Week beginning 18 March 2019
Monday 18th March. 3’11” and 40 degrees with enough colour in it to make it very unappealing, Terry Ward’s pals turned up for a look but decided they were better off up at Mertoun. Ian Bennet had a chuck off the bank for an hour then headed home, so thats another day lost.
Tuesday 19th March. This is often the day when we see the first Sandmartin of the year but there was no sign of any today, there was no sign of any rods today either so they must have decided to stay at Mertoun for another day. 3’3” and 42 degrees with a beery colour to it. Much milder today but a fair wind picking up this afternoon. Tempted to plant my first early spuds this afternoon but the ground is still a bit on the cold side, I put some in a bucket a couple of weeks ago but no sign of them yet and thats in the polytunnel.
Wednesday 20th March. A bit windy but mild enough, the Lees gauge was showing 2’10” and a rather toasty 46 degrees with a hint of beery brown to it. Only two rods on today and they pitched up at lunchtime which was quick enough really. Paul Taroni was soon in to action in the Cauld getting a hold of a fish on his fourth cast but sadly it didn’t stick, a few casts later one did stick and turned out to be a liced 7lber. Ian up on the Temple didn’t manage anything but gave it a good go. 14 fish reported off the river that I know of which is a better sort of day, It’ll be the first day that many of the beats were fishing or at least fishing in water that was half decent. No sign of the Sandmartins yet. Full team on tomorrow so it’ll get a good going over.
Thursday 21st March. Not only is it the spring equinox but we caught 2 springers and a seatrout. Charles Cook got the first one a nice 9lber from the Cauld and had another on in same place; he followed that with our fist Seatrout of the year a fat little 3lber. This afternoon Duane Hubbard ticked one of his boxes getting his first ever salmon also from the Cauld this afternoon which would have tipped the scales at 10lbs. 2’6” on the gauge 46 degrees and clean. We also saw the first Sandmartin of the year bang on time as ever, they are amazing little birds flying all the way from Africa. The forecast for tomorrow is for a bit of rain but its the gale force winds that are going to spoil the day, it look a lot better for Saturday.
Friday 22nd March. Neil Andrews turned up to fish today and just as well he did as he was the only rod who turned up, didn’t hear from the other rod that was to be here. One didn’t come as he refuses to fish in a gale (he has my total support). One had other things going on that he couldn’t get out of and that left the other one who was a no show. Anyway it did blow a gale, Paul took Neil across to the right bank of the Cauld and fished it up and down but didn’t have a touch, the river looked like it was rising as the waves were causing it to colour up, surprisingly there was a brief hatch of march browns this morning for about 15 mins but no trout seen taking them possibly as there are no trout left to take them thanks to the cormorants. To be much less wind tomorrow so we’ll see if a full team turns up. 2’4” and 47 degrees.
Saturday 23rd March. 2’4” and 44 degrees no drop in levels overnight. Peter Stevens was filling in today for Allan Clarke who’s stuck overseas somewhere but despite giving the Cauld a run through several times we couldn’t find a fish, we didn’t see one either. Neil Andrews was down in Learmouth stream which is a wee bit big at 2’4” but he had a hold of something which pulled line off the reel but sadly didn’t stick, Andrew and Perry fished the Temple down but also blanked. Jock the wee ginger dug buggered off this morning requiring a rescue job and a boot up the arse. No March browns today and no more Sandmartins seen. The forecast is for a large high pressure to build next week so hopefully the wind will as last stop and the river will drop to a better level for us.
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