[Stephen Widden]

Hi all, nice to be part of the forum

Does anyone have any info on Silver Dam? It's on the road between Peterculter and Westhill.

My dad used to take me fishing there when I was a youngster, back in the 80s. I remember catching rainbow trout on a few occasions, and I'm sure I remember catching an eel there once.

I was driving past a few weeks ago and decided to stop and take a look around. Its very overgrown and the water appears to have receded / been taken over by plants, its certainly not the size I remembered it being.

Am I right in saying that this place was stocked and maintained by a paper mill at one time? Are there any plans for it to be rejuvenated? It made me a bit sad seeing it all overgrown!

[Rob Brownfield]

I have fished it a few times with lures, hoping for a Pike or two, but have only caught small Browns...but that was a good 20 years ago.

I know several tackle shops in Aberdeen used to send kids up there as it was relatively safe fishing. Again, brownies.

However in more recent times its been fished heavily and I am not sure what would be left, if anything. My last walk around the place was about 2 years ago and there were signs of camp fires and a fair bit of rubbish laying about.

I am pretty certain that there used to be a sign up on the dam wall saying in an emergency call Aberdeenshire Council, so I guess they maybe own it? As you say, its looking very overgrown and if you look on google maps, sat view, you can see the old outline of the water. Its lost perhaps a third of its size.

parking was always a bit iffy as well, with stories of cars being broken into.