River Dee Fishing Report – Week 31 commencing 24th August 2026
A much quieter week on the river. It started steadily enough but catches never really gathered a head of steam and fell away sharply towards the weekend. It was frustrating, although there may be a silver lining if we get some rain. I sense a guarded optimism — which, if you know the area, is quite the claim.
Conditions were mixed and generally rather unhelpful. The river remained low for much of the week despite intermittent rainfall, and that showed in the catches. Fish are clearly distributed throughout the system, but there wasn’t much to persuade them into significant activity.
Fish were reported from Lower Crathes right through to Glenmuick, with Tuesday bringing a brief upturn. Sluie and Tilbouries & Middle Drum were among the better performers, while Upper Drum & Lower Durris enjoyed a particularly good day for sea trout.
Catches remained reasonably well distributed through the middle of the week without ever really building momentum. There was a slight improvement on Friday, with Dess and Tilbouries & Middle Drum featuring, before things fell away sharply on Saturday, when only Crathes Castle and Upper Blackhall troubled the scorers.
It was a grind at Park this week and hats off to Dave Allen for wrangling a 9lbr from Lower Kirks. Jeremy Foster and friends stuck doggedly to their task, with Jeremy rewarded with a couple of fresh grilse. As William Foster noted, it is good to see fresh arrivals this late in the season despite the poor water levels and temperatures sneaking up as the week went on.
As the week progressed, the common theme from the beats was more a lack of interest than a lack of fish.
Congratulations to Kevin Wells on landing his first salmon, a strong wee summer fish from Crathes Castle. I hope it’s the first of many.
Cairnton & Middle Blackhall had a similar story of disinterested fish, except for the grilse Grahame Reid tempted with a small Cascade in Canary. A similar-sized grilse was also landed in the Spout.
The Mitchell family enjoyed a family week on their beat, although conditions conspired against them. Will Mitchell’s persistence was rewarded with a ‘fairly fresh’ grilse from Upper Ferroch on the ever-reliable Editor, dressed on a size 12 double.
John Bins got Dess off to a very nice start in the Mill Pool on Monday morning with a lovely fish in the mid-teens. The fish then switched off until late on Wednesday, when a 9lbr was landed and another lost. Cliff Kemp’s long-haul trip from southern England was rightly rewarded with a salmon on Thursday, the only fish of the day. Nick Sayer had Friday’s only fish.
Saturday afternoon produced four fish after a morning of zero interest. Father and son Nick and Henry Sayer had a brace apiece to end things on a high.
Outlook
There is at least a change in emphasis coming. The Met Office forecast for Grampian has the coming week turning unsettled, with showers becoming more widespread on Monday, further showers through Tuesday and a spell of wet and windy weather expected on Wednesday. The broader outlook also favours an unsettled pattern, with repeated showers or longer spells of rain.
If that materialises in the right places, the guarded optimism may even prove justified.
As ever, listen to your ghillie.
Ross Macdonald
for inclusion in future reports e mail debbie@riverdee.org