crathes 18, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1, Middle Blackhall 1, Cairnton 3, Woodend 2, Commonty 2, Sluie 2, Ballogie 20, Borrowston 6, Kincardine 6, Carlogie 29, Dess 6, Birse 8, Aboyne Water 4, Total 237 SEA TROUT: Culter 1, Altries and Lower Drum 1, Tilbouries 1, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 3, Lower Crathes and W Durris 1, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 1, Middle Blackhall 2, Ballogie 1, Kincardine 1, Dess 2, Total 14 PROSPECTS The last full weeks salmon fishing on Deeside sees many anglers populating the river, hotels and bars celebrating the end to the 2012 salmon fishing season on the River Dee. There are anglers from all over the world coming to the valley and taking advantage of the good sport on offer in the middle and lower beats. Having just been advised by Ghillie Sean Stanton that the water temperature is down to 5 degrees Celsius we can expect anglers to have some excellent sport if they are in the right place at the right time who fish their fly slow and deep. Weather conditions look great for the next few days with light winds and air temperature maxima at 12 degrees Celsius. There will be overnight frosts until Thursday when some wet and windy weather is forecast. Tides are building from 3.2 metres to 4.2 metres encouraging new fish forward. Anglers will need to heed the advice of their Ghillie regarding fly choice and presentation. Your Beat Ghillies know where the fish are and at what depth you will need to fish. If you don't have a ghillie then you should employ a decent fast sink tip of 10-15 feet off a floating line to help you mend upstream or downstream to control the speed of your fly. Short stout leaders are required, indeed I was utilising a 24 inch leader of 25 lb breaking strain last week and had 6 salmon and a similar amount lost in 3 days. Fly choice should be focussed on tube flies with the Red Frances, Cascade or Park Shrimp, Franc n snaelda, Gold Willie Gunn likely to produce takes. The key is to get the fly down to the level where the fish are as they won't rise far to take the fly. If you need to acquire some flies then visit Orvis in Banchory, Kincardine O'Neil Post Office and George Strachan,s store in Aboyne. There are some rods still available on the FishDee website so if you are itching to have a final cast before the season ends then go to the website and book some fishing. The salmon fishing season closes on Monday 15th October until Friday the 1st February 2013 when the season re-opens to anglers. Until then we will all want to wish all the River Dee salmon a safe and productive time on the redds. Please write with any reports of catches and pictures to ken@riverdee.org Tight Lines. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd Regards Ken Ken Reid,Fisheries Development Officer DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA D +44 (0) 13398 80411 M +44 (0) 7979 878971 E-Mail ken@riverdee.org www.riverdee.org and www.fishdee.co.ukRiver Dee Trust Registered Charity No SC028497 Image 1. Reid Hagelin returning the 35lb cock fish he landed at Lower Crathes Image 2. Chema Moscardó from Spain returning a 25lb cock fish at Lower Crathes Image 3. Ken Reid landing a sea liced 19lb freshly run salmon at Park Image 4. Tono Puicercus from Spain returning a 23lb salmon
|
|
|
Post by Mon The Flee on Oct 15, 2012 18:33:15 GMT
Recent Catches The final week of the 2012 fishing season saw the best catches reported for the entire season with the fishing season finale, today’s final act. FishDee beats have reported 414 salmon for the week with some really dramatic catches being made on some beats. Birse reported 76 salmon, Ballogie 59, Park 45 with Lower Crathes and Carlogie both reporting 32. The heaviest fish reported was landed by Thomas Torpe at 33lbs, which was measured at 43 inches, part of a catch of 11 he made for his day at Birse, on a size 14 fly. Heughhead beat on the Feugh had a catch of 14 in one day following the big spate that occurred during the latter half of the week. There were quite a number of significant individual catches made and large salmon caught and released during the week, which for the first part of the week saw excellent conditions tailor made for anglers to do well. The latter half of the week saw a big spate descend through the valley from all the tributaries which slowed catches significantly on Friday and Saturday Lars Terkildsen had a crack team of 18 experienced salmon anglers fishing Birse, Ballogie, Carlogie, Kincardine and Commonty beats during the week where their final