Glenormiston, Tweed (3 -5 November 2016)

Our 3 November days on Glenormiston, between Cardona and Innerleithen on the Upper Tweed, came around off the back of a long spell of disappointingly dry Autumn weather. The river was at 4" on the Peebles gauge and catches had tailed off since a short spell of 50 or so fish per day off the river, a few weeks before in October.

To cut a long story short; it was a fairly poor few days' fishing, with 3 tugs on the Thursday, a fish lost on the Friday and just 1 tug on the Saturday (the latter for my dad). The Girley Water, on the upper of the two beats, was holding a few fish but nowhere near as many as the previous season when I got one from here, despite that being a poor one also. Whin Stream, where I managed a clean cock fish of around 7lbs last year, was holding fish also but other than that there were only a few fish showing in Strip End at the bottom of the beat and in Woodend Pool at the top.

Other rods got one fish from Whin Stream on the Thursday (a 6-8lbs or so coloured cock fish) and a 3lbs coloured cock grilse from Strip End, but due to drop outs my dad and I ended up with the place to ourselves by the Saturday! Seemingly out of nowhere, Traquair opposite had a day of 6 fish on the Thursday, although they have some low water fishing where tributaries join the main river. I lost my fish on the Friday in the Girley Water on a copper Gold Bodied Willie Gunn tube and had tugs in Woodend Pool and Strip End. My dad had a firm tug in Woodend Pool on the Saturday.

Colin, the gillie, is always on top form and so Glenormiston is always a great place to spend a few days. The hut was well-used and a bottle of Glendronach was well-received by our French and American beat companions. We'll be back next season as, although the river has obviously not fished well in the traditional last week of October and first week of November spell, it is the second season running when we have had almost Summer-low conditions for this spell and it's not really possible therefore to make an accurate guess as to how different these weeks might have been should we have had 2' on the gauge at Peebles. That said, it will indeed be interesting to see when in the season rods are fishing Upper Tweed in say 20 years' time. In the meantime, here are some photos.

 The Girley Water - one of the two best pools on the beat.

The Bushes - a medium to high water stretch between the more pronounced Bridge Pool and Girley Water pools.

 The stream into Woodend Pool, at the top of the beat.

 My dad fishing Strip End (sometimes called Jawstane, although there is another pool by the same name above).
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 Strip End, looking downstream to the foot of the beat where it marches with Traquair's left bank fishing.

 Jawstane - all quiet in here, for all 3 of our days.

 Jawstane, looking up to the tail of Whin Stream.

 The tail of Jawstane, from the neck of Strip End. The Traquair rods parked on the far bank favoured Whin Stream, though.

 Under the wires in Strip End.

 My dad coming into the hot spot in Whin Stream, as a Traquair rod fishes down the right bank.

 Looking up to The Beeches and Fawnburn Pool, a lesser-fished stretch of Glenormiston for high-water use.

Last Cast: Scrogbank, Tweed (28 November 2015)

I made a couple of friends from my year fishing a Saturday syndicate rod on Sunderland Hall and I was lucky enough to receive an invite from one to fish what would have otherwise been an unused rod at Scrogbank, opposite Holylee, Upper Tweed, on the last Saturday of the season.

I had fished 3 days at Glenormiston in early November with my dad (which I'll write about soon), the last afternoon of which saw the beginning of a big rise in water levels which have remained high since. Not a lot has been caught following this rise, by the standards of a Tweed November, and, with the river probably a bit high and the day being very wet and windy, the conditions weren't the best. A number of beats appeared unfished on the basis of a bit of surveying from the Peebles-Selkirk road through the bare, late-November trees.

I rodded up with a floating shooting head with 15ft sink 3 tip and a big Snaelda tube in Willie Gunn colours and with a red cone-head and headed for the Birkie, which I'd fished from Holylee in even higher levels last season. The top of the pool was moving through a bit fast for the fly, so I only fished a sheltered lie behind an island on the Scrogbank side, before moving down fairly quickly to a long stretch of better resting water at the tail of the pool. I saw a fish splashing about under some trees in the distance, presumably past the march for the for sale Elibank beat, downstream.

Pictured: The top of the Birkie, which was rising and nearing flood.

Pictured: Looking down to the tail of the Birkie, which had some better-paced water for the fly.

I was working my way down, concentrating on the sheltered water, towards the near bank, when I had a tug on the line as the fly came round onto the dangle, which didn't stick. The fly continued swinging for a couple more seconds when, just as I began a couple of yards of retrieve before casting, I had another take and the line went tight.

The fish surfaced early on in the fight and I could see that it was of a decent size. For those that know the Birkie, from the Scrogbank side, it is a difficult place to land a fish on your own with no net(!). I gathered in my line and began to adjust to a better position where, once the fish had tired, I could draw it onto a patch of grass only just submerged by the river. The fight continued for around 10 minutes, with plenty of rolling and splashing, before the fish was brought under control and I managed to bank it.

On inspection, it was a moderately coloured hen (later measured via reference to my rod at 32' - roughly 13lbs), with a little damage (perhaps claw marks) on its left flank. I got a couple of nice photos, which will help me remember the season more fondly(!), and held the fish in the current until it recovered - which was fairly quickly - and returned to the pool.

Pictured: Managed a fish 'selfie' before returning it!

Pictured: 32 inches.

This was a really great sign-off to another fairly difficult season for most. I seem to have had most of my luck in November, having managed a couple on Glenormiston a few weeks before. Hopefully, those fishing the last day tomorrow get a bit of a break in the weather although, looking out the window as I am writing this in Edinburgh on Sunday 29th, I would suspect this won't be the case!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, when they come.

Calum