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.

Sunderland Hall, Tweed (24 October 2016)

Sunderland Hall is a favourite of mine and I tend to have a few days, or at least, sessions there each season. Amongst the plus points are the very reasonable rod prices earlier in the season (Spring and Summer) and also the beat's versatility, as it has Upper Tweed and Ettrick fishing, plus the famous Meetings Pool at the bottom of the beat. This makes it an ideal venue for an evening escape from the office between May and July, while the days are longer. There are usually a good number of fish holding in the Meetings from mid-April until early June and in May and June the fastest running Spring fish will run the Ettrick, given water. Indeed, in May I managed a 16lbs springer from the Meetings which I was pretty pleased with.

One from May - great fight

In October, though, the Upper Tweed pools get the most attention and these were the focus of my most recent, unfortunately unproductive, day on the beat. There were 6 inches on the gauge at Peebles on the day and so, despite temperatures of only 2 celsius overnight, I made an early start in Black Strand (also referred to as 'The Birches') , a locally-famous holding pool in front of Sunderland Hall itself. Nothing was showing and so I only covered the top half of the long pool before moving on.

Black Strand

At the top of the beat, the Howden Pool is the main pool, although there used to be a good stream at an island below this. Readers who haven't visited Sunderland Hall or Fairnilee yet this season, but who are familiar with the beats, will be disappointed to hear that this stream has changed significantly  since last season and the stream from Howden down the left bank is far smaller than before and it looks more probably that fish run the right bank channel instead now. Some good fishing has been lost, if this is the case.

Howden itself has a more pronounced stream and flow in low water than before. This follows the right bank and did feel very 'fishy'. Again, nothing showing.

Howden Pool

Next up is Arres' Putt, a high water pool with a fast but shallow run at the top. Another rod on the beat fishing below me managed to hook and land a fish downstream, between Arres' Putt and the Needlehall Boat Pool while I was in Arres' Putt.

Arres' Putt (self-proclaimed, but I think this is a great photo of Upper Tweed-dale in Autumn!)

A fish for the rod downstream

I then headed back to the hut at the foot of Black Strand for a coffee and some food, before having a run through the Meetings and the Ettrick pools, Alder and The Bushes. I was fishing a floating line with an integrated intermediate tip and was using fly choice to control the depth thereafter. The slower high water pools on the Upper Tweed stretch, I fished with a small aluminium tube Black Snaelda, which looked the part. For the stronger flows in the Meetings, Alder and Bushes, I put on a tungsten Red Frances (having given up hope of there being anything fresh around!). I saw a stale grilse in the Meetings, but nothing more.

The Meetings

Alder Pool - very low but great fly water

Interestingly, the Council's works on the Old Tweed Bridge, long since replaced by a road crossing over the Meetings, seem to be improving the look of the Bridge Pool downstream. There were always lies here, but not much of a pool; now - unless the works change it again - a stronger flow carries further through the pool and increases the relevance of a croy on the Sunderland Hall bank. This lie currently looks very fishy and so it'll be interesting to see what comes out of here in the next few seasons, once the pool settles down again.

The Council's works on the Old Tweed Bridge

Later, I had a run through Needlehall Boat Pool (which was extremely low) with a big dressed Silver Stoat, Doocote (in-between Black Strand and the Meetings) with a Snaelda in Willie Gunn colours and a full run through Black Strand with a Junction Shrimp tube, pretty much in the dark.

 Needlehall Boat Pool

And again, from near the tail of the pool

Doocote

It's been a pretty disappointing Autumn, all round, and so there's no need for me to elaborate really. Hopefully, those with late Autumn rods and trips booked enjoy some sport even if it's with stale/old fish and a bonus would be a bit of water and some cleaner fish showing up thereafter.

A shame to blank, but Sunderland Hall is a great place to fish.