Week beginning 30 March 2015
Monday 30th March Well it looks like March is going to go out like a lion as well has having came in like one, it was another very windy day on the Lees making casting the fly a difficult and sometimes dangerous job. Team Sanderson still with us today and they worked their way round the beat with due diligence, a Salmon Kelt from the Temple this morning was all we had to show for our efforts but in the afternoon Liz hooked what seemed a decent fish in the Cauld, it was on for a few minutes but as the boat got ashore it decided not become a statistic and buggered off. 2’3” and 42 degs with a bit of a beery tinge to it, we didn’t see any fish but unless they had jumped right out you wouldn’t see them anyway with the waves that were rolling down. No sign of the Osprey yet but a few more Sandmartins were flitting about. The willows are getting a bit more of a green tinge about them along with the Lilac bushes and the Horse Chestnut buds are starting to swell, if it would warm up a bit things would really start to happen. On the garden front (for my gardening fans) there is nothing in the ground outside yet the greenhouse is starting to fill up with seedlings and the propagator is going flat out along with all available window sills in my house much to sally’s annoyance.(poultry fans) The 12 Maran eggs in the incubator are due on the 10/11th April so I’m literary counting my chickens. Back to fishing, it’s not a great forecast for the week ahead and it’s raining at the moment so it’s going to be a challenging week.
Tuesday 31st March It was the sort of day that you wouldn’t send someone out to fish, in fact it was the sort of day you wouldn’t put a wheely bin out as it would end up in the next street. So I went to the bank to sort out all things financial as the bank in Coldstream is only open two days a week now. It’s not open on a Sunday which is my day off so I have to go on a Tuesday or Thursday and fight with the crowds, there’s never enough staff on and all because everyone is doing online banking, I don’t trust online banking so I have to fight the crowds. I also took the chance to renew my passport, not online due to mistrust again but also the wee lassie in the post office checks it all over for you and sends it off for you. Anyway very windy and a big broon water 3’6” or there abouts as the waves made reading the gauge a bit difficult. Rodger and Veronica Ford here for a few days but no fishing today so we had a coffee and sorted out the world and admired Veronicas flies. Spent the afternoon in the Shed/Greenhouse planting seeds and hoping for a nice summer again, it needs to be nice and sunny over Coldstream but can rain at Peebles, Hawick, Gala and Selkirk so there’s enough water all summer. We will likely fish tomorrow but with a Toby spoon as I think the water will still be coloured.
Wednesday 1st April Another month and another bloody gale plus the water’s brown, it just never gets any better and I’m fed up with it all. 8 Salmon for March, at least that’s March out of the way as it’s a crap month as your still waiting for spring to arrive and it’s a windy month and regular readers will know how much I hate the wind. 2’7” and a bit on the murky side this morning, Jim Fleming and John Lowe were here waving their fly rods about furiously and Jim was rewarded with a 2lb Seatrout from the Tail of the Cauld. Veronica Ford hooked and lost another Seatrout this afternoon and that was the action for the day. Looking at the websites I see that there were five fish off the whole river both caught at Junction so well done them! There was a hatch of fly this afternoon some kind of dark olive but not a trout was brave enough to take one. The river temp is still on the cold side at 40 degs but that didn’t bother the Otter who was fishing alongside us this morning in the Temple, the Kingfisher gave us a flypast as well but still no sign of the Osprey, Swallows usually show up around the 10th of April which I love to see as then you really think the better weather is on it’s way, which brings me to tonight’s weather forecast the charming young lady tells me it will be a lovely sunny CALM day if she’s wrong I want my licence fee back! (Rant over)
Thursday 2nd April Well! The wee lassie from the met office was right for a change; it was a lovely day on the river, next to no wind and warmish. 2’3” and 40 degs with a strong beery tinge. The fact that the weather was nice helped to make the fact that there were no fish a bit more bearable. The team fished the whole beat with the odd coffee break but we didn’t see a thing apart from a couple of trout just above the Slap, Wark beats had 4 all fresh so tomorrow the fish might stop with us, it still needs to drop in a bit more for spring fishing on the Lees at the moment, the lower it gets the more chance of some fish staying with us. It’ll be better tomorrow.
Friday 3rd April A calm wet start 2’0” and 42 degs Andy Brittan and John Coutts with us today. We saw a fish in the tail of the Cauld and one in the Temple along with a Kelt but despite the skill and combined experience of the pair of them not a touch was had. There were some fish caught below us at Tillmouth and Milen Graden so it looks like new Ghillie Kevin has finally learned how to tie on a fly. Flipper had one over at West Learmouth from the stream despite our efforts’ in the morning which was decent of Andy I have to say as he usually winkles out every fish in the pool. Veronica Ford had one at South Wark on one of her own flies so her vice will be red hot from now on. It’s Andy and Ian Gardner tomorrow so the gloves will be off as Andy will never live it down if he doesn’t get one. There was the odd Trout rising to the Olives that were coming down and with the forecast saying its going to warm up the March Browns will be here so its Trout rods at the ready.
Saturday 4th March Only two rods turned up today so Andy and Ian had the whole beat to play with but even that advantage couldn’t get them a fish, The total bag for the day was 1 Squirrel, 1 Rat, 1 Broon Troot and a couple of various. We saw one fish well down the Tail of the Cauld and one in the Temple but we couldn’t get a pull from either. The first of the March Browns started today but very few Trout bothered to have a go at them, pair of Reed Buntings at Learmouth were making the most of the hatch nipping out of the willows and picking them off as they lifted off the river, they are the first I’ve seen this season. 2’2” and 44 degs today overcast but a tad warmer of late or maybe it was just that there was no wind. A busy evening when I got home, a neighbour had thrown a hammer through my Greenhouse for some reason known only to him! It takes a fair chuck as his yard is a good 18’ below my garden, a DIY issue I imagine. The catches on the river were well down today from yesterday for no apparent reason other than there were no more fish that came in. The forecast for the coming week is cloudy with light winds, no rain and getting warmer, that’ll do me.
Photo this week is a rough morning on the Temple.
© M Campbell 2015
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