The Don From 20,000 Feet
- Details
- Published on Friday, 27 November 2009 16:39
- Written by Fred Carrie
The River Don in Aberdeenshire is perhaps the Cinderella of the rivers of North East Scotland. It certainly lives in the shadow of its more illustrious neighbour, the Dee, and very probably also the Deveron, certainly as far as catches of salmon and sea trout go.
There is a celebrated old verse that goes:
“A mile of the Don’s worth twa o’ the Dee,
except it be for fish an’ tree”.
In other words, Donside has the best farmland but the Dee has the finer fishing and forests. That said, the Don is a lovely and picturesque river (on its middle and upper reaches anyway) that provides unremarkable salmon fishing and very good, if often difficult and unpredictable trout fishing.
As local angler recently said to me: “The Dee is a salmon river with some trout in it; the Don is a trout river with some salmon in it”.
The official source of the river is on “The Brown Cow” (OS map 36 ref. 230045 - no “hill” as on the OS map) above the now ruined Delnadamph lodge. This hill-ridge's name comes from the Gaelic A’ Bho Dhon, meaning literally The Brown Cow, or as it is locally known, The Broon Coo. It is interesting insofar that water from its west end drains into the Spey, water from the north runs into the Don and water from the south side ends up in the Dee. Quite a fishing pedigree for one hill! Around Delnadamph several streams: the Feith Bhait , Meoir Veannaich and the Allt nan Aighean merge to form the embryonic Don. The river now hurries eastwards to Aberdeen and picks up many streams along the way. Major tributaries include the Water of Buchat and the River Urie. Both of these are good waters themselves, although there are many more.
It’s worth mentioning that on the Meoir Veannaich tributary at Inchmore there is a dam that has created a small artificial lochan. Some years ago Hamish Young, whose family used to run a well know fishing hotel in upper Donside, told me this lochan held some very good trout and that his father used to fish it from time to time. I heard that the recently formed River Don Trust are looking into removing this dam to open up some additional spawning grounds for salmon. In some ways this is a great shame. Aberdeenshire has precious few hill lochs and I wonder if this place could not be put to a better, healthy use introducing youngsters to the delights of fishing for real fish in wild places? It can hardly be denied that angling needs more young recruits; possibly more than it needs a few more miles of hill burn given over to salmon interests. Yes, the dam is artificial, but then so are croys built to hold back running migratory fish, to make them easier to catch. Very few complain about those.
The north side of the hill Morven (above Ballater - OS map 37 ref 380040 - Mor Bheinn or big hill) also drains into the Don. There is an old legend associated with a geological feature on its north west out-lier, Mona Gowan (blacksmith’s hill), know as the Sloc of Glencarvie. The old name for this odd, deep gully or cleft was “Sloc Calleach” pronounced something like "Slochk Caal-yach". It was named after a supernatural old woman, or witch, known as the Calleach Bheathrach who bit out the Sloc with her teeth in an attempt to divert the Dee into the Don. Had she been successful, she may well have changed the fishing pecking order in Aberdeenshire! Perhaps it’s better she did not succeed as devotees of both rivers probably prefer things just as they are.
For many years the lower Don suffered from industrial pollution from the Aberdeenshire paper mills as far upstream as just below Inverurie. This reduced salmon and sea trout runs considerably although trout fishing above Inverurie was unaffected. In fact some old timers I meet on the river claim that since the paper mills were forced to clean up their act or close and the salmon runs have improved, the trout fishing has declined. There may be some truth in this. A few anglers and keepers I have spoken with on the river have alleged that during the early days of ‘improvement’, some questionable practices, including the electro-fishing and destruction of brown trout, took place in conjunction with the stocking of unnaturally high numbers of juvenile salmon. This alleged practice of killing trout , if it indeed took place, has now, hopefully, ceased but recovery from such damage can take many years.
It is true that on some stretches of the river the trout are less than free rising and you could be forgiven for believing there is not a fish in there, but this may have more to do with water quality being affected by agricultural run-off enriching the bottom feeding or just the fact that the Don is a phenomenally rich river anyway and the fish can afford to be fussy. There is certainly no shortage of insect life on the river, and it is often puzzling to witness massive hatches of flies, plague proportions in fact, and not see a single fish rise save a few salmon parr. The numbers of cased caddis and shrimp on the river bed is truly astonishing; it is small wonder the fish in this river have a reputation of being rather choosy.
There is little point in repeating the same old stuff that has been said a thousand times about Don trout fishing. Just bear in mind that in spite of the hype and some of the more fanciful articles written over the years, there is a good chance you might find the river Don not to be the best trout fishing in the northern hemisphere on the day you visit.
