Week beginning 26 August 2019
Monday 26th August. An overcast start but this soon gave way to blue skies and heat again; luckily Nick D Home was into a fish before it got very hot as that was it for the day. Andrew had a pull in the Glide whilst I fished the Cornhill bend, Duddo two times then followed Andrew down through the Iron Gate and Glide but didn’t see a scale until I got back to the hut where I saw a fish opposite the hut. It’s to cool down as from tomorrow and by Saturday a good 10 degrees cooler. 1’6” and 62 degrees nice and clean.
Tuesday 27th August. 1’6” and 60 degrees nice and clean. Michael Black and Ronald Gardner here along with Alistair Macintosh and son Charlie. Ronald was on the Slap and Cauld with myself and we saw a few fish in the Slap as we were fishing it but despite throwing a fair selection at them none would take, Michael had more luck with Paul down at Learmouth getting two fish down by the gate at 5lb and 7lbs, Charlie not to be outdone made this morning’s catch three getting a wee grilse from the Duddo. That sadly was the final score for the day, it was very hot and humid this afternoon and you could feel the weather was going to break which it did around 6.00pm with heavy rain and thunder for around an hour. We are on floaters with inter sinktips teamed with either #8-#10 doubles/trebles or in Michaels case a wee posh tosh tube.
Wednesday 28th August. 1’4” and 62 degrees. Michael Black and friends here for the day. They fished their way round the beat and caught nothing in the morning; we did see a fish or two at the Iron Gate and in the Glide but couldn’t get a pull. This afternoon Michael was in the Cauld and Slap where we saw around 7-8 fish as we were covering it but again none would pull, into the Cauld with a wee black and yellow bottle tube on and we had three good pulls which Michael managed to shake off as quick as they’d pulled (only joking), typical grilse when using a big rod on them. I’ve yet to see any numbers of fish on the beat since the flood but I’m sure they are on their way, it’ll be better tomorrow.
Thursday 29th August. It was bloody windy today yet again which didn’t help with the casting, rowing or my mood. 1’3” and 60 degrees. In the Slap first thing Alistair was covering fish every cast but none would look, in the Cauld things were no better we covered the water but I’m not sure we were covering any fish. Down in Learmouth Michael Black fared better getting a fish despite forgetting to zip up his waders and getting wet. Colin Hamnet had a wee grilse from the Glide and Andrew had a fish out of the Annay. This afternoon the wind was even stronger and David Hamnet struggled to get a line out in the Back of the wall, it was being blown downstream at 90 degrees, he retired to the Bags and some shelter but had no action, Colin on the other hand landed a river fish from the Slap making it 4 for the day and thats the way the scores ended. There seems to be a few more fish downstream from the reports on the web and speaking to some of the lads so here’s hoping. A lot of rain on the forecast over next two days and a flood alert as been issued, the last time we had one the river went down an inch!
Friday 30th August. It was windy yesterday but it was really windy today. 1’2” and 58 degrees. Down the bottom half of the beat with Bob Wigglesworth on the Back of the wall there wasn’t much to be seen, partly due to the waves and mostly due to there being no fish in that section perhaps. Steven who was on the Glide saw a number of fish and in fact lost on in the tail of the pool, Michael fishing the Cornhill bend and Duddo/Bags etc never saw a thing. This afternoon on Learmouth Paul who had Peter under his charge reported seeing a good number of fish including a big silver one but couldn’t get a pull from them. Up on the Cauld Michael Black continued with his streak of bad luck having a pull which didn’t stick followed by a fish on which was almost to the net when he shook it off yet again, (see instagram for a broken man). Michael’s dog “Crumble” had a lovely day diving into the river and swimming round the boat several times this afternoon in the Cauld resulting in the dog being jailed in the back of the car. Junction and Tillmouth had the lion’s share of the sport today getting 9 fish each. The forecast heavy rain looks to have gone mostly above us but as the gauges on the website are all over the place at the moment I’m not too sure how much water we’re going to get. It needs a flood now as it’s heading towards summer level again and a flood would shuffle the pack and maybe bring more fish in.
Saturday 31st August. Aye, I thought it was really windy yesterday but today it blew an effing hoolie, I took Michael Black into the cauld and on the far side it wasn’t too bad tucked under the willows as the wind was from the south, well I say south but it seemed to gust from all directions. We came ashore at 11.30 for a coffee and Tam from south wark was fishing just above the hut and promptly had two fish in as many casts, I said to Michael I’d give him a go at the top of the Temple and the Ledges but when I got there I wished I’d kept quiet, I think Michael thought the same as the wind was evil. Paul and Jonathon fishing Learmouth had the same problems and came up to the Cauld, anyway by lunchtime we were both fishless, to cap it all the river had gone up eight inch. At lunchtime Bob and Peter came up and Peter had had a grilse from the Glide, they decided they’d had enough of the wind and headed for home. Michael and Jonathon went down to do the Glide for an hour then were heading for home and it paid off for Michael as he hooked (and it stayed on this time)a 16lber at the Iron Gate. 1’10” and 58 degrees at lunchtime so that will at least give us something to fish in next week and it will shuffle the pack and hopefully “bring them in” As ever see instagram tweedbeats for latest clips and photos.
©M Campbell 2019
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