tally for the week was 195 salmon, heaviest fish was Thomas 33 pounder from Birse. I had dinner with a dozen of the anglers on Saturday at Ballogie House where I was able to discuss what they were doing, why their catches were so great and how the beats differed. I can advise that the anglers rotated beats every day so they had a minimum of 1 day on each beat. They fished from 8.00 am until dark every day and fished very hard and methodically. They stressed they would not be using one tactic but employed different methods from fishing fast sink tips with Red Frances tubes to full floaters and size 14 flies, and virtually every combination in between. This ensured that anglers would find taking fish using differing methods. It’s interesting to see how anglers could take a huge amount on one beat and a more modest amount on another beat using exactly the same methods. I guess one can speculate that there were more taking fish on some beats than others. Top angler was Mawill Lüdenbach with 24 salmon and the lowest return from Tor was 4 salmon for his week (6-12-14 and 18lbs). They showed me images of some fresh salmon and some large coloured cock fish. I have some e-mails and feedback I would like to share with readers of the weekly report. Ian Neale, who operates the Speycaster.net guide business was back at Park for a few days and advised ‘I had a party of 5 rods fishing on Park South from Monday-Wednesday and they caught 27 fish between them with a best fish of 23lbs, which was reasonably fresh. I went over to join them on Wednesday and they had all had a great time and had hooked and lost as many more, I believe, although North Bank wasn’t fairing quite as well!’ Ian had asked me to visit the delightful Eliane Schleiffer during her week on the river and I visited her at Dess on Thursday. It was quite a thrill to see a gorgeous red Alvis sports car on the river bank. Eliane has a super blog about her fishing adventures in her Alvis TA21 1954, 6 cylinder car at www.salmonalvis.com/about/I was pleased to receive feedback about the catch of 14 in a day at Heughhead on the Feugh with Alex and Kath Brown e-mailing to advise ‘I had a call on Wednesday from someone you may know (Jules Evans) who was looking to fish the beat at the end of the week. I advised him that the level was very low (3" above normal summer level, despite this Kevin Stirton had a 6lb salmon that day!) but with the rain forecast Saturday might be quite good. He took two rods but with all the rain on Friday I sent him a text that evening advising him he would be wasting his time as the river would, in all likelihood be too high. Despite that he took a trip up to the beat at 7.30 and decided conditions were fine, got his tickets at the Orvis shop and commenced fishing at 9.30am. When I arrived at the lodge at 2.30pm I was surprised his car was still there. I was in for an even bigger surprise when Jules announced that he had already caught 3 salmon and a 3lb sea trout! Not only that, his friend Paris had caught another 2 salmon and another customer, Douglas Cameron, had caught 4 salmon to 8lb! Jules added that he had also lost a salmon of approx 17lb and Paris had his rod broken by another double figure fish! This was by far the best day we have had since we took over managing the beat and all the more satisfying as Kath and I had considered not staying open for the extension after not getting many customers last year! What a memorable day to finish off the 2012 season on the Feugh.’ Well done to all concerned in providing a really nice fishing beat with great facilities for visiting anglers to enjoy. I am sure your customer base will go from strength to strength next year and more new anglers will come to fish this lovely spate river. It was nice to read the praise offered by Chris Adams to Shane Christie, the experienced Middle Drum beat Ghillie, who commented ‘Shane’s help with landing my 25lber was exceptional. He could see the fish was a good one and went over waist deep (no waders-just trousers and wellies) and when the moment was right, in with the net. Thank you Shane; my biggest fish to date. Tight lines and good wishes.’ Chris also had a most enjoyable day at Crathes where he landed a 15lb salmon. The 2012 season finishes today and I shall write a season review in the next few weeks once all the catches and correspondence are in. To finish on a positive note though I am pleased to report that the current FishDee beat total for the entire season exceeds the 5 year average once again. Congratulations to all the anglers and beat Ghillies for achieving this remarkable milestone following two exceptional fishing seasons in 2010 and 2011. As always please write with any comments about your fishing experiences to ken@riverdee.org There will be a season review produced in a couple of weeks once all the catches are reported. If anyone wants to see images of Eliane’s wonderful car on the banks of the River Dee at Dess I have some lovely pictures, so please get in touch. Ken Reid,Fisheries Development Officer DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA D +44 (0) 13398 80411 M +44 (0) 7979 878971 E-Mail ken@riverdee.org www.riverdee.org and www.fishdee.co.ukRiver Dee Trust Registered Charity No SC028497
