Fishing Reports from River Dee in Scotland, last updated: Monday 26th July

There was some hot action on the Dee last week following on from a reasonable mid week rise that encouraged a good run of fresh salmon and grilse to come forward. I had a feeling this would happen and was really delighted to hear of many anglers successes especially in the beats from Park to Cairnton who have been watching salmon hammering through their beats into the upper beats where good catches had been made. The beats that have reported so far this week are reporting 231 salmon and grilse to 21lbs and 55 sea trout to 5lbs. Park was top FishDee beat for the week with 25 salmon/grilse which is credible as it was lightly fished. Brian Sim had a super week at Crathes with at least 17 salmon and Jim Turnbull and Karl Revel saw 16 landed at Invery. It was also a very good week for the Dess beats where 30 salmon were reported between the upper and lower beats. It was also good to hear Cairnton had some encouraging catches and a nice 5 lb sea trout. I do hope that salmon slow down and hang around in the lower and middle beats giving the hard working Ghillies plenty of action to smile about. I have also heard of quite a number of grilse being affected with Red Vent Syndrome which is caused by the parasitic Anaskis nematode worm. Now that there are a lot of new fish coming in I would encourage anglers in the River Dee and its tributaries to support the River Dee Conservation Code and return all fish that are landed. It is important to allow as many salmon as possible to reach the redds in the main tributaries following many years of declining numbers. Many anglers including myself have wholeheartedly supported the code and it's vital that all anglers show restraint no matter how tempted they are to kill their catch, as a dead salmon cannot spawn. By supporting the code you are doing your bit to ensure one day there will be sufficient stocks to allow a sensible cropping policy to happen, but for now we must all return fish and adhere to the sensible guidelines that are in place. The conservation code applies to the main River Dee and its tributaries including the Feugh, Gairn and minor spawning burns.

Now to correspondence. I was pleased to hear of a number of successes last week as mentioned above and I received correspondence from Stephen Paterson who commented 'Just back from our annual week and what a week it was! We started at Crathes on Monday with Brian Sim telling us he needed 4 to reach a hundred for the season, (ha I thought, no chance!) But by lunch we already had 3 and 1 lost, not long after lunch Brian came down with the news my father had done it landing number 100 and 101! By 5 o'clock we had landed 6 and by 7 I had added another 3, making an amazing 9 for the day. All were sea liced ranging in size from 5 - 12lb, not bad for 2 rods and a beat record Brian says! On Tuesday we managed another 2 before the water rose and the fish went off. On Wednesday we were on Craigendinnie where I managed to land 1 just before the River Dee decided to come out onto the banks to join us! No fishing on Thursday, but Friday saw us on Invery where I landed 2 and lost 2 in the morning, I also had 3 big pulls as well! So we ended what was really 3 days fishing with a total of 14 salmon landed, 5 lost and at least 8 other takes, quite a week and one that will be remembered for a long time to come.' I also received an e-mail from Stuart Buchan who advised 'A fantastic day was had on Invery Beat on Saturday under the enthusiastic and entertaining guidance of Karl Revel. I managed to land two very fresh fish in the morning, one at 6lb and the other at 8lb, both fought well and punched well above their weight. I also hooked into something very substantial but it was having none of it and it sadly came unstuck as it self released. I had a break in the afternoon and concentrated on the deck chair at home then returned to fish in the evening. Arriving at the beat, I saw Alan Michie working through a pool and at that very moment I stopped to speak to him when a willing grilse took his fly then after a tussle, Alan landed it. A few minutes later he hooked and landed a second fish making his total for the day three and then he had another. You then joined us and took over Greig Thomson's rod and landed an 8lb fish with more than its fair share of sea lice (and even had one in the inside corner of its mouth). It was encouraging to see the Dee in such good condition with a plentiful supply of running fish and on such a pleasant beat. As a famous Austrian actor once said "I'll be back".' And finally regular Dee fisher and tackle dealer from Strasbourg in France M.Phillipe Koehler was back for a few days with friends at Park enjoying some lively action and he wrote 'My friends and I are back in France, like every time I visit Deeside; it's very hard to leave the River Dee. This time we leave, it was Wednesday at 4 pm, because it was rising very quickly at this time. When the level rises fast the Dee is impressive. We had 3 nice days with 9 salmons and 5 sea trouts. The Park shrimp was the most successful fly for this time; more than 90% of our fish was captured with this wonderful pattern. Of our catch, 6 of 9 salmons were sea liced, but the sea trout were not. Special thanks for Bert Webster and Charlie Yates the Park South Ghillies." I am pleased to hear about the successes of the Park shrimp fly as designer Ross Macdonald designed this almost 3 years ago to this day for me to use at Park and it got its first freshwater trials which were quite spectacular. I recall landing 5 salmon between 12 and 18 lbs on the Saturday morning on a size 11 and on the following Monday landing six fish including 28 lbs,22lbs and 20lbs fish on another size 11 Park shrimp. The beat saw tremendous runs of fish during August and September which saw 527 salmon landed. Hopefully all the lower River Dee beats will see runs like these returning during August and September where anglers catch many fish.

Can I please take this opportunity to remind visiting anglers to ensure they fill in a Gyrodactylus Salaris declaration prior to fishing. This can be downloaded from the FishDee website as well as being provided by river beats. As European rivers are now open to anglers its imperative that we remove the risk of this lethal parasite entering our river which would wipe out our salmon stocks. There are disinfection stations available at Somers of Aberdeen, Orvis of Banchory and the Post Office at Kincardine O'Neil where visiting anglers can have their tackle fully disinfected for a nominal charge. I would really like to hear of your angling successes and share these with our readers, so please write to me with your news and pictures to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Copyright FishDee Ltd, July 2010

2010 availability on Lower Crathes

September 6, 2 rods
September 7-8, 3 rods
September 9-11, 4 rods
September 13-15, 1 rod
September 20-22, 1 rod
September 27-30, 2 rods
October 1, 1 rod
October 2, 2 rods
October 7, 3 rods
October 8-9, 4 rods
October 14, 4 rods
October 15, 3 rods

For further information, please contact Mrs. Harpa, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Beat catches reported
(week ending 24th July)
SALMON & GRILSE: Blairs 1, Altries and Lower Drum 4, Middle Drum 1, Upper Drum and Lower Durris 2, Tilbouries 1, Park 25, Lower Crathes and W Durris 21, Crathes 19, Invery 16, Lower Blackhall 8, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 7, Middle Blackhall 1, Cairnton 14, Woodend 7, Commonty 3, Sluie 12, Ballogie 7, Borrowston 6, Kincardine 3, Carlogie 4, Lower Dess 18, Upper Dess 12, Birse 7, Aboyne Water 1, Aboyne Castle 10, Craigendinnie 13, Waterside and Ferrar 7, Dinnet 2, Deecastle 10, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 6, Crathie 8, Mar Lodge 2.
Total: 258 Largest: Lower Crathes and W Durris 21lbs
SEA TROUT: Park 8, Invery 2, Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo 3, Cairnton 1, Commonty 1, Sluie 1, Ballogie 1, Borrowston 1, Kincardine 1, Lower Dess 6, Upper Dess 2, Birse 8, Aboyne Water 2, Aboyne Castle 3, Craigendinnie 1, Waterside and Ferrar 12, Deecastle 3, Monaltrie and Lower Invercauld 1, Crathie 7.
Total: 64 Largest: Cairnton 5lbs
TROUT: None reported