Search

Fishing

The River Don is recognised as a premier salmon and sea trout river. It is also renowned for the quality of its brown trout fishing. Locals and visitors can fish there at reasonable prices. Find out more:

Season dates

Season dates are different depending on what type of fish you want to catch. You can fish for: 

  • salmon from 11th February to 31st October
  • brown and sea trout between 1st April to 30th September

Fishing locations

We don't manage fishing in Alford, Inverurie and Kintore. These have been transferred to their respective Angling Associations. Find out where to buy permits.

Alford - River Don

In Alford, the Don has all the qualities of a Highland river and the stream is surrounded by mountains, moorlands and mature woodland slopes. Salmon fishing can be excellent in the spring and autumn months. The upper Don is known for the quality of its brown trout fly fishing and you can often catch fish weighing over 2 pounds. 

You can fish along the right bank of the River Don from Montgarrie Bridge at Alford to about 100 metres below the confluence with the Buckie Burn. View the Haughton fishing map (PDF 1.14MB). And along its left bank for about 900 metres, from Waterside Sawmill to Bridge of Alford. View the Alford Waterside fishing map (PDF 413KB). 

Inverurie - River Don and Ury

The Inverurie Fishings is a lovely stretch of water passing through wooded countryside, which offers splendid views of the Donside hills. Its pools, turbulent runs and long glides provide excellent conditions to catch brown trout and salmon. 

You can fish along the left (north) bank of the River Don for about 3 kilometres from its confluence with the River Ury to Polinar Burn and along its right (south) bank from the new by-pass bridge to the old road bridge.

You can also fish along the right (south) bank of the River Ury from its confluence with the River Don to the town boundary near Howford Bridge (on road B9001) and along its left (north) bank from the B9001 down to the B9170 (about 6.7km in total). 

View the Inverurie fishing map (PDF 1MB).  

Kintore - River Don

In Kintore, the Don flows for about one mile through the flood plain giving a range of conditions from streamy to gentle gliding water which offers the dry fly angler considerable scope. The river is significantly bigger in volume after its confluence with the River Ury. There are 20 named pools which provide holding lies and a wide variety of water types. It is renowned for big brown trout and sea trout from April to August. 

You can fish along the left bank of the River Don from the northern to the southern boundary of the former burgh. View the Kintore fishing map (PDF 697MB).

Conservation - legal obligations

It is important to conserve and protect the stocks of salmon and sea trout in the River Don. The Salmon and Sea Trout Conservation Policy explains the legal requirements and conservation code that you must follow. 

Buy a fishing permit

You can buy permits to fish in: 

Declare your catch

We have the legal obligation to supply the Scottish Government with a record of all salmon, sea and brown trout caught in Aberdeenshire.

Please declare your catch (including nil returns) by completing the catch returns form:

  • within 48 hours of your daily permit's expiry
  • twice in the season if you have a season ticket

Declare your catch returns