Week beginning Monday 5 October 2015
Monday 5th October A different day today the sun and calm has been replaced by light rain and wind, an upstream wind at that. 4” and 48 degs. Team Harper here for the week and it was a slow start as nobody was in the usual excited rush for the time of year. First onto the score board was Terry Harper who had two from Learmouth Stream 1@8lb and 1@18lb both old cocks, Andy Brittan next up with a 6lb old cock from Iron gate point on a 1”Red Frances. This afternoon Andy managed another from Cornhill bend a wee fresh one this time he said on a bit later this evening and managed another from Cornhill bend. Looking at the gauges the top of the Ettrick is rising so with more rain to come over the next two days here’s hoping.
Tuesday 6th October. River is up to around 7” on the gauge and 50 degs. Graham Whitty had 2 from the Back of the Wall this morning both old and returned, James Long managed 1 from the Iron gate and 1 from the Glide the size of them didn’t test his tackle it has to be said, but the cat that got the cream was Andy Brittan who had a 12lb licer from the Bags and lost a couple in Duddo. This afternoon while in Duddo with James we saw a number of silver fish jumping, one of them so close I could see the lice on it’s back and watched it as it swam away upstream not more than a yard from the bank, by 4.00pm they were gone and just the old ones were jumping about. Andy was going to fish on for a while and went down to Learmouth, he text later to say the place was stuffed with fish new and old so maybe tomorrow. Forecast is for heavy rain tomorrow right on the catchment but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Wednesday 7th October. A dull miserable day with light rain off and on, not enough to affect the river but that is coming later on this evening, Hmmm! The lees gauge was showing 1’1” this morning and the river had a tinge of grey to it along with bits of weed and leaves, it was a typical road washing colour. Andy Brittan was first onto the score board with a 5lb Seatrout from the very top of Learmouth stream, Terry gave the Cauld a going over dressed in his improvised leggings made from fish tubing but no a pull was had, there were a number of fish showing first thing but by 10.30 it was all quiet at the top end. Andy and James came back at lunchtime with tales of shoals of fish in Learmouth and the Bags mostly old though (that’s the fish not the tales) but neither of them had connected with any. In the afternoon I was down in the bags with Andy and there were lots of fish right enough but no takers and I didn’t see any fresh/clean ones, the only fresh fish I saw all day was between the Glide and Cornhill bend which jumped right out in the hard water. As I write this I’m waiting for the river levels to update, so what do we want? No more rain so it clears up for tomorrow and we fish all week or flooded tomorrow and fish Friday in brownish water and good for Saturday, I’ll take the later please as the forecast is settled for the rest of the month they say. Highlight of the day was shooting a grey squirrel at about 100yards who was sitting playing with his nuts, well apart from James Long getting a fish from the Slap an old cock about 10lbs almost forgot about that. Right the levels are in and it’s nothing to get excited about, the bottom of the Teviot has about 4” in and the rest are steady so unless the forecasters are right and it rains all night we’ll be fishing all week.
Thursday 8th October. Well the torrential rain put the river up 1” and that’s including a freshet from the top end. Anyway 1’2” and 50 degs with a tinge of colour, I fished trough the glide three times and saw 2 wee black fish, it was really really quiet the reports from the rest of the team said the same, where are the fish? The lunchtime round up from other beats was the same nothing to report. After lunch i was down on Learmouth stream with Graham Whitty and I saw more fish in 5 mins than I’d seen all morning the top 60 yards was full of fish almost all old, Bob Harrison from the other bank said he’d seen 37 million this morning which is a tad of an exaggeration I think, but he had seen a lot and never had a pull, we fished it down with a #8 treble then changed to a 7” Sunray snake sort of thing and had a wee grilse on in no time, after fishing it down 4 times without any other pulls Graham decided he’d had enough, with fish jumping over the line and us getting wet from the splashes and still no pulls it’s dram time. The only other pool on the beat that has any action in it is the Duddo and Cornhill bend. Lets hope the fish come on tomorrow, it’s to be a cold night with a touch of frost so that might just sharpen the fish up a bit. The highlight of the day was me cooking dinner which was fish and then putting Horseradish sauce on instead of Tartar sauce, now I have to say Sally wasn’t too impressed and I’ll be able to see out of my left eye in a day or two. The forecast looks settled until New Year so it’s going to be an interesting back end.
Friday 9th October. Lots of bets being placed today, first one was Paul and Stewart betting on how many fish would be caught today, Stewart went for three or less and Paul for four or more. Andy Brittan had told Colin Bell that he’d eat his hat if he didn’t catch a few today, by lunchtime all he’d done was lose one in the Cauld so I was asking him if he wanted it fried or boiled. There were plenty fish showing in the Cauld which is getting small again, mostly old ones but we did wee a couple of fresh ones. The rest of the team arrived back at the hut with tales of success in the Glide, Iron Gate, Back of the wall and Duddo so the lunchtime score was 5. This afternoon Rory McLaren called in to pick up some kit and terry said you might as well have a cast, he did in the Slap and had a fish in no time ably netted by the bairns a liced grilse of 4lb (right place right time) Andy had a 9lber from the Bags and James a wee grilse from the Cauld. Andy stayed on a bit later to try and ward off the hat eating and succeeded by getting another two fish from Cornhill bend and losing another restoring his faith in Tweed. So 9 for the day which is better and half of them fresh which is difficult when its an odd number. Some of the beats upstream had big days but I hear they were all old fish, likely moved up from us on that wee rise. Now if the gods are listening we will have some fish from Cornhill Bend and Duddo as Richard needs to finish on a high. So 9 for the day and Stewart owes Paul a tenner.
Saturday 10th October. A warm sunny flat calm morning which is not good for anything fishy, but a nice morning to be out and about. Andy Brittan lost a fish right down the tail of the Glide on a wee plop tube, Richard Harrison gave it 100% but never had a pull, it’ll be better next year Richard. By lunchtime the Yorkshire contingent headed home leaving Andy and James to hold the fort, James covered himself in glory and fish slime getting 3 in Learmouth stream, Bruce let off the leash wrestled an 18lb out of Duddo and Andy blanked as did I. So there it is 27 for the week a few moles, a carrion crow and 3 grey squirrels. I put up another bench today down at Cornhill Bend so you can have a rest between fish or use it as an observation post to spot fish moving up the Duddo then you can spring into action and head them off at the top of Cornhill bend, also put one up at the top of the Back of the wall which can be used for the same reason or just to stop you getting a thorn in your bum when you sit on the grass. The whole river was quieter today thats to be expected with the sun and dropping levels. No rain forecast this side of Christmas it seems but it’s to get a lot colder so that might just trigger an upstream migration, and then again it might not. One thing we are going to get is a great autumn display from the trees they are starting to turn now and as there’s no gales to blow the leaves off it should be good so thats another reason bring your camera. Photos this week are the two young Ghillies and the new bench and maybe a calm sunny glide, I can’t remember if I sent that one.
© M Campbell 2015
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