Week beginning 16 August 2021
Monday 16th August. An overcast start with the gauge at the Lees reading 10” or thereabouts as it’s off the gauge, 38 degrees water temp. Mixed team on for the start of the week and we soon had them spread round the beat. Vic Pulleyn and grandson James had a 5lber from the top of the back of the wall; it was a river fish and took a #10 gold Willie gunn, I thought he’d get a few more as there were a few showing but he didn’t. Stuart Maughan had a couple from the Bags at 5lb and 7lb, the 5lber was liced. Leading the charge with the biggest fish was David Walker who had an 11lber from the Cauldstream, that is the first fish from the Cauld since the 12th June!!!!!!!!!! Tony Smith last week could have had 4 from there on Saturday but he kept shaking them off. After lunch the sun was out and it didn’t help but Stuart is made of sterner stuff and wasn’t going to let the bright sun stop him, he had one out of the slap soon after lunch then after the usual fruitless tour round the cauld it was back to the slap and he had another fish on his second cast, this was a wee fresh grilse this time and caught on the same wee black frances as the first one. 6 for the day unless Bob Wigglesworth gets one tonight with Pete. Ladykirk have posted 8 for the day so they are top dog. Still not seeing fish in any numbers, its a lot better than it was but more would be nice.
Tuesday 17th August. Down a couple of inch and up a couple of degrees, only small changes but going the wrong way. Pete was up top this morning and despite trying umpteen flies he couldn’t get a fish to christen his new rod the closest he got was a decent sized fish lunging at his large collie dug in the hard water in the cauld. Mark Newstead had the only luck of the day getting a 10lber from the Duddo which had been in for a while. This evening having done my gardening duties I took my rod for a wander more out of boredom than a fishing expedition, a pair of boots on, one fly, no nylon and no forceps, I would give Duddo a go, it would have been a skimmer but I’d left the fly box at home so it had to be a #10 black n yellow, the result was an unexpected 5lb cock grilse which was clean but not fresh (see tweedbeats on instagram for action clip). It warmed up this afternoon which didn’t help the team but really its lack of water and fish. Ladykirk seem to be getting a steady trickle into the beat as they are posting double figures. Learmouth had 4 today, a freshish grilse out of the back of the wall this morning and 3 this afternoon which I think fell to the spinner. There was talk of some decent rain for the weekend but the latest forecast shows it south of us.
Wednesday 18th August. A bit of a stiff North West wind today which helped keep it on the cooler side rather than letting the sun do its work and heat it up too much. Both sides of the Cauld dry again so that in old money is about 6 inch on the Lees gauge. Hugh Redway joined us today and down in the Bags despite the lumpy wade hae had a 5lb clean grilse and had another couple of good pulls, all on a #10 cascade. Up in Cornhill bend and Duddo Graeme Hogg also here for the day was busy telling me he’d never had a pull in the bend 10 minutes later he’d had three none of which held on, all on a wee black frances tube. Up on the Cauld Mark Newstead having failed in the slap and Cauld took some advice from Paul and tried the cauld off the Cauld so he could fish right up in the neck and it worked getting him a 6lb grilse also on a tube. Graeme Hogg a man who perseveres had a hold of another fish in the Bags this time but again it didn’t stick, Graeme is coming back tonight when the sun gets down so he might get one to stick on, it was warm and bright this afternoon which didn’t help the catches, even ladykirk who have been touching double figures each day had to settle with 1 today unless some of their team are going back out later. The weekends rain has moved a bit further north but I’m not holding my breath as it’ll likely break up as it gets here, or it’ll rain all day Sunday spoiling my only day off.
Thursday 19th August. A cloudy flat calm day, water temp 58f and around 5 inch on the gauge, we were joined today by Stephen and Phil Morgan who normally fish with us in late October so to see the river at this height was a shock for them, so was trying to find a full floating set up. Everyone was soon spread round the beat but not as much as a pull was had all day. The beat was much quieter today with fewer fish showing and they were all coloured, this seemed to be the case all over the river as catches posted were terrible to say the least, only 8 posted on fishtweed and 3 on tweedbeats deducting doubles (beats that post on both). The rain is not coming now according to the cheery weathergirl so thats the job buggered. On the bright side my onions (Clancy) are show winners or they would be if there was a show this year but thanks to bloody covid its cancelled. West Learmouth had 3 today but used the whirly birly to get them. I can’t even get a fish to look at the sunray/collie dug or a skimmer of any size, times are hard.
Friday 20th August. A flat calm day, overcast and a bit on the humid side especially this afternoon, Team Houldsworth here for a couple of days. Mel the boss of the team had a hold of a wee grilse in Cornhill bend on her second cast, it couldn’t have weighed more than 2lb and on a 14’0” rod all it did was shiver and shake for 15 seconds until it fell off, that was the only action of the day. This afternoon Nigel fishing the very tail of the Glide had a wee pull and a few follows, it was very weedy I presume with the temp lifting, right down the back of the wall about 10 yards out it was one long line of slimy weed floating down. I gave the Bags a bit of a strim making it more obvious where you want to be and later when the river is at a proper height ( if it ever will be) it stops all the vegetation hanging over the water snagging the D loop on your spey cast. As I write this it has started to rain only very light stuff but it is to rain all night and a bit of tomorrow so here’s hoping. 20 reported off the river today but very few below us.
Saturday 21st August. It was raining when I arrived at work and it didn’t stop until I left, I found out my waterproof jacket is not as waterproof as the manufacturer suggests. SEPA have issued a flood alert but I take them with a pinch of salt as the last time they issued one the river went down an inch. This morning’s action was Algernon Percy having a bit of fun with a wee skimmer in the Cauld when a fish about 10lbs had three goes at getting it on the same cast, it managed to grab it on the third time then jumped straight towards us and of course the hook came out. That was the only action this morning. This afternoon still chucking it down Bill Thompson who was last here 30 plus years ago landed a 4lb grilse (clean) on a wee skimmer in the Bags, it was quite a feat as the dog Bella was keener than us to land the fish which resulted in a lot of shouting and swearing as we wobbled about on the rocks and the dog swam round the fish. Algernon was the lucky rod again getting a river fish around the 14lb mark from the Duddo on a #12 stoats tail fished on a full floater with a wee hover tip. I really can’t see this rain giving us the much needed flood; we might get 5 or 6 inch if we are lucky. Sunday22nd August. Sprouston gauge sitting at 2” this morning but there is some water in the Ettrick and Upper Tweed, my guess is about 9” at most down here tomorrow and a fair bit of wee/slime on the fly. On Tweedbeats instagram page Andrew Roeleader up at Gledswood has a clip on of a very brown river. It has 24 hours to run through.
As always follow Tweedbeats on instagram for latest pics and clips of all the action.
©M Campbell 2021
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