Week beginning 19 October 2015
Monday 19th October. Dentist was open this morning and waiting for me so it was a scale and polish first thing which wakes you up I can tell you. Team Godden on for three days with two new members, one of the new members is Allan Morgan who said he didn’t really fish for Salmon but he was zipping a line across Learmouth in no time unfortunately the fish didn’t oblige, we didn’t see many in the stream but just enough to keep you interested. Gene Godden and Paul Robinson were in amongst the fish at the Iron Gate with Gene getting one and another couple of pulls and Paul who keeps up his good luck getting tow and another pull. This afternoon Dave had a couple from the top of the Back of the wall and Toby Kemble had one from the Glide, the only fish from the top end came from the Temple just before dark which was an old 7lber. All the fish were coloured the biggest being 11lb. It’s 6”-7” on the gauge and 46 degs another similar day weather wise tomorrow then rain on Tuesday night Wednesday morning which is going to be accompanied by a gale force wind so the river will be full of leaves. So 7 for the day is good on recent form.
Tuesday 20th October. A nice day out on the river weather wise and I actually saw a fresh fish! Yes I saw a fresh fish in Cornhill bend and I have a witness, it looked to be about 12-13lb and it was a hen and had 8 tide lice on it’s back that’s how close it was. To make it an even bigger day Toby Kemble caught a 10lb liced hen from Learmouth stream this afternoon, Toby returned the fish which was a very noble gesture as he’s no smoked salmon for Xmas now unless he gets one tomorrow,( I know how you feel Toby). We ended the day with 6 salmon all coloured apart from Toby’s hen. We had 2 from the Cauld, 2 from Back of the wall, 1 Learmouth and 1 Cornhill bend. It was quieter on the beat today maybe the sun or maybe just the lack of fish, the catches on the whole river were half that of yesterday. There we go that was Tuesday.
Wednesday 21st October. A much warmer day on the Lees with a south west wind picking up as the day went on. Gene Godden was in Learmouth stream first thing and landed a 7lb hen on a wee green and yellow bottle tube along with another pull that was the action for the morning, the rest of the team didn’t fair any better with Paul Robinson losing a Seatrout while trying to beach it that was all the action for the day. The rain that fell last night forgot to fall on the Tweed it would seem as the gauge is sitting around 6” and 50 degs. On the brighter side of things I’ve just weighed my pumpkin and it’s a very respectable 117lbs 8oz so it could be a winner given the summer we have had. New team on tomorrow so they’ll be as keen as keen thing, although the 50mph wind that’s forecast might just slow them down a bit.
Thursday 22nd October. Well we certainly got the wind and it made for challenging fishing, we landed a total of one salmon today. Jim Reid lost two in the glide on a sunray one when he wasn’t even fishing he was sorting out a knot in his line and the fly was dangling below him. The Cauld has more fish in it than the last two days and Duddo Cornhill bend have a few more splashing about. We did see a couple of fresh/clean’ish ones. That was Thursday, off to the pumpkin show we go.
Friday 23rd October. Another quiet day on the river, when again we never saw a clean fish. Jeremy had a pull in the Bags this morning and something pulled the fly in Duddo this afternoon but that was all the action we had. Two of our rods waved the white flag and pulled stumps at lunchtime, Andy and Jim had had enough and those two could catch fish in a dried up ditch but enough is enough when you just don’t see a clean fish and its becoming a shame to be pulling flies over all these old things in the hope of finding a fresh one, but what do you do? Keep hoping I suppose. There is rain on the forecast but not enough I would reckon we’ll know tomorrow, the worry is that if we ever get a flood before the end of the season all the fish that are here and the ones below us will be above Peebles in a matter of hours. Tillmouth had a better day today getting 9 but after speaking to one of the Ghillies only 2 were fresh/clean. On the brighter side I won the pumpkin show so the trophy returns to Nesby Place it was never in doubt really!
Saturday 24th October. 3 fish off the Lees today which is bloody good when you look at the scores on the rest of the river with just 11 reported off the whole river. There is a wee bit of water coming which will give us about a foot at the Lees along with a lot of leaves and stone dirt. Its bound to move fish up from the lower beats but whether it brings any fresh/clean ones we will have to wait and see. We didn’t see a clean fish today and the 3 we caught were all black. So 18 for the week and all returned which is good for our fight with the wild fisheries review I suppose. Soon be Monday.
©M Campbell 2015
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