Dinnet beats update - Beggining of June

Monday began slowly with an attractive height of 1" and warm water at 57 degrees small flies and floating lines should be the preferred tactics this week. Welsh angler Simon Jones is no stranger to the Dee and set to with his small flies tied on a two fly cast and 18' leader began the week with a grilse of 5 lb from the glide. By Tuesday Simon continued to catch with fish landed in red brae and high burn and Regular Dee angler Gordon Tait started off with a fish from red brae from the Dinnet bank. John Jones invited his daughter to fish for the week and he diligently Ghillied her on the beat and netted two sea trout on the Tuesday evening for her. Gordon and I headed to Long Cast from the dinnet bank which is now opened up and a lovely piece of water when the river is low , and landed a lively sea trout from the head of the pool. Gordon has been fortunate to land some big dee fish this year following his 20lber in red brae this April he managed a cracking 17lb salmon from red brae on the Wednesday evening  this week. Wednesday night bought some heavy rain fall and  Thursday morning we were met with a big dirty river which peaked at 3'6". Salmon fishing was tough in these conditions however the sea trout remained active and over the next two days we managed to land 5 sea trout. The river dropped as quick as it came up and by Friday we were back in our main productive pools and some salmon rewarded out efforts. Steve Mulligan landed a stunning 12lber from Pol Slachd and John Jones ghillied his daughter's Lucy her first Dinnet salmon of 4lbs from Pol Bar. We finished with 10 salmon and 13 sea trout. Again river conditions mid week were unstable and our rods all fished hard changed tactics and were rewarded when the salmon were here.

Sunset on the Dee

Simon Jones sea trout fishing

Sunset on Morven

Dinnet beats update

The final week of May started with promising conditions with river heights at 6" and 53 degrees still holding some peat stain from a wee rise on Sunday Charles Hill and party began full of optimism. Andrew Markland set the ball rolling with a cracking 12lb salmon from Logie Pool taken right in the tail from the north bank on a home tied tiny size 14 dee sheep. By Tuesday the river continued to drop down to 1" but the peat stain became more concentrated and even with great efforts we failed to continue catching. Wednesday bought another rise of water peaking at 11" and temperatures rising to 57 degrees which appeared to bring in a run of fish. By mid week Charles Hill landed a stunning 11lb salmon in the evening in Logie, Andrew winkled another from Red Brae of 5lb and I was lucky to get a 12lber from Pol Slachd in the evening. Wendy and David had a great first three days of the week although fish less it was a pleasure to teach them fly casting and fishing and watch them progress and learn throughout there time here. Nigel Lammas caught a very fresh springer from Logie on the Thursday morning and Andrew caught the first salmon of the season from the Glide.

Charles Hill's daughters shared a rod for the later three days with dad and took to Flyfishing extremely well casting fantastic loops and showing lots of enthusiasm. Jenny hooked her first ever salmon in red brae from the north bank on the Thursday all on her own the fish proceeded to fight diligently and amongst all the slippy wading and acrobatic fighting it managed to drop off, next time I feel the fish won't be so lucky. 

Friday proved to be a better fishing day sitting at 5" and a much better colour to the river we managed another 4 salmon including a lovely fish from the glide from the north bank caught by Robert Markland.

Throughout the week there were occasional sea trout caught totaling 5. Successful flies were dee sheep, willie guns, cascades and mini collie dogs in fast pools like Trochie. It certainly was not a prolific week for May but our rods diligently fished hard and finished with a respectable tally. 

Next week was our best week of the season last year so it will be interesting to see what happens this season.

 The Team at Sandy Bay Hut

David Taylor fishing Logie

Jane Hill fishing Red Brae

Wendy Taylor learning to cast

Instructing

Breagha

Nigel Lammas into a fish in Logie

Dinnet Beats Update - Third week of May

The week ending 24th of May once again produced a respectable result here it Dinnet. Finishing the week with 12 Salmon most of our rods were rewarded with a tussle from a Dee Springer although there certainly was not an abundance of Salmon in the pools. It appears that we have lost the majority of our residents on the beat as all the fish that were encountered were very fresh and they also seemed to be moving through the beat fairly quickly.  Fortunately Logie pool held several residents and remained at a great height throughout the week and produced the majority of salmon for the week.

Conditions throughout the week were just fine, maybe a little bright on some afternoons but as a whole favorable for salmon fishing. Starting the week at 7" almost all the pools were were at a good fishing height and water temperatures remaining between 50 and 54 degrees produced wonderful conditions for fishing small flies on floating lines.

