Week beginning 19 June 2017
Monday 19th June. A lovely hot day if you like lovely hot days. 1’2” and 67 degrees at 8.30am with a summer tinge to the water. Harry Stollard here for three days with his pals Paul and Davy. The lads had a go at the Slap first where there were a few fish showing but nothing wanted to show any interest, then through the cauld with a selection of flies from wee doubles to big sunrays and skimmers. By lunchtime it was very hot and I imagine the water temp would be over 70 degrees. The lads are going out for a cast this evening which is a more sensible thing to do so let’s hope they find a seatrout or two. Catches on the river were very low, Birgham Dub bucked the trend getting 4.
Tuesday 20th June. 1’2” and 66 degrees, good number of fish showing in the Slap but apart from a couple of bow waves we couldn’t interest them. Dave Morgan got the only fish of the day which was a 4lb Seatrout from Learmouth stream. Paul Green acre gave it a go last night but had no action.
Wednesday 21st June. Summer solstice this morning so in the usual Lees tradition we all danced naked round the Temple to appease the fishy gods, (didn’t really) but it was warm enough. Harry Stollard was first onto the Slap and had an 11lber on his second cast, he played it hard which is the right thing to do in this water temp and we soon had it back and on its way. The Slap is like that at this time of year; your first 5 or 6 casts are the important ones and have to be on the money. Paul lost a fish in Learmouth stream on a #8 orange and black thing. After lunch I gave Dave a tour round the Cauld which takes all of 20 mins at this height but we didn’t see anything, the cauld is getting a bit on the low side again with too many back eddies and side currents which the fish don’t like. The temp is to drop tomorrow which should help things as it’s a very humid afternoon.
Thursday 22nd June. An overcast day and a wee bit cooler, new team on who have all been here before so I was expecting great things. Dan Curtis along with Tim and Lees regular James Long. James was on the Slap and Cauld this morning, we tried several flies across the Slap but couldn’t even get a bow wave this morning, then into the Cauld where we’d seen a fish whilst fishing the Slap. A#8 cascade on the end a reasonable cast executed and the fish was on, sadly it was as slippery as one of James’s Vaseline coated candles and was off and back into the depths. The lads fished hard all day but no more action was had. 1’1” and 65 degrees. I’m debating having a cast tonight but there’s more beetroot to plant so I’d better get on with it. I had a cast or two in the end but no action.
Friday 23rd June. A very windy day with the odd shower chucked in. No rods today for the first time this year so invited my cousin this morning. Slap, cauld and Learmouth were blank but we did see a couple in learmouth. Then through the glide which was the easiest pool to fish being wind assisted but still drew a blank. My favourite pool next Cornhill bend, blank again, changed fly from a hitched sunray to a #10 cascade on a very long leader for Duddo and hooked a fish half way down, I was just thinking about getting the camera ready for the photo and it was off! That’s the first fish I’ve hooked this year and I hope it’s not the last. Two other pulls in Slap tonight so that’s 3 -0 to the fish.
Saturday 24th June. A very windy day, 11” and 60 degrees. Simon Wood fishing today who is a lover of the hitch/skimmer so we gave it a good go but didn’t manage a pull or boil to it, the wind didn’t help as the fly was being blown upstream. No action for Simon this morning but Andrew had more luck getting a 12lb river fish from the Back of the wall; Simon not to be out done had a fresh 8lber from the Glide and lost another in the Iron Gate point this afternoon. Both fish were on full floaters and #10 flies.
There’s a bit of rain on the forecast for next week and every little helps at this time of year.
our twitter feed