Top Beat!!

Couldn't resist...... Yesterday and today saw Aboyne Castle as the top beat on the Dee!! The fish seem to be here in a few numbers now! I hope they are going to stay around for a while. For just a two rod beat I must admit I'm chuffed to bits and very proud of my rods!

Week 17

Last week  certainly saw more fish moving up river with the fish pal catches showing a general move to the upper Dee. The river height started relatively high at 1'9" on the gauge, dropping nicely, with a small rise on Wednesday due to rain and melt then continuing to drop throughout the week.

We Landed 5 fish in total between the Craigendinnie and Aboyne castle banks. A much better week than what we have been having, the majority of fish were caught on floating lines with sink tips and Monkey flies. Although as the water temperature pushed up to 50F we were trying smaller doubles and floating lines as well.

Karlheinz landed the first fish this season of about 8lb's from Tanarmouth, (about time!) which took quite a large monkey on a hover intermediate with a slow sink tip. Jense had a nice 6lb'r from crofts, AC bank.

Craigendinnie rods landed one from the Lorne pool AC bank and two from crofts, one was a beauty of 18lbs!! All of the fish on crofts were caught well down the pool at the fence and below, they seem to like it down there at the moment!

So a much better week than previous but they still seem to be a little tricky to catch. With mild temperatures and only showers next week, I'm hoping we will start getting some residents building up in the pools. We will be moving on to floating lines and doubles now with water temperatures rising, although worth keeping some sink tips or intermediate lines handy. Keep ringing the changes.

Here are a few pics taken during the week.

Please feel free to visit our Alastair and myself's new Facebook page TwinPeake's Media which will include fly fishing media from royal Dee side.

Week 16

The week started well with on Monday Nick Marriner landed a 5lbr from crofts, below the fence from the Aboyne Castle bank. That's a few fish caught down there now, I'm told usually the upper part is better but at the moment it seems to be producing the odd fish, which in tough times is well received. Mark lost what would have been Tanar Mouth's first fish of the season on the Monday evening

Peter Jensen fishing the Craigendinnie rod had one from Jockie Fyfe on Monday evening and a cracker from Symonds on the Tuesday,both Craigendinnie bank.

So with high spirits and a little relief I thought we would start catching some numbers and that the fish were starting to arrive in some numbers.

Wednesday we had a spate, the water rose and we saw very little for the rest of the week, a little disappointing!

Nonetheless it was a most enjoyable week, making the most of Craigendinnies new hut. I must admit it was nice for me to talk to the likes of Tom Wheelwright and Nick Marriner who have fished here for over 25 years, great to hear their experience of the beat!

Staying ever optimistic, they will arrive in numbers any day now!

P.s apologies the blog is a little behind, on the plus side the new pool is now opened up from the Aboyne Castle bank after Nick said it used to produce fish between 2" and 2"6'. Would be nice to have another higher water pool on the lower beat!

Not to many pictures from this week however Richard Illingworth and I did a little photo shoot of his  very well behaved bonnie black lab, I'm sure he wont mind me sharing a couple of action shots.

Week 15

Week 15

Another tough week, the water has been at an ideal height all week between 1'5" dropping to 1", although the sun was shining hard all week at times feeling like the height of summer. Plenty of fish were still being caught in the middle river but didn't seem to be moving up in any numbers. Steve and Ola worked hard for the first part of the week with no avail unfortunately however there were some most enjoyable lunches in the sun!
Brian and Sian took over for the second half, Sian's first time fly fishing who picked the casting up very quickly and by the end of the week was casting like a pro!! Again the fish were elusive but i'm confident they should start arriving in numbers any day now!

Some flies for the spring!

Comet

Monkey

Black n yellow

Willie gun variation

Franc n snaelda black & yellow

B&Y snaelda

Micro snaelda

Franc n snaelda black and blue

Hoping to have a good spring with these!

Feel free to get in touch for any orders:

Wjpeake88@gmail.com

Big River!!

With heavy rain in the hills the Dee has risen fiercely! Certainly the highest I have ever seen it! Unusual mild weather for February, let's see how the upper Dee performs this March!!

Jockie Fyfe

Aboyne Bridge

7"6 on the gauge

A wee tributary north of Breamar

Rising river on another glorious February day! With these mildtemperatures fish must be on their way up!!

Aboyne Castle Beats...

I am proud to say that I am the new Ghillie on Aboyne Castle Beats on the Scottish Dee!
I will be updating the blog with hopefully lots of catches, river heights, whats catching and generally all things fishy from the beat!
Alec (aka the oracle) has been kind enough to walk the banks and let me know his secret spots! Its stunning water and i'm really looking forward to getting well acquainted with it this season!
After a mild winter there are plenty of fish being caught in the middle Dee so will soon be with us! Lets hope for a cracking season!

In the meantime, here's some pre-season pics.


Gorse burning upper plantation last November.

 Dark and Stormy.

 Open Skies.

 High Winds!

 Opening Day

 Symonds on a beautiful February morning

 Lick of paint.

 A much colder Symonds!

Washed out!

Heavy rain has meant the rivers are up and I would suggest a little unsafe to get into!!!

Starting to get withdrawal symptoms, Better get tying some flies instead!