Week beginning 1 September 2014
Monday 1st September A nice day on the river 1’5” and 58 degs with a wee tinge of colour, there were a few fish showing in the top half of the beat whilst the bottom half was much quieter although Nigel Crosskell managed a 7lber from the Middle Stream and his wee pal Paul Robinson (Nigel taught him to fish) managed an 8lber from the Glide both were older fish. The lads fishing the top fared slightly better getting 3 between them all 3 were fresh. There’s not as many fish about as I would like to see, in fact nothing like I would like to see. All the fish were taken this morning, this afternoon when the sun got out it really quietened things down. We are on full floaters with a wee inter tip and #10 - #6 trebles and doubles, I tried a skimmer in the usual spots but not so much as a nose was seen.
Tuesday 2nd September A lovely day on the river warm, sunny but no Salmon caught, but young Jack Robinson did get a 5lb Seatrout from the Cauld so his dad Paul will be buying everyone champagne in the hotel tonight I’ve no doubt. We did see a couple of wee fresh fish but that was it. Excitement of the day was getting a Mink sorted out in the Temple after it scooted up a drain pipe in the Temple it ended up being a 4 man job, it’s the first Mink I’ve seen in years and the last I hope.
Wednesday 3rd September An overcast start but very mild, 1’2” and 58 degs and squeaky clean. The neck into the top of the Bags is looking good and Gene Godden attacked it with a Sunray stripped fast, we had a boil on the surface but no pull, we saw 5 or 6 fish all above the point but couldn’t get any action, meanwhile Paul Robinson was in Learmouth stream and still smarting from yesterdays beating when son jack caught the only fish of the day, this spurred him into action and he had a liced 12lber which was nice to see. It was one of those days where you could hear a pin drop down the Back of the wall the only noise was Toby’s fly bouncing off the far bank and into the water where it was ignored by the fish, not that we saw many/any. I see that the very bottom beats picked up a few today so here’s hoping one or two push on and get to us tomorrow.
Thursday 4th September A warm humid day with water temperatures touching 60 degs, we had a boil at a Sunray in the Slap and the Cauld one pull in the Bags that was this morning’s action which was more than of late. This afternoon the sun peeked out for a while lifting the temperature even more but that didn’t stop Gene Godden who pulled out a 7lb hen from Learmouth stream which wasn’t in the first flush of youth but a fish just the same, Gene has this year clocked up 30 years at the Lees (you get less for murder) and can still recall getting his first fish off the beat, it came from Duddo stream on a silver stoat. He’s on Duddo stream tomorrow so we’ll see if he can mark the event with a repeat.
Friday 5th September A warm and humid day without a puff of wind apart from Nigel who’s well known for it. I was on the bottom of the beat this morning and didn’t see a fish I’m sad to say, there were fish in the Slap and the old residents in the Temple that keep splashing around teasing us to try and catch one. Nigel was top Banana today getting a 7lb cock fish out of Learmouth stream in the same place as the last two, but that was it for the day. When the lads arrived back at the hut at 5.00pm they decided to wave the white flag and head for home a day early, it’s always a shame when that happens as rods look forward all year to their backend fishing and there’s no water or fish, nature is a cruel mistress. I’m off to a wedding at Dunkeld tomorrow, so I’ll be comparing notes with some of the lads up there no doubt. There’s aye next week when I’m sure a big run of fish is about to come in.
Photo this week is looking down the Cauldstream whilst waiting for a pull in the Slap.
© M Campbell 2014
our twitter feed