Week beginning 16 May 2016
Monday 16th May. The German international fly fishing team are here for the week so I’m expecting catches to be huge. Stefan who drew number one this morning was first onto the Slap croy and fish were showing all over the place both old and brand new, Stefan tried every fly in his extensive box but couldn’t get a pull from any of them apart from a couple having a look at a Sunray. Sitting there watching the proceedings you’d have thought he would bag up, a numbers game, but not a pull was had. The rest of the team fished round the beat seeing a few fish as they went but the score remained the same. This afternoon Martin Tewes tried the Slap and came away a broken man with one fish having a look at his wee executioner but not grabbing it. This afternoon was very bright so the lads are going out this evening, possibly hungry as well as Mark was supposed to but the meat for the BBQ and forgot so it looks like its the chippy for them if its open on a Monday.
Tuesday 17th May. Another bright sunny day but a stiff south westerly to go with it making casting a bit of a challenge. Carsten was first up onto the Slap croy and had to thrash away like a demon to get the fly across, he eventually gave up and tackled the Cauld returning to the Croy just before lunch and it was worth trying it again as he hooked and landed a cracking 12lb licer (see Instagram), it was possibly one of the fish that Martin had seen running through Learmouth stream just 20 mins earlier, Martin managed a pull off a fish just off the point but it didn’t stick on, we are now seeing the odd fish in most of our pools which is encouraging to say the least, I’ve been getting a bit of strimming done in-between rods as there’s rain forecast this week with a bit of a soak over the weekend and now that it’s warmed up it’ll be growing under our feet.
Wednesday 18th May. At a funeral this morning but on my return to the Lees I hadn’t missed much as no one had a pull. There were fewer fish showing in the Slap today and we couldn’t interest them either. This afternoon however was different as Peter was down at Learmouth and managed to lose two fish which was careless to say the least especially when they’re not keen to take. I’m sure if we were to start chucking a flying “c” about the place we’d get a few more but we don’t do that here. Overcast with odd sunny spells the cloud is keeping the heat with us tonight so it’s the first good Seatrout night this year, Mark had a 3lb liced Seatrout this morning from the tail of the glide on a wee dry fly, a #14 sort of Greenwell thing. 1’0” and 56 degs this morning.
Thursday 19th May. Overcast day with a wind starting in the east then veering round to south west, bit cooler today than of late, Jeep off for its Mot today. 1’0” and rising an inch this morning. Martin Tewes was on the Slap this morning and on his 5th cast he decided to twitch the fly in instead of letting it come on its own, that was all it took as we soon had a liced 8lber in the net, photographed without taking it out the water as is best practice and away it went, Martin also had a boil at a #12 silver stoat a wee while later. The rest of the team failed today although Carston saw a few fish off the point at Learmouth. There were some heavy showers this afternoon but nothing showing on the gauges tonight. I think Chris Packham from Springwatch needs to come to the Tweed as he keeps telling us that Otters are very shy creatures and you need to go out at night when the reality round here is that we are having to beat them back with sticks when fishing, shy!!! Jeep failed Mot, no surprise really rattling round the track everyday ended up with broken front spring. (For photos put instagram on your phone) and follow Tweedbeats.
Friday 20th May. 1’2” and 54 degrees still nice and clean. An overcast start giving way to a bright sunny afternoon with a stiff south west wind. Martin Tewes was the top dog today getting a nice fresh 10lber from the Glide on a #12 silver stoat, the naughty puppy today was Peter lohse losing 2 in the Slap this morning as they ran down into the Cauld, perhaps he held on a tad too hard despite Pauls gentle remonstrations from the sidelines, then this afternoon he lost another in Learmouth stream but no faults this time, that makes 5 fish that Peter has shaken off this week, character building some say character assignation other would say, he had them all on a 1” posh tosh tube, well nearly had them all. We also had a big splash at a sunray in Cornhill bend but I think I was stripping it a bit too fast. There is a bit of water coming down from the top end today which looked to be reaching us around 5.00pm, hopefully it will run through over night and it’ll be ok tomorrow and it might even bring some more fish forward. Carston and Stefan fished hard but couldn’t manage a pull. Leaky waders for Carston was the highlight of his day that and a slice of Marks apple pie cooked in a Dutch oven outside the hut and very nice it was, a drop of cream for next year would help though.
Saturday 21st May. 1’3” and 54 degrees with a bit of sediment in the water column but to make it worse it was a windy day and I hate the wind with a passion. I fished the Cauld and Slap with Martin this morning and never saw a fish for a change, the rest of the team didn’t fair much better round the beat. This afternoon Stefan lost a fish in Learmouth, I suppose he was trying to keep Peter company. It would have been a good score this week if we had landed all the fish bit that’s the way it goes sometimes. It seems from the scores that the fish that were about yesterday have moved on upstream and we’re waiting for another huge run to come in. Maybe next week which will be the last week of spring lets. It’s been a very long cold spring and I’m looking forward to a much needed break from full on 6 days a week fishing, 2 rods a day from now on, so it’s strimming and painting boats and general maintenance round the beat.
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©M Campbell 2016.
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