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.

The Spate in Pictures (4 & 5 October 2014)

I've been a little quiet on the blog front in the past while, mainly due to the lack of water and lack of fish. This weekend, I still have no fishing to write about, but at least the reason for this is also likely to mean the rest of the season is a little more lively!

I was due to fish Fairnilee on Upper Tweed on Saturday (4 October 2014). The first heavy rain in months was due on Friday and it duly arrived; unfortunately, for those due to fish on Saturday, it put the upper river up to 4' 4" and the Ettrick even higher and both were running the colour of milky coffee and so we were washed off for the day (although I did see see some brave attempts on Holylee, Elibank and Ashiestiel while the water was rising). I've long had my Saturdays' fishing in October and November planned out and next week I plan to be on Glenormiston; hopefully, I'll have some fishing - with water and fish - to write about by then! However, in the meantime, here is an attempt at 'The Spate in Pictures' comprising the results of a wander around Tweedside with my camera yesterday and today for those who are also waiting to have a cast at some fish on Upper Tweed now the water is here.

First stop was Fairnilee, to have a chat with the ghillie, John, before getting on with the rest of my day. I took this photograph of the Yair Boat Pool. Three trees floated past while I was there.

I thought Philliphaugh Cauld would be worth a look and so I headed over the Tweed at Yair Bridge towards the Ettrick at Selkirk. Here's a photograph of the Saughs pool on Selkirk and District Angling Association's Lower Ettrick beat at around 2" from a session last Saturday (27 September 2014). This pool is the last stop before the cauld pool and the cauld itself.

Here is the same scene on Saturday (4 October 2014) lunchtime, after the rain had eased. The Ettrick was up at around 4' 8" at this stage.

Another from my low water session on Lower Ettrick. This shot is of Saughs, looking upstream towards the cauld, which you can see in the background.



A similar view from Saughs, but a week later.

I moved on upstream to take a look at the cauld. This spate should have put the gravel that has recently been the subject of the works at the bottom of the cauld where it's supposed to be!

I stopped for a quick photograph of the Tweed/Ettrick Meetings Pool on Sunderland Hall (right bank, Tweed, & left bank, Ettrick) and Boleside (left bank, Tweed, & right bank, Ettrick). The Ettrick was noticeably faster-flowing and more coloured than the Upper Tweed.

There was only so much flooded river that I was willing to look at yesterday, but the river was in fine form today (of course it was, it's a Sunday!) so I went for a walk along Glenormiston in advance of my fishing there next Saturday. Here's the view upstream from the bridge to the Woodend Pool (near), Glenormiston, and then Lower Nutwood and Nutwood, both shared between Cardrona (right bank) and Horsbrugh (left bank). There is something very special about Upper Tweeddale in full Autumn colours.

 

Finally, I made a return visit to Philliphaugh Cauld to see if there were any fish running and managed to get some good photos and a video (which will hopefully follow, at some stage). As you would expect, with the long spell of low water and prevalence of Spring fish in the Ettrick run, most were heavily coloured, but there were some big ones making an appearance. It will be interesting to see how many of these turn up on Middle Ettrick's catches in the next while. 

Now just to see one up close next Saturday.

Tight lines for the Back End, folks.

Calum

Craignair (Dalbeattie AA), Urr (7 August 2014)

There had been quite a lot of rainfall across the country on the Wednesday night and so I decided to have a session on one of the many rivers that were running off during the course of Thursday. Having noticed that the Cree had begun to record improved catches, I was eager to investigate the possibility of fishing Linloskin or the association water at Newton Stewart. A later than expected departure time from the Borders meant that the two and half hour journey time would limit how much fishing was possible and so I instead elected to set off for the Urr, which flows into the Solway Firth between the Nith and the Kircudbrightshire Dee. I had fished the river before, during it's particularly disappointing November of last season (only 4 were caught - for context, the 4 year average from 2009 to 2012 was 45.25), and had picked up a 10lb coloured fish, so I had fond memories and a good degree of confidence in my choice of water.

Pictured: One from Raikes in early November 2013, caught on a Gold Bodied Willie Gunn 1" copper tube. Safely returned.

Arriving at around 4pm, I took a look at the river conditions from the bridge at the bottom of the lower beat; the river had been up at 2' 1" and rising the night before, and was at around 1' 8" on arrival, dropping to 1' 4" by the end of the session. It was quite cloudy, but clearing, and so I stuck with a small fly, a Cascade, confident that it was bright enough to counteract the clarity issues. For those that know the river, I fished Raikes, Old Weir, Auchenbrae, Stock Pool, Duncan's, Boat Pool, Castle Pool and finished with two further runs down Raikes (once with a slightly bigger Ally's Shrimp and once with a good sized Junction Shrimp fished deeply as the darkness set in). 

