Week beginning 18 September 2017
Monday 18th September. 1’10” and a bit on the beery side but that was the good news as by lunchtime it was brown and the rest of the day was casting practice really. It will hopefully get washed out overnight as the colour has all come from the Teviot. There are still plenty fish showing around the beat and again some silver/fresh fish were jumping. We lost a fish in the Cauld this morning but that was the only contact we had. Intermediate lines or floaters with fast sinktips are the order of the day and a fly with a good contrast and a wee bit of bling to jazz it up. There was a seal in the middle stream just before lunchtime which was scared off, they are becoming a bit too common of late, a few years ago you only maybe saw one in December to February and very rarely at that. It’ll be better tomorrow.
Tuesday 19th September. 1’6” and still a bit on the mucky side, water temp down to 48 degrees which is the coldest it’s been since April I’d think. Julian did manage to tempt a fish from the Iron Gate area which was an old cock and would have tipped the scales at around the 19lb mark, Jeremy had a pull on a hitched Sunray in the Cauldstream and that was all the action this morning. This afternoon the river had started to clear and Edward C Bruce had a 13lber from the Slap, some of the team are fishing on for a bit this evening but I haven’t had any text to say they have increased the score. There are still plenty fish showing and a couple of fish that cleared the water were fresh. Theres a bit of rain about for the rest of the week, not heavy but I hope it doesn’t put the levels up again. We’ve moved back onto floaters with sinktips rather than the full intermediate lines. It’ll be better tomorrow.
Wednesday 20th September. 1’4” and 52 degrees but much cleaner. Edward C Bruce was first into action this morning getting a cracking 18lber from the Glide which was fresh as paint, the cock fish took a #8 cascade double fished on a floater with a wee sinktip which was nice to see. Julian st Lawrence had a 19lb old cock from the Iron Gate and followed that up this afternoon with three from Learmouth stream, all three were old fish and all cocks which took a wee red ally shrimp sort of thing #8 double again on a sinktip. There was another fish from Learmouth caught by Andrew which was a 7lb licer this was also returned. The top dog today was Anthony Daniell who landed a 25lber from the Cauld this afternoon on a wee yellow thing, the fish again was an old one but gave Anthony a hell of a scrap. The water is now nice and clean but how long that will last is unsure as rain is forecast over the catchment for the next 24 hours. A big flood would clean the river bed and move the fish about no doubt but sometimes its better the devil you know. In an ideal world a flood starting on Saturday night and back to nice and clean and around 2’0” on Monday morning with no wind would do just fine.
Thursday 21st September. A very wet morning but two fish made it a bit better from Bridget and Rowalen Cumming Bruce, both had a 14lb fish , Bridget got hers in the Cauld and Rowalen landed one in the Iron Gate. The bottom end of the beat was very quiet and in fact I only saw two fish all morning in the Duddo. Edward and Bruce fishing the Learmouth stream reported seeing loads in the stream but couldn’t get a pull from them. Looking at the gauges at lunchtime the top gauges are rising and I fear it’ll be well coloured again tomorrow. The catches on the river were low today but the rise coming down would have knocked out the beats above in consecutive order
Friday 22nd September. A much nicer day but the water still a bit on the beery side this morning, this however did not deter team Cumming Bruce who after a bit of tackle sorting out were soon onto the river. No pulls were had on the Lees this morning but at lunchtime reports came through that Learmouth had 3 fish this morning on the other side. This news spurred the team into a frenzy and in the Cauldstream Tom Cheesburgh had a 12lber which led him a merry dance round the pool. So it’s all to play for tomorrow, who is going to catch the most/biggest fish and claim the bragging rights for the rest of the year? (Edward your 18lber doesn’t count as you’ve been here all week). Highlight of the day for me was getting the all clear from the dentist just had to suffer the scale and polish. The river today was 2’3” and 54 degrees at the Lees so intermediate lines or floaters with fast sinktips were the lines of choice teamed up with a colourful fly of around 1 1/4”.
Saturday 23rd September. A lovely sunny start to the day, a proper autumn day. 1’8” and 52 degrees with a wee beery tinge. Now a few years ago I’d have confidently said we could have caught high teens or even 20 fish today but it was only two today. The first fish of the day was caught by George Cumming Bruce at the Iron Gate on a Temple Shrimp and would have been around the 17lb mark, the second came from Lower Learmouth and would have been around 14lbs, both were old cocks. The amazing thing was we fished Learmouth this morning and Edward never had a touch, he went through it 3 times and not a pull, Flippers rod goes in this afternoon and gets 5 all old but why did they suddenly come on in there but nowhere else. The catches on the rest of the river were the same as they have been all week with just ones or twos here and there. So 14 for the week and 12 returned, the wait for the backend run to begin continues. On the bright side today Izzy Cumming Bruce can now cast off both shoulders and by end of play was putting out a line that would shame some of our regular rods. It’ll be better next week. As ever see instagram for photos
©M Campbell 2017
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