Week beginning 15 February 2016
Monday 15th February. Well the spinning didn’t make a jot of difference to us or to many other beats it seems, it was maybe the touch of grey colour in the water or the unsettled nature of it following the rise over the weekend but there were only 3 fish across both sites. Here on the Lees we had 3 Brown trout to show for our efforts but it was a lovely day with a hard frost first thing but most importantly NO WIND! 2’5” and 36 degs we launched Toby spoons and even a Rapala across the Cauld and Temple but not a pull apart from the trout. Graham Whitty stuck to the fly and had a wander round the beat having a chuck at the likely spots with only hunger forcing him back for one of Terry’s famous roast beef rolls for lunch. Clancy reacquainted himself with the mysteries of fishing on a horizontal plane as he’s usually dropping a pirk or muppet 1000 feet down in some Norwegian fiord rather than having to cast, he was soon back into the swing of it though and we sorted out the mysteries of growing blanched leeks for the show while we were at it. The nice weather even encouraged Terry to get into a boat and he fished the Temple the whole way down getting two of the Trout enthusiastically telling me one was quiet big! On the bright side though my French Maran hens which are the only two that survived the floods and Stoat attacks have started laying and you’ll never find a browner egg, their like polished mahogany. It’ll be better tomorrow.
Tuesday 16th February. Lovely start to the day with blue skies and very little wind, I took Clancy down to the Back of the Wall and Glide area. Now at 2’3” the Back of the wall should be a wee bit lively but today it was calm and seemed to be flowing slower than I remember it at 2’3” I didn’t wade out that far but you would think that slower means deeper, the Iron gate has lost a lot of gravel from our bank below the point so for those that remember it it used to have quite a steep gravel bank, thats gone and it ‘s now flat, it might be an improvement who knows? 2’3” 36 degs and nice and clean which made no difference to us again as we never had a touch all day. This afternoon the wind picked up and it was raw which curtailed all things fishy as far as terry was concerned, Graham and Clancy gave the Temple and cauld a go but all for nothing so we retired to the hut for a dram and to sort out all the problems in the world, the remedy for all the world’s problems seems to be sticking a red hot poker where the sun doesn’t shine, it would certainly deter me from wrongdoing. 3 fish caught above us and one at Cornhill from the monument pool so it would likely be our turn tomorrow but it’s rising at the top tonight and to start raining about midnight so I think we will be flooded off again tomorrow. The missing Junction hut riddle has been partly solved as the roof is lying in the middle of one of the fields at the Lees. On the wildlife front the mole is back again, the one in front of the Slap, that’s the third one there in as many weeks.
Wednesday 17th February. Well thats buggered it, we’re well and flooded off yet again with the gauge at Sprouston peaking at 8’0” at lunchtime and falling back to 7’0” by 6.00pm but very dirty so fishing tomorrow is out of the question, after saying that there are some that would fish,” if you haven’t got your fly in the water” and other really annoying clichĂ©s come to mind. There’s always a daft one! Usually the one holding the rod I tend to think. Team Harper headed back to sunny Yorkshire dreaming of huge puddings no doubt with only 1 Salmon Kelt and 1 Seatrout Kelt to show for their efforts but their back in late April when the beat will be stuffed with tide licers and it will be every cast a fish. We got the hut cleaned out and ready for the next team whenever that will be and took the seat off the Temple boat as it needs repaired, its the office chair type not a round wooden button and needs replaced. This afternoon I got Clancy’s onions transplanted into 3” pots and their looking like winners already. More rain for tomorrow night and wet on Sunday so its not looking good for Monday.
Thursday 18th February. 4’4” and 36 degs, still carrying a fair bit of colour, so no fishing today. It was a nice sunny frosty day so Paul and myself set about a bit of tree lopping and tackled the Sycamore in the Ledges taking off some of the low branches that nick your fly if you do an overhead cast and the Ash at the grid who’s branches you get your rod tip tangled in if we tie up there to land a fish. Checked the Mole traps but no customers today. This afternoon I went down to cut some logs at the Duddo only to find that someone has nicked my log cuddy, you can’t leave anything can you? In fairness they maybe thought it had come down in the flood, I have an idea who’s taken it so I might get it back, anyway spent the afternoon making another one. Looking at the gauges tonight it’s fallen back to 3’5” so we’ll get a cast tomorrow and the spinner will be the weapon of choice.
Friday 19th February. A dull breezy day with the gauge showing 3’2” and 39 degs and a tad grey. Young Jamie McLaren was the only rod to get his name on the scoreboard and that was with a wee Seatrout Kelt from the Tail of the cauld on a Toby. There were only 3 fish on the websites tonight and they were all caught at Hendersyde by Jessica England, talk about right place right time. There was a seal heading towards the Lees this morning so the reports from Tillmouth said but it must have stopped at the bridge as we never saw it even though we chucked in a beach ball to decoy it in. The top gauges are all rising tonight so it’ll be a bigger river and coloured no doubt tomorrow morning, it would be nice to get it down below 2’0” so we can have a good hunt round the beat.
Saturday 20th February. Well thats another day lost to the conditions with the gauge showing 3’10” and rising, 38degs with colour coming in all morning. Brian and Adrian up from deepest Geordie land had an hour chucking a Toby off the bank but were always going to be fighting a losing battle against the weather and soon retired to the hut for a coffee and set off south again. Not the best week we’ve ever had on the Lees I have to say but that’s February fishing for you. The forecast tomorrow is more rain and wind so Monday is looking a bit grim, a Toby the size of a bin lid will be required if we fish at all. We had a big squad of volunteers round the beat today picking up all the bottles and other bits of plastic that have been left by the floods, so well done them being out on such a poor day. There’s still some rods available in August which can given the water give some really good fishing, be a shame to miss it!
©M Campbell 2016
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