Pictured: Old Weir - the topmost pool of the Craignair beat. The water above is private.

Pictured: Stock Pool - a large pool, which must require a very big spate to get moving fully. My Sea Trout was taken from mid-stream, where the river begins to widen.

The score for my session was one small Sea Trout, at about 1lb to 1.5lbs. This was taken from Stock Pool (pictured above) - the biggest of the lower beat's pools - on the aforementioned Cascade, fished in the gentle flow with a slow figure of 8. I had been hoping that I would strike the water just right and that it might have been a more productive session, with a moderately-sized spate running off, although I understand that two grilse were lost earlier in the day. Perhaps the first spates of the season across the country are not proving as productive as hoped because the water running off is warm and is carrying the dust and debris of another particularly dry Summer. I certainly hope so and I'll have opportunity to investigate whether this is correct when I return to the Urr in September. 

Pictured: Not the biggest, but it put up a good fight, as Sea Trout are known for.

It's certainly a great wee river with some lovely glides for the fly on light tackle. With a season running until the end of November and fishing available at modest cost, its a good option if booking back-end Tweed fishing is taking its toll on your bank account, like it is mine!

Tight lines 

Calum

Waltham & Dritness, Tweed (26 July 2014)

I would describe myself as an Upper Tweed rod, for the most part, and so Bottom Tweed and the mouth of the river seem very distant at times; however, I like to consider myself a thinking angler and so acquainting myself with goings-on downstream and learning about the factors influencing bottom river fishing had been high on my 'to do' list.

July had been a particularly dry month, as had a good few months previous to it, at least relatively speaking. The river levels upstream had been around the Summer low to 2 or 3 inches mark and so the time seemed right to look into a day on the Bottom river, when I received a very kind invitation from Martin Inkster, one of the owners of bottom beat on the river, Waltham & Dritness, to pay a visit.

Saturday 26 July was the day and the levels were low even for the Bottom Tweed when fellow Fairnilee rod Russell Lugton (my 'plus one' for the day) and I set off on our respective journeys to Horncliffe on the English  bank, just upstream from Berwick-upon-Tweed. Tiny flies were the order of the day and so I had paid a visit to Orvis in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, during my lunch hour the day before to pick up a couple of Silver Stoats, Gledswoods and Black & Yellow Ally's.

Pictured: Prompt arrival, for once.

I made it down to the beat in good time and was on the banks at 8:30am to watch the beat's principal pool, The Squire Pool, come to life with fish leaping every few seconds in the cooler morning conditions. As Marty explained to us, this pool is the first substantial holding pool on the river and so, at times like this, any fish awaiting opportunity to push upstream will congregate in its depths, a large boulder in mid-stream providing a perfect shelter during times when the current is pushing through with more conviction than on the day in question. The pool is shared with Tweedhill, the Scottish bank beat opposite, and it's thought that the first rod into this pool in the morning often has the best opportunity of the day, if it's a bright one. As we were rodding up, weight was added to this theory when an early bird Tweedhill rod was spotted with his rod doubled over at the tail of the pool, just visible from the parking spaces at the hut. The fish was landed and having one in the book before 9am - albeit the book on the far bank - added some urgency to our strides as we headed upstream with Marty, his son David and his friend Scott to enter the pool from the Waltham & Dritness side, above the Tweedhill rod. 

 Pictured: The Wheel and Red Rock, with the tail of The Squire Pool in the background as it kicked into action.

Upon arriving at the cut-in to the pool, some wading was required to gain a good vantage point - in the form of an underwater rock - from which to fish the pool. I had just got into position and   

started to work out how to fish the pool when Tweedhill hooked into another fish. This was also landed successfully with a minimum of fuss; a good meal (or two) for the angler in question! My attention returned to my own fishing, which required a steep learning curve as to how to fish my small Black Boar over the mid-stream feature of the aforementioned boulder. With an intermediate tip on, I learned that a quick retrieve was required until the fly had swung to the near side of the boulder. At slightly better levels, a mow tip would be in its element for overcoming such obstacles and this is something I will hopefully have opportunity to test out in the future.

Pictured: Tweedhill about to come into a second fish.

Fishing down from The Squire Pool, there is Boat Hole, Red Rock and The Wheel, which all follow in quick succession and which all had flurries of heavy activity at various points during the day, The Wheel in particular. We had planned to take an early lunch, in light of the tide times which would flood off the beat from around 2pm, and so we headed back to the hut for a catch up. A look around the hut gave me an appreciation of the quality and condition of the fish that are taken so close to the river mouth. The hut was wallpapered in photos of 'bars of silver', including Marty's very own 31lber caught just last season and around the same date as Russell and I were fishing on.

