12 November 2023 News/Editorial
We live in interesting times. To catch salmon kelts (as we did here, as far down as Coldstream, yesterday) at the beginning of November is not traditional Tweed territory; along with the main run, albeit depleted, coming in two or three months earlier than was the case 10 years ago, so the spawning process begins, and presumably ends, so much sooner.
Any review of the 2023 Tweed season would conclude it was a poor-ish spring, a bad June (sun and dry), good July and August (wet and cool), followed by a mediocre September and October. You could guess at the final score, but to no real purpose, for we all know that it will be at the lower end, hopefully not the lowest, of recent years.
Adverse fishing conditions are habitually rolled out by some as an excuse for poor catch numbers, but anyone who tries that as a reason for 2023’s low total should rightly be laughed out of court. The unfortunate, and inescapable, truth is that the numbers (certainly of multi sea winter salmon) simply were not there, and that but for a surprisingly large run of summer grilse, it could have been a lot worse.
With concerns about a more virulent strain of saprolegnia on some rivers, on invasions, mainly elsewhere thus far, of those Russian Pinks, and then the ever present continuing mystery, despite shedloads of money and effort, of why only 1%-3% of our smolts make it back here as adult salmon, there is no shortage (to name but a few) of worries for salmon river managers to concern themselves with.
Maybe it was always so, except that the base numbers now are still declining, as they have been, albeit not so dramatically, at times in the past. Some still say it is all cyclical and that, in time, it will come right, all of its own accord. Those who say that are becoming fewer and fewer.
Just like our salmon.
As for next week, Storm Debi is due to do its thing tomorrow, with heaven knows what effect on river levels.
In the absence of any real fishing news, this is the last Tweed fishing report for 2023, with, perhaps, a pre Christmas one-off if there is any interesting to report by then.
Au revoir.
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