24 April 2022 News/Editorial
Play resumes after a fortnight of being in and out of hospital with an unruly appendix, now convalescing at home, but hopefully gradually gaining back my strength. They tend to treat inflamed appendices with antibiotics nowadays, safer than an operation, but it takes longer and the antibiotics are no picnic.
Enough of that.
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This April continues the trend of our east coast Aprils immediately past, viz a lot of sunshine, absolutely no rain, and distinctly cool as the east/ northeast wind sets in relentlessly, bringing its chill from the now very cold North Sea.
The result is an ever dwindling water level and consequent tendency for the catches to move downstream, as even our springers, notorious for legging it to all points Kelso and beyond, find it easier to stop off at Ladykirk, Tweedmill and Tillmouth where, one assumes, some residents have begun to accumulate. As we know, there is nothing that persuades the travelling salmon to stop more, than the sight of a few mates propping up the bar, resting up in a holding pool in low water.
Maybe 70 salmon were caught last week by rods, not great, but steady. I have it on best information that the absent (from Fishpal’s catch numbers) Junction and Sprouston are on roundabout 100 and 40-50 respectively for the season to date.
The general feeling is that this spring fishing so far has been entirely normal, ie neither better nor worse than what we have come to expect in recent years. As we move into May, the expectation is that the incoming migration of salmon will increase, along with some sea trout, but will it?
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At the risk of blatant self-interested promotion, my book “A River Runs Through Me” is published and available this week. It is a memoir, mainly but not wholly about salmon fishing, including short chapters on such diverse subjects as Sir Walter Scott, various members of my own family, the damaging effects of birds, beavers and others on our fish, the plight generally of the Atlantic salmon in today’s world, fishing bores, dogs and the huntress Larysa Switlyk, amongst others! It is split into 60 shard like chapters.
I hope you enjoy it.
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