Week beginning 14 November 2016
Monday 14th November. I didn’t think we’d catch anything today and we didn’t 2’6” this morning and a toasty 44 degrees, the river has risen and with it rising it’s carrying a murky grey colour but the team were keen to give it a go and they are new to the Lees so at least they get to see the beat and get themselves up to speed for the bonanza that will happen tomorrow. I was down the Back of the wall this morning with Charlie Yeoward all the way from deepest Devon this morning and despite covering the water just fine he never had a touch, David was just below him going through the Iron gate and Glide and thought he might have had a pull in the Iron gate. This afternoon I was up in the Cauld with Malcolm Dutchman Smith (he’s not Dutch) and we had a leaf on the hook every other cast so by 3.30 he’d had enough of that, it’s maybe time to switch to a single hook as at least you can flick the leaf off, we didn’t see a fish this afternoon but did see half a dozen this morning. On the bright side I got my Jeep back today and waved adieu to that bloody French thing. The supermoon was out tonight but I missed it rising due to cloud which is the best time to see it, it peeked through the clouds around 8.00pm and was bright 15% brighter I’m told by my phone. Forecast is for a bit of rain tomorrow night and a bit of wind to pick up mid week so that’s not going to help the leaf situation. 3 fish reported off the river but really it was only 2 as Calum at lower north wark put up 2 but one was from Saturday.
Tuesday 15th November. 2’3” and 46 degrees and a bit cleaner and in fact by this afternoon it was clean, being clean however made no difference to the catches as we never had so much as a pull all day. There were a few showing at the top of the temple but half of them were jumping downstream, on the Cauld this morning there was major excitement as a fresh fish was seen and so fresh was this fish that it looked like a springer, nice white mother of pearl belly silver flanks with no colour to them and a bluish back, it does happen every year that a very early springer is caught somewhere, anyway it could be a fresh as it likes it didn’t pull. All the other fish that we saw and there weren’t many of them were the now usual shades of autumn. Looking at the websites there are only 4 fish reported off the whole river. Nothing more to report today it’s all becoming a bit tedious.
Wednesday 16th November. 2’0” on the Lees gauge and 46 degrees so a perfect height and clean, normally I’d be saying it’s a numbers game but this year it’s a challenge. I was at the bottom end of the beat this morning and had quite a bit of water to ourselves as we were only 3 rods today as one pulled stumps early and one rod wasn’t let, to be honest it wouldn’t have mattered if we’d fished 10 rods as I never saw a fish all morning. This afternoon I took Charlie to Learmouth where the wind beat him so we moved down to the back of the wall where we saw 5 fish but no pulls, the wind really picked up and it was a very cold blast. It seems like the pack has had its last shuffle and they’ve gone, I could be wrong but the evidence is sort of staring me in the face. Now I hope I’m proved wrong and there’s a wee run of fish there tomorrow, we have a new team on and they’ll be keen so I hope their efforts are rewarded. It’ll be back to neoprene waders again tomorrow and my Sunday best coat, the one with no holes in the sleeves as the water runs in the holes of my other one. 3 fish reported off the river today which is shocking.
Thursday 17th November. Got caught out this morning as had my usual quick glance at the river levels on the phone and it said steady but on arriving at the hut it was up 5” on yesterday, the levels hadn’t been updated since yesterday lunchtime, so a quick text to Mick at pavilion and it came back “big and broon” I followed it up with a call and it was 4’6” on Mick’s gauge, by the time the rods arrived it was up 8” and a mucky grey colour with leaves all over the place, Team Cottrell on for the next three days decide not to fish and headed off to Edinburgh to visit the Zoo no doubt as Paul likes pandas. So the rest of the day was spent getting some grain for the hens and a new top ring for one of my rods, of course when you go to Kelso on a flood day you’re always going to meet other Ghillies and rods so a 20 minute trip takes a couple of hours then home as had organised a chimney sweep, best to get the lum sorted before winter, deliver grain to hut and before you know it it’s dark again. It’ll likely fish tomorrow but will not be great as it was 3’1” and brown when I was at the hut.
Friday 18th November. It was a lovely day on the river weather wise but as far as fish go it was a piscatorial desert, I didn’t see a fish this morning in the Glide, back of the wall or Iron gate and in the cauld this afternoon I had a great time as Mark and myself talked whisky until it started to get dark and the frost was coming back in, we never mentioned a fish once and boy does Mark know about whisky, so I was a happy bunny for the first time this week. The catches today are just as grim as the rest of the week as there was nothing caught this side of Peebles and only 4 up there. The leaves were a real pest today getting one almost every cast this morning and this afternoon I really didn’t notice as I was so engrossed in the whisky craic. What will tomorrow bring much the same I fear?
Saturday 19th November. A frosty start turning into a nice sunny day but cold. 2’2” and 38 degrees with a tinge of colour. We fished all the likely spots this morning but never had a pull by lunchtime 3 of the lads decide they’d had enough and headed for home, Ian Merrell who is called golden balls by some stayed on with Mark as they are fishing South Wark next week, this paid off as on his more or less last cast in the Slap he hooked and landed a 12lb hen which was fairly clean but she went back, that make it one for the week and one returned. There is a fair old storm down south and they can keep it. Monday will be fishable and in fact will be a decent height for the Lees and you never know Ian’s fish might just have a few friends with her.
©M Campbell 2016
our twitter feed