Park Junior Day - River Dee

I attended an event hosted by William Foster of Park Estate and Ross McDonald from the River Dee for Junior anglers of all levels who were invited along to fish on the fabled waters of Park. Gary Scott - an AAPGAI casting instructor was on hand to show the kids how to spey cast and to make sure they knew the dangers of the casts. The day couldn't have went any better and conditions were excellent. The river was sitting at around 18" on the beat gauge and there had been good numbers of fish caught leading up to the day which gave them all an extra insentive.

Gary Scott AAPGAI, William Foster, Keith Cromar. Photo: FishDee

A group photo of the attendees at the Park Junior Day. Photo: Gary Scott

I was helping out Aberdeen and District Angling Association junior Sean Rennie as all juniors had to be accompanied by an adult. Sean is a keen salmon angler and is very talented given the short length of time he has been fishing. Although he has caught a few salmon Sean is still very keen to learn and really takes on board what he is being taught.

Casting Instructor Gary Scott addresses the juniors in attendance before showing them the basics of Spey Casting.

The crowd look on as Gary demonstrates the fundamentals of a Spey cast.

After a casting demo by instructor Gary Scott, four of the juniors, who could cast a salmon fly rod competently were sent on their down to fish the famous Durris Stream by ghillie Keith Cromar. Not long after starting we noticed a good run of fresh grilse moving into the pool and the lads were focused on trying to get in contact with one of them. It didn't take long and after a change of fly to an Ally Shrimp and a few tips on the best way to fish the fly in the slower water, Sean had a good solid take from a fish. He lifted into a strong wee grilse and all the lads rushed down to watch him play his fish. Ross and I stood on giving him some advice on playing the fish but he played it like a pro and I soon tailed a cracking sea liced grilse of around 4lb.

Four of the competent junior fish their way down the famous Durris Stream on Park.

ADAA Junior bent into a lively wee grilse in the Durris Stream.

A delighted Sean Rennie poses for a quick photo before returning his fish. Well done Sean!

Sean returns his fish back into the Dee.

There was nothing else caught by any of the other juniors unfortunately but it was great to see Sean land a fish and I think Keith, Ross and myself were as happy as he was! I really enjoy these junior events and it's great to see good numbers attending. Hopefully these kids are now "hooked" on the sport and we will see them fishing on the river banks in the future.