Aboyne Castle

Aboyne Castle is a classic fly fishing fish beat on the Upper Dee immediately west of Aboyne and is part of a traditional sporting estate on Royal Deeside.

The beat is fished in agreement with Craigendinnie Beat opposite in order that rods can fish from either bank in rotation.

This arrangement ceases at the end of June when the Aboyne Castle rods remain on the left bank during the summer months.

The beat is split into an upper and lower section with the two Aboyne Castle rods fishing the upper section on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the lower section on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The two Craigendinnie rods fish the beat vice versa. Both sections of the beat have classic fly fishing pools with sufficient pools to fish new water morning and afternoon.

Due to the fast flowing nature of the Upper Dee and the variety of pools, the beat can be fished at all water heights, which is distinctively advantageous during high water conditions. There are a wide variety of pools that offer the fisherman unique challenges in reading the water, and presenting the fly with finesse required when the water is low. The beat has spring salmon building up until May and then a build up of sea trout during the mid summer weeks where night fishing for sea trout can be very productive. In the late summer weeks there is a run of grilse and salmon which combined with river fish sees the pools well populated.

There is one hut on the Aboyne Castle bank and the services of Ghillie shared with Craigendinnie all season. The beat is normally let on a weekly basis but during some periods rods are let on a part week or daily basis when vacancies arise. All anglers are asked to meet the Ghillie at Crofts Hut (taking care crossing the airfield) at 9.00am each morning where their pools will be allocated for the day. 

Why you need to fish here

Aboyne Castle is a classic fly fishing fish beat on the Upper Dee immediately west of Aboyne and is part of a traditional sporting estate on Royal Deeside.

The beat is fished in agreement with Craigendinnie Beat opposite in order that rods can fish from either bank in rotation during the spring months until the end of June. From July Aboyne Castle rods only fish the left bank.