Welcome To The River Dee

The River Dee is one of the four principal rivers in Scotland, rising in the Cairngorm Mountains and flowing down to the sea some eighty miles away through the city of Aberdeen. The Dee contains stocks of Atlantic salmon, trout, lamprey and eel, plus an array of introduced species. However, it is the salmon for which the river is famous. It has been designated a Special Area of Conservation for Atlantic salmon, primarily due to the strength of the spring-running component of this species. In addition the Dee has also been designated an SAC for its populations of otter and freshwater pearl mussels.There are a good number of trout and coarse fisheries within the district as well.

Flowing from the source at the Pools of Dee in the Cairngorms through stunning changing scenery to the North Sea at Aberdeen Harbour, the Dee provides the opportunity and the backdrop for a multitude of activities, such as fishing, canoeing, bird watching, walking, orienteering, gliding.the river is internationally renowned as possibly the finest location in the world for its early run of spring salmon.When you ally this to the marvellous local resources such as Aberdeen Angus beef,the finest and freshest seafood produce available in the UK and not forgetting the imminent launch of The Dalmore Dee Dram Malt whisky.You can see why people will come to our valley. 

                                                                                          River Dee News Summary

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 Harsh Winter Conditions

This winter has been widely reported as one of the coldest since records began and may turn out to be the coldest ever if conditions persist in the same vein. That remains to be seen, however we can say that the conditions have been harsh and have hampered access to the river by anglers and River Dee staff. The last fortnight has seen temperatures struggle to reach 1 degree Celsius with over night lows reaching -19 regulary at Braemar ! These prevailing conditions have ensured the scenery looks spectacular. Click Here

River Dee Opening 2010

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. Click Here

 The Aberdeen District Angling association

The Aberdeen District Angling Association, Scotland’s largest angling club is taking in new members. The association has fishing on the Dee at Banchory Devenick and Garthdee. It also has extensive fishing’s on the Don, Ythan and a couple of private trout ponds

For details on joining the ADAA look at www.adaa.org.uk

River Dee Salmon Weight/Length Chart

As part of our ongoing work to help River Dee anglers conserve salmon stocks we are rolling out an informative initiative that should please anglers and ghillies alike.

The River Dee Board have prepared  a4 sized salmon weight to length charts for River Dee Salmon that will be distributed to all fishing beats for use in the huts at the start of the 2010 season. We have also received a very large batch of credit card sized versions which will be made available to anglers visiting the River Dee, which are free of charge.

It is hoped it will ensure a speedy release for the salmon and less stressful experience whilst being unhooked by anglers.The angler can then assess the weight of his fish by utilising the information on the chart supplied.

The chart is available to download click here

 Fundraising Event

The River Dee Trust held a fundraising lunch on Sunday  29th November for approximately 170 people. The event was provided most graciously by River Dee supporter Mr Stewart Spence who is the proprietor of this world famous hotel & spa. The event was superbly marshalled by the team at the Marcliffe where the guests enjoyed a fabulous lunch & refreshments. Click Here

Planned River Dee Trust Lunch

The River Dee Trust has announced its planned fundraising event for Autumn 2009 following on from the very successful auction last year.There will be a charity lunch provided and hosted by Mr Stewart Spence at the Marcliffe of Pitfodels hotel on Sunday 29 th November-further details to follow. There will be a raffle and an auction with quite an array of interesting and desireable auction lots. There shall be a page set up listing the auction lots and this will allow the bids to be shown on-line to generate interest from all interested participants, bidders and website followers.
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Radio Tagging Programme 2009

The 2009 radio tagging programme has commenced this week where our team of biologists Dr Lorraine Hawkins and Adrian Hudson from the River Dee Trust are out and about on the lower river beats. They are working closely with the River Dee Ghillies who are contacting them by telephone when an angler hooks a fish. They arrive quickly to the beat and carry out the tagging process with the assistance of the ghillie and carry out some data capture relating to the fish.They insert a radio transmitter and a floy tag, measure and take a sample of tissue/scale for analysis and then allow the fish to recover and swim away.
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The event was a tremendous success with over 130 attending on an awful evening.The evening started of with local piper Jenny Murray piping guests into the hotel at the Potarch hotel. The River Dee Director Mark Bilsby spoke briefly about why the sponsorship from the Whyte and Mackay group was important for the River Dee and the community in Deeside before handing over to the MC for the evening.
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Whisky Sampling Event

The River Dee Trust is holding a whisky tasting event to find and name the perfect whisky which captures both the beauty and spirit of the Dee. We are planning to host an event on Thursday September 3rd 2009 at 7.30 pm at the Potarch Hotel, Ballogie to take part in a blind tasting and subsequent vote to determine the best Scotch whisky to be used for the “Dee Dram”. The chosen dram will be put into production by Whyte & Mackay and sold internationally as the “River Dee Whisky”. Profits from this new enterprise will go directly to the River Dee Trust.
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Training Volunteers

On Saturday there were 12 volunteers who attended the inaugural Deeside Leader Course presented by Fisheries Development Officer Ken Reid and River Dee Biologist Adrian Hudson. The course was hosted in the Orvis store in Banchory where the facilities and support provided by store manager Claire Vannet and fishing manager Ben Dixon were first class-they really went out of their way to assist on the day. There is a rapidly growing fishing development centre in Banchory for people wanting to try out angling, especially youngsters, and the Raemoir fishery has been able to provide a venue and a raft of willing volunteers.
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Exploring Jordan

I am attaching details of an event that River Dee Board member Robert Harper is participating in which were forwarded to me.I would hope that many readers get behind our man Robert and encourage him to get on his bike, and provide sponsorship support if they access this weblink.
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Paint The Dee Competition

