Week beginning 12 July 2021
Monday 12th July. Chris Tunmore and pals here from deepest Norfolk for 3 days full of hope and optimism. Hugh was the luck rod who maybe had more optimism as he hooked and landed a 9lb from the Slap this morning, it wasn’t the freshest of fish but very welcome just the same. That was the only excitement of the day and I think there has been enough excitement already with all that football going on, at least I won’t have to listen to that bloody song for a while about lions on shirts when it actually leopards (aye they are). Anyway back to the river, 10” and 62 degrees with a wee lift going on in levels, it went up about an inch by lunchtime. No fresh fish were seen but there are a few river ones about from Learmouth down to the Glide and a good number of seatrout which the team are going to target tonight. Catches are dismally low with only 3 fish being reported by 7.00pm across the web pages. On a sadder note Wattie Burns Head Boatman (ret) Birgham Dub passed away on Sunday, he will be missed by many.
Tuesday 13th July. An overcast start to the day with the gauge reading 10” and 62 degrees. Chris Tunmore was up top and had a lot of follows and boils at various flies in the Slap but none would take hold, they were mainly seatrout by the look of them, he took a wander up to the Ledges as he has many happy memories up there but no more were made today. After lunch I thought I’d do a bit of strimming down the beat, I was just getting started when the clouds cleared and the sun came out with full heat, 2 hours later and I was a sweaty mess. No action on the Lees this afternoon but I did hear of a liced Grilse from the Bags caught off the Cornhill side. Will and Hugh are going out tonight again so hopefully they will find some silver tonight.
Wednesday 14th July. The young team failed last night but did see some fish splashing around. Today 9” and 62 degrees with an overcast start, the lads fished their way round the beat and saw the old residents splashing about but not a pull was to be had. Lunchtime and the sun came out and it was hot and bright this of course did nothing to help the fishing but the lads persisted until 5.00pm then rods were packed away as its the long journey home tomorrow. A 12lber was caught at Milen Graden today along with a seatrout and a pink salmon. Reports from further down are there are a good few coming in and out on the tide but they will not face this low warm water, one of the Tillmouth ghillies told me there were a good number of salmon in the lower pools mostly old and a few pinks jumping but they are not interested in taking anything. Forecast is for a hot sunny spell right through the weekend and into next week which will not help things.
Thursday 15th July. The cheery weathergirl was spot on today with an overcast start but by late morning the sun was splitting the trees, 7” and 64 degrees at 8.30am and a rather toasty 70f by 1.30pm. Pete here for 3 days and it’s not going to be like last year when we had 9 for the week plus a few seatrout. The lads went through the motions but not a pull was to be had, the same old fish are in the same old pools and have the same old reluctance to look at a fly let alone grab it. Forecast hotter tomorrow.
Friday 16th July. The cheery weathergirl was spot on it was roasty toasty today but there was a bit of a breeze this morning which helped otherwise it would have been stifling hot. John headed home as a problem with his car needed seen to Pete and Mike carried on but really in this heat it is more or less a lost cause. 64 degrees at 8.30 and it must be near in mid 70s but 2.00pm, if a fish were to take it wouldn’t survive being played I doubt. I got a few paths strimmed down the bottom end until I couldn’t see for sweat running into my eyes and that was after an hour. No action again today and less seen which isn’t surprising. Still getting reports of numbers of grilse much further downstream but there’s no way they are going to come forward in these temps. I’d like to help Germany out by taking a couple of inch of rain off them for the river but there is no sign of any over the weekend and into next week in fact it’s to be even hotter tomorrow.
Saturday 17th July. No action last night for the lads apart from a brief contact with a seatrout in Learmouth stream for Mike. Today the sun was blazing down and it was hot 27C hot which doesn’t happen too often round here. The cauld is well dry now and both sides are sticking out of the water, Pete and Mike fished this morning and decided to leave it alone until the sun goes down which is a very wise decision. I have had a bit too much sun today and have been drinking gallons of water. It’s to be a wee bit cooler tomorrow dropping to 22C which will be better for fishy welfare.
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© M Campbell 2021
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