Week beginning 26 July 2021
Monday 26th July. Crispin Rodwell and Dave Loughlan had an early start this morning and it nearly paid off with Crispin hooking a fish in the Duddo stream on a micro tube but the hook was thin wire and it straightened, these things happen but it is worse when fish are so scarce. Water temp has dropped to a chilly 64f this morning which maybe helped a bit, it didnt help the fish that was lying dead at the middle stream though, no marks or wounds on it and it looked like it hadnt been there long. The West learmouth rod managed to get a wee grilse out of the Cornhill bend; it was wee as it looked about 2lbs. A few more fish caught below us today which is encouraging. By lunchtime the sun was out and it was very humid, someone upstream was cutting weed and the stuff was floating all over the place, it didnt matter too much as the rods were not fishing again until tonight when it should be through us. I received a flood warning from SEPA by text today but Im not holding my breath as the thunder storms look to be north of us.
Tuesday 27th July. Another warm humid day but mostly overcast, water temp down to 63f but still a fair bit of slime/slake floating about. Dave was the lucky lad getting our first fish for over two weeks, it was in Learmouth and was a grilse around 4lb not fresh but clean, it was returned and swam away strongly as it had been played hard and fast. The lads fished through the afternoon and into the evening but Ive not heard anymore reports of catches. Team Godden for the rest of the week and if and its a big if these thunderstorms hit the top of the catchment Friday Saturday could be decent, there is certainly a lot of rain further north so anyone heading for Tay, Dee etc could be in luck next week. Milne Graden had another Pink salmon today as well as a two grilse; I think there were 7 fish caught below us today.
Wednesday 28th July. Well the thunderstorms missed the Tweed catchment and I can only look at clips of northern rivers in spate with envy, there will be some lucky rods up north the end of this week and next, it might also give us an idea of what is about fish wise. Anyway, Team Godden here for 4 days and after the usual coffee to help with the hangovers we got the rods up flies on and away we went. Gene was in the Glide where we saw a few fish including one really big one right on the crease on far side, it was a bit coloured and in fact might even be older than me. The only action was the two things right in the tail which i suspect are decent sized browns as every time I put a fly (usually a wee skimmer) across they follow it to this side but never pull; this has happened most of the summer. Toby Kembal did the Bags and Duddo, he didnt see a thing not even the Cornhill rods who didnt bother to turn out today but he enjoyed his fishing. Nigel was his usual steady self and sporting his summer short wig cut quiet a figure getting down the back of the wall. David Nash one of the finest keepers in the land (ret) was up the top and despite covering a few in the slap couldnt tempt any of them, this was all more or less repeated this afternoon making the scoreboard at the end of play read a now familiar zero. We might get one tomorrow.
Thursday 29th July. A humid sort of day overcast and dull start. Gene was on the slap and cauld and we tried several flies then decided nothing was going to have a go. Toby on Learmouth same result and David in the glide fared no better. Nigel on the other hand down in the Duddo came up smelling of roses which would be quite a result for him but never the less caught a 5lb clean grilse on a #10 sort of black and yellow affair. Very heavy showers this afternoon along with the river rising just one inch was enough to bring a lot of slimy weed into the river from the edges casing the fly to be covered every cast. Ladykirk and Tillmouth top dogs again.
Friday 30th July. An overcast day with some heavy showers, not anything like enough to help the river though. The lads went through the motions trying to avoid the slimy weed that was coming down. Toby had a couple of fish come up and look at his fly in the slap but they kept their mouths firmly closed. There are fish in every pool Id say, not loads but you see them showing every time you go through, trouble is there are no fresh fish at the moment with us.
Saturday 31st July. The lads decided to head home early today as nothing had changed, they are back in September when Im sure the river will be a perfect height and stuffed with fresh fish. I am on holiday next week so no report unless I just change the names and cut and paste this one, I doubt of anyone would notice. The drop in temp has helped a wee bit as there were a few fish caught upstream nothing fresh though.
As ever see Tweedbeats on instagram for latest pics and clips.
M Campbell 2021
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