Week beginning 6 November 2017
Monday 6th November. A very frosty morning but nice and calm. 1’4” on the Lees gauge and 40 degrees. Team Sidoli here for the week who were all about as keen as the frost to get in about the fish. Roy Alderslade was first into action in the Cauld getting a 10lb hen on a sinktip set up. Francis Sidoli not to be outdone had two in the Glide total weight 6lb!!! One would be 2lb soaking wet and on beaching it Frances thought it had red vent but it was some roe coming out of it, I don’t think it was actually spawning but the short fight must have popped the seal, the fish was fairly clean to be so ripe. That was all the fishy action for the day. Nigel Woodroffe Fished his way through Cornhill bend and the Duddo this morning, the Temple and Slap this afternoon and despite seeing some fish never had a pull. It is much quieter on the fishy front now, the Cauld this afternoon was the quietest I’ve seen it in weeks and the bottom end of the beat is the same. 16 fish reported off the river today across both websites with the best being a 30lber from Birgham Dub. A band of rain coming through tomorrow, the last thing I want is anymore water.
Tuesday 7th November. A much milder morning with no frost, 1’4” and 44 degrees at the Lees. Down to three rods today for various reasons. The lads set off about their task with an optimism not seen since I bought my lotto ticket on Saturday night, we both had about the same luck, I won £3.00 on the Thunderball and Nigel caught an 8lb black hen from the Cauld. Francis nearly did it losing a decent sized fish in the Learmouth stream which bent his hook, they never saw the fish but could tell it was decent. Again the pools are very quiet with the same old residents splashing now and again to try and keep your interest up. I managed another Carrion Crow and again it was extreme range for me but luckily it sat still long enough, It was one of the ones that comes into the town at or before daybreak and Caws it’s bloody head off, this is ok at this time of year but not when daybreak is at 4.00am. The catches on the river were quiet to say the least with only 4 reported on Tweedbeats and bugger all on Fishpal, the river was rising from Peebles on down but even so nothing! We will likely fish tomorrow but it will be in murky water with leaves every cast no doubt.
Wednesday 8th November. Another frosty start but sunny. 2’3” and 40 degrees. The colour of the water was a grey murky hue a bit like really manky dishwater; this however did not deter Team Sidoli as much as it deterred me so it was waders on and off we go. Nigel Woodroffe was the luckiest rod between the Lees and Bemersyde as he caught the only fish reported between here and Bemersyde an old hen around the 11lb mark from the top of the Temple. There was some fish showing in the lower cauld and it looked like they were cutting practice redds or even some could have been spawning. This afternoon as soon as the sun started to dip the temperature really dropped and a wind picked up to complement Nigel’s wind funnily enough. Nigel and Ron had had enough by 4.00pm but Lees stalwart Francis fought the good fight until dark but came back fishless which is a rare occurrence for him. As almost all the rise came down Tweed it’ll drop quite a bit overnight I’d think. I hope the colour improves as it does little to entice me out of the hut when it’s manky at this time of year. Anyway Nigel’s fish today takes us past last years total by one so it’s a numbers game now, will we make 350? “Ah hae ma doots”
Thursday 9th November. The river was in much better order today with almost all the colour gone. 1’8” and 43 degrees. Rob Morgan joined the team today and wasted no time in getting a fish from the Temple, to our amazement it was liced, the decision to keep it or not was taken out of our hands as it had basically committed suicide and swallowed the hook into its gills, it was also bleeding badly it was a nice cock fish at 7lbs. Francis Sidoli smarting as Nigel was in the lead for the cup with his 11lber from yesterday managed a 12lber from the Cauld and lost another one, those two fish made up the bag for the day despite the team fishing hard until dark, when I see the crows flying to roost its time for me to roost as well. It was quiet something how quickly the river cleared from yesterdays murk, all coming down the Tweed made all the difference rather than Teviot coffee. On the hunting front the moles filled the traps with soil and the Carrion Crows and others kept a low profile today almost suspicious by their absence. The otter was with us most of the morning in the Temple and as last backend we have an abundance of kingfishers this year. 18 fish reported across the websites tonight making it the best day of the week so far.
Friday 10th November. 1’9” and 42 degrees, up an inch on yesterday for the less observant of you. We were joined today by James Evans who’s not been keeping to well of late but he was looking good today in fine fettle and up for a cast. James fished the Cauld but didn’t get a pull, saying that he did no worse than the rest of the team this morning. The big action came this afternoon with Nigel Woodroffe getting a fresh seatrout this afternoon from the Cauld that weighed in at a scale busting 1lb. There were less fish showing today in all the pools but Bruce and Roy came back from Learmouth saying they’d seen one nice fresh fish about the 8lb mark, getting to be something when you’re reporting seeing one. The catches on the river were very low again today with only around 13 off the whole river, middle tweed seems to be devoid of any fish going by the catches anyway. Cold North West wind blowing today and the forecast is for it to turn into the north over the weekend giving us an arctic blast so the weather girl cheerily tells me. What will tomorrow bring? Much the same nae doot.
Saturday 11th November. A lovely late autumn morning with a wee touch of frost and blue skies. The Lees gauge was sitting at 1’7” and 40 degrees. We had a fishless morning but that didn’t deter the rods apart from Nigel who had to get home to watch strictly come dancing. In the cauld Roy switching to a black frances had a 15lb hen which was a bit coloured followed by a 3lb seatrout which was brand new, both fish were returned. Francis (not the red or black more a sort of pink) Sidoli marched off down to the Iron gate and landed a 8lb hen also coloured. The beat is getting very quiet and as each day goes by I see fewer fish in the pools. The catches reflected this today partly affected by lots of beats not being fished with rods heading home early, there were only 9 fish reported across both sites which is what we landed on the Lees this week with just the one fresh.
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©M Campbell 2017
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