Week beginning 3 February 2014
Monday 3rd February 4’6” and 40 degs with a fair bit of colour and a healthy wind from the south east, no fishing today as it’s too big. Tuesday 4th A nice sunny start and calm for a change, the rods keen to have a go but at 3’6” there’s not a lot of the beat to go at just the Temple and the Cauld with fast sinking lines, anyway we set sail with two rods in the boats and one wading the ledges, and as you would expect at this height the Ledges rod and the Cauld boat got the action all be it from Kelts, the Cauld fishing best further down in the thinner water. 5 Kelts for the day all silver and ready for the sea. The forecast is for heavy rain starting tonight along with gales tomorrow so not looking good. Wednesday 5th A grey start to the day with the forecast not great, got Rodger into the Cauld boat and he soon had a couple of kelts putting a smile on his face, Fred of Pedwell fame had a Kipper from the Temple which many an inexperienced rod would of counted as a Springer as it was silver with just a small Kype, nice tight vent also. The river started to rise again by 11.00 and with the wind picking up that was it for the day, 3’10 when we left after lunchtime and 4 feet at Peebles with rain coming down as I write this making tomorrow a washout and again the forecast is grim for the rest of the week. Thursday 6th 4’9” this morning and a fair bit of colour but it was a nice mild calm day, all the rods had decided not to come this morning which was a wise choice I have to say. So spent the day setting and checking mole traps, went to Kelso to get new spade and shovel, came back to Lees and tried out said shovel and it works! Removed mole from trap, shot Squirrel, removed tail for fly tying, baited squirrel traps, bleathered to walkers going past hut, gave Kelsae the dug a bollocking for eating a dead Kelt (rotten) sawed up a lovely Ash limb that had come down in flood (now stored in my log shed). Home lit fire, went to Berwick station to pick up son, had Lamb Casserole for tea. Tying flies all of them killers which will be for sale in the hut, and that was my day. All four rods are coming tomorrow so the more it drops the better. Friday 7th 3’6” and 38 degs so it could be better but it could be a lot worse. Dave drew the Cauldstream first and within 6 casts had a 14lb Springer no lice but fresh so he’s a happy bunny as am I as thats us up and running, we also had a couple of Kelts. The river was quiet with very little showing (kelts that is) the Otter fished the Cauld all morning along with the Egret and it was a lovely sunny day with a bit of frost first thing a great day to open the scoring on. I am now upping Kelsae’s training and had her retrieving a Mole in no time, she has spoiled things a bit by eating one of my slippers but I’m treating it as a term of endearment. Will we fish tomorrow? There’s a lot of rain on its way tonight so it will depend how soon it arrives in the west. Saturday 8th A nice sunny start and very little wind, 3’2” and 38 degs at 9.00am but it wasn’t to last with all the gauges rising above us so the lads had a couple of hours before the water got to us. Ian had a very well mended Kelt from the Cauld but that was the only pull for the day, which wasn’t really a surprise. It’s been wet 5 lines and big tubes since we started and that will be the case next week as well I should think as one storm follows another, although we have got off light compared to down south. It’s been so mild I still have flowers in bloom in my garden form last year, my hens are laying away fine and trying to go broody, all the duck on the river are paired up, and pigeons are looking at nest sites round the hut, it’s bound to change into the north sometime and will get stuck there for the next three months. Calcutta cup is on at 5.00pm so I can settle back and watch Scotland give England a good kicking up and down the pitch!!!!!!!!!!! (I reckon it’ll be damage limitation for Scotland). Team Harper will be here tomorrow so the annual whisky drinking competition will be taking place in the hut. Photos this week are a windy Temple and the gauge where we don’t want to see it.
©M Campbell 2014
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