Week beginning 4 February 2013
New Season
We didn’t fish on the first or second of the month as it was just too big and coloured at the Lees.
Monday 4th Gale force winds and snow, rain bitter cold. Fished all day and managed a Kelt from the Cauld it was the sort of day you wouldn’t put a wheely bin out never mind a fly or a Ghillie!
Tuesday 5th Gales again this morning with snow showers and they call it Spring fishing! 3’2” and 36 degs wee touch of colour in the water. The wind dropped over lunchtime so we managed to get the boats out on the Temple and Cauld and one of our Swedish guests managed to get into a Springer making Pauls efforts worthwhile, a lovely 11lb fish no lice but fresh so the Lees is on the scoreboard for 2013. Wednesday 6th The rain and snow melt put paid to any hope of fishing today with 3’10” on the Lees gauge and very dirty water, on the plus side of things a pair of Barn Owls were hunting the banksides which was lovely to see as they have really suffered over the last two or three winters, also had the Oyster catchers with us last two days. Thursday 7th River had dropped back to 2’10” and clean which surprised me I have to say, I thought the colour would take much longer to clear. Four fresh rods on today and we managed a couple of Kelts and a Kipper, saw a few other fish moving but they were too far away to say what they were, another frost tonight so that should drop it in a bit more, the lower it gets the better for us at this time of year. Friday 8th A lovely day one the river for the time of year sunny and calm, landed four Kelts but have to say not that many Kelts about this year also spoke to Mick from Middle pavilion today and he tells me there is a shortage of Kelts up there also, I suppose we were catching Kelts in early November which is very early in the Autumn for us so maybe the bulk have gone already. We didn’t see a Spring fish today but there were a few caught above us, whether they were fresh or was it just that the river has dropped to a better fishing height and the pools were fished more effectively I’m not sure but I’ll find out. Saturday 9th Nice calm day and a Springer for Chris Bryce on his first visit to the Lees, it was 10lb from the Cauld on a wee black and yellow tube. It seems that most of the fish being caught above us are not liced and have been in a week or two. The bad weather that we are being warned about seems to be missing us at least I hope it does, we still need the river to drop in some more so we can get at all the pools.