Week beginning 15 May 2023
Monday 15th May. A nice spring day with a slight west wind and scattered cloud, 1’1” and 52f with a wee tinge of colour. Graeme Hogg was up top and there were a few fish showing in the Slap, he persevered for a while with no success so I suggested a slightly heavier fly, a one inch tube was selected, a couple of yards shorter on the casting, a wee mend and a twitch and the fish was on, it was an older fish about 7lbs that was soon in the net and away again to carry on its job. Moving into the Cauld we saw a few fish showing which makes a pleasant change and it wasn’t long before the line straightened and a fish was on, this was a different beast and shot off cart wheeling across the pool, it then got behind the croy so with a bit of nifty footwork Graeme and myself had to leave the boat and scurry along the croy to untangle the line from the rocks, an 11lb licer was the prize, it wasn’t a long fish but it was deep and wide across the back. Quite a few seatrout were showing today but we couldn’t get a pull from them. That was all the action today but fish were seen in the Iron Gate and Glide, see tweedbeatsfishing on instagram for the action shots of the day. 16 fish reported on the websites and I’ve heard of a couple more so 18-20 fish today.
Tuesday 16th May. 11” and 52 degrees with a bit of a north west wind. Stuart Dawson was up top and wasted no time in getting a fish, it was a 7lber from the Slap and was as fresh as paint, this as it turned out by 5.00pm was all the action for the day. The beat was much quieter today with very few fish showing, I didn’t see a fish all day apart from the odd seatrout and maybe one salmon in the Slap, catches were well down also but if you figure in all the beats that now don’t report it is slightly better, I’ve not seen Tillmouth on the web for a while so they have maybe stopped reporting as well, they must have had a fish recently as the heights are perfect for them. Took the tractor down and cut the paths this morning as the grass is now growing with a vengeance, bits of hogweed now popping up so a bit of spraying is required as well and of course strimming needs to be done. We are still on sinktips inter in the shallower bits and still a fast sink for the likes of Learmouth, Duddo and the Bags, we gave the sunray a go today but never had a boil or a bow wave. It’ll be better tomorrow.
Wednesday 17th May. A warmer day again which lifts the spirits, 11” and 54 degrees and nice and clean. Malcolm Dutchman Smith was up top and despite moaning about his casting he had a couple of pulls in the Slap, they didn’t make it to the reel but just lifted the line to let you know they were there, he also had a couple of bow waves at the sunray but they were not keen enough to grab it. Meanwhile Graeme Hogg was down on Learmouth where he hooked and landed a 7lb licer, thats the first fish from Learmouth for a month, we’ve lost a few but that was the first one to stick on. Joe Dawson covered the rest of the beat but sadly didn’t manage a pull. A lesson to just check your dates happened today when Bob Wigglesworth phoned up to see if we had any spare rods today, I informed him we didn’t, he’d arrived up a week early to fish Rutherford and was now looking for somewhere to fish, it’s happened before when four lads turned up at the hut door, I said you’re a bit early, it’s only 8.30 am they said, I replied you’re a week early, they thought I was joking until I showed them the booking sheet, one had come all the way from Birmingham, time off work, fuel, hotels etc its always best to double check. We saw a few fish today in the cauld, slap, Iron gate and glide, not loads but enough to keep you keen, Graeme Hogg lost another fish in the Bags, it was almost to the bank and he could see the hook right in the end of its nose then ping it was away.
Thursday 18th May. A warmer day with just the odd breeze from the west, 11” and 55 degrees nice and clean. Team Godden here for next three days, Gene Godden is our longest serving rod he has been here since we became a commercial beat and I was just a wee laddie, Gene is just as keen as he was the very first time he came here. This morning we saw a few fish but no pulls were to be had, we saw them in the slap, glide, iron gate and the cauld. This afternoon Gene popped on a sunray and threw it across the slap, this was grabbed by a fish but it soon ungrabbed it and was away, the slap was fairly busy for a wee while this afternoon with a mix of old and new fish both salmon and seatrout but the sunray fish was the only pull. Toby Kembal came back at 5.00pm smiling like a dug with two tails as he’d had a 6lber from the bags, the bags is becoming our new top pool as we’ve landed a few and lost a good few there in the last two weeks or so. Christen Bryce is fishing on until dark hoping to get one or two of those seatrout, we’ll find out tomorrow.
Friday 19th May. Well Christian didn’t get anything last night so the score remains at one for the day yesterday. Toby was the lucky boy again today getting a fresh 6lber on a sunray from the slap this morning it led him a merry dance going back down through the slap making us chase it down the bank knocking Toby’s wife’s cup of tea over as she was sitting watching it all unfold. That was the only action for the day, again we saw a mix of salmon and seatrout in some of the pools mainly the slap it has to be said. Catches on the rover low again but it was a very bright day with the gauge reading 10” and 52f. It’ll be better tomorrow.
Saturday 20th May. A nice warm sunny day and flat calm, not a lot of use for fishing but a lovely day to be out. 10” and 55f . The lads gave it a go this morning and fished the likely spots but nothing was doing, by lunchtime the long drive home was in front of them so with the prospect of catching a fish slim they headed home. Christian Bryce who had missed the day shift was fishing this evening so maybe we might get something on the scoreboard, its Sunday morning and no reports from Christian so I presume a blank.
Follow us on instagram for latest pics and clips. Tweedbeatsfishing ©M Campbell 2023
our twitter feed