Monday began with a blank day and little was seen on the beat however Lowrie Hickman started things off with a sparkling fish from Logie of 6lb's on Tuesday. Colin Espie added to the tally with the first fish from Top Bobby this season on an inch of black at night. On Wednesday a fish of 12lb was landed from Pol Slachd and Thursday bought another springer from Logie. A slow start to the week however things picked up on Friday with 3 fish landed in Logie and a cracking 13lb fish from Red Brae caught by French angler Bernard. By Saturday the river height dropped to 2" and it is uncanny how those low water pools begin the fish and the fish do start lying up there at suitable heights. We landed the first fish from Trochie and High Burn along with two more from Logie and Pol Slachd. 

Successful patterns were silver stoats, crathies, munro killers and some home tied patterns in sizes 11 to 14. 

I really hope the river picks up as June draws closer and we start to see Grilse runs and Sea Trout running the river, time will tell.

Dinnet Beats Update - Lairds Cast-

Well the second week of May has always been the Lairds week and often a very productive week here at Dinnet and Deecastle. This year even with very good river conditions it proved to be a difficult week however most rods were rewarded with much effort and perseverance. The week started off very well but it appeared that we lost quite a lot of fish on the Monday night and we only saw a slow trickle of fish throughout the week thereafter.

River conditions were perfect all week starting at 11" and dropped down to 6" by the end of the week. Temperatures began at 52 degrees but dropped down to 49 mid week and peaked again at 52 on the Saturday. A perfect height for all the main pools and classic conditions for floating lines and small flies fished slowly on top.

Monday Ian Scott began the week with a cracking 9lber from Logie Pool and David Conroy followed close behind with a 10lb sparkling fish from Pol Slachd. Finishing the first day with 4 fish recorded spirits were high and they improved again when the Dinnet Estate Laird Edward Humphrey skillfully landed a very feisty fish of 9lb from Pol Baw at 10pm on the Monday evening. Unfortunately the fish on the beat proceeded to continue upstream and left us very quiet for the next two days. Marcus Humphrey broke the quiet spell with a 10lb fresh fish from Pol Slachd on the Thursday and Colin Somerville kept things rolling with a sealiced beauty from Red Brae on the following day.

Saturday we had great celebrations after I was fortunate enough to instruct and ghillie Amanda Kavanagh's first ever Salmon which she caught and played extremely well in Red Brae. It is a great part of the job being able to share moments like these and I am convinced Amanda will continue to catch salmon in Scotland. We finished the week with 10 fish which for May is disappointing however in tough times those fish are remembered and very well deserved.

Successful tactics were fishing full floating lines and small flies patterns like the crathie, silver stoats, ghillie flies and munro killers in sizes 8 to 12.

Amanda Kavanagh fish on

First Fish!! Well done!!

Edward Humphrey with a feisty

evening springer

Dinnet beats update - Things are looking up

The first week of May should be a very good time to salmon fish here at Dinnet. Last weeks river conditions were acceptable with heights ranging between 10" and 1'4" and temperatures 52 degrees and above the majority of the beat fished well throughout the week. We started off to a slightly slower start with only three Springers landed by Wednesday but a wee rise in water on the Wednesday night certainly brought some fish into the beat. Thursday our rods landed 8 fish with catches on every beat it was encouraging to see the fish spread out throughout the beat. By Saturday evening we finished with a respectable 18 salmon landed for the beat.

Michael Trafford landed a 16lb fish from the tail of Bruich which was the first for the pool this season. Mark Beaty also broke the duck for Pol Slachd and we proceeded to catch some more from this pool. Even with the river rising and dropping during the week fish continued to take small flies on floating lines and it is always a pleasure to fish in this way and often even see the take on the surface. Successful patterns were the Crathie Fly, Stoats Tail, Silver Stoats, Dee Sheep in sizes 9 to 11, Waddingtons, and Black and Yellow tubes all fished on floating lines.

Evening fishing has also been successful with several fish this week taken in the last hour of daylight. It is always important to rest your evening pools and last week beginning your cast at around 9pm was about perfectly timed. There have been some sea trout catches further down river this week and I would expect to start seeing some sea trout on the beat in the next week or so.

Tight Lines

Mark Beaty's lovely fish from Logie

Fish On

Anticipation

Dinnet & Deecastle beats update

Well my forecasts of full moons, big tides, and shoals of fish entering the river; I am afraid did not materialize with us here at Dinnet. River conditions for last week were satisfactory beginning the week with a low river at 5" and rising to 1' on Tuesday the river was in perfect order. As the week progressed snow in the hills proceeded to melt and the river fluctuated  between 1' and 1'6" so really not bad heights. Temperatures were on the way up sitting between 47 and 50 degrees. Unfortunately not many fish were caught or seen during the week, Mark Trasenster landed a very fresh 6lb springer from Red Brae on the Tuesday yet despite great efforts by a great team of fishers that was the weeks total catch. A wee spate rose on Saturday afternoon and brought in a run of fish and plenty were seen in the boat pool late Saturday and one was lost.

