Week beginning 15 August 2016
Monday 15th August. A cracking day at last with blue skies and its hot, too hot to be encased in waders really but a sunny day which I’ve been longing for, not for the fishing but for purely being a sunny day. 1’7” and 56 degs and a bit beery, the colour made worse by the fact that the river bed is black. Sandy and Non Levington here along with John Leighton and James Long, we had the Monday morning draw then set off to our allocated beats. John was down in Learmouth stream and soon had a 14lb fresh fish in the bag on a float/inter tip with a 1” tube so he was a lucky boy, I on the other hand was not so lucky as I stepped on a wasp nest when I went to pick up Johns fish and at 7.30pm the stings are still nipping, the little darlings have had a sook of chemical warfare this afternoon and will be getting more in half an hour. James Long had one from the Slap and one from the Cauld this morning both 5lbs and fresh, he followed them up with a 10lber from the Glide this afternoon. Sandy and myself covered the top end with everything but never had a touch. The skimmer was deployed this afternoon, it’s great when you don’t need to bully someone into using it. I expected to see more fish today; the Cauld was quiet, plenty in Learmouth and the Glide and the old crocs in the Temple which refused to look at a sunray or whatever the other side were throwing at them. It’ll be better tomorrow.
Tuesday 16th August. A lovely hot sunny day depending on what you are doing of course, for fishing not so good unless you are chucking an upstream flying condom maybe but for the fly fishers it was a bit of a challenge being so bright and hot. 1’5” and 58 degs. The bottom end of the beat was quiet but as we worked our way upstream on reaching the Glide there were plenty fish throwing themselves about and that was the case up to Learmouth where the other side had 5 this morning from the stream. The only one to catch on the Lees up to 7.45pm was an Otter in the Glide who pulled out a nice fresh Grilse of about 4lbs. Adam and Emma Carr joined us today and while Adam covered all the water he could Emma was soaking up the rays so at least one of them was happy. The scores on the websites reflect the effect of the weather with poor catches all around but it was a lovely day as we have had so few of them this year. Another hot sunny day forecast for tomorrow so it’ll be down to #12 flies or even smaller or a fast stripped sunray perhaps.
Wednesday 17th August. The weather ruled the day today with sun beating down all day and the river temp up to 60 degs it was always going to be a difficult day. It was Sandy and Non’s Levingtons last day here and they leave the Lees on a blank which I never like, even the famous “editor” fly couldn’t tempt a fish up from the depths, so that’s a good reason to come back next year sandy. Adam Carr nearly had one this morning just before lunch from the Slap on a “Fart fly” I’ll let him tell you the story if you meet him. The middle part of the beat seems to be the bit the fish are liking at the moment from the learmouth stream down to the Glide which has good numbers of fish showing, my favourite pool Cornhill bend has let me down big style and I can’t even get one to come to a skimmer, maybe tomorrow.
Thursday 18th August. Another cracking day but a south east wind picking up making the Cauldstream a bugger to cast in and row. Tom Fort and Mark Clarfelt here and Tom was the cat that got the cream. Tom was the genial host and let Mark have the Back of the wall but after having a thrash at the Slap and the Cauld we sneaked past Mark and Stewart who were busy dealing with a wasp nest and dropped into the Glide, an excellent fly choice was made by the Ghillie and tom was into a fish in no time, it would have pushed the scales to around the 12lb mark and was a river fish so was carefully returned. Mark fished on this afternoon rather than play golf (wise choice) and Tom headed to Kelso for new waders and a waterproof coat, I met him in Tweedside tackle wreaking havoc trying on the new waders but he left a happy boy, they are fishing this evening so no doubt I’ll hear how the waders fare. 1’2” and 60 degs, the top and bottom of the beat are very quiet with the Glide and Learmouth having a stock of fish. I hear on the grapevine that there are plenty fish downstream but they are reluctant to pull anything.
Friday 19th August. The team was reinforced today with the arrival of Jeremy Paxman who wasted no time and was into a fish in Learmouth stream quicker than a rat up a drainpipe, it was a 14lb hen fish which was safely returned to get on with it’s job. Tom tried the Slap and Cauld but the upstream wind was a tad challenging, Mark had a run through the Glide but the fish that were there yesterday seem to have buggered off, we saw one in Cornhill bend and the Duddo but overall it was very quiet. 1’2” and 60 degrees with an overcast sky, rain is forecast for later on this afternoon but whether it’ll be enough to affect the river I don’t know. 8.00pm it’s been raining most of the afternoon and still raining now the gauges are steady at 7.00pm but if this has come right over the catchment its bound to put something into river. There were more fish on the websites tonight and some below us which is encouraging so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.
Saturday 20th August. A nice sunny start followed by overcast then very heavy rain this afternoon and the gauges are rising, will it be enough to flush it out I won’t know until tomorrow. Jeremy was the lucky lad today getting a nice clean grilse from the Cauld, that’s only the second fish out of the Cauld since June but I’m sure given more water it’ll be back to its old self, he also let one go in the Slap first thing. The rest of the team came back up at lunchtime saying they had seen plenty fish in the Back of the wall but all river fish. It’ll be better next week.
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©M Campbell 2016
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