Week beginning 31 July 2023
Monday 31st July. Well thats another month gone and what a month it was, we’ve went from a very dry June to a very wet July and today was a shocker, it rained then it rained some more, my jacket was as much use as a colander, the fires in the huts were both on blazing away to get things dried off at lunchtime. 1’2” and rising due to last night’s rain, it didn’t go up much just a few inches to 1’6”. Michael Black here along with David Foreman, Sandy Lang and David Seed, a good enough team for any day. Michael was into two fish in learmouth stream this morning one of them a brand new 5lber the other an old 8lber, this afternoon in the glide he also landed a 10lb freshish hen on a inch and a quarter black and yellow tube. David fishing the back of the wall above him saw a couple but no pulls; neither did David Seed or Sandy. Again fish were on the scarce side, there were a few splashing in the slap and Paul and Sandy saw a big fresh fish in the cauld this afternoon, I saw a couple coming into the glide over the rapids on the far side but nothing to get too excited about. Tillmouth were the golden boys today getting 10 out of the 20 caught on the river below us, must have had a good fly on. This evening with lighter rain now falling the gauges are showing Tweed, Teviot and Ettrick rising, that was at 5.30pm so they could still go a bit more, it’ll be beery water that faces us tomorrow. I could do with a break from this autumnal weather now a wee bit of summer would be nice but the forecast is for more of the same and heavy rain Wednesday.
Tuesday 1st August. Should be high summer but it’s more like mid October, rain, dull a proper dreich day again. 2’2” on the gauge and 58 degrees but very murky. I took two of the lads down the beat and got them going leaving Rob Brooks to fish the lower cauld, on my return I had to run down and net a 14lber for him, it took a junction shrimp variant tube on a fast sinktip, that the secret in this water find the thin water that fish lie in and at least they’ve a chance of seeing the fly, a couple of decent brownies then he was into another salmon a 6lber this time, both the fish were older but very welcome all the same. Whilst Rob was getting back in I looked down the beat towards Learmouth and saw what I thought was two wee dogs running up the track about 70 yards away, as they drew closer it turned out to be two fully grown otters, they cantered past me and the dogs no more than 10 yards away, I think Jock and Kelsae were too surprised to do anything and just sat and looked at them. This afternoon still raining Ped who had broken his fly rod this morning resorted to a spinner, now I thought he’d bag up as a good few fish were moving in the temple but all he got was a 3lb seatrout in the cauld. As long as it doesn’t start raining overnight tomorrow will/should be a better day fishing wise apart from standing/rowing in the rain all day, just a wee taste of summer would be nice, we had a wee bit in June not as much as the rest of the country but that now seems a long time ago.
Wednesday 2nd August. Another wet cloudy day with the wind out of the north east. 1’11” and rising slowly. Ed Marshal and team joined us today with Simon Scargill having a hold of four fish and all of them dropping off, Rob Brooks had more luck down in the duddo this morning getting an 11lb licer on a gledswood shrimp sort of thing, it gave him a great scrap in the strong current. Simon Crone had a 3lb seatrout out of the glide, same place where he lost a good fish yesterday. I didn’t see a fish round the beat but saw a few in the temple. By lunchtime a bit of colour was coming in which didn’t help, hopefully it’ll run through overnight. It looks to be drier tomorrow and Friday with a few showers but Saturday at the moment looks to be a howler. The two otters came back up the track again this morning, perhaps they can’t be bothered to swim up against the flow.
Thursday 3rd August. A very beery water and the gauge reading 2’3” with a temp of 58f. Simon was down in Learmouth and had the only pull of the morning, up in the cauld Rob fished it down very carefully but we never saw a fish, there were a good few moving in the temple which we tried but not a touch to be had. This afternoon Simon caught a clean 6lber in the glide the other Simon had a pull in the back of the wall as he was brushing up on his snap “T” cast. The beats round about that were spinning all caught a few fish the best being Sprouston with 21 and a load of seatrout to two rods. It was a dry day at last so hopefully the levels will drop a bit and most of all get some of that beeriness out of it.
Friday 4th August. 1’10” and 56f but still a strong beery tinge, much better than yesterday as you can see your feet when wading. Ed Marshall was in the cauld with Paul this morning and had a hold of 4 fish but all of them dropping off which is character building I must say. Down on the glide and iron gate Simon Crone had a fresh 9lber and pal Rob Brooks had a 4lb grilse, the other Simon had a 4lb grilse at the iron gate which was also brand new, it’s nice to see the grilse coming in but bloody annoying as so many of them fall off the hook. This afternoon Rob was in learmouth and had a couple of fish one was a 14lber fresh as paint the other a 4lb licer, Howard lost 3 in the glide and Simon lost a couple in the lower cauld so we could have been on double figures today if they’d all stuck. It was dry today, all day for a change but someone had rain as the Sprouston gauge was rising at lunchtime. On the bright side the cheery weathergirl now tells me that the storm is going to hit Englandshire which is fine by me, it can rain a bit next Sunday to top it up again.
Saturday 5th August. Beery water again but better than last few days, 1’9” and 56f. David Pearce was here for the day and was in the cauld he soon had a pull from a fish which was an 11lb liced cock which fought like a tiger, leaping and summer salting all over the place, he followed that up with a 7lb hen that was a river fish and lost one wading the tail end of the cauld. Alex David’s son was in learmouth and had a 4lb seatrout which surprisingly was the only pull he had. Simon and Ed sharing a rod with Howard blanked down the bottom. It was definitely quieter on the beat today with far fewer fish showing but still enough to keep it interesting. The storm that the cheery weathergirl has been talking about is missing us and Englandshire is getting it, whether thats a good or bad thing remains to be seen. Forecast for us going in to next week seems to be more settled and getting warmer, I’m forecasting that catches should remain upbeat for most of the week.
Follow tweedbeatsfishing on instagram for latest pics and clips.
I’m on holiday next week for the Common Riding so no report next week, sorry to disappoint.
©M Campbell 2023
our twitter feed