Week beginning 25 November 2013
Monday 25th November A cold frosty start but nice and sunny, water temp down to 36 degs and 1’6” on the Lees gauge. John Macleod opened the scoring with an 8lb liced hen from the Cauld and it was nice to see a fresh fish as I was thinking the run was over. Ian after a wee casting clinic was casting into the far distance and had a brief hold of one in the tail of the Cauld; the rest of the beat was quiet with no action. This afternoon Mark Coe had a lovely 5lber with lice on from the Glide and we did see a few others to give us some hope, I also see from the website that South Wark had 9 for the day (and that with a weak team on) so well done them, Bob Jewels tells me that 4 were liced and the best was 18lbs, so we’ll have to try harder tomorrow and stop so many sneaking past.
Tuesday 26th A much milder day today but the water temp still 36 degs, very few fish showing but the Glide and the Back of the wall came good this morning and we had 5 and lost a couple from there, plus and old 20lber from the Cauld made it 6 for the morning with the 5 fish from the middle all being fresh or liced but just small 3-6lbs. We had another one from the Iron gate point this afternoon at 17lb which was also liced bringing us up to 7 for the day. The water is going to be summer level by Saturday the way its going and we’ll be using sink tips almost unheard of in November.
Wednesday 27th A lovely day on the river and to cap it all we had 10 fish mostly fresh again, but the bigger ones were older. Fliss up from deepest Norfolk who had set off at 3.45am had two from Cornhill bend and earns big brownie points for that; the biggest fish of the day was an 18lber from the Glide. Again there were not too many fish showing but the ones that were there seemed to want a fly. Only one fish from the Cauld all day and a blank in the Temple, it’s the middle of the beat that’s fishing well, the Back of the wall and the Glide (don’t tell the new rods tomorrow until we’ve done the draw).
Thursday 28th A new team on today and all as keen as mustard having watching the scores for the last few days, Carl Holland was top dog getting 5 from the Glide by midday, Kevin who was on the back of the wall had fish showing all round him but couldn’t get one to pull. The top of the beat was quiet again with nothing from the Temple and only one from the Cauld this afternoon, although Carl’s brother Paul managed to sneak one from the Slap. The middle part of the beat was the place to be with plenty fish showing but mostly reluctant to take. All the rods were on intermediate lines and smaller flies the colour seems as always to be irrelevant and just put on your favourite as long as it’s about the right size. The forecast is for a bit of a blow tomorrow so I’m not looking forward to that as it’s from the North West which is straight down the Temple and straight up the bottom end of the beat, the lads in the middle will be fine as it will be on their backs. 10 for the day again but only 3 fresh ones and they were small.
Friday 29th There was a bit of wind this morning but not too bad and it soon died away, 1’4” and 40 degs squeaky clean. The Temple and Cauld yielded nothing this morning but the Slap, Learmouth and the Glide helped us keep our end up with one from each pool and this afternoon we had one from the temple, Cauld and the Glide again, the Glide has been outperforming all the other pools of late which is good news as it let us down a bit in October, Kevin started to pull his weight getting the fish from the Temple this afternoon, and about time as well, that’s the first fish from there since 23rd November. Graham fished the Glide this afternoon going down first with one of his own sickly coloured tubes which required sunglasses when tying it on to the line, but he soon realised the error of his ways and changed to a Yellow Ally’s on a treble (which he pinched off Tony Black by the way), it wasn’t long before he’d landed a nice 7lber. He also got stuck on the far bank (not something that Lees rods often manage) and bent the hooks trying to get it off, so you won’t see that fly again Tony! Tomorrows the last day Hurray! I hear all the Ghillies up and down the river saying. The forecast is good for tomorrow and we only need another 40 fish or so to get to 800 so we’ll maybe have to give the Babyhouse a go tomorrow.
Saturday 30th The last day and it dawned calm, mildand sunny. It’s been the nicest November I can remember, no floods, no gales and fish. Two new lads joined the team today and slotted straight into the middle of the beat so they had a lot of pressure on them to fill the bag. Phil Black was soon on the score board with a fish from the Back of the wall and had a couple of other pulls; Stuart had an 8lber from the Iron Gate, Phil moved into the Glide and using a proper fly for a change had another two. We ended with 7 for the morning and that was the final score for the day, not so much as a pull in the afternoon. So it was back to the hut for a dram and some fireworks (not to Kelsae’s liking) but she soon calmed down when she saw Lucy trying to catch the rockets. 767 for the season, our 4th best. The whole fleet now at anchor and it was off to Kelso for the end of season piss up, no fighting this year, well none that I was involved in. We’ll get the boats off on Monday and close the place down for a well earned rest, it will be February 1st soon enough. Photos are of Phil Black playing a fish in the Glide and more of those fantastic sunsets.
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