Glenormiston, Tweed (11 October 2014)

My first real day's fishing of the Back End was last Saturday, on Glenormiston on the Upper Tweed. The season on this upstream stretch of the river can start a little earlier than this, but a record-breakingly dry September followed by a flood on the first weekend of October meant that this was my first opportunity on Upper Tweed this Autumn.

I picked up a coffee in Peebles on my way past and arrived at the beat early for a look at the river, which was running at around 11" on the Peebles gauge. It was a cold morning and so I took out my tubes box rather than my dressed flies for the first time since Spring. I decided to try out a turbo-disc "Willie Gunn" (inverted commas very much intended) on my first pool of the day, which after a quick chat with ghillie Colin was determined to be Jawstane, right at the bottom of the beat and opposite Traquair. Before Colin and I could set off down-river, one of the other rods picked up a coloured 14lber from the Woodend Pool on a small Cascade.

 Pictured: One in the book, first thing, from the Woodend Pool.



Pictured: Jawstane - my first pool of the day.

Aware that the best pools were on the upper beat, and having started slightly late by the time I arrived at the downstream extremity of the beat, I had relatively quick runs through the aforementioned Jawstane and then Whin Stream, with a little break in-between to watch the Traquair rods run down the latter. One tug, about a rod's length out from the tree in the left of the below picture, was all that came of these. I had been keen to try out turbo-disc tubes for a while and, to be honest, I was slightly disappointed; I found the extra resistance to be slightly troublesome in casting, especially when fishing from deep. I can see that there is a flip side to this, though, in that these flies may present well even without an upstream mend because of this resistance. Anyway, enough of that - I headed back up to the hut for a quick lunch at around 12:15pm, keen to get onto the upper beats straight after the changeover.

Pictured: Whin Stream is part of Glenormiston's bottom beat, Beat 3, which fishes opposite Traquair's top beat. Here, a Traquair rod has a comprehensive run through the pool.

 Pictured: The neck of Whin Stream, with the tree-lined top beats in the distance.

At lunch, we were informed of another fish to the group who had the 14lber, first thing. This one - taken from the Bushes - was also coloured and weighed around 12lbs.

After lunch, Colin showed me the Woodend Pool at the top of the beat, which I fished through with a Copper Ally's Shrimp - a nice fly with Autumnal colours. Colin was keen for me to make quick progress downstream to the Girley Water, where most of the beat's October fish had been caught, so I skipped the Bridge Pool to work my way down the Bushes in order to arrive at the Girley Water in mid-afternoon.


Pictured: The lunchtime view from the Glenormiston hut, which overlooks the Bridge Pool.

Pictured: Bridge and Woodend Pools.

The Bushes is a streamy section of water, rather than a 'pool'. There are many rocky lies and overhanging trees to provide focal points. Fishing down it with a Posh Tosh copper tube, I had a heavier take than the one earlier in the day which, again, didn't stick. On explaining to Colin that this was "just in front of the bench", he pointed out that the benches on the beat are where they are for a reason!

From around 3pm until the end of the day's fishing was spent on the Girley Water. Colin had hooked a Sea Trout with one of the other rods there earlier in the afternoon and was confident that a heavier fly with a bit of blue in it would be productive. I gave this a shot on my first run down, seeing my first two rising fish of the day in the process, although these were Salmon of around 10lbs, rather than their acrobatic cousins. Heading back up to the top of the pool, which comprises the meeting of two streams (one of which is the Bushes) down the sides of an island, I had a second run through with a heavier Gold Bodied Willie Gunn tube. By this stage I was thinking that I should be fishing deeper still, given the lower water temperatures, and this is something that I'll try this coming weekend, should the conditions be similar. I had a final tug of the day when fishing over a known lie under a Silver Birch on the far bank, before heading off for a family dinner in Innerleithen.

Pictured: Girley Water - most of the fish which were showing were seen in here.

Pictured: The Bushes on the walk back up to the car park.

With fish being caught throughout the river (notably, Dawyck has had a very good start to October), it was disappointing to blank again. However, it was an enjoyable afternoon, nonetheless, with a ghillie whose enthusiasm rubs off on those fishing the beat. Glenormiston is one I'm hoping to return to soon. It's just a shame that it's such a short season on this stretch of the river; perhaps this is part of the allure.

Tight lines.

Calum

Pictured: Dawyck has had a great start to the Back End. Crownhead Bridge Pool, near Bellspool at the top of Beat 2, is now in full Autumn colours.