|
|
|
Post by Mon The Flee on Oct 22, 2012 20:50:45 GMT
FishDee beats have reported 6707 salmon and grilse and 1088 sea trout for the 2012 fishing season. In terms of the salmon and grilse catch, the 2012 season total shows a 23.8% decrease on 2011 and a 2.8 % increase on the 5 year average for FishDee beats. Catches reported per month through the season were as follows Feb 313, Mar 233, Apr 494, May 762, Jun 820, Jul 1155, Aug 1041, Sep 1192 and October 697. The spring period Feb to May, showed a 38.4 % decrease on 2011, summer period, Jun to Aug a 1% increase on 2011, and the autumn period, Sept and Oct, a 20% reduction on 2011. To provide some context it has to be said the 2012 salmon rod catch was in fact the third best in the last 20 years, with 2010, the best return in 20 years and 2011 the second best return in 20 years. The sea trout catch in 2012 was reported as 1088 against last year’s 1501 and a 5 year average of 1591 however there is a trend for widely fluctuating annual catches for sea trout historically. It should be pointed out there are a number of beats that do not report catches on the FishDee website and the full rod catch for the River Dee in 2012 will be quite a bit higher than shown on the FishDee website and reported above. Rod bookings made on the FishDee website have been really strong in 2012 with a healthy increase in bookings over the excellent performance in 2011. Traffic to the website is now over 2.5 million hits annually with the website providing an exceptional one stop resource for finding angling opportunities on Deeside for local, national and international anglers. It also provides a wide range of contact details for many businesses in Deeside that support angling tourism. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/castlecrathes-feb7th-2012031.jpgRichard Thomas with a Dee Springer in Early February from Crathes Beat The salmon fishing season opened on Wednesday the 1st of February with the well supported opening ceremony taking place at Ballogie, and the Potarch Hotel provided hot snacks and refreshments to the 250 or so assembled guests and media. Both BBC and ITV news teams attended the event and broadcast news from the ceremony. The river was opened this year by television actor and comedian Mr. Paul Whitehouse. Paul 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 would 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. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/Deeopening2012025.jpgRiver Dee Chairman Ian Scott presents Charles Jeffrey with a box of flies 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. The heaviest fish on opening day presented a little dilemma as there were two fish caught that measured 36 inches and only one prize up for grabs. Ballogie Estates head Ghillie Sean Stanton very kindly donated two lovely boxes of flies to Ken Reid to make presentations. River Dee chairman Ian Scott presented visiting angler Charles Jeffrey with his award at the Tor Na Coille hotel and Ken Reid presented the other box of flies to Malcolm Thorne at Lower Blackhall. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/003.jpgTina Cummings with her prize for first salmon on opening day for a lady angler. The prize of a Guideline salmon fly rod was presented by Lawrie Hickman, who was to catch a 26lb Springer at Dess some weeks later Fishing conditions were at time difficult in February with a number of days fishing lost to grue. Anglers made the best of the conditions when they were suitable and some reasonable catches were made of both multi sea winter fish and some small salmon. Successful anglers included Richard Thomas, Graeme Arthur, Iain Wood, Dave Gordon, Tina Cummings, Austin Todd, Jeff and Roni Viner, Dr Patrick Taylor, Mark Paterson, Tom and Jean Marshall, Tony and Phillip Black and many more anglers. As the month drew to a close anglers were hopeful that sport would pick up during march however there were concerns of very little snow in the mountains to provide a reservoir and this was to impact significantly for anglers in March due to an unseasonable hot spell of weather which caused the snow to melt and river levels to fall away to low summer levels. