Following on from my early-October day on Glenormiston, I had a day on Holylee on 18 October which was unfortunately effectively over, at least fishing-wise, by about 10:30am. Heavy rain overnight had resulted in a rising river and, frankly, I was lucky to get some casts in at all. Starting on the upper beat, I fished Bar Stream, Bar Pool and Willows at about 2' 6" and rising, before taking shelter in the hut with Jack, Birkie, Tweed and the other rods; this was the silver lining to the cloud as they were great company. We had a few casts in the margins in very dirty water in the afternoon but it wasn't a day for fishing, really.
Pictured: Holylee's hut, which overlooks the Birkie Pool, below.
Pictured: The Birkie in very high, dirty river conditions.
Next up, I had a couple of days on Traquair at the end of the month. I had booked one of these - 25 October - at the beginning of the year, but luckily (for me, anyway!) a family friend's husband had double-booked himself and so I co-incidentally ended up also with a Monday rod immediately following my Saturday rod. These days were very windy and in high water of around 2', but the conditions were at least relatively steady. Two fish were caught by the same rod on the Saturday from the same pool (Birches on Beat 3) and one was caught from Middle Stream on Beat 1 on the Monday, but otherwise that was it for the 9 rods on the water each day; this is a reflection of the disappointment of the 2014 season, as the same days last year would have been some of the best fishing one could encounter on Upper Tweed, with total catches in double figures on some days.
My rotation was the same on each day - Beat 1 in the morning, Beat 3 in the afternoon - and so although I didn't get to fish the New Water, Boat Pool or Bridge Pool, or revisit Quair Stream where I picked up a 6lb hen last season, I got to know The Mound, Leithen Foot, Jawstane and Whin Stream relatively well, especially after my day on Glenormiston.
Pictured: The view back up Leithen Foot; interestingly, I was told by Rufus, the ghillie, that the Leithen Foot was actually a different pool which was precisely (and unsurprisingly) at the foot of the Leithen, but that this filled in and the next pool downstream has since picked up the name.
My dad and I then had Saturday 1 November 2014 on Ashiestiel, which we used as a trial day for our little Scottie, 'Daisy' - please note that I did not have any input in the choice of name and appreciate that the resemblance to a daisy is quite remote.
Pictured: Daisy scanning the scene at the House Pool. She later fell in while hunting voles - every day is a school day.
We started the morning on Gleddies' Weil, the principal holding pool on the beat, opposite Thornielee. The pool was quiet to start, but sparked into life in the mid-morning before quietening down again. The fish present were typical of this November in that they were simply not interested in flies. We could easily have fished the full morning on this long pool, but asked Dave the ghillie if we could move downstream for a wander. We had half an hour in the Rampy Pool before lunch, after which we moved down to fish Marmion Stream and the House Pool in the afternoon. A few taps on the line in Marmion Stream for me and the same for my dad in House Pool were all we had to show. Nest had a small fish in the morning, but there was nothing from Ashiestiel on the day.
Pictured: Marmion Stream in pretty high water - a recurring theme of late October/November.
Pictured: My dad working his was down House Pool, which fishes right down to the bottom of the bay on the right bank (where there is a good lie) and probably even further.
By this stage of the Back-end, the pattern had well and truly emerged; fish were there, but they were not for taking flies. I had booked the first week in November off a few weeks prior and so I fished Horsbrugh for a number of days anyway, as well as the newly available Haystoun beat at the downstream end of Peebles.
Unfortunately, two of the days on Horsbrugh were effectively lost to the weather, although being off work I had a go at the margins for a couple of hours on each anyway. Horsbrugh is a good stretch to be on in variable conditions, in that the meanders of the river mean that the beat is very diverse and has plenty of runs and streams but also five deep holdings pools (Castle Pool, Kirkburn, The Rumbler, The Dirtpot and The Nutwood), three of which are readily fishable from Horsbrugh's North bank.
Pictured: The Dirtpot in very high water of 3' 6" or so. I fished the tail of this pool which is one of the better spots on the beat in such water.
Pictured: The Nutwood - I had three heavy takes in as many casts on a run down the margin in the foreground, none of which stuck.
The conditions we were presented with favoured pools such as the Kirkburn, Robbie's Pot and Robbie's (where it meets The Dirtpot) and Craig Stream, but Lower Nutwood seemed to fish relatively well this week. Indeed, my dad lost a fish at around 10lbs - which was not overly coloured (probably not a coincidence as to why it was hooked) - from the upstream end of this pool on a Willie Gunn tube. The fish was holding nicely in mid-stream and looked to be settling down, ready to be netted, when it surface, thrashed around and was lost - frustrating stuff after such difficult fishing in the Back-end.
My day on Haystoun was very enjoyable, being in slightly better, more settled conditions of around 2' and falling. The nicest water that I fished in the conditions was to be found in Stobs and Kingsmeadow Pools. The former was fished in the morning and had many fish showing in it, towards the far bank. The latter just looked right - I'm sure you'll understand what I mean(!) - and so it wasn't a big surprise when I hooked what felt like a pretty decent fish on the dangle at the tail of the pool, as it breaks in Kerfield, the next pool down. It gave a few solid tugs and appeared to turn down stream to run, when after around 10/15 seconds my Red Frances tube was returned to me.
Pictured: Kingsmeadow Pool in pretty nice conditions.
I returned to Haystoun with my fishing pal Russell for closing day, which presented much lower, steady conditions, not dissimilar to the norm for 2013's Back-end. We concentrated on Lower Stobs, Blackthroat in the middle of the beat and Pailing End, a pool right at the top of the beat, almost in Peebles itself. I hadn't fished Pailing End on the my first visit, but quite enjoyed it on my return. Another fish was lost - a smaller one of maybe 3-5lbs (probably a Sea Trout, on the basis of its reaction to being hooked) - which took on the far, South bank before surfacing, splashing around and freeing itself. I suppose this was a fitting way to end 2014.
Oh well - try again in 2015!
Calum
Pictured: The last few casts of 2014, on Haystoun.
No comments:
Post a Comment