River Dee conditions prior to the start of the 2010 salmon fishing season on Monday 1^st February look tricky to predict given that we have had a very harsh winter to date with prolonged cold weather and heavy persistent snowfalls and icy conditions. There has been a slight warming of late but there is still the risk of cold wintry weather this week on Deeside. There will be an opening ceremony this year on the first of February which is for invited guests who have received invitations. The River will be opened by a special guest speaker who should make it a fun event.

The River is running clear with levels between 6 inches and 2 feet above summer level according to river gauges with no ice floes or grue coming down, there has been some marginal ice but that has disappeared. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the weather stays a little bit milder leading up to the start of the salmon fishing season on the 1st of February as there will be a good turnout of anglers to start the 2010 salmon fishing season. There is still good availability on the Fishdee website offering opportunities to fish the lower beats where new fish will be found. The upper river doesn’t open until March 1^st on most beats. It has been what many have described as the worst winter for over 20 years and just like the good old days. Well in the good old days we used to have good runs of Spring fish so fingers crossed we see an increased spring run this year.

Tactics to utilise indicate utilising well sunk flies in the deep pools where salmon may be encountered and they may respond to a slowly moving fly.  Traditionally Black flies with yellow and silver are popular as are the Willie Gunn pattern and variants, in 2-3 inch copper or brass tube flies. There is a flies for the Dee page on the FishDee website showing a selection of flies that may be used at different times of the season. For anglers who use traditional Waddington flies they may want to give "Intruder" type flies a swim-details can be found about this type of fly by using the Google search engine on the internet. The Tungsten Monkey tube fly fished "on the swing" is also a potential catcher of fish. If the river bank is snow covered some anglers like to use the Ice Maiden pattern of tube fly. As always seek advice from your Ghillie if you have one on the beat you are fishing as they know the best tactics and likely taking spots.

I suspect that new spring fish are likely to be found on beats from Banchory down to Aberdeen with the Lower beats possibly having the best of the action, however hopefully there should be a enough fish distributed between Banchory and Aboyne to give an angler a chance of the prized Dee Springer. The River Dee Conservation Code is in place for 2010 and details are on the Fishdee website. Last year saw 98% of all salmon caught returned to the river which is an excellent result considering it is a voluntary code, so well done all anglers for supporting the River’s conservation measures. Catches for 2009 were up on the 5 year and 10 year averages and salmon are returning in bigger numbers year on year which is promising and good for the Deeside community. Tight lines to all anglers & Ghillies for the 2010 season and ensure you fill in the Fish of the month forms available to download from FishDee in case you land a big Dee Springer. Please forward any details of catches to me at ken@riverdee.org  I will be delighted to share the news of any Springers landed with our readers.