Week beginning 14 August 2017
Monday 14th August. Well that’s summer over and we are into the autumn fishing. Jonathon Reddin landed 3 this morning from the back of the wall area the best being 15lbs. Gerald Kitchen had two from the Slap before 10.30 at 7 and 8lbs whilst his cousin Edward Saffy over from South Africa had a lovely 13lber on a #10 cascade from Cornhill bend which was his first ever salmon, on the Cauld Steven Robins had a nice 8lber this afternoon. James Long taking a break from making an order of candles for the Vatican had a nice wee grilse from the Glide this morning, so a successful day with everyone getting a fish or two. 1’1” and 56 degrees, rain forecast tonight with some thunder and lightning as well so the river could be a bit higher tomorrow, the top of the Teviot is rising tonight.
Tuesday 15th August. The lads gave it a go first thing but were beaten before they started and in fact were in danger of getting washed away. 1’0” on the gauge at 9.00am and 2’6” and rising by 10.30am with the whole water column full of weed from top to bottom. I was with George Carr in Learmouth and there were fish jumping all over the place, trying to get out of the way of all the crap that was coming down no doubt, all sizes and colours. Will it fish tomorrow? The height will be fishable but the colour will not be good.
Wednesday 16th August. 2’9” 56 degrees and just fishable this morning. Adam and George Carr here and they had a bit of luck getting 1 salmon and 4 seatrout plus losing a few more. George had his first seatrout which weighed in at a healthy 8lbs whilst dad Adam had the salmon at 12lbs. None of the fish were really fresh and in fact the salmon looked like an old springer with a kype like a rugby boot. There were good numbers of fish showing but we only saw the one fresh one. There were 3 seals upstream of us today, one came back downstream this afternoon, I’ve not heard about the other two. There’s more rain coming in tonight which is the last thing we want as it will screw up tomorrow, and more rain later in the week along with the remains of hurricane Gert at the weekend. So it going to be up and down like the proverbial Yo yo. Still it’s better than a drought.
Thursday 17th August. The team was beaten before we started today with a rising river from the off. Edgar Martin had nipped down from Selkirk as the Ettrick was rising and coloured, he managed to hook and lose a big fish at the Iron Gate and land two seatrout before he was weeded off. On the Cauld and Learmouth Lucy, David and William saw a few fish first thing but as soon as the river started to rise it all went quiet. We had a seal outside the hut this morning; I was just taking a sup out of my coffee cup looking out of the window and up it popped with a fresh grilse in its mouth, I flew a couple of rockets over its head and it decided to push off downstream. This evening a flood warning has been issued by SEPA so tomorrow looks doubtful. And another thing if your bringing dogs with you make sure it’s under control, there are other dogs around, walkers and poultry as if the seal wasn’t bad enough a rod let his dogs out the back of his motor and the first thing they did was kill one of my hens.
Friday 18th August. A breezy showery morning and some of the showers were on the very heavy side. 2’4” at start of play and very dark. Team Houldsworth here for two days but the fishy gods were not with them as the river was rising and colouring as the morning went by. We watched South Wark get a fish from the Temple on a beastly flying condom, we meanwhile stuck to a silver toby and caught nothing. By lunchtime the team pulled stumps and headed for home as the colour was really starting to come in. Tonight the gauges are all over the place and I think the conditions tomorrow will be much the same. Been down to river at 7.30pm and its filthy and the gauge at Peebles is rising, this is with more coming down the Tweed it helps to dilute the Teviot a bit.
Saturday 19th August. 2’8” and very dark this morning so Team Houldsworth decide to hold off until this afternoon before fishing, I popped down to Berwick to the Vodafone shop to vent my spleen. We started at 2.00pm in a near gale which came as a fright as it’s a while since I’ve rowed a boat in big water and a gale along with the fact that Team Houldsworth has many team members to get through. Louisa Houldsworth was the only one to land a fish and what a cracker it was, 16lbs fresh hen and Louisa gave it no quarter not by design though, she just held on. We got it in the Cauld casting from the right bank as the wind made casting from the left almost impossible. From 4.00pm-5.00pm there were a good number of fish showing in the lower Cauld, all looked like runners so someone upstream will catch up with them on Monday. We had a couple of seals reported again, one in Learmouth stream first thing and one coming down from Upper North Wark which sneaked past us unseen. Another unwelcome sight was a Pink salmon which almost jumped into the boat this afternoon; I have to say I’ve seen bonnier fish. Anyway the forecast now looks a bit better for next week as the wind is to drop and no more rain so next week could be a beezer, the summer so far has not happened here this year, we’ve had a summer period but no summer, the Swifts are away so thats summer over as far as I’m concerned. On the bright side my beefsteak tomatoes from the polytunnel are in good order and Sally is busy turning them into relish as I write so place your orders. It’ll be better next week.
©M Campbell 2017
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