The catchment offers several hundred miles of fishing from expansive estuary flats, through the robust main river and loch system to the numerous highland burns, a journey that takes you past hillsides and valleys peppered with lochs and lochens from the vast and reputable loch Dee to the myriad of tiny hill lochs full of Brown Trout eager to snap at a fly.

Physically,the lower reaches of the Dee are comparable to the Aberdeenshire Dee. The fishings to be found on these lower stretches are recognised as among the best for Salmon and Sea Trout. Small numbers of large fish early on are followed by a flush of Grilse and the first of the Sea Trout. A steady supply of fish offer themselves to the angler right through the season and by the end of the season many are being taken as aggression increases.

In light of both international and local Salmon population levels many of these fish are returned to spawn and the emphasis is on conserving rather than harvesting stocks. These lower stretches also contain a large head of high quality Brown Trout with regular 3lb.+ fish and annual 6lb. monster browns turning up.

For the coarse angler this water is untouched, miles of water holding small shoals of fin perfect, hard fighting Roach, (most over the 1lb. mark) and similar shoals of aggresive, dark stripey Perch. If Essox is your quarry then stalking the deeper pools can turn up the odd 20lb.+ but they do take a bit of locating!.

The central portion of the catchment is primarily reservoirs and meandering flood plain. This section is host to the majority of the coarse species with at least twelve different species of angleable fish to go for from bank or boat. This is a huge area of water with the capacity to produce massive catches of fish of a very high quality. 100 lb. bags of roach/rudd/perch/ruffe are attainable and equally 100 lb. hauls of pike are no trouble if you are on a good mark.

As a trout water you would not believe how untouched this population is. Almost no one goes for the very large and obvious presence of the brownie. This gives any angler the opportunity to go for a productive outing on the fly with good bags of 1lb.+ fish. Big browns do turn up and the ferox potential has been fathomed even less. In a water this size with such abundant prey fish record ferox browns could be on the cards.

In general no Salmon or Sea trout are taken in these stretches except on the rare occasion. This is due to the relatively small numbers of fish in an incredibly large area of water and the physical geography of the flooded river basin preventing anglers presenting baits to these fish. If future enhancement efforts produce a sizeable run then boat trawling in the loch/flood plain could again become very good sport.

The miles of headwaters of the Ken and Deuch and the many feeder burns on the system as a whole provide more quality Brown Trout fishing than the average angler could manage in a lifetime. These headwaters may in the future hold a re-instated run of large spring salmon, providing excellent angling oppurtunities and bolstering the entire systems fishings. Anglers will find the catchment littered with lochs and lochens holding decent populations of Browns and coarse fish of high quality. The ferocity and strength of a highland pike is a match for any game fish. All this and more makes the Dee catchment worth a look in anyones book!.