news/editorial

23 August 2015 News/Editorial

Until today, when it has gone up over 2 feet, to the frustration of most and despite some rain, the river had remained stubbornly low so far this August.

Yet my observations are that spinning has been used a lot in what for the most part has been low and clear water (and the Tweed Angling Code makes it clear that spinning should not be used more than 50% of the time in such conditions).

And it is for that reason alone that I find August, which should be the nicest month to fish, the least enjoyable…...because I cannot stand the sight of all that persistent upstream and downstream slinging of metal, bad enough if you own both banks, but at worst execrably rude, at best inconsiderate, to those opposite, who only fish with a fly, if you do not.

Moreover the “not more than 50% of the time” rule is routinely ignored.

There are those who disagree with me and think this behaviour is fine…..but let me tell you it is not. It is not what salmon fishing should be and the quicker it is stamped out altogether, the better.

When water is low and clear on almost all other salmon rivers, you will never see a spinning rod, so why is it different here?

Salmon fishing on the Tweed (and our rule here) should be fly only except for the very young, old or infirm who cannot physically handle a fly rod, or in high water conditions.

Here, spinning is only allowed above 1’10” on our guage.

We caught 329 salmon in 2014 and our total is 102 so far this year.

Of those 431 salmon, just 8 (less than 2%) have been caught spinning.

Roll on 15th September when those appalling flying condoms and other pieces of metal will become redundant.

I only wish I could impose on the whole river the rule we have here…...and those persistent spinners would have to learn to fish with a fly.

But until that happens, I expect to see them back again next year.