news/editorial

28 August 2016 News/Editorial

As I watched those “fishing” on the other bank, yesterday Saturday 27th August at 11am, the river dead low and clear, the sun shining brightly, no wind, I admit to outrage and fury at what they were doing.

Proper “fishing”, in my view, they were not.

They (on two of the beats opposite) were spinning upstream with something shiny, I would guess that hideous projectile, with an equally hideous name, the flying condom.

With no thought as to the people either wishing to fish with a fly after them, or more importantly to those fishing on the other side, they, and their gillies/boatmen, had decided that their own interests in catching a salmon were superior to those both fishing after them on their side, and to those fishing opposite.

That, in the view of many, such behaviour is both inflammatory and extraordinarily selfish, is clearly of no concern to them and their gillies/boatmen. They are effectively saying “ If there is a salmon to be caught here, we are going to get it at all costs, using all available legal methods, to the exclusion of anybody coming after me on this side, and certainly to the exclusion of all those fishing from the other side”.

We had visitors from the Spey here this week who saw this going on and were, I am assured, astonished. Can you imagine someone at Delfur, Arndilly, Rothes or any of those other wonderful Spey beats, pulling out a spinning rod and fishing with an upstream flying condom in the middle of a sunny day in August? Or on the Dee, Naver, Helmsdale, Oykel, Thurso, Findhorn, Beauly, Carron, Conon, Cassley, Shin, Stinchar…..I could go on.

It just never happens, it is perfectly legal there, as here, but it just never happens….. and it shouldn’t here.

And don’t tell me Tweed is different, no it isn’t, all those rivers too find it difficult in low water, but they try something different, a micro fly, a riffle hitch, a skimmer, a sunray shadow, whereas on spinning beats here it is “once through with a fly, and then upstream condom for the rest of the day”.

We banned all forms of upstream spinning some years ago now, here at Lees, therefore it never happens, and downstream spinning is only allowed in a big, preferably dirty, water.

Of the 138 salmon caught here so far this year, 8 have been caught spinning, the last one in April. In 2015, we caught 299 salmon, 7 of which were spinning. In 2014, we caught 329 salmon, of which 5 were spinning.

That makes 20 salmon caught here spinning, all in big water, none fishing upstream, in 3 years, and I know there are other beats like us.

This 20 spinning in 3 years here is, I would guess, very many fewer than some beats have caught this month alone, August 2016, by spinning, almost all upstream, and mainly in dead low water.

That this is a divisive issue, is to put it mildly. Why do we go on allowing it here, when, with the possible exception of the Tay, almost no other Scottish river behaves like this?

It is no good talking to syndicate rods, or tenants….. or (especially) to those boatmen on these upstream spinning beats, some of whom almost promote it in preference to fly…...because all they are interested in is catching fish, regardless of how they do it or who else is affected, either fishing after them or on the other side, as a result. They would go on doing it after 15th September right up to 30th November, if, inconveniently for them, it wasn’t illegal.

We have banned the prawn, the shrimp and the worm on the Tweed long ago, all 3 highly effective in low water conditions, and all that has happened is that those who fished with those to excess, have gone to the next most effective spinning method, spinning upstream with a flying condom or something similar.

I know how effective it is, I used to do it when I was younger, in the 1960s and 1970s, never with the ghastly flying condom, which thankfully hadn’t been invented then, but with a black and gold devon minnow….and believe me, it is very effective.

Banning anything is always last resort stuff, but short of banning, what is required is a complete culture shift so that the owners and boatmen on these beats recognise what is acceptable fishing behaviour, and what is not.

Peer pressure could play a part, and one idea I and other like minded owners have had is to start a “club” of those beats who (a) never allow upstream spinning of any sort, and (b) only allow downstream spinning in big water, above a certain agreed guage height.

We could then make a virtue of those beats which are in the “club”, thereby very easily identifying those which are not.

It might work.

What has gone on this August is shameful for the Tweed. It has been going on for years.

It is time it stopped.

Normally, I would be proud to say that other Scottish rivers have taken their cue, in matters of salmon management, from the Tweed.

In the matter of upstream (or any) spinning in low water, we should take our example from them.

And stop it.

--00--

As for the fishing in the coming week, there is a horrible sense of deja vu about the state of the river.

As in 2014 and 2015, somehow the Tweed has missed any really serious rain in August, with Yorkshire and Cumbria being deluged last week, but the Tweed just getting a glancing blow. As a result we are getting towards the dreaded “Indian summer” time of year, so beloved of forecasters and hated by salmon fishermen, praying for rain.

Because we have had no big floods, the water will run out this week, and only some predicted strong-ish westerly winds will help disguise things in the very clear low water.

This is exactly what happened in 2014 and 2015. We need some luck in 2016, but the weather is not helping ...so far at least…… and fishing will be restricted to those few low water pools, with lots of fishermen wanting to fish in them.

Water, water, everywhere, it seems…..

……. but not nearly enough in the Tweed.

--00--

And as for the numbers of fish?

I found a Fishtweed print-out of catches w/e 27th August 2004, 12 years ago exactly.

We caught 32 on the Monday, 21 on the Tuesday, 13 on the Wednesday and 12 on the Thursday…..78 in 4 days.

12 years later, last week, admittedly in far from ideal conditions, we caught 6 salmon in the whole week.

Oh dear.