The opening ceremony, to celebrate the start of the 2015 Dee season was held at Potarch  Bridge on Monday,  courtesy of Ballogie Estate, and was attended by an enthusiastic crowd.

Martin Gilbert, local businessman and Chief Executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, had the honour of casting the first fly of the year and was quickly into a fish- it came off so we will have to speculate if it was a fish or a kelt.

Mr Gilbert is a great supporter of the Dee and has backed the river by investing in it in a number of ways.  Mark Bilsby, River Director of the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board (DDSFB) and the River Dee Trust, said: “October 3^rd 2014 was historic for the Dee. That day the first salmon ascended the Culter Dam in over 250 years, made possible by a fish pass we had installed on the dam…