The table below are flies from and used on the rivers Dee, Don & Deveron (Ythan as well) where I have managed to find the pattern for, click the name (if underlined) to see the fly and further information. There have been some questions about my methodology for choosing the flies that appear on this list, see below the table for a bit more detail - including William Browns lists of flies. I will update this list when possible eg with the Saturday, Lady of the Lake etc.

There are some flies I have identified as Dee but have not yet managed to find the pattern for, please let me know if you have them, I suspect they may be lost in the mists of time, some of them are Monaltrie Owl, Craigendarroch Butterfly (both invented by James Harper Snr) and Benkle. (update Benkle is the correct pronunciation of Benchill so one less to find!)

OK, so how did I come up with the list of Dee, Don & Deveron flies, well I started with the following list from the 1897 William Brown catalogue:

“Special List of Salmon Flies for Aberdeenshire Dee

Akroyd                                     Eagle, Yellow                           Lizzie

Aboyne Peacock                      Eagle, Grey                               Mar Lodge

Badger                                      Fail-Me-Never                          Minister of Drumoak

Balmoral                                   Gledwing                                  March Brown

Beaconsfield                             Gordon                                     Nicol

Blue Charm                              Gardener                                   Rintoul

Bumbee                                    Glentanar                                  Sailor

Ballater Fly                              Jeannie                                      Skier

Cabbage                                   Jockie                                        Silver Blue

Clunie                                       Jonah                                        Saturday

Colonel Keane                         Killer                                         Sherbrooke

Davie Caird                              Kelly                                         Tilbouries

Druggist                                    Logie                                        Tricolour

Dunt                                         Lady Grace"

So you can see that I missed the Saturday from that! One way or another I have sourced patterns for all these flies, most I have listed on the site, some such as Tilbouries I have, but the source has asked me not to publish until my book is published, same goes for the full listing of the John Michie flies.

I then added to this the flies from the Fishing Gazette, that were listed as good flies for the Dee, Deveron, Don or Ythan, this included the William Murdoch articles about fly patterns and just general fishing articles. Then I trawled though all the standard Salmon Fly books noting flies that were recommended for these rivers, from Kelson to Hills and a few in between. Since this list was produced, other flies have been identified from various sources and I will update the list as and when I get the time.