Week Ending 13th June
The start of the week held plenty of promise, and I wasn’t alone in thinking that. It is fair to say we couldn’t really complain about conditions across the piece, which made this week’s tally of 22 salmon and 26 sea trout feel underwhelming. But Scotland won their World Cup opener, so you can’t have it all. It is also worth noting that Sunday’s reportage was noticeably quiet, as a mix of shock and hangovers gripped Deeside.
Joe Robinson landed a nice grilse in the Long Pool at Park on Monday. Beat owner William Foster told me:
“We hoped to get on the end of a few more. Conditions were perfect mid-week, with a slowly dropping river. We have seen fish moving in the top half of the beat and worked hard to tempt them onto the fly, with good coverage every day.”
There were also two landed at Ballogie, and Bryn Barlow had an 11lbr from Jock Rae at Dess.
Tuesday delivered another four, spread between Lower Crathes, Banchory, Aboyne Water and Crathie. Nick Horne landed the first grilse of the year for Banchory. Neil Stephenson picked away during his usual nocturnal sea trout sessions, including a fine summer salmon on Friday. As we can all glean from the numbers, the sea trout fishing has been slower. It has also been noticeably cooler, and the absence of the long, balmy evenings we love in June has added to the challenge.
Evan Orr at Lower Crathes reported a quiet week, with one landed and a couple lost. They are off the mark already this week.
Wednesday’s five fish came from Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo, Dess, Craigendinnie and Cambus.
Roy McGlone had a solid resident fish on Wednesday at Dess, followed by a clean fish from the Mill Pool for Martin Kennedy.
On Thursday, 82-year-old Ed Douglas landed a nice 12lbr from Birkenbaud at Crathes Castle. Mike Noble had a lovely fresh 8lbr from Bruiach at Dinnet. Of the half-dozen sea trout reported by Gordon McDermid, there were a few solid fish among them around 3½lb. Mike Noble had one of those, as did Jeff Stainton and Bryn Barlow.
Mike Johnston had both of Craigendinnie’s fish: a 10lbr from Crofts on a Red Ally’s on Wednesday, and a 16lbr from Middle Fonty on an Ally’s on Thursday.
Chaz Booth’s account of the week’s proceedings at Aboyne Water included a first Dee salmon, a 15lb fish for Steven Bathgate from Dalkeith. This was Stephen’s first visit to the Dee, so well done Stephen. He landed it in Red Rock on a Cascade fished off a fast tip. Chaz had one himself, a 10lbr from Lummels using the same set-up, but armed with one of Edwin Whyte’s JJ’s.
Chaz also asked me to note his thanks to Don Keenan and the guys at Aboyne Angling Association for getting a team together to cut the grass and strim the banks while he recovered from his recent tumble. Not even Chaz can wear a strimmer harness with broken ribs and a collapsed lung, so well done lads. What goes around, comes around.
Up at Cambus, Craig McDonald described it as:
“A tricky week, with water a little unsettled and catches disappointing. But we got our first sea trout and grilse of the year. Chesh Pacynko had a sea trout in the Ministers and Ian Somerville caught his first ever salmon, a lovely fresh grilse from the Lower Bellhole on a small Willie Gunn double.”
A first salmon is a wonderful moment, so congratulations to Ian.
Friday and Saturday produced just five fish. In addition to Neil’s salmon at Banchory, Carlogie had one. Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo added another to its tally, along with Aboyne Water’s second of the week. Matt Naeher had one at Balmoral, which missed the website.
Outlook
The week ahead looks mild, mostly cloudy or mixed, with showers likely. A fairly quiet Monday, showers on Tuesday, a warmer midweek spell, then more cloud and scattered showers later in the week. Forecast highs for Deeside are mostly in the 15–21°C range, with Wednesday and Friday looking among the warmer days.
For the river, that suggests no obvious heat crisis, which has blighted recent Junes. There is also no indication of proper rainfall. Showers may help keep the edge off water temperatures, but unless they organise into something more substantial over the catchment, they may do more for morale than river height. The peat stain seems to linger for longer these days, so let’s hope that improves this week.
The ghillies will have their own thoughts on fly choice, but the usual mix of small dressed doubles, Silver Stoats, Crathies, small Cascades, Flamethrowers and similar patterns will cover most eventualities. Full floating lines and a mix of poly leaders remain a basic staple.
For those of you out in the evenings and later, it might be worth trying something more hover/intermediate in addition to the floater, at least until we go properly balmy.
As ever, listen to your ghillie!
Ross Macdonald
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