A scorching hot week of bright sunshine and high temperatures most days presented a challenging week for anglers and for the fish in the river, all the ghillies have mentioned the difficult conditions in their reports. The best time to be on the river was early morning or early evening and so fishing effort was reduced last week.
We are seeing a few more sea trout and there were a couple of 12lb fish to the rods, one at Deecastle and one at Crathie. Hopefully this coming week will be a bit cooler and more comfortable for us all, there will be high tides with the full moon on Thursday, that will bring some more fish into the river.
Around the beats
Banchory beat had a salmon caught on Tuesday at Invery, and a couple of sea trout this week , the one on Saturday was to the rod of Richard Constant who was fishing with regular Anthony Fielder.
At Cairnton beat Brian Brogan mentioned  that they did see a few fish and had a few offers and managed to lose 2 which were almost to the net unfortunately. Brian said their beat water heights were fairly good on Monday, sitting at 1’ and by Saturday was sitting at 8” & water temperatures between 57f/60f.
Ballogie & Carlogie and Commonty beats had a total of 2 salmon plus a sea trout.
At the Dess beat , Ali McEwan reported that beat owner Jeremy Clayton was fishing this week. Robert Chambers picked up a fish Monday and Tuesday. Iain Wood and Michael Trafford chipped in mid-week with a couple of sea trout. Sandy Scott finished the week for them with a fish on Saturday.
At Balmoral beat David Fernie reported tough conditions last week but they managed one fish on the Saturday to save a blank week , the fish was in crystal clear water, and it came up for a tiny tube on a single hook, there are more  photos on the Balmoral Estate Fishing Facebook page.
Gordon Macdermid reported that Dinnet and Deecastle managed 6 fish for the week. Paul Chambers had 3 fish for his week to 9lbs from 29, Pol Baw and Logie. Giles Bowring had a 7lber from 29, Richard Strang Steel had a 9lber also from 29. The pick of the bunch was a very fresh 12lber for beat owner Edward Humphrey in Logie on Tuesday.
At  Crathie , Archie Hay  told me that the week started well with Andrew Miller catching a 7 lber in the first pool he fished,  Tuesday saw Dee regular Mike Lankshere land a very badly seal marked fish of 10lbs. The remainder of the week 3 Norwegian rods fished hard with Mr O Berg catching fish of 6 and 9 lbs. A further two fish were landed one of 7 and the other the other 12lb caught at 10pm on Saturday night by Pat Smith.
River temperatures peaked at 18C this week at our monitoring site in Ballater, we have asked beats to please keep an eye out next week for water temperatures reaching 18C, as this is the level at which fish stress becomes a concern.
Please follow guidance on C&R in high temperatures – Â https://riverdee.org.uk/fish-handling/
It is a bank holiday for some of us next weekend, if you are looking to come to the Dee then you can check beat availability here – https://www.fishpal.com/search/fisheries/in/dee?from=21/05/2024&to=04/06/2024
Tight lines!
DC
Debbie Cooper
07979 878971
Pictured
Angler on the Cairnton beat.