Dee - Spring 2007

[jimthefish]

springer said:

Good report as always

Is that your 15' LPXe your using? If so how are you getting on with it?

No Alan,

It is the 15'9" Le Cie which works well with an 85' Carron Jetstream.

I am also pleased with the 15' LPXe however. Was using that rod the day I had 4 on Lower Crathes in March so it is well run in .

[toucan]

Jim,
Well done in those tropical conditions. I'm heading Deewards next week and will make sure the blue hackles are in evidence, although the forecast seems to suggest a return to more normal weather.
I am interested to hear of your choice of the Arndilly Fancy and the Logie for these conditions. In the past I have found the former a good fly when there was a hint of colour in the Dee, rather than a choice for low water and bright sun when my favourite is essentially a silver stoat with a blue hackle. Do you have a hairwing dressing for the Logie or do you use the original yellow swan & mallard wing?
Your lovely pictures and success in adverse conditions offer hope, provided we aren't plagued by bathing locals!

Mark

[jimthefish]

Thanks Mark,

I fish the hairwing Logie using yellow squirrel under brown squirrel. See scanned flies below. I prefer a doubled wound hackle as in the Arndilly Fancy (bottom fly) to a beard hackle.



As you say, the Silver Stoat with a blue hackle also works well in bright conditions.

Good luck on the Dee !

[windy]

Dinnet - Wednesday 18th

Very enjoyable day on a fantastic beat, accompanied by DonnieW this was my first time at Dinnet and one of Donnie's first trips to the Dee.

Water levels were low but there was just endless perfect fly water and no shortage of fish showing to keep the confidence up. Although I connected with a couple of fish I landed 0 but congratulations to Donnie for his first Dee springer around 8lb, as fresh as could be on a full floater and size 10 stoat if my memory serves me right. I fished happily all day with a full floater and size 12 cascade, would have gone smaller but seem to be missing a fly box. The interest I got from fish and just the pleasure of fishing there for the day didn't result in much experimentation with paterns or methods but the sunray did get a chuck at the end of the day, over some fish that had been teasing me, but to no effect. Water was gin clear as usual for the Dee enabling some fish to be seen moving in the water, always a nice sight to see.

Overall a very enjoyable day on some of the finest fly fishing water I have seen, very helpful gillie who drove me around as the Windy wagon wasnt best suited to the tracks and overall a fantastic experience. A great reminder of why I like the Dee so much and why it is worthwhile keeping an eye on the availability on FishDee. I hope I get to fish there again.

I can only hope for some rain to get the levels up or it is going to be a very small river this summer.

Windy

[donnieW]

windy said:

Overall a very enjoyable day on some of the finest fly fishing water I have seen,

I can't argue with that - don't remember ever fishing nicer water. I can understand now why people make a fuss about the Dee. The fly was a Harolds' Black which has been in my flybox unused for the last 2 years. Been fannying around with photos this morning but haven't worked out how to post them yet......
Reckon that's the first trip of many to the Dee.

P.S - Windy, my wife would like a word with you!!

[toucan]

Great to hear some good news from Dinnet (especially yesterday's FishDee numbers) as I'll be there next week ;D.

Where were you finding the fish?

Can't argue with the description of the beat as the most perfect fly water.

[donnieW]

We fished the top end of the beat. I started at Pol Bar and got the fish in the glide (known lie, by a pine tree) Saw fish all the way down - not huge numbers but kept it interesting. Felt a fish could have taken almost any time or any place. 'Windy' had 3 offers further down - Red Brae.

[tyneandrew]

Dinnet/Deecastle is essentially a double bank beat, as G Ritchie kindly ponited out to me today. They are certainly doing very well at the moment (for recent times) - water conditions are suiting them.

The Dee is a superb river - enjoyed your report from Dinnet Windy

[toucan]

Thanks Donnie and Graham,

I know the pine tree well although we've not had so many salmon from the Glide recently. It can be a fantastic sea trout cast, especially between the goal posts.

One would expect Bruich to be fishing well in these conditions but then I can never get a fish out of it either! It is great to hear that there is some stock of fish in the pools, not so often the case in recent years.

