Week beginning 12 September 2022
Monday 12th September. 1’4” and 60 degrees with a beery tinge, a west wind (not too strong) and some sunshine, all in all a perfect autumn day. The day was made even better as Team Brymer landed 18 salmon and 3 seatrout between them, only one was fresh and it perhaps would have pulled the scales to maybe just over one pound. The Glide and Iron Gate seemed to be the place where most of the fish were hiding; we also had 1 from the Cauld and lost a couple, 1 from the Slap a couple from Learmouth, Middle stream so a good spread really. Tim had all his fish on a Junction rocket until he snapped his rod. Duncan Brymer was using a conehead sort of small Dee monkey. The flood has certainly brought some fish to us and Lower North Wark 10 but not really much further upstream apart from Birgham Dub with 12. Downstream Ladykirk had a great day with 28 landed, Milne Graden 10, Tillmouth 5. Horncliffe 6. No more rain forecast so this water will drop away quite quickly but it is to get a lot cooler which will help and the bulk of that bloody weed is away.
Tuesday 13th September. The river was up 4 inch or so and that can often be enough to put them off but we hoped not. Duncan had a hold of a fish in the Slap after a few casts but it fell off with just a few yards to go, James managed one out of Learmouth stream but Simon and Tim down at the Glide and Duddo had a couple each which helped the scoreboard. Back up in the Cauld the only fish we were seeing were right down in the tail so Duncan popped down for cast before lunch and was rewarded with a 12lb hen on his favourite silver conehead Dee Monkey thing. This afternoon Duncan on a roll had 4 at the Iron Gate on the same fly fished on a floater with a fast sink tip. The gauge was reading 1’7” and 56 degrees still a strong beery tinge to it. The forecast going ahead is dry but to get a lot cooler so that will suit just fine, tomorrow is thankfully the last day of spinning so at least when we go to a pool it’s not had condoms and rapalas through it before we can try with the fly. We ended the day with 10 fish all coloured bar one which with a bit of polish might have brightened up.
Wednesday 14th September. Another great day on the Lees today, 1’2” and 56 degrees still with a bit of a beery tinge to the water. Simon Bath was on the Slap and cauld this morning and had a hold of 7 fish but not managing to land one, that I have to say is character building, Paul on the oars was gnashing his teeth. Down on the Iron Gate Tim lost his first two fish and was blaming the fly/hook but a wee bit of a tweak to his retrieve method soon had them sticking on the hook and he landed 4 along with standing on my phone and puting a stud right through the screen, the phone not working all that well now. Jim Brymer had a fish from the Glide and 4 from the Cauld this afternoon, we have hooked more fish in the cauld today than we have all the rest of the year so far. Duncan had 2 from the Glide and lost another 2 and Simon made good getting 2 from Learmouth stream and losing another, Paul said on his first run down the stream he had a pull almost every cast. The bottom part of the beat is almost empty for some reason, I spoke to the Cornhill rods this morning and they have only had 2 for the week a case of right place right time, got to be hard knowing that 100 yards round the corner they are pulling them out. Again today we were using a floater with a 10’0” inter tip a conehead posh tosh and a #7 salar posh tosh. Ladykirk led the charge again today getting 21, Tillmouth 7 , Learmouth 6, Birgham Dub 10 and us 14. New team on tomorrow for next three days so lets hope our good fortune continues.
Thursday 15th September. A calm start but a north wind was starting to be felt, just a very light one. Team Collinson here for three days. Phil Beal was down on Learmouth and had a great morning getting 8 before lunch, Paul Collinson up the top on the Slap and Cauld managed one from the Lower Cauld, there had been a lot of fish showing in the Slap before the rods arrived but when we were fishing it they had gone, we had one pull in the Cauld from the boat. I had to leave early to attend Pud Murrays funeral at Kelso, on my return the score was 13 with Craig Scorer and Chris Major getting the other 3 fish making the 13. This afternoon Paul had 3 from the top of the Back of the wall 10lbs, 15lbs and 20lbs it might have been 21lbs or even 22lbs but Paul was happy to call it 20lbs. Chris lost a fish in the Duddo, and you know I can’t remember who got the other 3 to make it 19, anyway another great day, no fresh/clean fish in the bag but at least it was a lot of action rather than picking off weed every cast. Ladykirk were top dogs again getting 26 which shows there are still some to come. The temp is to really drop tonight and tomorrow so that might just trigger an upstream move. There are some heavy showers going through as I write this but it’s all from the North so no help to the river.
Friday 16th September. A much colder day if you were in the North wind, 11’ and 52 degrees. 17 landed today and 1 seatrout, who caught what I can’t remember but I’ll have a go, Mark had 4 from the top of the back of the wall this morning, Chris Major had 2 from the Cauld this morning and 2 from Learmouth this afternoon, Phil Beal had a grilse out of Middle stream this morning and a 13lb hen and a 3lb seatrout from the cauld this afternoon, the seatrout took a sunray and he also had a pull in the Slap on the sunray. Chris Major at 5.00pm blagged a cast off Phil who’d been fishing the slap for 20 minutes without a touch and of course he had a fish straight away which was a 10lb coloured cock. We are still on floaters with sinktips to suit whatever pool you are on and wee tubes or #8 doubles, the salar #7 is popular as well. That’s 84 so far, will we make it to 100 by close of play tomorrow?
Saturday 17th September. Well what a day again with 22 landed, Phil Beal was top dog today getting 10 to his rod all from Learmouth then he very graciously handed the rod to Craig Scorer who had another 2, Mark Brown had another 4 from Learmouth and later on Tom Fort had 2, so 18 of the 22 came from Learmouth stream. The rest of the beat is quiet with nothing below the Duddo; we had 1 out of the Cauld and 1 from the Slap as well as losing 1 in the Slap. All Phil’s fish were on a wee bottle tube fished on a floater with a 10’0” slow sinktip, other flies in use were a wee black frances and a mini Snelda with a hot orange bum. All the fish were river fish in different shades but none fresh or clean. We actually more than doubled our year’s total in one week with 106 landed; the water temp dropping from 58f down to 52 really helped as of course the mini flood we had to move fish up. It is now down at 10” and no rain on the forecast so it is not going to get any easier. Still seems to be plenty fish in some of the bottom beats with Ladykirk getting 32, Pedwell 19 and Horncliffe 15 though I still haven’t heard any reports of fresh fish down there.
Away from the fishing the annual flower/ veg show was on yesterday where I managed to pick up 3 trophies with 8 first place and 10 second, my bloody uncle beat me yet again in the onion quality and size category, so must do better next year.
I have a new phone now after Tim put a wader stud through my old one so hopefully next week I’ll be posting lots of fishy clips and pics on instagram follow us on tweedbeatsfishing (all one word).
©M Campbell 2022
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