Week beginning 25 March 2013
Monday 25th Another bitter cold day with wind chill and snow flurries, 1’9” 34 degs and squeaky clean. Gene, Paul and Nigel the rods for the next four days were reluctant to leave the warmth of the hut this morning by the time they had got their kit on they could hardly bend and then the coffee kicked in, Hmmmm! “I need a pee” always the way the more clothes on the more you need a pee. Anyway fished all day and finally got one at 4.50pm from the Tail of the Cauld, 9lbs liced and very welcome, it was Pauls first Springer for two years so he was more than a bit pleased. Tuesday 26th Another day much the same as the last two weeks snow showers and bitter cold east winds, covered the beat this morning but not a touch was had. Paul and Nigel tackled the Cauldstream in the afternoon and had two Seatrout of 6lb and 4lb then capped it all with a 20lb tide liced Salmon and what a beauty it was, short and fat, all taken on a 20 gram Toby, just shows if you can find one you’ll get a pull from it, Nigel was so pleased he’s going to treat himself to a new wig he tells me. Wednesday 27th A blanket of snow welcomed us this morning and that bloody east wind again its becoming a bit of a bore to say the least, in fact it makes me want to swear, a lot! 1’8” 34 degs very clean, no fish today in fact didn’t see a fish all day, had one Kelt from the Temple on a spinner, there are a few fish being caught above us so the “temperature barrier” is not really that much of a barrier, apart to the rods and Ghillies who all look like they are going on an Arctic expedition when they leave the hut. Thursday 28th Nigel gets another one from the Cauld on a fly, a nice 9lbs fish no lice but fresh, so that’s definitely a new wig on the way. Not to be out done Gene had a lovely 14lb fish from the Back of the wall which is just as well as the other pair would be taking the piss out of him all summer asking if his sweatshirt was still in the post. Blooper of the day goes to Paul Robinson who thought he’d hooked a rock in the Cauld and after trying to pull it off with a few good tugs decided to pull the line by hand, after the boat was over the snag, pulled up a Salmon which he then promptly shook off, although it seems that Paul was more shaken than the fish as he can’t bring himself to talk about it. So two for the day, one lost is fine for the end of March in these conditions. Friday 29th A nicer day to be on the river although it was snowing again this morning, there was much less wind and a bit of sunshine so it felt almost tropical compared to the last few weeks. There were a few fish showing in the Cauldstream but we couldn’t get a pull from them and ended the day with a blank. Saturday 30th 1’8” 38 degs and squeaky clean almost calm this morning and a bit of sunshine. One pull in the Cauld this morning and a liced 9lb Springer from the Glide, it made such a change not to have that easterly wind blowing all day it seemed spring like at last, just need it to warm up now. Thats us on 31 for the spring so far, bit less than last year but no complaints.