21 March 2021 News/Editorial
If there is one thing we have learnt so far this season, it is that the 2021 early spring run is very similar to recent years. Some say that lockdown and reduced fishing effort has mitigated against catches, but then last June was similar in that only Tweed locals could fish, yet it was a record.
Observations from those on the river are that yes there are some fish, but no weight/numbers. To catch one you have to be in the right place at the right time, lucky today, but tomorrow they have gone, nobody’s at home.
All of which is by way of saying that there is no sign of any resurgence of our earliest running springers. The compensation is that any one of the few caught is perfect, mint, as good as you can possibly catch.
For those who think this current judgement on numbers is harsh, for comparison, the Joiceys took Wark in the 1930s for the whole of February. Fishing just 2 rods (Great Uncle Hugh and Great Aunt Joan), in 1935 they caught 159 salmon in the month, Joan catching 28 herself one day. In February 1936 their score was a disappointing 113, February 1937 was 160, February 1938: 90 (rubbish!), and February 1939: 162.
No more need be said.
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As glorious Spring continues to be sprung, we have had some perfect days, a joy to be out and fishing. The forecast for next week is good, becoming more unsettled towards the end, but no sign yet of any more of those damaging storms. The river has settled in nicely and is as clean as a whistle, with the prospect of more fish appearing towards, and into, April. There is much about which to be (cautiously) optimistic.
If I understand our First Minister correctly, Scottish tourist accommodation will be open from 26th April, all being well, which means that UK fishers should be able to travel and stay here in the Borders. Those abroad are, it seems, much less likely to be able to come and fish for quite some months yet. Those from the UK aiming for Norway, Russia, Iceland and all points north, to fish, might have an almost equally uncertain prognosis.
Light has appeared for us all at the end of a very long dark tunnel. It was exactly a year ago that my children, one daughter-in-law and two grandchildren fled Edinburgh under cover of darkness to come down here, not quite like the Von Trapps fleeing to Switzerland maybe, but only hours before the first lockdown kicked in. They were here for 10 weeks. Sadly, they cannot be with us now, but still we are locked in, albeit this time with an end in sight. In one sense it all seems a long time ago, in another, just like yesterday.
So old, I had my second vaccine yesterday. I will be more relaxed about it when Jane has her second, and my children and daughter-in-law get theirs.
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You might think that fishing and golf have nothing in common. Certainly golf is much more difficult. After all, any duffer can catch a salmon on a good day, but not many can hit their drive 300 yards or hit a towering 6 iron into the green from 180 yards.
The common denominator is kit. Participants in both are suckers for the new, and how the manufacturers know it. The hidden message is “you will cast further and catch more fish if you buy this rod/reel/line for £2 million”; just as “you will go round Muirfield in 7 under par if you spend £squillions on the new super dooper triple carbonated, extra fast clubhead speed, 2021 alloy driver”.
Surprisingly, exactly similar claims are made the next year when the even better 2022 versions, yet more exotically named, emerge from Hardys, Loop, Sage, Ping, Callaway et al.
My natural domain is cheapskate, fishing kit notoriously low grade and scruffy, broken rods, bent rings, reels that jam, lines that are perforated from old age and use, and waders patched to death until, colander-like, I really have to buy new (for under £100). The less a rod costs the more I like it. Some say you can spend £1,000 on a new rod, really!? £125 is my limit.
My old friend (“hitting the far bank”) Nigel came for a cast last week. After suitably rigorous disinfection (nothing to do with Covid), he let me have a go with his 13ft 6” Hardy Zenith, with its weight forward (exocet) line. With the right timing, it would have caught something in Wooler, 15 miles away, let alone the 30 yard cast over our Slap. I asked how much it had cost, and when the word “mortgage” cropped up, and after some sotto voce muttering of “cheating” and “too easy” by yours truly, I reverted to my 14ft 9” Shakespeare Oracle and old fashioned semi tapered line with a huge sigh of relief. I will break the former quite soon, the latter will become perforated/degraded, and my reel will jam every now and then.
But I will be happy and my bank account will be less depleted than yours. I will also catch just as many fish. Which is the point.
Or is it?
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