Week beginning 17 April 2017
Monday 17th April. A much nicer day because the wind has buggered off at last, I’m sure it’ll be back but today was calm, cold but calm. 1’4” 46 degrees and squeaky clean. Alex Faber who fell in last week was with us again today and was with me at the top end, we’d seen a couple of fish showing in the slap so it was the obvious place to start, we showed them several flies and it all went quiet so it was into the Cauld. Fished the Cauld up and down saw nothing and touched nothing so it was back to the slap. We tried a #6 treble, nothing, it was time for the sunray, a long cast, a steady strip, a big bow wave, another strip and it was on. The fish went straight down through the slap but fortunately came straight back up again then shot across the Temple with me saying this is a bit of a chunky fish. It then decided to let us have a look at itself and was about 5 yards from the croy when it decided it liked the cobble point better and zipped away 50 yards upstream, it took another 10 minutes and we had him in the net. A lovely cock fish with long tailed lice and would have tipped the scales at 20lbs, that’s a morning Alex won’t forget in a long time. The rest of the day was fishless even though Mike Thompson and Andrew Dyas did their best. We also saw fish in Learmouth and Flipper had an 8lber there from the other side in the afternoon.
Tuesday 18th April. Another frosty start to the day which dropped the water temp down to 44 degrees, although the level has remained steady at 1’4”. We were joined today by Mike Tosh Thompson and Peter Archibald who have both fished the beat before so know their way about; sadly their experience from previous visits didn’t do them any good and neither of them had a pull. The other Mile Thompson and Andrew didn’t fare any better but it was a nice day out. I’ve still yet to see a swallow or a hatch of March Browns but I checked back on last year and there was a good hatch of Browns this week so perhaps they are going to be very late again. There were some fish showing in the Slap but even my faithful sunray couldn’t get a boil today but it is colder. The Osprey gave us a fly past again this afternoon but he also went away fishless. Some scumbags broke into the West Learmouth hut last night so it seems it would pay not to leave anything lying about, it’s a very rare occurrence but bloody annoying, I hope they die in a terrible car crash. It’ll be better tomorrow.
Wednesday 19th April. The wind is back and I’m not happy about that but there’s nothing I can do about it but moan. 1’3” and 46 degrees. Gordon Evans joined us today with young Paul Richardson and Matti from Iceland who was saying what a nice day it was. There were a few fish showing in the Slap, one old one and at least two very fresh ones but despite our best efforts we couldn’t get a pull from them, we also saw one in the Cauld just in the right place but it must have been a runner as it never showed itself again and never looked at any of the flies we chucked into the area. Paul Thompson was the unluckiest fisher on Tweed today, having fished for three days he finally hooked a fish down at the Iron Gate, almost had it beached two times only to lose it. Young Paul was on top form this afternoon though getting a 7lb licer from the Bags so he gets extra points for that. The catches on the river today are shocking only 5 fish including ours by 9.00pm. It’ll be better tomorrow.
Thursday 20th April. It was a nice sunny day and all was well apart from the bloody wind again which was blowing straight down the river at the top end and straight up the river at the bottom. Charles Yeoward joined the team today and covered everything he could but failed to get a pull, there were a few showing in the Slap again but they wouldn’t play. Paul Richardson had 2 good pulls down at the Iron Gate point and saw a few others. We ended the day on a blank but with a few fish being caught below us yesterday there’s always hope. The catches on the other website are very late in coming in so I’m not sure what’s been caught today. Still no sign of any Swallows yet.
Friday 21st April. Blawing a hoolie again from the North West. 1’2” and 54 degrees by lunchtime so its time for full floaters and wee flies (not just yet me thinks). There were a couple of fish in the Slap but they showed no interest, the Cauld appeared to be fishless even the Sunray couldn’t move anything. The lads fished the whole beat and deserved a fish as they worked hard. This afternoon at 3.00pm the wind suddenly stopped, just like someone had thrown a switch and it started raining and it was proper rain, full on wet rain. Kevin down at Milen Graden tells me they had a fish first cast this morning and that was it for the day, he also reports seeing the first Swallows. Forecast for next week is not looking good, mostly dry but wind from the north and back to very cold so the polytunnel heater will have to be back on of a night. One day it’ll calm down and warm up and I might even have a cast but I’m not holding my breath.
Saturday 22nd April. A much nicer day with no wind or rain, no fish either mind you. 1’2” and 50 degrees first thing. There are a couple of old fish in the Slap and one showing down at the Iron Gate, we tried wee flies and big Sunrays but not a sniff was had all day. I even backed the Temple up with Charles Yeoward this afternoon and he was casting a Sunray into the distance but not a bow wave seen, we then turned the boat round and drifted down over all the usual lies but nothing was there. That’s the fishing report now for my gardening followers, most things are still in the greenhouse/polytunnel as the forecast is for the weather to turn into the north next week so I’ll be keeping everything nice and cosy of an evening with the paraffin heater on from dark onwards. Clancy all the onions are looking braw, the Kelsae’s must be 8” tall by now along with the Mammoth and exhibition, I’ll put them out in early May,. Tomatoes are planted in the polytunnel and are looking ok, Stomore, Moneymaker and Beefsteak are the main ones, and salad is coming along as well. If we catch any fish next week it’ll give me something to write about rather than the garden.
It’ll be better next week. See instagram tweedbeats for photos.
©M Campbell 2017
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