Recent Catches
Not a lot of action to report this week sadly as winter tightened its grip on Deeside, and if you will excuse the pun, conditions were gruesome at times with practically 3 days lost due to ice floes and grue coming down river. The forecast from the met office last Sunday did not suggest the conditions that we saw during the week. As it was there were a few fish reported and there were many crack anglers on Deeside who tried their best and deserve credit for their perseverance. As it was some departed early, and who could blame them, and some just relaxed on the beats and visited some of the local hostelries. I was delighted to have a number of anglers visit on Saturday and over coffee we watched some fishing videos and chatted for a few hours.
I received some reports and am as always very grateful to anglers who drop me a line or two. Firstly Mr Jim Fisher very kindly found time to drop me a line about a recent catch at Ballogie and commented ‘It was a good afternoon. Walking up to the top of my allocated beat (The Slips) after lunch, I spotted a fish moving in the Middle Slip. I decided to cover it from the bank there and then and the fish took immediately. A very fresh small Springer landed and safely returned. Time 2.45pm. Shortly afterwards I had another solid pull to the Black & Yellow tube fly & this turned out to be a beautifully shaped Springer. Sean the Ghillie arrived in time to put the tape measure on it at 34" long by 18"girth and to take scale samples before the fish swam away strongly. Estimated weight 16lbs. Time 3.10pm. Suddenly my day seemed a lot brighter.
Jim Fisher of the Hardy Casting Academy with fine Springer
I also received a nice report from Greig Thomson from Salmo Fishings who wrote ‘Day 1 - We arrived at Park North on Monday to be greeted by Keith and a river running at 19” and clear, which is always a welcome sight in Feb. My first port of call on Monday was the Durris on beat 4. I fished down with an intermediate and fast sink tip to below the wires only to briefly hook up with a Kelt. I did not see many fish in the Durris but saw plenty of fish below on beat 5 down to the ash tree which is fairly usual early on.
In the afternoon I had beat 2. I must interject at this point and mention as Keith pointed out to me that a lot of the gravel has shifted on the beats over the winter which is now making some of the pools even better to fish. This was very obvious on beat 2 at the upper kirks and the bottom of the long pool where in the afternoon I took half a dozen Kelts or so including one of 15lb which was very well mended, for a moment I thought it might be the real thing. – Alas it was not to be so ended the day without the goal yet very happy. My fishing partner Cohn O’Dea took a fresh fish of about 7lb on beat 3 in the afternoon at the Greenbank, this certainly provided encouragement for the next day.
Greig Thomson with his prized Dee salmon
Day 2 – Couple of inches of snow overnight has brought the water temperature down on Deeside as well as the water level up by a few inches. In the morning I was on beat 3 which was looking marvellous. Now although I did not catch any that morning, I did see a fresh fish heading upstream which was very encouraging for the afternoon. After an early lunch I headed to the Durris again and then house pool on beat 4 with my S1/2 shooting head with a 10 foot fast tip teamed up with a Sunray tied on to a 3” weighted tube. I took 2 Kelts rapidly and then another an hour later. By this point I was starting to think about the warmth of home as it was sleeting heavily and very cold along with fading light. Keith come along to keep me company for a while and after only 5 minutes of him being there the line went tight and I was into a fish, no sooner than it was on it come off – now I was really ready for home, wet, cold and hungry! Keith drove off to speak to another one of the guys just up the road whilst I kept on fishing down the house pool. Within minutes my line went tight and there was a big splash on the surface the next thing I know I am right down to my backing! This was the real thing! 10 minutes later down at the cellar I landed my first fresh fish of the season, a 13lb bar of silver much to my pleasure! It goes without saying that Park is my favourite place to fish on the Dee as I just can’t keep away! The beat itself, the quality of the pools and the expertise of Keith, Bert & Charlie make this beat a must for any serious salmon fisher out there! I am now counting the days until March!
You can write to me as always at
ken@riverdee.org - remember the River Dee Conservation Code is in place for 2010 and details are on the FishDee website. There are rods available over the next few weeks on the river due to the cold winter so please take advantage of the rods available and come and fish the River Dee. I do expect the run to get underway when the river warms up and it could be a good march. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd, February 2010
Prospects
I would love to write and predict that prospects for the forthcoming week are promising but it would be wrong to do so. We are experiencing the severest winter for many a long year and the conditions are not going to improve over the next week. I have checked Netweather, Metcheck, the Met Office and BBC weather today. We are going to see a continuation of the extreme cold with day temps rising to around freezing or just over and falling back at night to well below zero. There is a good chance that we shall see further snowfalls from Thursday to Saturday too. There is a possibility that the river will remain grued up all week making conditions virtually impossible.
The river gauges are currently showing between 8 inches and 13 inches above summer level however that will drop back over the next few days as frost bites deeper and locks in the water that will come from the tributaries. The maritime influence is indicating high tides rising from 3.6 metres to 4.2 metres which usually would encourage fish to come into the river. Given the current conditions I don’t expect to hear of many fish coming into the river until conditions improve. I think your best catch of the week is a nice bottle of the Dee Dram whisky which is available from The Stag in Banchory, The Kincardine O’ Neil post office and George Strachans shops in Aboyne, Ballater and Braemar. It might be a useful diversion for a few hours if fishing isn’t possible. Profits from this venture go to the River Dee Trust and will help the conservation and restoration work in progress for the river. It all helps significantly so please support this initiative and enjoy a fine dram.
There are anglers coming to Deeside and I know of quite a few Scandinavian visitors arriving for a week’s fishing. If you are able to get a line out then perhaps a sunk fly fished deep and slow or perhaps a Devon minnow in the deep dubs might illicit a response. At this time of year any prospects will be around 12-2 pm – given the conditions , though sitting in the hut with a warming dram and chatting with your expert Ghillie can be an enjoyable way to relax and enjoy being on the river side. It is difficult for Ghillies to stand and watch anglers fishing when the conditions are so cold so spare a thought for them. There are rods available over the next few weeks on the river due to the cold winter so please take advantage of the rods available and come and fish the River Dee. I do expect the run to get underway when the river warms up and it could be a good march. Ken Reid © FishDee Ltd, February 2010
FishDee Reports 2010
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