news/editorial

15 March 2020 News/Editorial

Another week lost to the weather as the North Atlantic gales and rain targeted poor little Britain with scarcely diminished ferocity, maybe not Ciara or Dennis, but not far from it. And as I write, the river is both up and dirty again today (Sunday), putting even the start of next week in doubt.

We are assured high pressures are queuing up, somewhere in the North Atlantic, and that it will all settle down next week, but maybe only after another burst of rain from a persistent, wriggling front around mid week. We have now lost 5 out of the first 6 weeks of the 2020 season, and may be about to lose part of another.

Unprecedented?

Here are the words of my Godfather, Jack Briggs, from his “Lees Fishing Book” for 1963 in his very distinctive (“I think I had a stroke”) spidery hand.

“This is the 53rd day Feb 12th of the severest winter for over 100 years, even worse than 1947. All roads blocked time after time and still 1ft of snow on the level. 11 days of over 20F of frost. Frequent blizzards, the fields blew on Feb 5th and on railways and roads drifts of over 20ft. River completely frozen over and couldn’t fish anywhere until February 11th and then only in some streams; because of ice then floods, couldn’t get boats on until March 21st; 32 degrees of frost (fahrenheit) or minus 18C on Feb 26th. The thaw came on March 5th, the Wark road under water for 2 days and only became fishable again on March 20th. Caught 8 salmon in the Temple Pool at 2ft 11” on the 21st March.”

So this year has been nothing like as long lived or severe as 1963, but it has certainly been bad enough.

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Those expecting some sort of announcement from the River Tweed Commission about fishing on the Tweed and coronavirus over the next few weeks and months may be disappointed. The RTC’s remit extends to policing and Tweed’s fish, not at all the actual day to day running of the fishing and individual beats/fisheries.

So it is up to the individual proprietors/agents with whom you book your fishing to say how they will handle things, but it will be very hard for them to say anything definitive, beyond the advice given on the everpresent News broadcasts, until we see how this horrible virus plays out. One suspects that common sense, listening to all that advice, and flexibility are the keys.

Ghillies/boatmen could become ill and be off work for 14 days, you could become ill just at the time you have booked fishing, there could even be some sort of travel and movement lockdown, in short any number of things could happen to impact your fishing. Of course, some of this happened even before coronavirus in that we are all prone to illnesses, flu, colds or whatever else that might keep us from the river. But crucially, what we are experiencing now is that the likelihood and potential severity of infection has increased to an unprecedented level, at least for the next few weeks.

But even if the ghillies/boatmen are off, you can still fish, maybe not in a boat as much as normal, but you can still have fun and actually fish. As an essentially solitary sport, social distancing is the norm, so other than when you are inside the fishing hut, cross infection should not be the biggest concern, although, of course, all normal precautions should be taken (frequent hand washing, sanitisers for those huts without running water etc). Even in the hut, you should sit at a distance from others, so far as that is possible, and if the weather allows, even eat your lunch outside or in your car, unfriendly maybe, but better than the possible alternative. And of course, no handshaking with the boatmen when you arrive, or say goodbye or land a salmon, no studying of fly boxes at close distance, in short, always keep as far away from other people as possible.

Just maybe, the great sport that we enjoy can carry on, after a fashion, whilst all of us take every care to minimise the very real risks to health.

But if we have learnt nothing else in recent days, it is that it is an extraordinarily fast moving scene, and that nothing, but nothing, is set in stone.