Week beginning 17 August 2015
Monday 17th August A lovely sunny day on Tweedside which did nothing to help the catches, this however didn’t deter Mike Firth and Neil Wilson who both scored on the Lees, Mike with a 6lber from Duddo and Neil with a lovely fresh 12lber from Learmouth Stream along with a few other pulls. The rest of the beat was quiet and at 1’1” flat calm it was no surprise, what fish we did see moving were all coloured apart from one fresh one at the Iron Gate point. Rain forecast tomorrow from the east again so that will cool things down even though it will not give us the water we really need.
Tuesday 18th August. What a miserable day rain, dreich, dull and very little showing. The Back of the wall right down to the Glide was like a graveyard this morning with not a thing moving just the rain dripping off the front of my cap, and just like last Friday all this rain is going to do bugger all for the river. 1’0” and 60 degs. John Leighton was at the top end and managed a 17lb clean cock fish from the Temple which is no mean feat in the conditions. The other lads round the beat never had a touch this morning. This afternoon I had Ian Cockburn in the Cauld and we soon got into a fish on a wee monkey tube, Ian was so excited at this event that he forgot you have to let them run and held on to the line as if he was holding a rope that was suspending him over the grand canyon with predictable results. Another fish was caught this evening from the Slap but I haven’t heard yet who caught the beasty. As I write it’s still raining and looking at the river levels they haven’t moved an inch so we got soaked for no benefit, the potato harvester in the field behind the hut stopped and the combines are all indoors, all in all a shity day, the only person smiling is John with a 17lber in the bag. We really really need a flood to get things going. Still on floating lines and #10 #8 flies with wee sink tips. Off to tie some more “Clarfelts”
Wednesday 19th August. 10.00am in Cornhill Bend and there’s fresh Grilse showing in the Bend and Duddo, so I’m getting excited it’s the first time I’ve seen a wee shoal of fish coming in this Summer/Autumn. John Leighton is in the top of the bend and in no time he’s got one on which turned out to be a liced 6lber, we popped that back and got the fly swimming again but they were gone, just a wee taste of what we are wanting then it was taken away from us. The rest of the day was a drawn out affair for me as I only saw a couple of other fish all day. I am hearing reports of fish a few miles below us so any lift in water will help, it’s supposed to rain from the west tonight and be clear by morning, new team on tomorrow so they’ll be as keen as a ferret on heat so let’s hope these Grilse keep coming. 1’0” and 58 degs today so its still floating lines and add a wee sink tip if you like.
Thursday 20th August Having just seen the forecast a few minutes ago I am buoyed with optimism as it tells me its going to rain on Sunday and rain quite a lot and in the right part of the country. We also caught a fish today, well Tom Fort caught a fish, Duddo Stream on a wee plop tube, 6lbs a river fish but very welcome. The other action today was Mark getting a couple of boils to a skimmer in the Cauld this morning and Jeremy losing one in the Cauld this afternoon, Tom also lost a fish in the Iron Gate this morning. 11 1/2” on the gauge and 60degs not many showing round the beat but at least we have one in the book. The Osprey was with us this morning over the Cauld but didn’t dive on any fish.
Friday 21st August Having seen tonight’s forecast I’m not so buoyed now about the likelihood of a flood, there’s to be some rain tomorrow but Sunday is now sunny with 20 degs, I think I’ll just look out the window from now on to see whats going on. Today, 1’0” and 62 degs and very humid, the sort of weather that slows down humans and also it seems slows down salmon. Mark Clarfelt was top banana today getting a 12lb clean hen from the Glide not on a “Clarfelt” fly though. The rest of the team never had so much as a pull. This afternoon was spent for me in the Cauld with Stevie, we fished it trough three times which took all of 35 minutes then spent the rest of the afternoon in a casting clinic, Stevie is now putting out a line like a laser beam and the ducks on the far bank were worried they would be hooked. Tom was still recovering from backing up the Temple two times this morning and was struggling to muster up any enthusiasm or maybe it was the heat and the long walk own and back up from the Duddo. On a cheerier note I now have 4 red tomatoes in the greenhouse and my Pumpkin looks like it might be about to set a fruit. The Onion sets are now hanging in the garage to brown off but the Kelsae and Mammoth are still putting on weight and size in their bed so it’s not all bad news, also the hens are mostly through the moult and are back on laying in fine style.
Saturday 22nd August River up 5” this morning but the fish seem to have failed to notice this as looking/staring down the Cauld for about an hour this morning I didn’t see a thing move, the rods arrived keen as mustard and after much debate on how many we would catch today we set off. Down in Cornhill Bend and Duddo we saw three old ones and caught nothing and speaking to young Bryan at Cornhill got much the same news, there were more showing in the Glide but again old fish and the temple had a fair number splashing about but no takers, the river is still too warm at 60 degs but the big disappointment is that very few fish are being caught below us, only three fish below Coldstream today which is not good to say the least. I received a flood alert from SEPA again today but I got one last week and it only went up 5” so I’m not getting too excited yet and not rushing to change over to a fast sink line. The weatherman is still saying lots of rain but at 8.30pm there’s no sign of it yet but it has clouded over and the temp has dropped, let’s hope we get the flood and see if that brings them in. Good news today was I picked the red tomatoes and had them for dinner, no big deal I hear you say but it’s nearly September and that’s the first I’ve picked. Hopefully by this time next week things will have changed.
Sunday 23rd August. We have water at last 3’5” at Sprouston and rising so that will help a lot, I’ve not been down to river yet but I should think it’ll be some colour.
©M Campbell 2015
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