Week beginning 27 June 2022
Monday 27th June. An overcast start to the day with the gauge sitting at 0” and a water temp of 58f which is a bit more like it. Nick Gurr here for a couple of days and he got straight into action on the Slap getting a fresh 7lber on a #12 black n yellow sort of thing, he also had another pull on the same fly a few casts later. Down at Learmouth Paul Holland also here for 2 days had a fresh 6lber just before lunch, Steve Robbins lost a fish at the Iron Gate whilst Jonathon Reddin who is recovering from covid blanked. This afternoon Jonathon had a pull in the Slap whilst the others blanked, that was at 5.00pm so they might increase the score by this evening. It is still windy and there is some water at Hawick on the Teviot, it looks to be up a foot, that I should think will give us a couple of inch down here and will likely lift a bit of weed out of the stones and back into the river causing problems tomorrow.
Tuesday 28th June. Well we got more than a couple of inch it went up 7 inch at the Lees which lifted more than a little bit of weed. This morning it was weed on the fly every cast, Paul Holland decided to give it a miss this morning and came back this afternoon and fished the Slap and Cauld but we never saw a fish. Nick Gurr fished all day and was rewarded with an 8lb river fish from Learmouth this afternoon, Jonathon Reddin is much more relaxed and gave up after lunch whilst Steve Robbins decided to come back tonight. The worst of the weed was through us by mid afternoon so tonight might be the time. The promised deluge has failed yet again and it looks like there is no more water to come this week and a high pressure to build by the weekend will soon drop the levels back in. If it stays cool that will help. The wind is still here and it’s been a very windy start to summer. Latest- I’ve just received a load of photos from Nick Gurr and he has had another 4 salmon and a seatrout this evening, from Learmouth I presume as thats last place he was, hopefully he’ll update me when he finishes.
Wednesday 29th June. A damp start with gusty showers through the day. 5 inch on the Lees gauge and 60 degrees. New rods on today and they were all keen, David Cooke was up top first thing and we covered all the bits that needed covering but we blanked, his team mates Rod and Rodger went down to Learmouth and had a couple of fish 10lbs and 8lbs, one fresh and one river fish, both on wee sinktips and a slow twitch retrieve. Mike and Neill covered the rest but had no action. We repeated the process after lunch but no action was had, some of the team are going back out after dinner to target some of the seatrout that are about so hopefully they will get a pull or two. There is some water coming down from the top gauges in Tweed, Ettrick and Teviot so it’ll be up a bit tomorrow and likely full of weed in the morning again.
Thursday 30th June. River was up to 11” and 60f this morning this of course brought all the weed and slime out of the margins and off the stones resulting in weed almost every cast, it was every cast in the narrower areas like the Cauld, Slap and Cornhill bend Duddo areas. The lads had a go but soon gave up to return later this evening when hopefully the weed will have settled down. Some heavy showers about this afternoon and evening and humid. Having not seen any Goosanders for weeks there was a whole family of them sitting on one of the Otterstones this morning, things you see when you don’t have a gun! Got some mole traps set and found a couple of rouge hogweed plants which got chopped and sprayed. It’ll be better tomorrow I hope.
Friday 1st July. A calm start and a bit humid, the Lees gauge reading 7” or thereabouts and 60 degrees. New rods on today so we got the tackle sorted out and fly choices made and off we went, Rob was in Learmouth which of late has been the pound seat and he was soon into a fish on a ally shrimp double, it ran straight towards him and was soon off the hook, he had another on a sunray further down the pool but it also shook itself off. That was all the action for the 4 rods. Two of the team went back out tonight but again didn’t get any action. Some of the top gauges are rising again tonight so the dreaded green gunge and slime could be a problem tomorrow. There was heavy rain today and my waterproof jacket proved not to be waterproof yet again, an investment in a new one is required I think. Reports of fresh fish further down the river are encouraging so another lift of water might bring them further up.
Saturday 2nd July. A blustery day with the Lees gauges reading 9” and 60 degrees, the river had a slight tea stain to it. On the fishy front it was quiet with very few showing today keeping their heads down with the slight tea stain perhaps, not much chat today I heard a of a few caught downstream and fresh ones at that. The top gauges were rising, not a lot but rising they are, it might give us another 6 inch down here which would be a big help for next week.
For accommodation check out the Bothy on airbnb or ring 07786598475.
Follow us on Instagram for latest pics and clips, follow tweedbeatsfishing all one word
© M Campbell 2022