Week beginnnig 10 July 2023
Monday 10th July. Well we have some water; 1’6” on the Lees gauge and 60f, there is a fair bit of weed floating about and a lot of particles in the water column also a wee bit murky. Stefan Paully here for the week and he was joined for the day by the Brittan family, we got the rods put together and set off round the beat, I was expecting to see a good few fish with the lift but was disappointed. I wasn’t expecting to catch many/any salmon but I thought the seatrout would be up for it, Sam Brittan lost a wee seatrout in the middle stream and Stefan had a sharp pull in the duddo but that was all the action, I only saw one salmon all day which was in the slap this afternoon. The lunchtime chatter was tales of “hunners” of fish on the move downstream but if they were at the Lees they were keeping it secret. Catches don’t reflect “hunners” of fish being in the river either; maybe they’ll be with us tomorrow. Another band of heavy rain has gone through tonight and there are a couple of gauges showing a rise so there could be even more water tomorrow with more weed and colour which won’t help in the short term but maybe in the long if we keep getting heavy showers.
Tuesday 11th July. A blustery west wind blowing with sunny spells and showers, 1’0” on the gauge and 60f with just a slight tinge to the water. Stefan was up top and we gave it a selection of flies but not a pull was had, couldn’t even get a follow to a sunray. Down in learmouth one of the Pritchard team had a pull just as he was lifting to cast which didn’t stick. The “hunners” of fish have yet to arrive on the beat but seatrout have gone through as the spinny people further up river have been getting a good few. This afternoon Drew and Ant Pritchard were taking turns in the glide as it was wind assisted and it’s their very first time salmon fishing, a big splashy boil at a collie dug was the only action, further down Dave Foreman who hadn’t seen a fish all day headed for home early. We did see seatrout but couldn’t get a pull from them; I can’t say I saw a salmon all day. A wee rise is with us again tonight, it looks like its gone up 5 inch so no doubt there will be more weed floating about.
Wednesday 12th July. 1’6” and 60 degrees with a bit of murkiness’ to the water, Andrew or was it Ant Pritchard had the briefest hold of a fish in the middle stream on his first cast on a #8 cascade, I was thinking ah! The fish have come on, I was sadly wrong. Stefan in the glide covered it all very carefully but he neither saw or touched a fish, I gave him a quick demo of the sunray fishing in the tail of the glide as Stefan and many others can’t be bothered with all that stripping in and rose a fish right in the tail as I was lifting to recast, it looked like a smallish seatrout. Up top was Pete (leader of the Pritchard clan) but Pete did no better than the rest of the family not getting a pull. Andrew or was it Ant nearly had a seatrout on to the bank in the duddo on a gledswood tube, the seatrout as they do splashed right to the bank and “ping” the hook was out. This afternoon in the cauld not a fish was to be seen despite Andrew casting for miles across the stream, the odd fish showed in the slap and one tried to get over the face of the cauld but I think they are all seatrout. There were a few salmon caught below us but I’d imagine all on the spinner of some sort, maybe not, but in this water I’d think so. Upstream numbers of seatrout were caught again today but the fly was coming into play today looking at some of the photos on the internet. Thunder and lightning stopped play by 4.00pm along with heavy rain; I almost forgot Ant Pritchard had a flounder on the fly today it would weigh all of 8oz but an unusual catch on a #8 gledswood shrimp, had one before but its not common. I received a text from a pal in Hawick to say it was like a monsoon up there so we could have another lift in water tomorrow.
Thursday 13th July. A blustery day with the gauge sitting at 1’3” and rising slowly to 1’6” and 58f with a beery tinge. Ant was at it again getting a 14lb river fish from learmouth stream on a #6 junction shrimp double which made his trip, these lads have never fished for salmon before and have done very well getting to grips with the casting. Greg Potts who is on the lees for the first time had a 9lber from duddo again the junction shrimp was the fly but a one inch tube this time, he also lost a decent fish in the slap just before 5.00pm. Stefan had a 6lb seatrout from the iron gate, I was down in the glide and could hear a yodel coming from upstream by the time I got there he had landed it and released it. Later on down at the middle stream/otter stones a seatrout of the 4lb mark grabbed a stripped sunray on the first cast and was ably landed by Drew (I think), sorry lad if thats wrong just too many names to remember. Fresh fish were scarce and in fact the only one seen was one in learmouth which jumped as the fish was being played this morning. 7 fish reported caught below us which is not a lot given the conditions and amount of rods that will be on the water, I expected more.
Friday 14th July. Calm start with wind picking up from the south east as the wet front approached, 1’3 and 60 f with a beery tinge. Not a lot of fish to be seen in fact hardly any. I saw a couple at the iron gate, two seatrout had a go at the sunray in the tail of the glide, the usual suspects in the slap and didn’t see a thing in the cauld but Mike shields did as he caught an 8lber on a #8 gledswood double this afternoon. Greg Potts was also a happy camper as he had a 9lber from the glide also this afternoon on his now new favourite fly a one inch junction shrimp tube. Conditions are good there is enough water to bring fish up if they want to, it was overcast and cool all day but there is a lack of salmon, plenty seatrout about which are not too keen to grab a fly it seems, although Stefan Paully had three wee ones from the middle stream this afternoon. Tillmouth had a big day getting 9 which is a big jump in catches; I don’t know what fly they were using. Another 6 fish were reported caught below us from all the other beats. Fairly heavy rain as I write this and it’s falling in the right area so tomorrow could be out of sorts.
Saturday 15th July. A humid showery day with the odd bit of thunder and lightning to keep us on our toes. Greg Potts was at it again but this time he struck silver getting a 7lb licer from the slap on his favourite junction shrimp tube; he followed that up with a 4lb seatrout from the glide on the same fly. Stefan on the other hand had opted for learmouth as he really likes it there but sadly he blanked. After lunch the river had started to rise and a bit of weed was on the move, looking at the webpage of river heights a couple of them have as much as 2 feet so a bit more like what we want need, and even better it’ll go through tomorrow and should be in good fettle on Monday, as long as the rain stops. I only saw on other fish all day and that was a seatrout in the glide which jumped as Greg was playing his. Reports of nice silver fish in the Paxton net yesterday some in the mid teens of pounds, the net is used by the Tweed foundation for their research work so none of the fish are killed before you all start shouting.
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