Week beginning 12 March 2018
Monday 12th March. 4’6” and 38 degrees with a lot of colour. No fishing today, even chucking a toby off the bank would be a lost cause. It’s going to take a long time to get this river down to a decent height for us, there’s still a fair bit of snow lying about the hedge backs to keep the levels up. I heard that some of the beats above Kelso had a chuck today but there’s nothing across the websites to say they had any success. It’s becoming more than a tad tedious now but at least the forecast is more settled this week until we get to the weekend when there could be a mini beast from the east coming.
Tuesday 13th March. Another day of big murky water. 3’9” and 38 degrees. Sandy Scott turned up for a look this morning but as we didn’t have any milk for the coffee he didn’t hang about for long. I took a trip up to Kelso to the skips (not to see what I could get out of them) but to dump some rubbish. There were rods out at South Wark, Birgham Dub, Upper Hendersyde and Junction but the score sheets were blank tonight. The gauge dropped an inch this morning and is down another 6” by 7.15pm but the Ettrick is rising again tonight.
Wednesday 14th March. Another day much the same as the rest of the week, 3’7” and murky but clean enough to fish just too big. This afternoon looking at the gauges they were rising yet again. So the long wait continues.
Thursday 15th March. Gales from the east south east, rain and a seal in the temple this morning plus the fact that all 4 rods called off = no fish caught. After saying that there was only one 5lb Seatrout caught at the Junction on the websites. I can’t remember being “off the river” for so long. The gauges are rising again tonight and the forecast for tomorrow is awful with rain/snow for most of the day. Let’s hope that the old saying comes true this year. March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. I know it’s meant to be the other way round but I like my version better.
Friday 16th March. It was the sort of day you wouldn’t put a wheely bin out let alone a fisherman, a big dirty river with a North East gale and driving rain to cap it all. On the bright side though I backed the winner of the Gold Cup this afternoon, so happy days. It’ll be no better tomorrow as the rain is to turn to snow and the river will still be too big and coloured for us. The weather girl after the news was saying “well it’s been a lovely day today down in Landun”, she needs her arse kicked or needs to look at her charts a bit more.
Saturday 17th March. Another wild cold day with sharp snow showers and a wind that would cut you in half. All 4 rods decided not to show today which is just as well as it was showing 3’6” on the Lees gauge and coloured. On the bright side Scotland squeaked a win against Italy and Ireland gave the English a spanking to win the Championship and the grand slam. It will fish on Monday but will still be on the big side for us.
©M Campbell 2018
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