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/Deeopening2012018.jpgOpening days catch at Invery March turned out to be a difficult month due to sustained very low and unseasonably warm water temperatures. That said there were some lovely big fish landed with Jamie Hammond enjoying some fantastic sport at Lower Crathes where he landed salmon of 22 and 24lbs on a Friday evening and Saturday morning, which were part of a 5 fish catch he made in 3 days. Fish were running hard through the lower beats to the upper river and Ghillies were using summer tactics and fishing summer lies trying to find fish. Invery continued to provide good sport. Successful anglers included Craig Corbett from Portlethan (25lbs), Willie Roy, Aberlour 20lbs and 11lbs, and Callum Highett with his first Springer of 15lbs. There was a salmon landed at Cairnton on a size 14 executioner; not a fly you would expect to see salmon taking in March. 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. The clocks moved forward to BST towards the end of the month and within days the weather had changed substantially and there was 1 foot of snow on Mount Keen. The humour of the salmon changed and they came back on the take again; much to the relief of Ghillies and anglers. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/IMGP1520.jpgJamie Hammond with a 24 lb Springer at Lower Crathes April heralded the resumption of more seasonal weather with regular snow flurries, frosts and increasing river levels. The stress put on salmon by the fluctuating weather conditions should not be underestimated. In March salmon were lying in the neck of the pools in good numbers seeking oxygen and jockeying continually for position. Days later into April temperatures had plummeted hugely and the impact on the salmon’s physiology seemed to cause stress which was noted in reports of isolated fresh fish seen with fungus. Thankfully this problem seemed to disappear over a period of weeks as salmon became more spread out and less stressed, but it was a concern for all. Lars Terkildsen brought a crack team of anglers over from Sweden, as did Mattias Helde and they had some super catches on the beats they fished with some big specimens landed and some bigger ones lost. Mawill Lüdenbach reported the loss of a huge fish he fought into the darkness at Ballogie. He had the fish close in and estimated that it was perhaps 1.1 meters long and suggested comfortably over 30lbs. There were a good number of fish landed during April in excess of 20lbs. River levels seemed to fluctuate all too regularly which must have put fish off the take at times. Catches rose to just short of 500 but all things being equal it had been another difficult month with catches significantly less than the previous year when conditions were excellent. We headed into the month of May hoping to see a big surge in running fish and catches. There were to be no shortage of anglers eager to catch a prized Dee Springer and there were to be some whoppers. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/FishDee%202012/Mawill.jpgMawill Lüdenbach with an 18lb Springer at Carlogie May saw temperatures continue to be on the cold side until the last 10 days when they finally rose significantly. There had been days when the air temperature struggled to get above 5 degrees Celsius but towards the end of the month temperatures rose to over 22 degrees as skies became clear and high pressure built. There were some big fish landed with John Richmond taking the honours with a 30lb salmon at Invery. Ole Wistler had a beautiful 28lber at Lower Invercauld & Monaltrie, a beat that was bucking the trend and fishing very well. Peter Pleydell-Bouverie had a nice 25 lb salmon at Lower Crathes; Arni Baldursson took the 100th salmon for the beat for the season. Davie Gibbon, Ghillie at Middle Blackhall reported the capture of a fabulous 25lb salmon for Mr. Pinney; likewise Colin Simpson reported a 25lb salmon for Ian Rose at Lower Blackhall. The months reported capture of 762 salmon was a big improvement over the previous month’s totals and this trend was to continue as we entered the summer period on the Dee in June with her Majesty the Queens Jubilee celebrations coinciding with the reported capture of a massive salmon for Nick James, Chairman of the Wye and Usk foundation, at Balmoral of 48 inches in length. I hope to produce a review for the second half of the season next Monday and distribute this next week. Regards Ken Ken Reid,Fisheries Development Officer DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA D +44 (0) 13398 80411 M +44 (0) 7979 878971 E-Mail ken@riverdee.org www.riverdee.org and www.fishdee.co.ukRiver Dee Trust Registered Charity No SC028497
