Week beginning 3 November 2014
Monday 3rd November 2’10” on the gauge and 46 degs and a far bit of a beery colour to it, all the rods fishing at the top end in the Temple and Cauld. 1.00pm and its lunchtime but there’s nothing to report and very few seen. This afternoon after a quick technical change of tackle Nick Evans was into a 18lb cock fish in the lower Temple which gave him a hell of a scrap, it was an older fish so was safely returned, a few casts later he had a fresh 4lb cock which wasn’t returned, meanwhile Neil Andrews had an old 6lb cock wading the Tail of the Cauld which was returned as well. Three for the day which wasn’t too bad a score given the conditions. The river is rising again so we’ll have to see what tomorrow brings.
Tuesday 4th November. Well Tuesday brought a river that was higher by 9” than last night and carrying a lot more colour along with heavy and persistent showers. This morning the rods took themselves up to the Cauld at Selkirk to watch the fish jumping, unfortunately the Cauld has been repaired and altered with the fish pass a lot easier for the fish to find, great for the fish but not so good for the spectators. The team arrived back this afternoon for a cast but it was pissing it down with rain and some of the rods had to be marched to the boats at gunpoint. All this rain does not bode well for the fishing tomorrow, it had been dry upstream of us all day but the Teviot is rising at the bottom end so that means more colour tomorrow and the forecast for Thursday night and Friday is terrible so sad times. I didn’t see a fish all day not that I was looking all that hard, so the score this week so far is 3 salmon,1 rat and a carrion crow, it can only get better.
Wednesday 5th November No fireworks on the Lees today more of a damp squib as it was 5’0” and coffee brown, last night’s rain caught the bottom half of the Teviot which brought height and colour. For half the team this was their last day so its the long drive home with nothing in the bag, the rest along with the new rods taking over tomorrow are going to be praying that it drops enough for a cast tomorrow as there’s a lot of rain coming in Thursday night. We pulled the Annay boat on top of the bank and brought the Duddo boat up to the hut, it save us having to worry about them if it does get very big. So the score is still 3 salmon but the various has increased to 2 Carrion crows, 1 rat and 4 Squirrels.
Thursday 6th November 2’11” and 42 degs, very dark beery water, raining along with a wind which didn’t know what way to blow. James Evans was the top dog this morning as he caught the only fish, an old hen around 15lbs in the Temple. During lunch the wind dropped but some of the rods were a wee bit reluctant to leave the warmth of the hut at 2.00pm. John Couglan and James were on the Cauld for a wee while then retired to the pub, John must be the unluckiest fisher on Tweed he just never seems to get it right, he even went to Russia this year and was flooded off, just shows you’re better being lucky than good when it comes to fishing. Steve Evans joined us today and it was his 7oth birthday so if anyone deserved a fish it was him, his second cast on the Temple he had a 5lb cock then a 4lb fresh Seatrout then lost a bigger fish which we never saw then on his second last cast of the afternoon (he’d said two more casts then home) he hooked and landed a 71/2 lb fresh cock so he was a happy birthday boy. We only saw one fish in the Cauld all day but there were a few showing in the Temple this afternoon. The gauges are rising yet again and heavy rain forecast for tomorrow so it’s going to be one of those weeks.
Friday 7th November It was one of those mornings when I’d rather be in the Bahamas than at the Lees and I have to say I’ve had a lot of them this year. 2’10 and rising wet and not a fish to be seen in the Cauld where I spent all morning. John Couglan not wanting to finish his season on a blank managed a 7lb clean cock from the Slap just before lunch, and top Lees fisher James Evans had a 5lb fresh hen from the Temple, James also grew the Leeks for the Welsh rugby team bouquets for the upcoming winter tests, what a guy! They were the only fish for the morning and as it turns out the only fish for the day, with the river rising and a leaf every cast James saw sense and packed up at 4.00pm, this was the catalyst for the rest apart from Francis who stuck it out until he’d fished the Slap as well just in case John had missed one. (He hadn’t). The gauge was reading 3’7” last time I looked and will get bigger with more to come down from middle Tweed, it’ll likely fish again tomorrow but it will be a case of fishing at top heights in dirty water, I’m really looking forward to it! We only fished 4 rods today as Tudor (nothing to do with the crisp people) is still recovering from his unscheduled swim in the Ettrick on Wednesday and has opted to go shooting instead.
Saturday 8th November Another day I’d rather of been in the Bahamas bit I’m not! 3’2” and 44 degs very beery but sunny, so not all lost. 3 for the day the best being 17lb from the Slap to Francis who has missed out on the trophy this year by 1lb to Nick Evans (this team have their own trophy for the biggest fish) He had just came out of the lower Cauld and was going to call it a day when Stewart told him he’d seen a couple of fish in the Slap and that’s where the 17lber came from, so Stewart is now his best friend forever. Nick Douglas Home had a wee 4lb clean hen from the Temple which gave up after one run. So a quiet end to a quiet week that’s the way it goes this season. Now, Dab Chicks where do they hide all summer? They are all over the place from November onwards but you try and find one in June/July not a sniff, you just don’t see a single one, they don’t migrate they can’t fly, just run across the water they would be hide and seek Olympic champions. So 13 for the week and 11 returned I think, 298 for the season same day last year 647.
Photos this week are John Coughlan landing a fish on Slap Croy, Nick Evans with his fish (ret) James Evans Champion Leek grower and the Trophy presentation pre Drams.
© M Campbell 2014
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