week beginning 11 July 2022
Monday 11th July. A hot sunny day with the water off the gauge and sitting at 66f this morning. Team Tunmore here for three days from deepest Norfolk and other places, it was always going to be a challenge and it proved to be just that. By lunchtime as the heat built and a bit of a welcome breeze developed it was weed on the fly every cast so the lads decided to leave it until the gloaming before trying again. David Foreman fishing down at West Newbiggin had two fresh grilse and lost another two this evening but again we need some water to bring them up. Catches on the river were very low with only two reported last time I looked.
Tuesday 12th July. Overcast all day but humid, a stiff wind picked up at lunchtime but didn’t bring too much weed off the margins. This morning Hugh had 3 boils at his wee sunray in the very tail of the Glide where a good number of seatrout were showing, that was all the action for the day but the young half of the team are going out for a gloaming shift so the seatrout might be a bit more in the mood. The catches off the river are almost nonexistent with only one fish reported landed which was at Birgham Dub, the forecast is for a couple of cooler days before the heat returns, not the crazy heat of down south but a 25C perhaps which is plenty, a freshet is being released on Wednesday night Thursday morning which helps to keep the upper river and tributaries alive but just shifts weed about down here.
Wednesday 13th July. A mostly overcast day with some sunny spells, a fairly stiff breeze was blowing weed out from the edges covering the fly now and again. The only action I saw today was Craig from South wark who was in the Temple with his rod getting a fish at the top end of the pool, he was using a single handed rod a full floater and a #10 Gledswood shrimp, the fly was being stripped back in very quickly as you would strip a sunray, an 8lb old river fish was the result. 0” on the gauge and 60f this morning a drop of 6 degrees on yesterday. The lads packed up at lunchtime as it’s a long drive back to deepest Norfolk.
Thursday 14th July. An overcast day with the gauge well out of the water and 62 degrees. Pete Markham and pals here for three days. John was the lucky rod today getting an 8lb salmon from the Slap this morning, it wasn’t the freshest fish in the river but it was a fish. That was the only pull of the day; Simon tried a skimmer in the very tail of the Glide and had a few seatrout skitting about but none touching it. I popped out tonight to see if I could tempt something onto a dry fly in the tail of the Cauld but there was a cool wind and no hatch of any kind. The floating weed was a big problem this afternoon, it was making the Slap unfishable as the whole river what there is of it all goes though that 23 feet so the weed is concentrated and it is weed every cast.
Friday 15th July. We had some rain today just a wee bit, just enough to help the plants but certainly not the river. The river was up a couple of inch thanks to the freshet but all it did was help the weed to lift off the margins and gravel and float off down to cover the fly every cast. I didn’t see a salmon today there were plenty seatrout sploshing around. The forecast now has a red alert for a lot of England and an amber alert for us saying temps could get into the 30s centigrade.
Saturday 16th July. The river was much cleaner this morning as the weed had all settled down. 62f at 8.30am and 67f by lunchtime, the lads went through the streams that are left and the tail of the glide but nothing was playing. A difficult week and going to be a challenge next week if forecast correct.
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