Week beginning 15 September 2014
Monday 15th September A wet start and in fact it stayed wet for most of the day, not wet enough to put any water into the river though. The same old fish were splashing in the same old places but today two made a mistake and took a fly, 1@16 from the Temple for Edward C Bruce and 1@10lbs for Julian St Lawrence from the Back of the wall, both were old fish. I did see a pair of Kingfishers at Learmouth stream this morning and a big flock of Golden Plover, also caught a mole, a Rat and Edwards dug killed my best hen!!!!!! So if you’re bringing a dog make sure its hen friendly.
Tuesday 16th September A slightly better day as we had two fresh fish, both from the Bags along with a Seatrout, we also had a 13lber from the back of the wall. That was it as far as fish go I’m afraid. 11” and 56 degs there is a lot of stone dirt and some green grunge in the margins but the main water column is clean, just not full of fish, I’m still hearing reports of lots of fish below us but again I have to say that’s not reflected in the catches. There was a very big flock of Golden Plover over the Cauld today and more Greylag Geese in the skies all signs of autumn, apart from the rain.
Wednesday 17th September. A very quiet day on the Lees, the rods thrashed it to a foam but all that effort for one wee splashy pull at the Iron Gate, I was in Learmouth this morning with Clarisa and we both commented that we could smell the river, I think it’s the decaying weed as I had clean socks on and new waders so it couldn’t of been me or Clarisa I better add! I did see some fish in Learmouth but all coloured, the weed is a problem, as soon as your fly goes into the back water its covered in weed from those lovely Swans and Geese. The catches were poor on the river again which is no surprise and no rain on the forecast, I have to say its now becoming difficult to write this report as there’s no fish going about and your all sick of hearing about my huge veggies. We had a rat problem round the chicken run but the application of a bucket of poison soon had dead rats and mice all over the place. Stewart our new Ghillie is settling in well on the beat but still waiting for the big days! This week last year we had 84 Salmon for the week, 82 of them in 5 days, just as well I still have my memories.
Thursday 18th September Here it is the vote, how’s it going to go? I don’t know, we’ll find out tomorrow. Anyway the fishing today, 11” and 60degs misty start overcast and mild, more fish showing today but nothing fresh apart from the one that Edward caught in the Slap which weighed in at 3lb6oz he also had another at 16lbs which was a old cock fish that must have just nibbled the fly as it was hooked right on the tip of it’s nose. There were another two lost today, one in Learmouth and one at the Iron Gate point. I counted over 130 Canada geese at the bottom of the Cauld this afternoon and I have no Idea where they have come from (don’t say Canada!) Still no rain forecast sorry to say.
Friday 19th September I’m sad, touch angry but there you go, bloody tired as well as stayed up half the night watching the results. Fishing today was slow but Candy bucked the trend getting a 14lb cock fish from the lower Iron Gate it was an old fish but they all count in conditions like this, not to be outdone Edward had a 5 lber from the Back of the Wall this afternoon which wasn’t in the first flush of youth I have to say. I was in the Cauld this afternoon and there isn’t much Cauld to fish with the lack of stream and the back waters along with the bloody weed from the Swans/Geese, The Slap was fairly busy with a number of fish showing one of them looking a bit cleaner, we didn’t bother with the Temple today but I watched the other side back it up numerous times without a catch. The websites are showing 10 fish caught from Tillmouth down to the tide which is poor to say the least as in a normal drought year these beats would be bagging up, I know all this is bad news but thats the way it is at the moment, it can only get better.
Saturday 20th September Misty damp start and Bridget was the cat that got the cream getting a 7lb cleaner fish from the Cauld and losing another, we had a big boil at the fly in the Temple; these things wouldn’t merit a mention in a normal year. The sun came out this afternoon and the fish just seemed to melt away, so 10 for the week 6 returned which puts us 250 down on the same time last year, I’m sure it’ll be better next week.
Photo this week is a low water bags which actually has a nice stream on it.
© M Campbell 2014
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