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).
.

 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.

Glenormiston, Tweed (5 - 7 November 2015)

The Upper Tweed is the closest stretch of Salmon fishing to my parents' house in the Borders (Wemyss & March or Dawyck probably being the closest beats) and so in a way I consider this 'home territory', in fishing terms. As a result, the Back End run - being the only substantial run on the Upper Tweed - is something of a focal point for me. Last year, my dad and I had a few days on Horsbrugh, as well as a day at Ashiestiel, all to no avail. Indeed, my dad hooked the only fish connected with by either of us that Autumn in the Lower Nutwood pool at Horsbrugh, only for it to drop off just as I arrived with the net. This year, though, we'd planned further ahead and had taken three days on Glenormiston in the first week of November.

Similarly to the Autumns of 2013 and 2014, low water had stretched prohibitively far into the Autumn. We had only had a couple of one foot rises in the months since the last decent spate which had come in May. The river was dirty and still lined with weed and fallen leaves, waiting to be washed out. The fishing was yet to really get going by the time our days at Glenormiston - between Innerleithen and Cardrona - came round and there had only been a handful of fish from the beat so far, despite more than half of the short two months season having passed.

On arrival at the beat, Colin the ghillie told us we would be fishing the bottom of the two sub-beats in the morning, switching to the top beat in the afternoon. This would be a pattern to which we'd stick, over our 3 days with Colin. We tackled up and headed down in the car to park up at the long Whin Stream pool, before walking down to Jawstane where we began our fishing. The majority of rods would be fishing very small doubles in the prohibitively low 6" Peebles gauge levels, but I'd seen a fish caught on Horsbrugh earlier in the week on a Sunray/Monkey-style fly and thought the extra movement might help otherwise reluctant fish to take an interest - I went for a small aluminium Monkey tube I had been passed by a fellow angler on Pert, North Esk, in March. We each had a go in Jawstane, where very few fish were showing, before taking a break to watch a Traquair rod fish the Whin Stream and have a drink of some Traquair Bear Ale we had picked up in Melrose earlier in the week. Later, we headed into Innerleithen to pick up some lunch and head back to the hut to catch up with the other rods.

Pictured: My small Monkey tube.

I had fished Glenormiston in October 2014 and knew that the top spot on the beat was the Girley Water, on the upper beat, where the river is divided by an island before rejoining and forming a deep channel where the fish like to lie. Conveniently, this also happens to constitute particularly nice fly water. After lunch, we headed straight for this pool, passing the Bridge Pool and the Bushes on the way. I watched my dad fish down the first few yards at the foot of the island before joining in. A relatively short cast to reach the best water, I had only been fishing for a few minutes when, as my fly moved just inside of the main channel, I felt the line gently tense and began to gather in my loop onto the reel in anticipation. It was a very subtle take, but once the fish had settled it began to fight. The majority of the fight was played out away from the main depth of the pool and eventually, after 5 or so minutes, I was able to beach the fish on the gravel on the inside of the bend in the river.

It turned out to be a slightly coloured hen of around 6lbs or so. I was slightly surprised that any fish I'd caught was not more coloured, given the lack of water, and so was fairly pleased. We recovered the fish in the water - which took slightly longer than normal as it seemed to be fairly comfortable with holding position at our feet(!) - and watched it turn downstream and head for the safety of the deepest part of the pool.

Pictured: My dad covering the main part of the Girley Water. My fish was hooked roughly where he is casting from, but may well have followed the fly from the main channel.

Pictured: Not overly coloured, considering it had made it up to Innerleithen in next to no water.

Pictured: Going back.

After a slightly early departure on day one to head into Edinburgh for a family viewing of 'Spectre', the new Bond film, we arrived at the beat on the Friday morning to instructions to head for the bottom beat again for the morning. We again headed for Jawstane, first off, and - sticking with the same fly - I felt slightly disappointed not to get a tug from a classic 'under the cables' lie halfway down the pool. I've never had any luck from Jawstane, despite having fished it from both Traquair and Glenormiston a few times each, but I always feel like I'll get a take when fishing it.

Eventually, we moved up the beat to Whin Stream, via a coffee break in the car. The top of this pool comprises a fairly long run which steadily deepens into the depth of the pool. With plenty of space for two rods, we each found a suitable perch on Glenormiston's high, outside of the bend, bank from which to start. There are not many obvious lies in the pool and so I worked my way down quite quickly in order to cover the pool. I had just passed the remains of a croy on the Glenormiston bank and was fishing the leaf-strewn back eddy behind it, when I had a heavy take. This was followed by a fairly acrobatic fight with a number of leaps and runs. I moved slightly upstream to a better position from which to play the fish, while my dad got the net and moved downstream into position. This was a slightly better fight than the fish from the previous day, but eventually the fish went up on its side and my dad scooped it up and headed for the bank to take a look at it.

On inspection, the fish was pretty fresh for upper river standards. It was a cock fish of around 7lbs, with a little damage on its right side. Having managed to keep the fish in the water by using the net, we lifted it out briefly and quickly took a couple of pictures before getting it back into the water to move off into the river with minimal recovery time seemingly required.

Pictured: A good start to day two.

Pictured: Fairly fresh, considering the low water and distance it had covered.

We tried hard in the Girley Water in the afternoon, following a Deerhunter dram or two with Colin and the other rods in the hut at lunch. By this stage, the pool had filled with fish and you could be forgiven for thinking this was a reasonably good Autumn from a few minutes watching it; nothing further doing, though.

By day three, the weather had broken and the river was rising slowly but showing no signs of stopping. We focussed on Whin Stream in the morning but had no success this time. We had increased our fly sizes by this point to counter the decreasing clarity of the water and were now fishing one inch copper Gold Bodied Willie Gunn and Monkey tubes. By lunchtime, leaves were beginning to pose an issue, although we still felt confident of another fish in the Girley Water, which was beginning to extend downstream with the extra water. It didn't come though, despite changing tips to try and plumb the bottom of the channel to get the attention of any fish hunkering down, out of the way of the leaves and debris.

We moved upstream to the Woodend Pool at the top of the beat near the march with Horsbrugh for a final few casts, but it became apparent - with a ratio of 3 leaves in every 4 casts - that fishing was done for the day. We left with a feeling that at least being washed off for the last half-day would mean better fishing for the next few (for others, anyway), but we all now know this didn't prove to be the case this Autumn! We had a great few days on the beat, though, and the combination of enjoyable (and fairly successful) fishing with good company on the beat and especially in the hut at lunchtime left us looking forward to a return next year.

Now to book some rods for early Spring 2016!

Calum

Pictured: The Woodend Pool, on its way up on the final day.

The Upper Tweed Back-end, 2014

By this stage, the 2014 Back-end could easily have been forgotten about. Perhaps as an aide to remembering to make the most of even just 'average' seasons, here are a few pictures from a little tour of Upper Tweed over a wet, windy and somewhat puzzling October and November 2014.

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.

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.