Eion Smith - Lower Dess Beat
This month, Eion Smith Head Ghillie on the Dess beat of the River Dee sits in the hot seat and faces the Ghillies’s 10!
1. SSFS: What is the biggest salmon you have ever caught?
ES: The two biggest salmon I have caught both weighed thirty pounds. They were caught on the fly from the River Dee in 1978.
2. SSFS: What is the most memorable salmon you have ever caught?
ES: It has to be my first salmon, which was caught from the Allan Water at Dunblane in 1955. It turned out to be a fresh six-pound grilse.
3. SSFS: What is your favourite fly?
ES: My favourite fly has to be a fly that actually has no name, which I refer to as the “inch of black”. It is simply a fly with an inch long black wing.
4. SSFS: What is your favourite salmon pool?
ES: My favourite pool is the Logie, on the Deecastle Beat of the River Dee. It has everything you could possibly want from a salmon pool.
5. SSFS: If there was one place in the world you could salmon fish, where would it be and why?
ES: It would have to be anywhere on the middle River Dee in mid-May because classic floating line, small fly-fishing is very productive in that area in late spring. It is what I consider to be the crème de la crème of salmon fishing.
6. SSFS: What is the most unusual sight you have seen on the river?
ES: Most recently, a succession of fishing huts floating down the River Dee in a major flood, on the 30th of December 2015.
7. SSFS: What is the worst conditions in which you have seen a salmon being caught?
ES: If a salmon has been successfully landed, nothing could ever be described as bad. However, fishing in low water coupled with a freezing river and very few fish around can be difficult.
8. SSFS: What do you love about being a ghillie?
ES: One of the great bonuses of the job is meeting new people.
9. SSFS: What is your salmon fishing pet hate?
ES: There is nothing to hate about salmon fishing other than the trivial bureaucracy that often accompanies it.
10. SSFS: What is your favourite dram?
ES: I have to say that I am quite partial to a red wine, preferably French!
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