Week beginning Friday 1 February 2019
Friday February 1st A wintery start to the 2019 season with grue filling the river this morning and the Lees gauge reading 1’3” and a water temp of 0C or 32F. The ice was melting back as the morning went on and John Macphail who was the only rod at the Lees who decided to fish had a run through the Cauld and the Slap getting a pull in the cauld this afternoon. The lucky beats were Upper North Wark getting the first fish off the river followed by Hendersyde, Carham and Lower Floors, the Carham fish was a belter weighing in around the 15lb mark. The frost is not so hard tonight so the river should be grue free tomorrow. I hope so as we have a full team on.
Saturday February 2nd. Another cold frosty start with grue coming down the river again. We were joined today by Colin Simpson and his long time fishing buddy Mike. I took Colin into the Cauld but the ice piling up onto the oars and the fly not really sinking as the line was lying on the ice made the decision to go and fish some broken water a sensible one. By lunchtime the ice had mostly gone apart from the still margins. In Learmouth this afternoon Colin had a well mended seatrout Kelt whilst Mike had a salmon Kelt from the Cauld. It’s good to have a few kelts about this year as they do help to decoy in a springer or two and stop them zooming through to the Kelso area. It was almost warm in the sun this afternoon but as soon as it dipped the temperature fell quickly and another hard frost is coming in. 2 fish reported off the river today both from Hendersyde.
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©M Campbell 2019
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