I feel Sunday would have been a great fishing day!!

Monday morning our new enthusiastic rods arrived and we certainly saw more movement of fish than what we saw the previous week. Fishing an evening rod I started the week with a 6lb springer on the Monday evening from the Haugh Pool. Returning guest Graham Forbes caught a beauty from Red Brae on the Wednesday of 8lbs. Colin Lowsen's guest Craig also took a fresh fish from Logie on Wednesday night after moving the fish twice with other flies first he persuaded it to take a small red Frances third time lucky. Mike Forbes who has been visiting Deeside for 50+ years took a lovely 10lb springer from Red Brae on a size 10 crathie fly, and Roy Willingham also broke his duck with a fiery springer from Logie in the evening. Returning rod Harry Dimmey caught a lovely fish from Red Brae on the Friday as did first time Dinnet Deecastle rod Ian Brindly from cobbles. I finished the week with the first fish of the season on a Toucan fly at 9.30 from Red Brae.

The river had fluctuated between 1'3" and 5" and temperatures have remained above 50 degrees each day which is great news for the upper Dee. Now with resident fish in all our major pools we should see fish holding for longer on the beat and with temperatures much warmer then May last year I would predict a much better May this year at Dinnet/Deecastle

Tactics are now floating lines with poly leader tips leaving 15lb nylon and moving to 12 and doubles from size 8 to 12 will be the fly of choice over the next few weeks. Even fishing occasional hitch tubes on the surface and small collie dogs could well produce fish for anglers when the small traditional patterns are not so effective.

Unfortunately
I have not received many pictures of fish this week so here are a few shots I have taken during the week.

I have a feeling it will be a good May :-)

 Casting practice

 Enjoying the new benches at 'Pretty Hut'

 Spring time

'The Toucan' What else could a fish want?

Dinnet Beats Update

The last three weeks since the last update have been somewhat challenging for rods fishing Dinnet and Deecastle beats. Even with the river running in extremely good condition during the majority of the period considering river heights, water temperature and fishing weather conditions. Being a fisherman and ever optimistic I really thought we would see a large migration of Spring Salmon that seem to be occupying the middle river in the first few weeks of April. Unfortunately this did not transpire but on the plus side what fish we have been seeing and catching have been very fresh, many with sea lice and have rewarded well deserved rods with some exceptional sport.

Simon Mckay's party ending March and rolling into April were faced with a beat at what one would describe as a "perfect" fishing height and truly all the pools are a pleasure to fly fish. River heights fluctuating between 1'1" and 10" meant that almost all of our major pools were fishing well and river temperatures beginning cool at 38 degrees on the Monday but warming up throughout the week to the mid 40's. Simon caught the first Spring Salmon of the week from L. Slachd full of fighting spirit and Nigel was surprised when almost 3rd cast in the Haugh from the south bank a lively 14lb fresh Springer grabbed his fly to which Colin arrived and aided catching and safely returning the fish.

The following week our returning guests were again faced with superb fishing conditions with a river remaining between 1'2" and 11" all week and water temperatures sitting above 43 degrees, I really was running out of reasons (excuses) why Spring Salmon clearly holding in the middle beats were not migrating upstream along with fresh fish. Tony Smith our returning Glaswegian rod got off to a very good start by landing a beautiful 8lb sealiced springer on Monday morning from Cobbles pool. Paul Mcnally also managed to winkle out a spring fish from L.Slachd. Even with hard fishing efforts 2 fish was the total for the week

Monday the 7th of April provided us with a falling river that maybe peaked at 3.5' on the Sunday night, Geoff Slight's rods fished hard and a total of three fish were lost on Monday morning by Mark Caswell. The river dropped away as the week progressed and temperatures remained high above 45 degrees each day. The latter half of the week was  better and a 20lb stunning fresh Springer was landed by regular rod Gordon Tait from Red Brae (North Bank) on the Wednesday.

Swedish Charlie was also rewarded with an 8lb springer from Red Brae (South Bank). One more sealiced fish from sandy bay concluded the week.

With a full moon whilst I  am writing this I am expecting very high spring tides to welcome shoals of salmon into the river this week. Also historically the full moons in April I'm told trigger a migration in fish within the river and hopefully we shall finally see a large migration of fish from the Ballogie, Carlogie area and welcome them to the Dinnet Beat!! :-)  Time will tell

Gordon Tait's 20lb Springer!!

Happy chappy!!

Tony Smith's Springer from cobbles

Needle Stone

Mattias Helde