Ladylodge, Middle Ettrick (25 July 2015)

Over the remainder of the close season, I'm going to post a few short blogs on outings I had during the 2015 season which I didn't write about at the time for one reason or another (a recurring theme will be that I lost fish on these trips and couldn't face writing about it 'til now!). These will consist mainly of pictures, but I'll give an outline of events also. Hopefully, this will help you tide over the month or so until the rivers begin to open again!

We had a spell of heavy rain and high water in July, which resulted in some good rises in the Ettrick, the uppermost of the major Tweed tributaries. Sustained high water would have been more welcome on this river in May and June, when some of the Tweed springers would have a think about moving up the system towards their intended spawning grounds in the Upper Ettrick and Yarrow Valleys. The best spell though came in July and so, hearing news of a few fish in the holding pools on Middle Ettrick's top beats, I went to go and have a look around the Ladylodge beat, near Ettrickbridge.

 Pictured: As you'd hope for a Buccleuch beat, Ladylodge is neat and tidy, well-strimmed (even in July) and is generally a nice place to fish.

The river had risen a couple of days prior to my trip to a bit over 1' (there had been bigger rises before this) and was down at around 8/9" when I fished. No fish were showing on the day, but I still fished fairly shallow with a floating shooting head, 15 foot intermediate tip, long leader and small Red Frances double. Any fish up here were likely to be moderately coloured springers and so I thought even this early in the season that a Red Frances was worth a go.

Pictured: Broomie Knowe - my second pool of the day. Fast, streamy water with a deeper channel under the far bank trees.

It was all quiet in the morning and the sun was shining squarely onto the pools, which didn't breed confidence. I moved around the pools a lot to get a proper look around and, working the fly through some nice boily water in 'Croys', I received a heavy take near the surface and had hold of a very coloured cock fish of around 8/9lbs. It was on for around 5 or 6 seconds, most of which involved the fish thrashing around on the surface, before it dropped off. It had been hooked near the dangle.

 Pictured: Croys, looking upstream. This pool is on the single bank 'A' half of the beat.

 Pictured: Fishing down Croys.

 Pictured: The lower section of the long Croys pool.

Pictured: The final croy of Croys(!), where I lost my fish.

Ultimately, having given it a good go, I didn't have any more interest shown in my fly in the afternoon and so went for pub tea in Ettrickbridge with my folks around 5pm or so. Here are some other pictures from the day.

 Pictured: Singlie Hillend; both the fast neck of the pool and the glide towards the tail felt like good spots and I was surprised I had no offers here.

 Pictured: The imposing Brock Scar. Too low and slow on the day but I had a few casts anyway.

Pictured: Pinal Knowe. Probably my favourite pool to fish on the beat - and there are a quite a few nice ones.

The Middle Ettrick beats, on the Duke of Buccleuch's Bowhill Estate, are very picturesque and peaceful beats indeed. They are not the beats to provide the best fishing on the system or the best conditioned fish, but they are the sort of beats where a little improvement in conditions or a few fish being sighted gives an excuse to spend a day in a very nice setting indeed and still with the chance of a fish, even before the late Ettrick run of September and October. It was also only £25 for the rod, so a fairly good deal, I think.

More reports on my various 2015 outings to follow.

Cheers.

Calum