Week beginning 15 October 2018
Monday 15th October. Team Harper here for the week and it looks like they have hit it right weather wise and river height wise. 2’10” this morning and very dark beery water but this will improve as each day goes by and as long as there are some fish still coming in it should all be good. Today was a marking time sort of day, Graham Scott spent the day sorting out his casting, Graeme Whitty was as always up to speed and had a fly zipping across the Temple this afternoon but all that was interested were two trout, James Smith went through the Cauld also getting his casting sorted out, whilst Terry and Frank Smith sorted out the world no doubt with the help of a red hot poker. We did see a good number of fish showing today but no silver ones, they’ll be there tomorrow perhaps.
Tuesday 16th October. Conditions almost perfect today, just a slight beery tinge in the water, 2’3” and 48 degrees. Graham Scott had an 18lb old cock fish from the Temple on a fast sinktip whilst the rest of the team blanked. This afternoon Graeme Whitty lost a fresh grilse in the thin water right in the tail of the Glide and that I’m afraid made up all the action we had today. We did see fish moving today but not the numbers of yesterday. Looking at the websites the catches were similar up and down the river. Maybe tomorrow!
Wednesday 17th October. It was a nice enough day with no wind and a bit of sun peeking out from behind the high cloud, 1’11” and 48 degrees and clean. In the happy days just a few years ago, less than double figures years ago I’d have confidently expected double figures before lunch, today we managed 2. Terry Harper who fished the Temple the whole way down without a touch got a 9lb hen from the Slap on a #6 cascade type thing fished on an intermediate line, James Smith landed a 17lb hen from the cauld whilst his dad Frank (a painter of some renown) lost a good sized fish. We saw 5 fish on our travels down the Temple and no more than that in the Cauld. Graham Scott was put in the pound seat in Learmouth stream but blanked and reported only seeing 3 fish all morning, later that day and getting on towards 5.00pm he had a choice of the Bags or the Slap he wisely chose the Slap and was rewarded with two fish the best being a fairly clean hen that would easily have tipped the scales at 20lbs. The catches were up on yesterday as they should have been as the whole river was at or damm near a perfect height. There were a good number of Goosanders and Cormorants about today which wasn’t so pleasing to see but the Dipper was busy in Cornhill bend and Duddo which is always a pleasure to see.
Thursday 18th October. It was a lovely day today with a frost to start the day off and sharpen things up, it soon warmed up and with hardly a cloud to be seen it was blue skies all over. 1’9” and 46 degrees and squeaky clean. Graeme Whitty was the top dog on the Lees today getting a cock fish which was 39” fork length making it a 20lber give or take an ounce. It’s nice to see some bigger fish turning up at last and I see that South wark had a 27lber this afternoon; I’ve heard it was a fresh fish. It was very bright today and this never goes well with older fish in very clean water, they never seem to want to play when it’s like this. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
Friday 19th October. Another lovely start to the day with blue skies and no wind. I took Terry down the Temple and he covered it very well as did south wark but neither of us had so much as a pull, Paul and Ian fished the Cauld all morning and did have one wee pull, between the two boats we only saw two fish all morning. Graham Scott down on Learmouth fared better getting 2 fish the best being a 14lber. Graeme Whitty a man who is seldom beaten had 2 from the Glide and one of them he could swear was the same fish he caught yesterday a 20lber. Ian had a fish from Learmouth this afternoon which made up the total for the day, None of our fish were fresh but I have heard of 3 on the river that were, one from Ladykirk, one from Lower North Wark and one from Cornhill, so thats a bit of hope for us all. After the couple of frosts we have had the last two mornings the leaves are starting to fall and the next big wind will all but clear them.
Saturday 20th October. 1’5” and 46 degrees high cloud followed by a bit of sun. The otter gave myself and Graham a good stare as he came over the Cauld this morning as we were sat in the boat fishing the Slap, the Slap didn’t yield anything so we left it to the otter and moved down to the Cauld. Fishing a rather smart green and yellow bottle tube Graham hooked and landed a 7lb hen, it had been a long time since it had tasted salt water but she was very welcome just the same. Terry and Paul fished Learmouth stream and didn’t see a single fish, this afternoon the rod fishing opposite at Learmouth landed 3 and lost another 3, they also didn’t see a single fish apart from the ones they landed. Graeme Whitty fishing his now favourite pool the Glide had an 11lb hen which was fairly clean. The day ended with Perry getting a 10lber in Learmouth stream. 14 for the week not too shabby in these times.
As ever have a look at instagram or tweedbeats on facebook for photos and clips.
©M Campbell 2018
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