Pictured: The hut at Waltham & Dritness is nicely set back from the road, overlooking the top of the tidal section of the beat.

After a short break, Russell fished down a nice looking, shallower stretch in front of the hut, which had a stronger flow to it and a croy to provide a lie at its tail. This stretch looked like a spot in which to 'catch them running' and our hosts had discussed with us the tactics of fishing this stretch as the tide is washing off. This would be around 5-6pm on the day and so, when the tide rendered the bottom of the beat flat and lagoon-like at around 2:30pm, we stopped fishing for a further chat with our hosts before we parted company and headed into Berwick to pick up supplies. 

While we were sitting in the hut, we were joined by a friend of our hosts, a former netsman of the very pools we were fishing. The insight the conversation that followed gave us into the extent of the runs of fish in past years and into the prime spots for shoaling of fish on their entering the river was as fascinating as the despair about our current Summer run was concerning; as David pointed out, however, the scenes in The Squire Pool in the morning didn't leave much room for such despair! Indeed, a glance at the beat's catch book showed 7 fish for the month of the 14 taken for the season, 2 of which had been caught by Scott the day previously. Also of note was that 9 of these were on the fly, which I think is good going.

Pictured: The old netting shiel, just upstream from the hut and overlooking the scene of our visitor's stories of times gone by.

Our evening session commenced at around 5:30pm, after some further relaxing in the hut. The stretch in front of the hut - which I understand is called Waltham Croy or Tordsby Dyke (happy to be corrected!) was fished down again, once by each of us. I'd say the croys provided the greatest anticipation of a take of my day's fishing, possibly due to the fly swinging across the current at a good pace for a take while the tide had almost finished washing off.

Pictured: The croys - a good run down as the tide is slipping away.

We couldn't resist another shot at the run of pools at the top of the beat before finishing. Russell had another go in The Squire Pool, which had quietened down somewhat, while I had a brief go with a Sunray Shadow in Red Rock. At around 7:30pm, the tail of Red Rock and the Waltham and Dritness bank of The Wheel came alive with fish leaping. Russell and I agreed that most of these looked like grilse, but that they also looked like they may have been in a while. We each had a few casts in The Wheel to see if we could entice one or two, but they just weren't in the mood and the theory mentioned earlier regarding the first to The Squire Pool was seeming sounder and sounder as the evening progressed.

Pictured: A mid-morning view downstream from The Squire to Red Rock and The Wheel, which we would fish again in the evening.

We hope to return to Waltham and Dritness soon, though (indeed there are many pools which we simply didn't have time to fish), and armed with an understanding of how best to approach a pool like The Squire, we will do so with a great deal of confidence. There is great contrast with the Upper River (this shouldn't surprise me!), but as the week this stretch had following our visit suggests, until there is consistent and heavy rainfall to allow passage upstream, it really is the place to be.

Thanks again to Marty, David and Scott - great to fish with you and we're looking forward to catching up again soon!

Tight lines

Calum

Middle Pavilion, Tweed (27 June 2014)

Middle Pavilion has become possibly my favourite Tweed beat of those I have fished so far, since I visited in May. It has a great variety of water, from slow, deep holes such as Kerr's and the tail of Boatshiel - suitable for a boat in Spring levels or for a slow retrieve at Summer lows - to rapid torrents where the fly flashes across the pool such as The Whirls. In between these extremities are all sorts of pools, most of which I have seen fish in in my two days on the beat so far. In addition to this, the beat is set away from nearby roads (which are minor anyway), creating a sense of calm on the river that often isn't afforded elsewhere. On top of this, there is a good hut with decking overlooking two of the best and most productive pools, The Whirls and my favourite, Boatshiel. Mick, the gillie, is excellent company, too.

Pictured: Closing time at the Middle Pavilion hut.

Arriving slightly late for the 8:45am meeting time (a nasty accident on the road south, near Melrose, was the cause), the draw for pools was made with the one other rod on the beat and I set off with Mick for Meg's, the final pool upstream, before Upper Pavilion. While a reading of 1" on the gauge is never going to be met with scenes of wild celebration amongst anglers, the streamy nature of Meg's meant that it was in satisfactory condition on the day and I believe there had been a salmon caught from this pool on the Wednesday of the week leading up to my day. I went for a small Black Frances (you'll perhaps notice a pattern emerging for my fly selection in warm, low conditions!) and fished through relatively quickly, moving down a couple of yards for each cast, in consideration of the clarity of the water. My previous visit had me fishing Meg's with a Single Spey from the left bank, as the stream at 8" to 1' is spread more widely across the river. This time, the low water meant the main stream was hugging the left bank and so it was better to create some distance - and avoid the back-eddies and currents created by the rocky left bank - by fishing down the gravelly right bank, about knee-deep in the water. I didn't see any salmon in the pool, but I was reliably informed that they tend not to show in Meg's, but they are there. An averagely-sized brownie lost and a parr quickly brought to hand and released were the result of my hour or so in the pool. I took Mick's advice and moved on to Upper Bridge for a half hour or so before Middle Pavilion's trademark 11am coffee break, which was extremely welcome.