Must go now, 480 miles ahead of me.

Mark

[rennie]

Just returned from three days on Sluie,fine beat plenty of possibility's but very little water and even less fish,the historically "cooking beats " for this time of the year had a lean time last week,nowt coming through to replace what came through two weeks or so ago those fish are well up the river now.Self and pal saw a couple of fish each day in the hut pool but zilcho else where,both had one pull each in the Kelpie and Lower Jetty but very little reward for the hard work we put in.The fish that showed interest moved to size 12s on 8/9 floating lines with clear intermediate polytips,tried the whole lot,16s up to 8s,wee tubes up to 1",collies+sunrays,up down depending on air/water temp.Sadly I do believe we fished most of the time over empty water,did enjoy it tho. lots better than work and I would go again to Sluie at the drop of a hat you never really know what could happen do you?.River did drop steadily on us,held up a bit on friday, cold and overcast mainly so the high temps./clear skies of last week weren't the worry we expected.Know some beats were blank for the week others had some sport,oh well such is life,roll on the next trip.Pedro.

[tyneandrew]

Bad luck - i know the feeling of trying hard without success.

Really need some water to freshen things up again.

[storlaks]

Got to get it bad now and again to appreciate the good

That's what I keep telling myself

[tyneandrew]

Good to see the river is getting a freshet today, hopefully it might encourage things to change for the better.

We'll see though...

[elwyman]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O9L7h7sOe8

[toucan]

Week of 23/4 Dinnet

As discussed above, this beat has lovely fly water even when it is down to its bones and we started the week where the previous week had finished. Three on the first morning topped off by a couple to my own rod after dinner in Cobbles and 29. The latter was hooked at almost 9.40 in the evening!

The following day conditions were similar, although the river was carrying a few inches due to some gentle rain high in the hills. It remained crystal clear and remarkably warm for the time of year (52 deg). I caught a small fish in High Burn in the morning on a small Logie (thanks Jim ). We had one more after lunch and another brace after dinner. The rain fell that night and the water (about 18 inches of it) arrived during lunch the next day. I don't think I have seen such a dirty little spate on the Dee. Five weeks without rain and high sun meant the river was full of stringy weed which now was washed off the rocks. Add to that every twig and other bit of debris and you'll get the picture.

By Thursday morning the river had dropped almost back to Tuesday's level but was darker and flecked with foam as the peaty run-off from the further extremes of the catchment reached us. We had a reasonable day, landing three fish but it was clear that we had lost some of the fish with the rise in water and not much had arrived to replace them. Friday and Saturday were brassy days with a fresh easterly wind and cloudless skies. Nevertheless we still had some offers with one fish landed each day but nothing at night when the temperature plummeted.

Most of the fish had been in the river for a while, probably just moved up from the Banchory area, with only one sea licer - a rather tired six pounder.

Graham may be interested to know that the Saturday before we arrived, 4 fish were caught in Bruich, including three in the evening. Top pools for our week were High Burn and "29", although we found odd fish around the beat, including one in Pleasant Walk.

This continued bright sun and easterly wind won't help catches for a while - the river deperately needs a nice soft wet May to set up the rest of the season.

I'll try and post a picture or two in due course.

Mark

[toucan]

Seven pounder on a small Logie from High Burn, Dinnet



Hooked after 9.30 pm in "29", Dinnet



Low water conditions, Boat Pool, Dinnet



The Needle Stone and Pol Slachd at the top of the beat. Challenging overhead conditions!

[storlaks]

2 fish caught yesterday (30th April) between Aboyne and Durris for 80-90 rods. That will not have happened in the past too often.

[tyneandrew]

Nice photos there - thanks.

Not looking good really - not overly excitied about my week on Aboyne next week to be honest

Golf clubs / extra booze & sea trout are all coming ahead of salmon. Oh and Loch Insch trout fishery will be getting a go too ;D

[tyneandrew]

On the Golf front - we are weighing up between Aboyne & Ballater courses.

Looking on the websites Ballater appears the better looking - any advice from anyone?

[duncanm]

I have played them both several times and would say that Ballater is a much nicer course.

Banchory is a little gem too.