I can’t quite believe we are in March already and I’ve really noticed a difference in daylight; the birds are singing like crazy early in the morning with light at breakfast time making a difference to nature and humans alike.
We had 34 salmon to the Dee rods for the month of February, so that is up on 31 in 2025 and 11 in 2024, let’s hope it’s a positive start. There does seem to be more rod effort across the beats this past month, so thank you to all anglers who have paid the river a visit so far in 2026, and if you are yet to come, we look forward to seeing you.
News from the beats
Today marks the official opening of fishing on the Upper Dee and all those beats above Aboyne Bridge will be keen to get going, as I passed then Glen Tanar beats this morning there were some keen folks out taking advantage of the bright crisp weather and blue skies, tight lines to them and all the anglers out there today and best wishes to all the beats, ghillies, guides and anglers for a good season. The river was rising fast due to snow melt and mild temperatures over the weekend, hopefully it balances out later.
Well, done to Ollie for landing a lovely 9lb mirror bright silver spring fish from the Birse beat on Wednesday morning, hopefully not the last on the Dee this season for him.
The Scottish Fly Fishing Co had rods from their syndicate at Carlogie beat on the Ballogie estate this past week and were delighted when Mark Lough had a 9lber on Friday, followed by Neil Stephenson with a springer of 5lb on Saturday. It was great to hear that “well kent” face Shane Christie was ghillie for them, well done to all.
Ballogie Estate got in touch and asked me to let you know that they have day rods on the river at Carlogie during March 16-21st and 23rd to 25th, as well as some availability up to 14th March.
Owner, Richard Strang Steel, got Sluie off the mark last Monday with a cracking 8 pounder from Kelpie. I heard from him there were no sea lice, but the fish was very fresh. He was using a yellow and black 2” tube fly on a fast sinking tip. The river height was 2’9” on the Woodend gauge. It was obviously creeping up the edge as it took within a couple of yards of the bank at the tail of the pool. The fishers at Sluie have seen a few running fish last week and feel that there are a few more to be caught if only the river would settle down!
Angus Rutherford reported that this past week they hosted the Aberdeen and District Angling Association (ADAA) on the Upper Blackhall beat as part of an initiative designed to encourage local anglers to fish beats along the River Dee. The scheme works by utilising available water across participating salmon beats, allowing association members to fish consistently while ensuring the river is actively covered, a great idea.
The initiative is founded on the principle that an unfished beat offers little insight into its true value, whereas a fished beat provides data, produces fish, and helps sustain long-term interest, economic contribution, and repeat custom. For these reasons, the beat owners were pleased to donate a week to the Association, as they felt it was a strong and worthwhile opportunity.
Encouragingly, the week did produce a fish. On Monday, Matthew Reilly (ADAA) landed an 8lb fresh salmon from the Scobboch Pool. Angus mentioned that this was particularly pleasing, as it is the first fish recorded from the Scobboch Pool in over three seasons. Well done Matthew , whom I remember volunteered on the 24hr event when we had it a few years back and on some of the Come & Try days.
Brian Brogan from the Cairnton & Middle Blackhall beats reported that they started off promising week with a nice height and a couple of fish lost but a rise by midweek made it a little more difficult, however Andy Ashcroft managed a 9lb er from the Grey Mare on Thursday. On Friday Andy Blundell had a 9lb er from Malt Steep and keeping his tally ticking over Charlie Robertson landed a 7lb er in Kelpie on Saturday. The usual Willie Gunn type patterns did the trick. Congratulations to them all. Water heights were 3’ 9” on Monday, Midweek over 4’ 6” and by Saturday back down to 3ft. Water temperatures were 37/40 Fahrenheit.
In other news…
As we move into a busier time on the river, a polite request to please use the biosecurity supplies on Dee beats to spray your kit before fishing, so that we can continue to minimise infection risks to fish.
Our report on Dee water temperatures 2025 is now on the River Dee Trust website – link here https://riverdeetrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/River-Dee-temperatures-2025.pdf
The River Dee Trust’s Science team are working on the installation of temperature dataloggers at 3 sites in the mainstem river and one on the River Feugh, these will provide real-time temperature and dissolved oxygen data to our website for anglers to view. This has been funded by Scottish Government and will enable anglers to make informed decisions about fishing, further demonstration of our continued efforts to protect salmon. These should go live by the end of March, look out for an update in a few weeks.
Tight lines.
DC
Debbie Cooper
debbie@riverdee.org