River Dee Fishing Report – Week commencing 4th August 2025
Storm Floris arrived with gusty winds and not as much rain as we expected, the numbers of fish to the rods this week were roughly the same as last. I do always try to stay positive when I write the weekly report, however I reviewed the year to date figures and also the month of July and you can really see the impact of the lack of water and the subsequent heatwaves on the number of fish to the Dee rods, only 220 salmon for July 2025 vs 773 in July 2024 ( when there was a very strong grilse run) and 479 in July 2023, I find it very hard to put into words how difficult this must be for everyone who works on the river bank and all those in other roles who work to look after the salmon on the Dee, and of course concerned anglers who come and fish the Dee. We have board elections taking place between now and the end of the month and I am sure the first topic for the new board will be to debate everything we have been doing to date protect our precious Atlantic salmon and the new board will be very conscious of the current situation moving forward.
Around the beats
This week on the Upper Durris and Lower Drum beat Nicol Paton from the Scottish Fly-Fishing Co was delighted to be looking after ice skating sensation Christopher Dean (of Bolero fame for those of us around back in 1984 and remember seeing him on T.V at the Winter Olympics with Jane Torvill) Nicol said Christopher and his son Sam both took to Spey casting really well and Christopher hooked 3 fish and landed a lovely grilse, so that’s a 10/10 day on the Dee. Well done to all. Haste ye back!
Park welcomed regular Scottish and English customers for another warm week on the river, despite that most landed salmon and/ or sea trout. Colin McLean had another successful time landing 5 salmon including a superb 18lber in the Upper Kirks on Tuesday – well done Colin! David Solomon also landed another beauty, this time on Friday weighing in at 11lbs from Bulwarks. Great job David. Neil Mitchell returned for his August week and kept his score ticking over landing 4x salmon up to 8lbs and 3x sea trout, a very good effort. Joe O’Sullivan was back for his second week of the season landing 1x salmon and a bonanza of 4x sea trout, well done Joe. Rodney Owen-Jones landed a super 12lb salmon, John Lawson landed a grilse, Dave Mercer landed both a grilse and a sea trout and Jim Ferrie landed a sea trout. Many congratulations all. Wiliam Foster mentioned the rain forecast for the beginning of this week has disappeared with very little on the horizon. We hope for plenty of cloud cover and cooler evenings.
Lawrence Ross gave me an update on the week for Banchory, he said it seems like there were pockets of fish at certain times of the week with no apparent rhyme or reason, with 1 to their rods on Monday, 2 on Tuesday to Anthony Spratt and Nick Dover of 4lb & 5lb respectively and caught very close together time wise. Then on Saturday the Holland brothers Neil and Gordon, who are regular visitors to Banchory, caught a grilse within half an hour of each other but in different pools, 1 from Bohore on the Blackhall area of the beat and 1 from the Station Stream, well done to them.
Little Blackhall & Inchmarlo had 6 salmon/grilse to their rods this week and I note from their social media that some were liced so had not been in the river long.
Brian Brogan at Cairnton and Middle Blackhall reported that the winds made the fishing more challenging with very strong westerly’s blowing each day, Monday afternoon being very difficult indeed however it didn’t deter the fishers as there were quite a few fish showing. He noted a very welcome rise in levels by Tuesday which did liven some fish up with a grilse for Jeff Hatton from Rockhead and a grilse for Andy Ashcroft from Cairnton. Andy was on the scoresheet again on Thursday with another grilse from Cairnton and a rod also had a grilse on Friday with more fish seen this week than any other week in the season so far. Well done to the rods. Flies that did the trick were Cascades. Water temperatures were 63/57 Fahrenheit, and heights were from 0”/11”.
On Monday morning before it got too wild I was visiting the Carlogie beat with Michael Buchan – our new Fisheries Manager as I had heard that young James Wynn ( who opened the Dee for us at the start of this season) was fishing there this week with some of his family and I could introduce a keen young angler to Michael for a chat about what he enjoys about his fishing. It turned out that we were in the right place at the right time as I was chatting to James’ father Iain I had to shout James to get the net, Iain caught a lovely 6lb Grilse off the Calm Pool with a tiny micro Haugur on his first ever visit to Carlogie. The father and son duo only managed a couple of hours on the river before Storm Floris hit and I can confirm that the grisle was expertly netted and released by James, Michael also got to see what catching a salmon was all about! Congratulations to all.
Other beats with fish to their rods this week were Altries, Tilbouries Crathes Castle, Little Blackhall & Inchmarlo , Dess, Aboyne Water, Headinch & Cambus, Glen Muick and Crathie. As always please do drop me a note if you were fishing at any of these beats please and I can add to my report next week.
We have a Come and try Day at the Banchory beat on Monday 29th September, if you know anyone over 16 who would like to try fly-fishing and see what it is all about then please give them my contact details and I can send them the booking link. Places are limited and all kit and equipment is provided for the day, along with coaching from the team at Twin Peakes Fly Fishing , ably supported by our great team of volunteers.
Tight lines.
DC
Debbie Cooper
Pictured – David Solomon at Park in August 2025