Dee - Berichte

River Dee Fishing Report – Week 23 commencing 30^th June 2025

So here we are in midsummer and moving into July already, we did have some respite and rain this past week, but we still need a lot more, we have seen more grilse in the river and so it looks like the run is starting slowly now. This week a total of 24 salmon/grilse and 14 sea trout to the Dee rods from Tilbouries & Middle Drum on the lower river right up to Crathie.

Around the beats

At Park they had a better week due to the rain and cooler conditions improving the second half. It was good to welcome back long term guest and restauranteur David Scott and his party at the beginning of the week. They fished hard but conditions were against them. Fortunately, on Wednesday a run of grilse arrived with the rain, so things picked up. Regular guests had an enjoyable time on the river with the following results:

• Colin McLean landed 4 including a hat-trick on Wednesday.
• Gordon Hyslop landed 2 including a lovely 10lber.
• Anthony Wood landed 2 including a nice 7lber.
• Neil Mitchell landed 1.
• John Fraser landed 1.

William Foster's wife Alice was also fishing and had a decent sized grilse on for some time in Duffers but sadly it was one that got away -  Tight lines next time!

At Banchory , Jordan Sinclair wrote on their Facebook page echoing the thoughts of many of those living and working here on the Dee as it has certainly been a tough year so far, the beat wanted to say thank you to the anglers who have stuck it out during this prolonged period of low water making things extremely difficult. At Banchory they had regulars this past week who finished with 5 and 2 sea trout. Adams Spencer’s party were there the first half of the week and they fished hard with a sea trout landed for Adam and a couple of fish lost for his father Karl. One of Lochy Porter’s team Johnny Roberts got his first Dee grilse from the Feugh Mouth on Thursday morning and Tim had Friday’s grilse from the Hotel pool. Donald Maclachlan got his brace from the Feugh mouth on Saturday with Davie Morrison getting one from Jock Adams and the sea trout was landed by Iain Stephen late Saturday evening, well done them all for persevering in the current conditions.

At Cairnton and Middle Blackhall Brian Brogan reported that this past week the height on their part of the river started at minus 2 inches on Monday but by Tuesday the conditions were beginning to improve with more cloud and some rain moving in. Wednesday onwards saw a mix of some rain and bright spells giving a rise of 5 inches mid-week which did seem to bring a few grilse in, but they didn’t appear to be hanging around for long. On the fish side of things, anglers were unlucky not to land a few more but Bob Kenyon did land a lovely 10lb er in the Spout on Wednesday on a small Gledswood Blue, well done to him.

Other beats with fish to their rods this week were Lower Crathes & West Durris, Crathes Castle , Woodend, Carlogie, Dess, Aboyne Water, Dinnet, Balmoral and Crathie if you were fishing at any of these beats and want to drop me a note then please do and I will include in the report next week.

I must apologise to Craig McDonald at Headinch & Cambus beat as I missed his message to me for last week’s report, he let me know that they were out chasing sea trout in the evenings and Paul Chambers and his team were fishing late and had 4 between them from Fergie’s and Sheerless pools, Paul himself had 1, Mark Purvis had 1 and Will Edwards had a brace. Mike Richardson then added another sea trout to the score from the Bell Hole, well done to them all.

Many congratulations go to all of the team at Twin Peakes Fly Fishing who won the prestigious accolade of  Best Fishing Provider in the  Country Sport Scotland Awards 2025 at the  Scottish Game Fair last weekend , if you haven’t been to their fly fishing school or new expanded premises at the Milton of Crathes, then why not pop in next time you visit Deeside.

A few other things of note, ;-

We have had the first confirmed sighting of Pink Salmon in the lower Dee on Thursday last week. Any pink salmon caught should be reported to the beat ghillie or the river office if the beat is non-ghillied, by phoning 01339 880411.

I just thought we would share this podcast featuring Ken Whelan who is a scientific advisor on the Save the Spring programme,  it is just under an hour long   - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/trout-in-hot-water-ken-whelan-on-fly-fishing-in-a/id1494497441?i=1000714792672

We have launched the ticket sales for the Fundraising Ceilidh for the River Dee Trust - Friday 31st October 2025 at the Legion in Banchory at £25 pp.

• Book a table of 10, or individual tickets on the Eventbrite link  here
• Email me if you want to book and have an invoice generated for payment, rather than book via Eventbrite.

I’ve just written the report before I head off for a break, I hope to be out on the beats meeting anglers later this month and let’s hope we get a bit more water this next week.

Tight lines.

Debbie Cooper

[email protected]