|
|
|
Post by Mon The Flee on Oct 31, 2012 20:03:10 GMT
We entered the summer period for FishDee with hopes that salmon would run the river in bigger numbers than we had during the preceding months of the season; we were not to be disappointed as the runs of salmon improved through the summer months and salmon catches picked up, much to the delight of Ghillies and anglers. It was noted that the Grilse run appeared to come earlier this year and in decent numbers from June into July. It is perhaps fitting that the Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend in June culminated with a spectacular event at Balmoral with the reported capture of a 50 inch long salmon. Mr. Nick James was fishing the pretty 6 mile beat as part of the Woodward Party. Mr. James, an experienced angler, hooked and landed this leviathan after 45 minute struggle and in accordance with the River Dee conservation code returned the fish to the river with the minimum of fuss after measuring the fish at 50 inches from the nose to the point of the tail. This would mean a deduction of a couple of inches would be required at least to enable a rough calculation of the weight of this fish. There were no witnesses to on hand to see the capture of this huge fish however I am in no doubt Mr. James had a real battle landing this great leviathan of a fish following our discussions. I received correspondence from Edward Humphrey from Dinnet Estate who commented 'Just to report that Charles Hill's party fished Dinnet and Dee Castle the week before last and had their best catch for 26 years with 31 salmon and 6 sea trout and they even afforded themselves some time off to play golf! There was no lack of effort for the rest of the week but on Saturday evening the party were still two short of the 2010 total. Charles kindly asked me to fish on Saturday night and I caught a small grilse whilst he landed a 10lb fish in Logie but the prize went to Andrew Markland who caught the 27lb cracker in the Glide to round off an excellent week. Sadly no photos are available of the big fish but it rounded off an excellent week for the Hill part with the majority of the fish being shared equally between Charles, Andrew Markland and his brother Robert.' I spoke with Birse Ghillie Doug Murray this morning to ask about the 30lb salmon reported from his beat on Saturday. Doug commented 'Gordon Smith, a keeper at Seafield Estates from Elgin was the angler who landed the 30lb salmon they reported on Saturday. The fish was caught at the Trees Pool and was measured.' Birse is a big fish beat’ and I am sure Mr. Smith was delighted with his fine capture. There were regular spates during the month encouraging fish to get on the move and the June catch was well over the 5 year average. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/PerHeikkala.jpgAn image of a lovely salmon at Logie, Dinnet beat. I never tire of looking at this image We entered July full of optimism as rod bookings were reasonable and the summer weather was proving to be dull, grey, wet and cool, ideal really for salmon fishermen, but not for sea trout sport. July saw fortunes change dramatically for the better for anglers on Deeside. Jeremy Clayton, the Dess proprietor landed a fine 22 lb salmon and was delighted that his four recent salmon from the beat all exceeded 15lbs. It was heartening to see numbers landed at Park picking up really well as new fish came forward and started to populate the beat in good numbers. I had some correspondence about sport at Park. Philip Black wrote with images advising 'Hi Ken, good to see you yesterday, hope all went well with the filming. I'm just sending a few pictures of fish I caught on Park on Wednesday. I had a great day with Jim Reid and Keith the Ghillie. I ended up getting 6, from 4lb to 13lb, all liced. I'm not back up till end of august. All the best Phil.’ I also had news from the aforementioned Jim Reid, who also had good sport at Park. Jim commented 'Hi Ken, fishing was really good, despite quite high and peaty water. I got three on Monday, two grilse and a 12lber, then two 12lber's and two 14lber's on Tuesday. My pal Philip Black got 6 on Tuesday; another two fishers got three each. Most of mine were sea-liced, cracking Dee fish. I was very well looked after by Keith as usual.’ Jim Reid ( a relative of mine) is an excellent angler who is passionate about his sport. As a footnote, I was really delighted to hear that Jim landed a fish estimated to be between 37-42 lbs at Bemersyde on Tweed which was verified and photographed last Wednesday 24th October; the biggest for the beat in 25 years. The week of the 16th July saw 311 salmon reported with Robert Harper at Lower Crathes advising 'The Fielding party had an excellent week with 25 salmon and grilse to 20lbs. They had an excellent first half of the week with 19 for the first 3 days before the river rose significantly and sport quietened down. Anthea Fielding had an excellent 20lb salmon on Saturday to round of an excellent week.' Lower Crathes went on to record a total of 90 salmon and grilse in July, their best month of the season. I also chatted with Brian Sim at the lovely Crathes beat who commented 'We had a good week with 23 nice salmon and grilse to 16lbs. Mr. Vincente Gonzalez had a fantastic weeks fishing with 14 fish for the week on small size 14 Cascades fished on a variety of sink tips off a floating line to suit water heights. We have had 3 already this morning which is a super start to the week. ‘Crathes also had their best month of the season in July with 65 salmon and grilse. The following week, Jim Paton at Upper Drum and Lower Durris reported, ‘The beat had 36 salmon and grilse for the week, with some real crackers being landed. Dave Wakefield had a fabulous 24lber and Peter Brown had salmon of 22lbs and 20 lbs. The grilse are in excellent condition this year; nice plump specimens. Results were really first class during the first half of the week with the Lower Durris shrimp fly scoring heavily. The fly was designed by George West and has an olive green coloured hackle and tail with silver body; a really great fly.’ July saw 1156 salmon and grilse reported which was significantly above the 5 year average of 652. i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/GreigThomson.jpgGreig Thomson of Salmo Fishings with a nice fresh salmon We entered August with hopes that the super runs of salmon in July would continue and we were not to be too disappointed with the final outcome which saw 1042 salmon and grilse reported against a 5 year average of 1132. There were a number of big spates that occurred that will have reduced catches a little but there were thoughts that the big summer/ autumn run was diminishing as went through the month of August into September. Bill Palmer, the beat Ghillie from Borrowston wrote advising ‘Dear Ken, This is the photo of Mr. Chris Coltart. This is the first salmon that he has caught and it weighed 28 lbs. He caught it on an executioner (one of my interpretations) at Mid Hole. He also had another take in the same pool and the fish looked about the same size, unfortunately this one got away.’ River Dee Ghillies were receiving great praise from visiting anglers with Tom Lumley advising ‘Keith Cromar was just fantastic - his enthusiasm and professionalism was just amazing, he is an example to all other Ghillies - he went beyond the call of duty to get me a fish, he noticed I wasn't enjoying one particular beat, and moved me around to get me a fish, which I did.’ Jonathon Woodcock wrote advising ‘We had a fantastic week guided by the beat Ghillie George Murray who was a real star and between four of us we caught 6 Salmon between 6 and 9 pounds.’ The Feugh tributary was starting to fish well with Alex and Kathleen Brown who manage Heughhead writing to advise ‘Good Morning Ken, just a quick word about a new customer we had fishing on Saturday. Graham Bruce, from Fife, booked through FishPal on Friday afternoon and travelled up on Saturday with his friend John, and after a late start as the river was still quite high after Friday morning's rain, they managed to catch (and release) a total of 7 salmon between them, ranging from 2 small grilse to a 10lb fish which is the biggest we have had off the beat this season. That took the beat's total for the week up to 15 salmon and 5 sea trout, obviously helped by large spates on Tuesday and Thursday and that smaller one on Friday/Saturday. This was by far our best week since we started managing the beat.’ The beat was to enjoy some other great sport on the back of falling spates in the following weeks. I received an e-mail from Mr John Walne about a trip to Birse. Mr. Walne commented ‘Thought I would just let you know how very much I enjoyed 3 days on Birse. It`s many years since I last fished the Dee but 25years ago I caught my best ever salmon (25lb Springer) on the Bruach Pool at Dinnet, so for old times’ sake I decided to treat myself to a trip down memory lane. I hadn`t fished Birse before and arrived (12th July) as it was starting to fine off after heavy rain on the 10th. First morning - a very nice 12lb fish from Irrigation Pool; Doug Murray netted it for me, he`s a great character. Second morning a 7lb fish from Trees Pool and third morning a nice sea trout from Red Rock and in the afternoon lost a cracking fish on Belwade Pool. The river was improving steadily and the total bag that week was 26 salmon and about 12 sea trout. Doug Murray was most helpful and friendly, especially on the first day as I was the only rod to score, and he keeps the hut so well stocked and immaculate. By coincidence I booked B&B at Dinnet House so there was much reminiscing about times past - Marcus and Sabrina Humphrey rooted out their old 1987 record book to confirm the date of my prize catch and Marcus even took me down and invited me to wet a line on Bruach Pool - what wonderful hospitality. Having reconnected with your lovely river I hope to return next season - trouble is I`m getting a bit long in the tooth and at 77, three full days solid fishing is becoming more of a challenge so must find someone to share a rod. I`m only a lad compared to Doug at 83! i128.photobucket.com/albums/p198/Greenbanks/MadsPedersen.jpgMads Pedersen with a fine summer fish at Culter Keith Cromar reported from Park. ‘There was a good 42 inch long salmon, estimated at 28lbs landed on Park South by Mr. John Kane from Ayrshire. This fish was hooked in Bulwarks and landed down beside the Sheeoch burn some 40 minutes later. Mr. Kane had 10 fish during his 3 day visit from a 2lb Grilse to this cracking 28lb cock salmon. All the fish were taken on a size 13 orange Flamethrower pattern; this popular design was created by Duncan Egan and is a highly successful fly.’ Mads Pedersen provided a report from Culter where there were 23 fresh salmon reported. He advised that Stephen Farquhar enjoyed a red letter day on Friday with 6 salmon landed and 3 lost to his own rod. They only had 2 rods fishing each day that week so the catch of 23 was a good return for the amount of rod effort. Fiona Martin wrote from Glen Tanar advising 'Georg Reutter whose fishing party have been on the beat for the week commented. 'We were staying at Birkelunn this week for some walked up grouse shooting, stalking and of course fishing the lovely Headinch and Cambus O'May beat. With a good amount of rain at the beginning of the week, the river was fishing well for most of the week. We had several first time fishermen and women in our group and it was great that two of them (William Shirley from Norfolk and Benedikt Traun from Austria) were able to land their first ever salmon. By Friday we had caught 4 fish in total with the biggest coming in at 13lb.We caught all our fish on the Ally's shrimp fly which proved to be very effective for both the larger resident salmon we caught but also a couple of clean grilse that had made the long run up to the upper Dee in quick time. With the week not over yet we are optimistic that we might yet have some good fishing today and Saturday.' Alec Coutts dropped me a note about sport at Aboyne Castle advising 'Kenneth Carruthers party had a good week on Aboyne Castle with 16 salmon and grilse plus a sea trout. Kenneth caught 6 and the sea trout. Guest Alex Robertson caught his first salmon and finished with 3 for his day on Monday. Also a first fish for Colin Shand with grilse of 3 and 5 lbs, a converted trout fisherman! David Robinson had 3 and John Grandison one. Cascades, Park Shrimps and Sunray Shadows were doing the business for the party. We had our 100th fish for the season on Friday.' Lower Crathes Head Ghillie Robert Harper advised 'We had a really good last week for the 3 rods fishing with 22 salmon and grilse landed by anglers. Lewis Gray had 10 to his own rod with brother Jim having a couple, James Watt had 3 of 10, 7 and 22lbs. River Dee Board Chairman Ian Scott a fish and visitor Jim Reid had 2 fish.' Part 3 will be circulated early next week.... Regards Ken Ken Reid,Fisheries Development Officer DDSFB & River Dee Trust Office Mill of Dinnet, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland,AB34 5LA D +44 (0) 13398 80411 M +44 (0) 7979 878971 E-Mail ken@riverdee.org www.riverdee.org and www.fishdee.co.ukRiver Dee Trust Registered Charity No SC028497
|
|