Week beginning 27 February 2017
Monday 27th February. Looks like it’s going to be a short report this week. 7’0” plus and very dirty, mostly Teviot effect. Had a tidy up round hut and got some wood sawn up for kindling A fair bit of snow round the borders tonight.
Tuesday 28th February. 4’2” and still with a lot of colour so no fishing here today, 1 fish caught at Upper Floors this afternoon, no Teviot effect up there of course. Filled a few potholes along the drive we don’t want you all shaken up before you start fishing. Looking at the gauges tonight it’s still 3’6” with us so fishing tomorrow will be rather limited.
Wednesday 1st March. Well that’s the arse kicked out of February, it’s a month I never like as it’s still definitely winter but saying that March can be the cruellest month as it lures you in with a mild start then snows with north east winds at the end of the month. The brave wee sandmartins will be with us anytime after the 20th usually so let’s hope there’s a few flies on the water by then. Fishing today was limited as the Lees gauge was reading 3’4” and still a bit murky this morning, we only had one rod braving the elements today, Ray Anderson popped up from Newcastle and had a lovely time chucking a Toby of the bank and trying not to foul hook one of the otters that were fishing the cauld round about him. There were 5 fish off the main river today the nearest to us being Lower Floors who had 3 of them, Upper Floors 1 and Boleside 1 also. The river is dropping very slowly as there is a fair bit of snow to melt further up. Full team on tomorrow so we’ll see what happens.
Thursday 2nd March. 3’0” and 38 degrees but clean enough. The colour was fine but there’s just too much water for this time of the season, we had 4 lads on all day but trying to find a springer in that much water is a big challenge even with a Toby spoon (yes we we’re spinning). The height along with the wind and possibly the lack of fish in the system at the moment meant we ended the day with a blank and the levels are not dropping as quickly as I’d like. 2 fish landed at Junction today so well done them. On the brighter side I did see a few large upwinged olives coming down this afternoon so there’s hope for the sandmartins when they arrive, the sun was shining this morning and the skylark was singing his heart out even though the wind was cold enough to cut you in half.
Friday 3rd March. A calm day but overcast and cold, 2’9” and 38 degrees but clean enough, Ian Jardine was the only rod to score today at the Lees with a well mended Kelt from the top of the Temple, John Okell and Steve tried hard but never had a pull. There were some fish caught on the Wark beats today so they are getting closer but with heavy rain in the forecast we might not be fishing tomorrow. On the brighter side, it was a good day for John Okell as he managed not to fall in this year so every cloud and all that.
Saturday 4th March. The fishing was over before it started with the river rising, all the rods for Saturday were only here for the day and decided not to travel. It was always going to be a difficult week with the levels. Next week looks settled until Wednesday/Thursday so hopefully we might find a fish but we’ll be fishing in big water again.
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