Week beginning 13 October 2014
Monday 13th October Well I’m disappointed, only 13 for the day, now I can hear some of you saying “only 13” what a greedy bugger! The first day of decent water after a flood, a Monday as well, perfect height and colour and we only get 13 in near mid October, I was looking for high 20s , maybe we’ve been spoiled in recent years but its hard to go backwards. Anyway 1’10” and 46 degs I fished the Annay this morning with Nick and only saw two fish both coloured, we soon got fed up with that and moved up to the Iron Gate and had a 16lb liced hen on the third cast then an 11lb old cock a few casts later, fished on through the Glide and never saw a fish. John Scully fishing the Cauld had a better morning getting 5 from the Cauld but Stebbie blanked in the Temple, Billy had one from Learmouth making it 8 for the morning. This afternoon I was on the Back of the wall with John we fished it right through to the IGP and never saw a fin, the rain and cold upstream wind along with no fish sent us back to the hut at 4.15 where we learned that Stebbie had one from the Cauld and lost another and Nick had two from the Temple, Nick made of sterner stuff than the others stayed on for a hour and got two wading the tail of the Cauld and lost another two. Now all that makes you say what’s he moaning about no fish? The beat/river is very quiet for the time of year. Maybe they’ll be there tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe next month, maybe next year, we keep hoping.
Tuesday 14th October OK I had my rant yesterday, back to the fishing, 1’8” and 46 degs clean, there were a good few showing in the Cauld first thing but as soon as we got into the boat they disappeared, we managed to hook one in the tail of the Cauld wading which was a big fish but after a couple of hard runs and a jump it was off leaving Nick to turn the air a shade of blue. It was a very quiet morning but in the afternoon things took a turn for the better, Stebbie the USA speycasting champion managed two from the back of the wall despite the upstream wind, John had two hens from the Temple twitching back a #6 treble, whilst Billy excelled himself in the Cauld getting three, it just shows what can happen when you work the fly Billy! Not to be left out Stebbie had one from the Bags which is the first down there since September. The Glide is still not working for us for some reason as we have not had a fish there since September either. We finished the day with 12 but it didn’t seem like it. All the fish were on a mix of wet 2 type and intermediate lines depending on which pool you were fishing. Wednesday 15th October A day much the same as yesterday but lees fish, 1’7” 46 degs and clean still with the south east wind. I fished the bottom half of the beat all morning and never saw a fish from the Iron Gate to the Bags and that’s saying something on the 15th October in near perfect conditions. Bruce was in Learmouth with Billy and reported at lunchtime that they had seen loads of fish but they only caught one. The Cauld was quiet along with the Temple and we ended the morning on a blank! The highlight of the morning was Lucy and Kelsae digging up some rats at the Iron Gate and sorting them out. In the afternoon we fared a bit better with Nick Davenport getting 3 from the temple and Stebbie getting 2 from the Cauld one of them a clean 14lb hen which was returned. It would appear the fish have moved upstream as the Wark beats catches have tumbled as well and sadly looking at the websites at 7.30pm there are only 8 fish reported caught below us that’s including one which does not report, I would be a lot happier if they were hauling them out as we would be waiting for them to come to us. On the bright side of things its Pastie day tomorrow and with the addition of a dollop of Sally’s famous relish it brightens up the day. There’s a bit of rain on the forecast for next few days and to get a lot warmer so a change might help! A huge shoal of fresh fish would help.
Thursday 16th October Now in a mood because the bloody computer took about half an hour to warm up and reconfigure itself and check itself and tell me things I don’t give a shit about! 1’6” 48 degs and vet clean. Another day with east winds although not so strong today and the fishing much the same as yesterday. Highlights were getting 3 fish up at the skimmer in the tail of the Cauld only hooking one and losing that. Nick Davenport had a couple of licers from Learmouth Stream this afternoon the best being 12lbs. The Temple was very quiet today as was the bottom end of the beat and the middle too. 4 Salmon for the day and a 3lb liced Seatrout, at least the rods are good company. It’ll be better tomorrow!!
Friday 17th October A very misty start but the sun was soon through and it turned into a lovely day. John Scully was first onto the score board with a cracking 20lb cock fish from the Cauld which was liced, the fish was returned to the river to get on with his job and hopefully spread some big fish genes (it would have been a great smoker mind you) he followed that with a 7lber also from the Cauld. Stebbie also scored in the Temple this time with a 15lb liced hen also returned and Billy had a 15lb hen from Learmouth stream, I was down in the Glide and all I saw was a big cock Seatrout, we also went through the Cornhill bend, Duddo, bottom of the Babyhouse, Middle stream and Otterstones and the Bags and saw a total of two fish both in the Otterstones. I heard at 4.30pm that there were a lot of fish and silver at that in the Annay but were not taking the fly, so hopefully they will be in the Cauld tomorrow morning as I’m going to get that fished through with a skimmer first as I’m having withdrawal symptoms with the lack of hitch this year. The scores on the other beats are still not what you’d expect at this time of year but we keep hoping. On the wild life front the Dippers are still dipping at the Duddo and a pair of Kingfishers have been zipping about the place, this morning once it warmed up the Skylarks were singing away at the Glide, not sure if they normally sing at this time of year, it’s maybe because it’s been such a mild autumn. Forecast a bit of rain tonight and an unsettled mild weekend with a strong wind.
Saturday 18th October Well it was a tad on the blowy side today but it kept the midges away, there was 3’0” plus at the top of the river with the Teviot and Ettrick rising as well, I reckoned it would be with us about 3.30pm. I was in the Cauld first off with Nick and we went through it with an intermediate and copper tube first followed by my favourite “the skimmer”, not a touch on the tube and there were a good few big fish showing, on with the skimmer on the 13’ and full floater which resulted in a boil and a head out of the water looking at us but no pull. The wind was from the south and so strong that we waded the Cauld from the far side covering fish right down into the thin water in the tail but no other action was had. Nick’s dad Billy was plopping a fly into the Slap and after an epic struggle landed a 3lb fresh Grilse! The fish that were in the Annay last night had disappeared so no action down there but at least it was out of the wind. After lunch the water was up 2” so it had arrived a bit quicker than expected, we fished until 3.30pm then called it a day. So 39 for the week which is much less than I had hoped for, but the fresh fish are just not there so comparing it to the rest of the back end it’s a good week just didn’t seem that way. There is a weather warning out now for severe winds on Monday and Tuesday so thats going to be fun, a fair bit of rain about as well.
Photos this week are the rat hunt and a nice view of Coldstream looking down the Bags and Annay.
© M Campbell 2014
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