Week beginning 26 April 2021
Monday 26th April. Overcast and a south west wind but an unusually cold one, 72 and 50 degrees. Jonathon Reddin here again along with Martin Hall and Norman. Martin was wanting to fish the riffle hitch (skimmer) but I gave him a big sunray to try instead, he started in Cornhill bend and by the time he’d got to the bottom of Duddo he’d had 6 boils at the sunray one of which was on but only for a brief time, he also hooked and lost a fish in the Cauld this afternoon (character building stuff). Up on the Slap and Cauld this morning Jonathan never had a nibble and he fared no better this afternoon and it was just the same for Norman. Martin and Norman are here again tomorrow so they might get them onto the hook. There were a few more fish reported caught across the websites tonight, one of them a tidelicer caught at Bemersyde!! That fish was in a hurry and at summer level. It is to be a cold week ahead with the wind going back into the north tomorrow and a chance of showers any day. Mid morning a girl arrived at the hut with a very small duckling wondering what I was going to do with it, she’d found it behind the chicken run on the path. I’m not going to do anything, it’s a case of finders keepers, we then heard more cheeping and another duckling was wandering about beside the log shed, obviously mother duck had hatched them out and on the route march to the river she’d dropped two, there was no sign of the mother on the river anywhere near the hut so I suggested she take them to Berwick wildlife rescue centre, I’ve raised orphans before but I’ve not got the time this year.
Tuesday 27th April. It was like taking a step back into February today with a big drop in temperature and a north east wind, no sign of the sun today and the little ducklings must be finding it hard keeping fed and warm in this. The gauge if it reached the water I imagine would be reading around 7” and the water temp was 50 degrees. Martin and John were here for another day and John had the only action that I saw turning a fish to the sunray in Learmouth stream this morning. Paul Collinson a Tweed and Lees regular who was here for the day and pleased to be breaking out now that the covid regs have eased at last. Saw a couple in the Duddo and the Slap but couldn’t get any interest. Paul was also saying this morning that he’d never seen an osprey diving on a fish, this afternoon that was resolved with one having two dives in the lower cauld and being successful on the second attempt. Catches were a bit lower today than yesterday with only 3 fish reported below us and 7 above us the nearest being at Sprouston. The forecast is for more cold weather with showers turning wintery on higher ground and according to my weather guru Windy Wilson no warmth until the 10th of May give or take a few days, brrrrr! As far as any gardening goes (for my gardening followers) nothing is happening and the heaters will back on tonight.
Wednesday 28th April. An overcast start with a cold north easterly blowing. James Brymer and Tim here for three days, just the two rods as Dad Duncan couldn’t make it. It was a much quieter day today with the only fish we saw being in the Slap and they didn’t want to know. James has brought his drone with him and over the next two days get some ariel shots and clips of the beat, I’ll pop them on instagram when he gets them all sorted. Catches were nothing to shout about with only two being caught below us. I saw my second swallow of the season today they are late in arriving this year and with this north east wind and frost at night I don’t blame them. Late news James Brymer had a 9lber from the Glide on the late shift.
Thursday 29th April. A bloody cold north east wind blowing again with the odd sunny spell and the odd shower. 7” or thereabouts and 46 degrees with green slimy weed starting to grow in the margins now. James Brymer was on form this morning, we started in the Glide as the Cornhill boat was sitting at the top of Duddo, this as it turns out was a good thing, half way down the Glide the squall that had been going through stopped it turned flat calm the sun came out and a fish jumped. You’ll cover that with your next cast I said he did and it was on, it turned out about 9lb fresh as paint and was quickly tagged and away. There was one fish showing in the Slap this afternoon but it didn’t want to play. Ian Farr away up at Bemersyde text tonight to say the two fish he had today were both liced, they’re not hanging about. Interestingly the Tay Ghillie that writes in Troot and Salmon has an article in this month saying that the Tay fish are running straight through even in low cold water. On the wildlife front the Bluetits in the box outside the hut are still there as I thought we’d lost them in the hard frost a couple of weeks ago, the heron was attacking the ducklings this afternoon so it had better behave. No sign of the Osprey today and no more Swallows either. Hopefully the north east wind will calm down a bit tomorrow as it was bloody Baltic out there today.
Friday 30th April. Cold north east wind again, river up an inch on yesterday, just the two rods on today James and Tim. We saw 3 or 4 fish in the Slap this morning but despite trying just about every fly in his boxes not a pull was had. We never saw a fish in the rest of the beat. The wind lessened a bit this afternoon and the sun which came out now and again took the edge off it, Cheviot was white this morning and it’s forecast -2 tonight. An Oyster Catcher has nested yards from the wee bench at Cornhill bend, I very much doubt it’ll hatch them out as too many people going about from Salmon fishers to walkers, dog walkers, trout fishermen, Crows, Gulls, Otters and this incessant cold which will freeze the forming chicks in the egg as the bird gets put off the nest so often. 8 fish reported caught below us today so that’s good news, other news is on Monday coming the forecast is for heavy rain and gales so that will be a game changer and shuffle the pack at bit.
Saturday 1st May. Michael Black here today which normally means its in flood/gales/or both but today he bucked the trend, he brought along pals Stuart and James who in their own words need a bit more practice. Down at the iron gate James getting to grips using both hands on a rod popped a decent cast across a fish that had showed 5 minutes earlier and it grabbed hold, he was nearly back to shore when it dropped off, that was the only action for the day salmon wise but Michael did get a big brownie on a sunray in the Cauld this afternoon. Outside the hut at lunchtime i could hear a duck quacking and lots of cheeping from ducklings, this was mother duck trying to gather her brood which had just hatched, she was still there at 5.00pm and eventually led them to the river and jumped in off the bank, all well we thought but she had nested half way up the Lime tree outside the hut and one or more ducklings were still in the nest cheeping, mother duck with about 8 ducklings headed for the far bank so sadly the ones that are left that wouldn’t jump out of the tree will be goners by tomorrow, that is nature I suppose. You would think they would have evolved by now to pick each one up and chuck it over the edge. 10 fish for April which is bearable in these conditions, if we get water next week it’ll be a game changer.
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©M Campbell 2021
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