I suppose it all depends how you define best.
It can be brilliant or deadly dour; it just depends on your “luck”. Of course you can increase your chances of good “luck” by choosing your moment. In east or north winds, especially if combined with cloudless skies, it can be truly dire. However, given cloudy skies and a favourable warm and light, south or south west wind in May it can be really good. Just don’t have too high expectations, be realistic and take it a day at a time. Plan to visit between mid April and late May and keep your fingers crossed. Remember this is North East Scotland we are talking about, not an area of the UK noted for balmy weather in early spring. In springtime hatches of the flies that tend to bring the trout up, march browns and large dark olives, are more often than not sporadic and very, very brief, sometimes lasting only a few minutes; especially during cold weather. Be prepared! You don’t want to be faffing around selecting flies during a 5 minute rise which may be the only action of the day.
My own experience and that of other anglers I know is the trout are freer rising and easier to catch on the lower beats than they are upstream.
I remember reading a short article by the old fishing stalwart Bernard Venables who fished the Don regularly, every May. He described it as a river of “benign moments”. In other words long, dour, even harsh periods of nothing with perhaps a single ½ hour spell of excellence during the long day. That is also how an old Don keeper / ghillie described it to me. That is most certainly how I have found it to be. Many, no doubt, will disagree!
Wild trout anglers are an odd breed with short memories. You trudge the river bank all day, you fish hard, you fish with patience and enthusiasm. Clouds of hatching grannom make breathing difficult. Still nothing rises. By 4 PM, you have still not had a touch, far less a fish. You turn a bend on the river and see a good fish rise. The benign moment. You cast your dry fly over him. He takes. A nice 2 pounder that fights like fury. A beautiful Don trout. They don't get any better looking or more satisfying than this. You carefully slip him back. You feel the warm glow. Aye, you tell your friends – it was a grand day. That, in my experience, is Don trout fishing at its most typical.
The Don is covered by a protection order (PO), this means you MUST obtain written permission BEFORE you start to fish otherwise you are guilty of a criminal offence. The river is divided up into many beats that are controlled by many estates and this is where the real problems start. While some estates are most welcoming and reasonable in their charging, some are less so. Access to trout fishing or lack of it under the Don PO is a very serious issue that needs addressing urgently. The average price for a day's wild trout fishing in Scotland is about £5. On some beats of the Don it can cost up to 5 times that, for a very short stretch of single bank water. Much of the lower river is under the control of the ADAA (Aberdeen and District Angling Association) who both stock the river and sell reasonably priced visitor tickets. Remember when comparing prices that the ADAA pay to stock the river. Some think any stocking at all is bad, some believe it’s great. I belong to the former camp. It simply baffles me why any part of the Don is stocked.
As far as flies go it is interesting to note that many of the very large trout one hears of being taken on the Don are caught by salmon anglers either spinning or fishing large salmon flies. Might there be a lesson in that somewhere? As far as more traditional trout fly fishing goes, the usual river patterns work as well as anything. Greenwell’s Glory, Iron Blue Dun, various olives (parachutes), CDCs, Deer Hair Emerger, Klinkhamer, CDC and Elk etc. Small wire nymphs, pheasant tails, spiders etc, fished upstream do work if you possess the skills to fish them effectively. Fish with stealth on a short line! Also have a few weighted shrimp patterns / Czech nymphs in size 8, 10 and 12 and be prepared to go deep if no fish are showing, which is more the rule than the exception. There is little point in trying to forge any hard and fast rules, for patterns, sizes etc. Don trout are wild and don’t play that way. Just be flexible in your approach.
So in summary, the Don is a grand river. But if travelling from abroad or for very long distances and are looking for variety and lots of choice in your trout fishing, there may be better places in Scotland to go. Aberdeenshire, it has to be said, is a bit of a wild trout fishing desert in comparison to the rest of Scotland where there is more variety, better access and better value for money. However, if in the area the Don is most certainly worth a try. Just forget the hype, don’t expect too much and enjoy your fishing in lovely surroundings.
Fred Carrie started fishing in the mid 1960's, hillwalking in the 1970's and has been combining the two on and off ever since.
Fred runs the successful Wild Fishing Scotland web site and enjoys the hike up to the wild hill lochs as much as the fishing itself. The more uncharitable members of his family and friends say that is perhaps just as well.
Fred lives in Donside, Aberdeenshire with his wife Monika and is often to be found, fly rod in hand, tramping the banks of the river Don.