Week beginning 24 October 2016
Monday 24th October. A damp morning with heavy showers from the east. 1’4” and 44 degs nice and clean. Team Godden here for three days and after the usual chaos getting everyone sorted as to where they are going and lines, flies, transport and getting Toby into his waders off we went. Gene who must be our longest serving tenant was down at the Iron gate and Glide and managed two 1@13lbs and 1@4lbs both coloured and both on a wee black frances fished on a floater with a 5’0” fast sink tip, David managed 1@12lbs from the Duddo and 1@4lbs from the Middle stream he also lost one in the Middle stream, Toby finding it a struggle in his snug waders got one out of the Cauld this morning and followed it up with a 13lber from Learmouth stream this afternoon and had another pull. (I normally wouldn’t mention a pull but this year it all counts). Not so many fish showing today round the beat and certainly no fresh ones, but you never know they might come in tomorrow. The young Osprey is still here it must be hungry with the longer nights now and it was still fishing hard this afternoon in the bottom end of Learmouth. Flipper on the other side had 4 from the stream this morning, Junction 9 for the day making it look like the fish in the Birgham area have moved up a mile or two. The Golden Plover are still here whistling and diving and giving off the flash of gold when the sun hits them.
Tuesday 25th October. A lovely calm sunny autumn day, a cold start dropping the water temp down to 42 degrees with the gauge showing 1’4” at the Lees. Gene was on the Cauld this morning with myself and in no time had a hen fish around the 9lb mark to the bank which was safely released, that was all the action at the top end even though we backed the Temple up to the ledges but didn’t see a fish there. David Morgan pulled a 12lber from Learmouth stream and was a happy bunny with that. Stewart came back up from the bottom end saying it was very quiet as did Bruce. This afternoon we all moved round and Toby perfected his circle “C” cast and so proficient has he became with it he hooked and after a titanic struggle landed a fish from Duddo that would have tipped the scales at one and a half pounds soaking wet. Alan Williams feeling a bit left out soon caught up with the pack getting a 12lber from the Cauld, so everyone went back to the hotel with a fishy story to tell over dinner and thats the way it should be. The Osprey has been with us all day and has been catching the odd fish, it really needs to bugger off as they are not meant to be here over winter, long dark nights and frozen feathers will kill it in the end. There are kingfishers on every pool at the moment and a pair of Dippers at Duddo mouth. I see from the web sites that Tillmouth had 8 today so maybe there will be more with us tomorrow then again maybe not, I didn’t see a fresh/clean fish today but maybe tomorrow. Just noticed that Lennel who fish opposite Tillmouth had 3 today all coloured so that leads me to a conclusion.
Wednesday 26th October. My conclusion is wrong as a fresh fish carrying one louse was caught at Carham today so there you go there is hope for us all. We landed 3 today all around the 7lb mark and all old tired hens plus lost a couple putting us on 13 for the week, I suppose thats good considering the year that its but it’s not floating my boat. No fresh/clean fish seen today apart from the one on the photo that Lee sent me from Carham just to prove he had one (reckon the pic was from August). 1’2” and 45 degrees with a west wind today for a change. Two Ospreys here today and a couple of swallows. I checked on the internet to see how the Glentress Ospreys are doing which have trackers fitted to them. One made it to mid France and has disappeared no doubt into some sort of Osprey au vin or am I stereotyping, the other one is in southern Mali and they both left on 2nd September so ours are leaving it late. Gene got one from the Glide on a wee black frances and lost one at the Iron gate on same fly, David got one from the Duddo on a sunray (sunk) and Toby had one from the cauld, all this morning and as I said all around the 7lb mark. New team tomorrow so luckily they won’t read this until next week.
Thursday 27th October. Having just come back from the pumpkin show I’ve had a few pints and a dram or two so writing this is a challenge. 1’2 45 degs clean, Team Newstead here for three days and had two fish on the first day, nothing fresh but fish they were. Still using sink tips and wee flies with black and silver seeming to tempt the fish, we had other pulls down the otter stones and middle stream but they didn’t hang on. There was a very strong west wind which was a bit of a skunner but young Toby was managing to get a line out just the same with his new found circle “C” cast. Fishing the cauld this morning with Mark Newstead we tried everything from a bottle tube to a sunk sunray but the fish were just not interested, Learmouth stream still has a fair number of fish in it but none keen to pull. I had a phone call from a lad that has fished a good few middle/upper beats and he reports that they are lying full of fish so stock for the future looks good. Ospreys still here. Pumpkin show, I managed a third place but won three bottle on the raffle so a good night all round.
Friday 28th October. 1’1” and 48 degs so I stuck a skimmer on for Cornhill Bend, well it was a hitched sunray really and a fish had a nose at it but that was the only one so to do something useful I got Duncan Weston up to speed with a circle “C” cast and he grasped it in no time, Duncan’s fishing buddy Mark Newstead showed us all how to do it getting a 15lber from the Glide right down the tail end and that was the action for the morning. This afternoon I took young Toby Watson and dad Chris down to Learmouth and Toby was covering the stream well with a 13 foot rod but couldn’t understand how he couldn’t catch a fish as they were jumping all around him, dad Chris took over and couldn’t catch one either but the rod who was on fire this afternoon was Tim Springham who had 2 from the Glide this afternoon 15lbs and 6lbs both old fish though. The Ospreys seem to have got the message and buggered off as there was no sign of them today. I put some nice film of a family of Otters that were at the Slap Croy this morning on instagram so get it on your phone or laptop or ipad thing and follow tweedbeats. No rain forecast which in some ways is fine as a flood might just take everything away.
Saturday 29th October. A glorious day on Tweedside today (see instagram for photo) with the sun beating down it was better than a lot of days this summer. Duncan Weston was in the Cauld this morning and after a run through with a Willie Gunn I stuck on a black crazy Charlie and we had a fish in no time, another was caught in Cornhill bend by Tim Springham and that was the action for the morning. Young Toby Watson nearly had a fish from Duddo this afternoon on a sunray but held on a wee bit too hard and it parted company which was a bugger as it was his first fish or would have been. Tim rounded up the scores for the day getting a fish from the Otter stones which would struggle to get to 2lb but a fish it was. The Osprey was here again today over the Bags and there was a wee dipper which looked to be keeping a wary eye on the Osprey. As we are wading down the more gravely areas they are covered in practice redds, I’ve not seen any eggs yet but they can’t be far off spawning and in fact I could swear I saw a kelt in the top of the Bags this afternoon if it wasn’t it was one of the skinniest fish I’ve ever seen. 1’1” and 46 degs today with no rain on the forecast which is fine by me as a flood is the last thing I want. It’ll be better next week
Don’t forget to put your clocks back and put instagram on your phone, tablet or computer to see all the action. ©M Campbell 2016
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