Week beginning 17 February 2014
February 17th 3’8” and just a tinge of colour but clean enough for a Monday. Terry Harper has finally fallen by the wayside after eating 1000’s of Oysters they caught up with him on Saturday night and Sunday was spent within bolting distance of a toilet, he has rallied round today mind you. Anyway the fishing, we fished all day for 3 Kelts landed and another 2 or 3 falling off, it’s still too big for us even with a spinner which we did use today. The Mother Otter and her two pups were with us this morning along with the Egret so that brightened the day along with the bottle of 50 year old whisky which Clancy brought (now empty). Now that Clancy is here there has been much talk of Onions, compost, leeks, raised beds and record breaking pumpkins. We sorted out the world at 5.00pm although some of the solutions might be seen as a bit extreme by some, others would say harsh but fair. Tuesday 18th A dry start and the gauge at 3’3” 40 degs but most of the gauges above us are rising so we’re not expecting much, Spinner had to be the weapon of choice and a 20 gram Toby at that, we launched a couple of boats in the morning but all the Kelts that were caught came from the lads who were fishing off the bank showing that the fish/Kelts were looking for a bit of shelter. The score at the end of the day was 9 Kelts 2 of them Seatrout and a Squirrel. Lunch was a grand affair with Clancy producing a bottle of red wine from 1964 so a 50 year old wine was opened with much ceremony and sniffed then tasted then poured into the gravel in the carpark!!!! What a disappointment. I didn’t see a fish of any kind all day apart from the Kelts we landed, and with rain starting at 4.00pm it was back to the hut for a dram and sort out the world again, a red hot poker seems to be the way to sort out everything. Looking at the website tonight I see the gauges are rising again so tomorrow is going to be fishing at top heights yet again. Wednesday 19th 3’10” 40 degs little bit of colour, so where do we fish at this height? Give me a big Tay boat and an outboard engine some Kynoch’s and away we go, but its chucking a Toby off the bank again which some of the lads tried, a couple of kelts fell off in the Ledges but that was it so nothing caught today not even the Mole thats been tunnelling away for days at the Slap Croy, I set 5 traps for it yesterday and it went through every one filling them full of soil so they have all been cleaned out and reset so there should be a dead Mole in the morning, its a bit of a shame for them but if they would stay in the woods I’d leave them alone. Only 3 fish caught off the whole river today and more rain forecast for tonight so its certainly not going to drop much, I like it low and cold at this time of year a bit like last year but without the wind, it keeps the fish down here. Anyway thats Team Harper away until May, so thanks for all the laughs, drams, doorstep size beef sandwiches, strange smells in the hut, piss taking, extreme solutions to all the world’s problems, Scottish politics, Onions and Leeks, big game shooting, giving page three girls a score out of 10 over coffee we’ll continue the crack in May and of course I’ll be right! I would love to see the gauge at 1’9” tomorrow but I hae ma doots! Thursday 20th 3’3” and 44 degs which is very mild for February but and there’s always a but the gauges above us were rising again so Team McLaren got at them as best they could, I tried to get the boat to the other side of the Cauld but was blown back onto the bank, so it was Toby spoons off the bank hurling them against the wind, we ended the day with 4 Kelts, even Jerry’s minnow the size of a Herring couldn’t tempt a fish, by mid afternoon the Lees gauge was reading 4’3” and starting to colour so that was the day over, Will we fish tomorrow ? We might but it’s going to be carrying a lot of colour, it’s hard enough to catch them in autumn at this height let alone February. The Lees Otter was fishing outside the hut this morning (see photo) we are going to have to give him a name soon as he’s becoming a bit of a regular. Friday 21st So another day and another washout, 4’2” this morning and coloured, no rods coming today, Pigeon shooting a far better option. Checking the gauges at lunchtime the Teviot is rising yet again, the river is starting to act like a lady of the night’s knickers up and down all week! On the mole front he’s still at large and getting deeper, that’s 6 traps he goes through every night and fills them up with soil but its just a matter of time. No sign of the Otter today but the Egret was fishing on the far bank, what can I say more rain forecast and gales so outlook grim. Saturday 22nd Yet again too big 3’5” and 40 degs and no Mole caught! The lads turned up more for a day out then a serious fishing day, the major excitement was a very large Atlantic seal charging up and down the beat, I had text from Carham to Cornhill with reports of the beastie, the last I heard it was heading for Carham again, so a washout of a week the only good things were a rat caught in the trap outside the hut and Scotland beat Italy at the rugby.
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