Week beginning 11 November 2019
Monday 11th November. 2’3” and slowly rising, 42 degrees and windy from the North West add in a bit of rain and it was a bit of a miserable morning. John and Liz Macgregor here for a couple of days along with Harry Birbeck and Brian Perry. The team fished hard enough all morning but not a touch was to be had same result this afternoon. The water was clean enough but I didn’t see a fish all day, not a scale. Lower North Wark had one this morning but the next fish on the scoreboard was up at Boleside 30/35 miles above us. Some of the gauges are rising some steady some falling, one of the times is 11.45am others are 5.45pm, it’s late in the season but they need to get the times sorted out. The Leader is up so that might bring some colour down overnight and tomorrow morning, if there are no fish left down here it makes no difference what the colour is.
Tuesday 12th November. It was as miserable a day as you can get with heavy showers between the rain. 3’3” and coloured. 3 of the rods turned up for a look then left again to find something to fill the day. The Leader is rising again tonight so how much colour that will put in down here is anyone’s guess but I do know it won’t help things one little bit. Only 3 fish reported tonight and all 3 were well up the river. There’s nothing more to say.
Wednesday 13th November. A frosty start with the gauge sitting at 3’0” at the Lees 40 degrees and carrying a fair bit of colour. The team turned up and decided to have a cast as they’d nothing better to do; I had a few suggestions but kept them to myself. It was a pleasant enough morning sitting on the Temple watching the odd Kelt splash about and taking a leaf off the hook every other cast. This afternoon things improved and we had a salmon Kelt from the ledges, it was fairly silver so must have came in and spawned within weeks, the colour was improving as the afternoon went on and the height was down 3” by dark. Looking at the websites I see that there was a fish caught at Fairnilee, one fish off the whole river sort of points to a similar situation as last year in the river shutting itself down. It’ll be better tomorrow.
Thursday 14th November. 2’7” and 38 degrees and cold. The water was clean enough and we covered what water we could but the only pull went to Colin Harvey who had a big brown trout at the Iron Gate, I saw a seatrout Kelt in the Temple and that was it for the day. Hector and brother John who were with us for the first time this week enjoyed their days all the same as we were in the Temple and completely sheltered from the North wind. The Tweed Boatmens/Ghillies meeting was held tonight and a few subjects were covered with some sensible questions asked, all the lads now saying there is a complete lack of fish and the run is all upstream doing what they came to do. 3 fish reported off the whole river with the lowest being at Lower Pavilion. More rain over the next few days and the weekend so that could well affect next week.
Friday 15th November. Another damp day with heavy showers this morning. 2’4” but rising from the Leader and Lower Teviot. Colin Harvey was the luckiest rod on the Lees in the last couple of weeks getting a 12lb hen fish from the Cauldstream; I think that’s the first fish out of the Cauld since early October, certainly the first from the boat. Francis Sidoli and Claire joined us today and piled their trade but sadly both blanked although Claire is now casting into the distance after a few tweaks. I didn’t see anything worth catching today a few Kelts were sploshing about but nothing that looked anything remotely like a decent fish. A Little Egret has turned up today, no sign of the Great Egrets that were here last backend or that strange looking Crane. The Otters are busy every day as are the Kingfishers. Tonight the Leader is still rising as is the Lower Teviot so it’ll be carrying a fair bit of colour tomorrow no doubt.
Saturday 16th November. 2’9” and rising with a lot of colour, heavy persistent showers between the rain making it a day that can only be described as shite. Francis and Claire arrived and after a wee look at the colour and height and decided to go for some retail therapy for the rest of the morning and come back for a cast in the afternoon, I have to say the man is keen! There might be some useful fishing upstream of the Leader but down here its hopeless. It’s now that time of year when I’ll be glad when it’s all over. On the wildlife front three big skeins of Whooper swans arrived from the east and got stuck straight into the wheat field, they must be hungry after their long migration. Its now late afternoon I was going to put a couple of new sheets on my garage roof but as the rain has never let up I’d likely fall off and that would spoil my day, so I think I’ll have a snooze and then off to the pub tonight as it’ll be Strictly on the telly all night.
As ever see tweedbeats on instagram for photos and clips.
©M Campbell 2019
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