The Don runs parallel to the Dee but has a quieter, more intimate character — a smaller, winding river through fertile Aberdeenshire farmland. A declining Category 3 salmon system that is underrated for both trout and salmon; conservation and careful stewardship are essential. Good wild brown trout and modest salmon runs reward patient fishing. Known for dry-fly trout fishing in the middle and upper reaches, especially in spring and early summer. Salmon are secondary to trout focus on this river; when present, respond to small doubles and wet-fly work on the low-flow glides. Less prestigious than the parallel Dee but more accessible and genuinely underrated. Mandatory catch-and-release applies to salmon on most beats throughout the season.
The Don rises in the peat flats on the edge of the Cairngorms and runs a hundred and thirty-five kilometres east — through Strathdon, past Corgarff, and out across the Howe of Alford — to the North Sea at the Bridge of Don in Aberdeen, Scotland's sixth-largest river. The upper river is steep and quick off the Dalradian granite, gneiss and schist of the high country, flowing fast through wooded glen; below Alford the gradient eases and the Don settles into a slow, clear, weed-rich lowland river through gentle farmland, famous as one of the finest wild brown-trout rivers in Britain. It is a premier salmon and sea-trout river too, with the lower and middle beats holding running fish. The character shifts from rocky upland freestone to languid limestone-rich glide. Wading is steady throughout — boulder work above, easier gravel and weed below — the clear lower water rewarding a careful approach.
Wading: Boulders above, weed and clear glides below
- Mixed
- Partly confined
- Pool riffle
- Meandering