Week beginning 8 May 2017
Monday 8th May. Yet again another cold grey day with the wind blowing from the north east. River is down to 8” on the gauge and 50 degrees. Michael Bax on his first visit to the Lees drew the Slap and Cauld, a wee tube was tried with no success then we switched to a slightly bigger Snelda to get it down just a bit and it was taken by what turned out to be a liced 9lber. Graeme Hogg who had travelled all the way from Kelso had a lovely fresh fish from the Iron Gate on a full floater and a #8 double, Michael Cary also on his first trip to the Lees lost a fish also at the Iron Gate. We saw a few more fish than of late but with the river being so low there are only so many places the fish can hide. I also saw this afternoon in the Bags several smaller fish that looked like seatrout around the 4lb mark, we couldn’t interest any of them though. The wind was making casting down the Back of the wall and Glide area a pain in the arse but as soon as you got round the corner it was a different world. 18 fish reported across the websites by 9.30pm.
Tuesday 9th May. A belter of a day, no use for fishing but a belter just the same. The team fished until lunchtime and with the sun splitting the trees they decided they would leave it until this evening. 8” and 50 degrees with not a cloud in the sky. Today in fact has been the first time this year I’ve not lit the fire at home, it won’t last but when it does I’ll make the most of it, yesterday it was full winter clothing apart from gloves, today T shirts. There was a few fish moving in the Slap and a couple of seatrout in the cauld but we couldn’t interest them. The back water in the cauld was stuffed with Smolts so many jumping they were sparkling in the sun.
Wednesday 10th May. Another cracking day on the river, not for fishing though. Two of the team headed for home this morning as they had a long drive in front of them and the fish weren’t exactly throwing themselves at the fly. Graeme decided to fish this evening while Michael Bax gave it his best but it wasn’t good enough. I did see a couple of fresh fish in the cauld this morning which both came out of the water at the same time just like performing dolphins, that was the only time I saw them and it’s maybe coincidence but Upper Hendersyde had a couple of fresh ones today out of the four reported across the websites (coincidence?)Got a bit of strimming done this afternoon down the cauld bank ready for landing the fish when they come. New team on tomorrow so hopefully there will be some new fish for them. Got the polytunnel all sorted and the raised beds are just waiting for some warmer nights before I fill them. Clancy the onions are looking braw.
Thursday 11th May. Another lovely day on the Lees for lots of things apart from fishing. Gene Godden and Nigel Croskell turned up for a paddle round the beat. Gene was on Cauld and Slap and enjoyed himself but no pulls; Nigel was on Learmouth with the same result. John Pease fished the rest and again same result. By lunchtime John decided to go to the barbers for a haircut whilst Gene and Nigel opted for the pub for lunch followed by a snooze on the riverbank this afternoon. I popped back along tonight for a look and it was all quiet, just an otter snuffling about at the cobble point. The far side of the Cauld is starting to dry now and there is still no sign of any rain apart from a wee bit of drizzle on Saturday maybe. There were three fish reported on the websites by 9.30pm.
Friday 12th May. We’re back to living in a grey world again with a north east wind, the change in the weather did nothing to improve the fishing as by close of play the score was naught. We did get a Seatrout around the 8lb mark have a go at a stripped sunray in the Slap and another fish had a wee sniff at a fly that Gene put across. There is a bit of dampness in the air but no proper rain yet.
Saturday 13th May. A sort of humid start to the day with cloudy skies. Only two rods on today due to various reasons. Gene opted for a cast at the Slap and had a fish give his fly a wee tweak but it didn’t stick. Nigel had a run through the Cauld and was getting bothered by Smolts taking his small fly so he gave up. Gene pulled a sunray over the Slap but no interest was shown so the lads pulled stumps and headed for home. As it was a nice morning I gave what’s left of Learmouth stream a go with a skimmer with no interest from any fish, it was then down to Cornhill bend where I tried a skimmer and a big sunray with the same result. The wind was picking up and the rain had started so I headed for home. There was a very heavy shower around lunchtime and now on the forecast it looks like Monday is going to be wet. It will have to rain a lot as the land is going to take a lot of filling. We really need a bit of a rise of water as the bottom is getting very slippy, the Smolts need some help to get them out to sea and it will shuffle the pack a bit and perhaps bring in some seatrout along with any salmon. Scores across the websites tonight is 8 salmon. I was up at Kelso this afternoon and didn’t see anyone fishing all the way there and back, lots of rods would have left early as the fish weren’t exactly pilling in and grabbing the fly. It’ll be better next week. See instagram or face book for photos.
©M Campbell 2017
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