 I visited a local school this morning with our biologist Adrian to present awards to some pupils following a recent "Paint the Dee" competition.I spoke to the children about the competition and my colleague Adrian did an ad-hoc chat about the river and it's inhabitants. I then asked the assembled school children if they wanted to come fishing at a local fishery as guests of the River Dee Board and Trust.The cheers were deafening and the response was clearly in the affirmative. It's moments like these that are really so special.
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Ghillie Barbecue Tremendous Success

 The River Dee Ghillies,in conjunction with the staff from Orvis in Banchory organised the annual barbecue,which was held at the Banchory beat yesterday. It was another successful event with many visitors attending enjoying a sumptious selection of food and drinks provided by many kind contributors.The event was managed by Banchory Ghillie Walter Raitt who did a tremendous job of looking after everyone as well as raising funds for Robert Harper's fundraising event in the Autmn when he explores Jordan by cycle! There were some prizes provided by kind benefactors that enabled a raffle to take place as well as a bit of fund raising.There was over £524 collected  which is a fantastic achievement.This hopefully will allow the fundraising campaign to reach a crescendo over the coming weeks that will help Robert reach his target of £10,000. The on-line auction currently hosted on the FishDee website may raise well over £2400 so fingers are firmly crossed.
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The Dalmore Dee Dram

After much work behind the scenes the River Dee Trust are delighted to announce the "Dee Dram" will launch officially on Monday 1st February at the River Dee Opening ceremony for the 2010 salmon fishing season. The ceremonial cast will be performed by a well known Scottish celebrity and invitation to the ceremony itself is by invitation only. There will be a facility provided at the event for orders to be taken for the Dee Dram. Click here.

A Fine day Redd counting

It was a crisp cold morning when Ed, Mark, Danny and I met at the Dinnet office to go on a Redd count in the upper Dee catchment. A Redd is a "nest" that a female salmon excavates to deposit her eggs that are fertilised at the moment of release by a male salmon. The female then swims slightly upstream and turns on her side and beats gravel and stones, which are carried by the current and cover the newly fertilised eggs. This is the culmination of its life journey that has taken the salmon from that area where it was born 5 years earlier, on an epic migration to the seas off the Faeroes, or perhaps even further to the west coast of Greenland to feed and grow. It then is seized by an instinct to return to the river of its birth to produce another generation of offspring. The journey back to the river is something that salmon must do as they cannot spawn in salt water
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FishDee Beats 2009 Season Review

The 2009 salmon fishing season commenced on 2nd February with the traditional opening ceremony at the Ballogie beat. The event was hosted by TV & Radio personality Clive Anderson who highly entertained the 250 visitors to the event with his customary incisive wit and humour. The weather conditions were quite appalling but this didn't stop Clive or the River Dee salmon from putting on a show.
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Hatchery Briefing Note

The Board has a long history of catching up broodstock, stripping them and holding the resulting progeny in various hatcheries and incubators. The fish have historically been stocked out at all stages from eyed eggs to parr throughout various reaches of the catchment. This briefing note sets out why the Dee Board no longer operates the Dinnet Hatchery.
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Huge Rainfall Hits Deeside

On Thursday 21st October there was a significant level of rainfall that fell on Deeside and the Ballogie weather station recorded 59 mm's for the day. This is as much as was recorded for the month of February this year. As a result of this deluge, onto already wet ground, there was a dramatic run off the land into the catchment with the River Feugh rising 10 feet above normal summer level. This led to real problems on the roads, with the road at Strachan being washed away and diversions being put in place. The conditions have been excellent for allowing an upstream migration of salmon and sea trout to the spawning gravels where spawning will be happening soon. Here are a selection of photographs and video footage that I was able to collect the following day when I visited the Falls of Feugh and other locations in the lower catchment.
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River Dee Nets Sponsor

 The River Dee has landed its biggest catch of 2009 after agreeing a new sponsorship deal with leading Scots spirits company Whyte & Mackay. The Whyte & Mackay whisky portfolio includes The Dalmore, Isle of Jura, Fettercairn, Tamnavoulin as well as the full award winning range of Whyte & Mackay blends.
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Hardy Event

It was a glorious Sunday afternoon which saw many people arriving at Park estate to see casting champion and renowned Speyside Ghillie Ian Gordon  demonstrating the Hardy product range and also proviving expert tuition  for the attending visitors.The day had been specially arranged by Hardy Bros' of Alnwick, who are synonymous with quality fishing tackle for generations of anglers.Their territory manager ,and hard working co-ordinator of the event John Henderson, in conjunction with the sponsors and providers of the show, David and Colin Craik from Somers of Aberdeen.
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Bio Security

 There has been a page about "BioSecurity", published on the River Dee fisheries booking website www.fishdee.co.uk , shown below, which is designed to advise visiting anglers of the venues in Deeside where they can go and have their fishing tackle disinfected prior to fishing on the river.This is part of an overall strategy to ensure everyone is cognaicant of the risks to the the river that introduced Biological Hazards can bring.We cannot afford to be complacent about the risks of BioSecurity hazards.
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Schools Programme

 It's the time of year when we arrange to visit schools throughout the catchment and present the "Salmon in the Classroom" programme to school pupils.This presentation is provided by River Dee Trust biologist Adrian Hudson and is a highly entertaining and informative presentation which allows local school children to learn about the environment,the inhabitants of the river and river bank, and the commercial value of fishing through angling tourism in Deeside. Local schools who want to see the presentation and be involved in the programme are welcome to get in touch with us.
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IntroDee At Raemoir

 Summer finally arrived on Deeside and temperature rose dramatically and this signalled time for this years IntroDee schools programme to commence. Having visited a local Deeside school in March it was arranged for a follow up visit to rthe local fishery Raemoir,Banchory which very kindly donated a fishing pond and the invertebrate ponds for our use.
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