Week beginning 17 August 2020
Monday 17th August. It was a very wet start to the day, I found out my jacket wasn’t as waterproof as the man in the shop said it was. If ever you needed to use the word dreich it was perfectly suited to today. Paul and Carl Holland here with their respective wives Veronica and Lou, Mike Kemeny and Graham Hogg made up the other half. Graham was first on the scoreboard with an 11lber from the Bags whilst Veronica kept up the ladies side getting a 6lber from Learmouth, Mike had a 10lber from the Cauld this afternoon and that made up the bag for the day, we had a boil at the Sunray in the Duddo but the fish were not that keen to play today, I’m putting it down to the low pressure which was right over us all day it was also very humid this afternoon. We saw some fresh grilse in the bottom half of Duddo but they were on the move and not hanging around to be caught. There are a few inches in the Leader and the Teviot at Hawick but nothing that’ll change things. The kit hasn’t changed over the weekend; it’s still a floater with a short sinktip teamed with a #10 -#12 in the calmer bits.
Tuesday 18th August. Another damp humid day, the sun tried to get out late morning but was beaten back in by the rain. It’s not wet enough to do anything for the river but wet enough to flatten all my flowers in the garden, it’s a good job there is not going to be a show this year as my dahlias have taken a pasting plus everything is starting to rot. Worst thing about this weather is the complete lack of sunshine for days on end meaning my tomatoes and chilli’s are not ripening. Catches are low on the river today, low water and low pressure along with humid is not a good mix for salmon fishing. 1’1” and 60 degrees nice and clean but not a pull was to be had. The lads started down the bottom end a bit earlier this morning but not early enough to get first run through the pools, we had a bit of a bottle neck at the Duddo with Cornhill, the Lees and West Learmouth all having a cast at the same time, this always crops up in low water with everyone trying to fish the same bits. I didn’t see a fresh fish today but did see a good number of older ones especially in the Slap, Glide, Duddo and of course the Temple which in these conditions is almost a salmon sanctuary as it’s next to impossible to get them to take. On the weather front it looks like a bit of a storm is coming along on Thursday night Friday with a lump of rain as well, we really need the flood but it as always means someone is going to lose their days. Upper Floors were the golden boys today getting 9; surely they’ve not started upstream condoming!!
Wednesday 19th August. Well the sun came out today and my solar panels finally started making some hot water rather than tepid due to the shite weather we’ve been having the last 10 days or so. 1’2” and slowly rising 60 degrees. Jim Coates joined us today, the last time he fished the Lees he was 9 years old and caught his second salmon, he’s now a lot older in fact I don’t know how old he is, in his 30’s I suppose (I’m digging a hole here), anyway it’s a good job he was here as he caught the only fish of the day on a sunray from the Bags. The rise of water put the salmon’s heads down and we didn’t see many until around 4.00pm when a few started to show. Team Holland left for home tonight with Veronica catching the only fish, last year they had 13 for the 3 days if memory serves me right, just shows what a bit of water does for the scores. Lots of rain and wind/gales coming so it’s going to get rough over next couple of days.
Thursday 20th August. The sun was shining and it was warm hot even with a drying wind. 1’4” and 60 degrees. We had a strong team on today and I thought we’d pick up a fish or two. James Aird was down on Duddo and we were on first for a change it was quiet to start then around 10.00am lots of grilse started to show but we couldn’t get a pull off them, James went round to the Glide and did get a wee pull but it didn’t stick, Christopher Scott fished the Bags and the Duddo but fared no better. Mike Kemeny in the Back of the wall covered every inch carefully saw a few fish but no nibbles and Bill Sanford did his best up the Cauld and again not a touch. This afternoon it was a bit toasty, Paul and James were in Learmouth saw plenty but again no pulls, the bloody things will not take, its not as if they are old fish there are plenty silver ones showing but not interested. Lots of wind tomorrow and some rain but I doubt it’ll give a decent flood. At least the sun in the last couple of days is starting to ripen some of my toms.
Friday 21st August. A very windy humid day with some rain, not as much rain as they have had in the west. There were very few fish showing and even fewer biting as we never had a pull all day, and that’s with 4 lads that can get a fly out across the river. Young Dean over at learmouth tells me that the stream was full of fish this afternoon but they only managed the one fish, I saw 3 fish in Duddo and 1 in the Cauld all day. The gauges tonight are rising, it’s not going to be the big flood that we really need but more like one of those really brown ones 3’6” -4’0” and will take 3 days to clear. Better than nothing but we need the big one like 8’0” at the Lees which will sort the weed and rubbish out.
Saturday 22nd August. 3’0” and rising with a lot of colour coming in, any sort of fishing today is a write off. As ever for the river to get into good condition someone has to lose out. Today’s wee flood will not be the only one before this month is out as a lot of rain and more gales are forecast for next Tuesday/Wednesday. There were 5 or so fish caught below us presumably before the colour got to them, the biggest being 5lbs so there must be a lot of grilse about. My garden took a pasting last two days with my dahlias snapped and Begonias the same. We’ll see what happens Monday but I’d like to think there will be a lot of fish about. As ever, it’ll be better next week.
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