Pictured: The top of Meg's - fished from the left bank in better water.

Upper Bridge, being extremely slow at this height and a long cast (my 12fter still being in action as a result of repairs required to my 15fter), was not the pool I had greatest expectations of a take in. However, a lie created by a sheltered back-eddy behind a stantion of the bridge always creates a sense of anticipation. A fish jumped in the tail of The Spit, the next pool down, but obviously it wasn't aware that it was time for a coffee break.

I returned to the hut to hear that the other rod had had a number of takes and had lost a salmon at the bank while fishing Boathshiel, right at the beginning of the day. Although conditions were far from ideal, the pools on the beat seemed to be lively enough and hopes were high for more action as the day progressed. This said, one of the topics of conversation over a brew was slight disappointment at the number of Summer salmon entering the river and evident on beats in general at this stage of the season. I returned upstream to start fishing The Spit and to see if the fish from earlier - which had shown just towards midstream from a known lie under an overhanging tree - was still there. A fish did jump in a similar spot while working my way down, placing casts between tree branches, but I am informed that if they don't take if first time, they won't the second, either, and so I moved on down towards The Whirls.

Pictured: The Whirls was still pushing through quickly, despite the extremely low water. A catch was made later in the day in front of the gauge in the left of the picture.

A minor change of tactic - Black Boar for Black Frances - was made and I began casting across the fast neck of The Whirls, mending the line and flashing the fly across the stream. A sharp tug in a sheltered lie at the top of the pool was, unfortunately, a one time only thing and I continued on down the pool after a second cast over the lie. Pools, such as this, where the fly moves quickly across the stream always give me more confidence of a take. Perhaps this is because all of my more recent fish (i.e. since the beginning of last season's 'back end') have been in moderate to fast water. However, by the time I had fished down past the gauge, through the neck of Boatshiel and into its latter reaches, thereby reaching the point where the water begins to slow, I had to change to less favoured tactics of using a slow retrieve to make the fly present well. By this stage, I was fishing a small Tosh and, although I was aware of plenty fish that had been showing throughout the pool, my expectations were not as high as in the top and middle of the pool. As a cast slowly worked its way round and I retrieved with a medium 'figure of eight', the middle of the line bellied in the little current that remained, suggesting the fly had been stopped. The lack of any commotion, or movement in the line, made me think I had simply caught on a rock. I lifted my rod tip to see if I could ease the fly clear. As I did so, a sharp and almost angry tug downwards made me realise that perhaps I should concentrate more on this slower fishing approach(!). Four or five seconds of downward tugs from the depths of the pool's dub were all that came of this, unfortunately. The hook didn't set as well as was needed, the fly was freed and the line was slack again. Very frustrating, again, and a fish soon would now be very welcome! This said, it's good to have some sport, rather than none at all.

Pictured: Boatshiel, with the scene of the crime (my lost fish) in mid-stream, in front of the tree stump on the far bank.

Shortly after, it was time to stop for lunch. With only one other rod, the scope for plenty of input as to which pool to start in for the afternoon session - while sticking to the beat's usual 'cycle' round the pools - was wide. I went for The Spit again and began another run down through the many lies of this pool, The Whirls and Boatshiel. On my second run down, and upon reaching Boatshiel, I heard a crash from the tail of The Whirls. My initial reaction was to take note of where it had come from so I could let Mick and the other rod know, had they not seen it themselves. It was about this time that I realised the the continuing commotion was a result of a good-sized Sea Trout hooked by the other rod. A 10 minute battle, with many classic Sea Trout leaps, and the fish was tailed. A perfect specimen.

Things quietened down during my second run through the pools, apart from a cruel, 'salt in the wound' visit from Mick, who had arrived to inform that he had picked up an 11lb hen earlier on somewhere towards Elmweil, near the bottom of the beat; he could only really have been fishing for a few minutes! Oh well - as Mick informed, no catches just means I have to make a return visit and a family dinner at Burt's in Melrose afterwards certainly helped. One is surely on its way soon though, isn't it?!

Tight lines.

Calum