Week beginning 7 June 2021
Monday 7th June. 1’0” and 60 degrees clean. Another warm day but overcast causing it to feel a bit on the humid side. Mick Atkinson and team here for the week. Mick was up on the Slap and Cauld this morning and rose two fish on a large sunray but they were just not keen enough to grab hold of it. Down the beat the rest of the lads didn’t even see a fish let alone hook one, back on the Slap a fish came through as we were fishing it and with a slow head and tail showed the full size of himself which i would put at 12-13lbs, half an hour later Tam over at South wark was texting to say they had just landed a liced 14lber from the Temple stream, it had to be the same fish as there are so few about. Things didn’t change this afternoon except it got warmer which is just as well as Rod fell in the Bags, it is a bit of a lumpy wade in there and ironically my parting words to him were be careful when you’re wading down there. Only one fish reported on the websites caught below us but a few upstream some of which were liced/fresh. I popped along at 9.30pm for a go at the trout but there was a cool wind blowing so it was home for a dram.
Tuesday 8th June. 11” and 60f with a wee tinge to the colour. What to write? The lads fished all the bits where the fish should be but it would seem they weren’t, Learmouth were luckier as they found two in the stream this morning, there were a couple showing in the Slap but again not interested in anything. The Osprey was as unlucky as us as it had five attempts to catch a fish in the Cauld this afternoon but failed. I’m away to water the garden and veg then if the wind drops I might have a cast for a troot later on.
Wednesday 9th June. I went along last night for a troot as Pete said there were loads of big ones rising at the tail of the Cauldstream on Monday night, not one did I see, I sat on the bench at the tail from 9.15pm to 10.30pm and didn’t even bother to get into the river as nothing was moving, it was perhaps a wee pod of seatrout that he’d seen and they have moved on. 11” and 60f today with a south west wind blowing and overcast skies also a bit on the humid side. I saw one old fish in the slap first thing which we covered but it wasn’t interested in what we had to offer. No other fish were seen round the beat and worryingly nothing is being caught below us at the moment, not even the lads with the whirly birly things are getting anything downstream. If the wind drops I’ll venture out again tonight but it’s still more than breezy at moment.
Thursday 10th June. A cloudy windy day but warm and a bit humid, 10” and 60 degrees. Our old friend is still in the Slap and Paul saw an old fish in the Cauld this morning. The rest of the beat was quiet but I did see a splash in the Iron Gate area. I did manage to help land a fish today but it was on the other side at learmouth as the rods needed a bit of help due to the ghillie having a day off and it was their first time on the beat, Dave Barrat was the lucky rod with his own take on a willie gunn. That was the lowest fish off the river as the rest were all above us, two fresh fish caught at the Floors beats, bloody springers doing what they do they are still scooting past us albeit in very small numbers. The osprey was luckier than us getting a decent trout out of the Cauld at its first attempt this afternoon.
Friday 11th June. We did see a fish or two today and more importantly we caught one, well Neil Barcock caught one down at the Glide, assisted by Pete Colinsworth it was a fresh 10lber on a wee gold conehead and very welcome it was. Fresh/liced fish were caught above us at Kelso and above which is slightly annoying as they are still running hard even at summer level and 60 degrees, thats what springers do I suppose. I’m sure we’ll find another one or two tomorrow.
Saturday 12th June. Another warm day but windy again, 9” and 58 degrees. Neil Barcock was the top dog getting a fresh 8lber out of the Cauld this morning, that was the only fish of the day but we did see other fish and Learmouth on the other side had two fresh fish out of the stream this morning. Tide liced fish were caught upstream round kelso again which is amazing considering the height. Forecast for coming week is warm and dry so hopefully the fish will keep running.
©M Campbell 2021
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