Report for last week in October

'Extremely disappointing' about sums it up. 3 salmon and a sea trout for the prime last week in October is poor, and our overall October catch belies the huge head of fish present in the beat, and upper Tweed in general. Proof, if it were ever needed, that angling catches are never a good indicator of the stock in a river! This phenomenon seems to be happening elsewhere on the river, with many of the beats, including other upper beats, reporting low single figures of fish each day......

Despite the huge number of fish present, they are simply not taking, and only the odd 'daft one' is succumbing to a carefully (or not so carefully) presented fly. Various theories as to why this may be have been suggested, possibly the unseasonably mild air and water temperatures, and persistent high water have not helped. Whatever the reason, the fish will surely come back on the take at some point soon, hopefully before 30 November.

The only fish taken this week were by three of the co-owners with a fish apiece, and a sea trout taken by a guest rod.

Great start to week for one angler

Unfortunately, the rain is piling in from the west again and the river is rising mid afternoon.....despite this, George Holdsworth and his daughter managed to make the most of the window before it began to rise and had 4 fish up to 12lb, 3 of these were nice clean fish and a 'first' for his daughter - well done!

Successful tactic was a gold bodied Willie Gunn on an intermediate tip.

Hopefully this might signify that the fish are back 'on' after last week's tricky conditions. Water and air temps are certainly down, with a return to more typical autumn weather.

A picture paints a thousand words, Tweed at Peebles @ 19.00 hours.....

Difficult week

The river has slowly fined down from well over 2 feet at the start of the week to about 1' 6" this weekend. On the face of it, we have had perfect conditions, plenty of water, good clarity and generally good weather. Most importantly there are lots of fish about, ranging from spanking clean fish to older coloured fish.

However, despite this, we have only had 6 fish banked this week. Most other upper beats have fared no better, with our lower neighbours Glenormiston and Traquair taking 6 fish also. Well down river, the reports are similar. The Lees report extremely high numbers of fish around, but that they are proving poor takers and hard to catch.

We have had some very good fishers out towards the end of this week and they have struggled - very frustrating, but the fish will undoubtedly 'switch' back on again. Water and air temperatures are still relatively mild for mid October, so perhaps when the temperatures drop a few degrees, the fish may come back on the take.

Water prospects are good for the coming week, sitting at around 1' 5", a slow sink tip is all that is required with a small bottle tube or dressed double.

Monday 10th October

The river rose on Sunday, but dropped slowly to about 2' 4", only for rain early on Monday morning causing a slow rise to about 2' 8" on Monday afternoon. The water has been well above summer levels for many weeks, and as such there is very little colour coming into it, so it remains very fishable at heights above 2'.

Alastair Dunbar caught the water 'just right' before it began to rise slightly yesterday afternoon, and managed 3 fish between 8-10lbs.

Unsettled week

It has been an unsettled week in terms of river height and temperature. There are lots of fish about, however with the levels being up and down they are not very settled into the usual lies. With little angling pressure this week, catches have been low, although regular fish Iain Bain managed a couple of fish and lost a few more, the best being this clean fish around 16lbs. If river levels remain on the high side, prospects are good. Fish are running into the beat all the time at this height - concentrate on the pool tails for resting fish and ensure that the fly fishes right around and close into the bank - often good for hooking a running fish.