Ist fish for 2012!

Congratulations to Iain Bain with the first fish off Cardrona this year. A nice hen fish of 10-12lbs taken on a single hander set up fishing two single stoat tails. There were plenty more fish in evidence, so prospects look good for more early fish. The fish was of course returned, in line with the RTC spring fish conservation policy.

The policy is summarised below for anglers reference.

THE NEW MEASURES - IMPLEMENTATIONThese Measures apply from 2011 for the period 1st February to 30th June each year on the whole of the Tweed catchment.

* Anglers must return ALL Salmon caught up to the end of June, unharmed, to the water.

* Fish caught after 30th June should be returned if they are not fresh and therefore likely to be Spring stock.

* •Anglers returning Salmon before 30th June may order a ‘Spring Salmon’ shirt from The Tweed Foundation by making a donation – see details under ‘Claims’ section.

Spawning activity

A rather grainy shoot of some spawning activity on the Craig Stream, Horsburgh side. Obvious quality constraints - poor light, full zoom and on a compact digital.

Salmon spawning, Upper Tweed, 22 Nov 2011 from Brian Davidson on Vimeo.

and here, a few fish jostling for position in the tail of the Nutwood Pool.

Still fresh fish about.....

Fishing is still slow, but pods of fresh fish are still pushing up, and these seem to be populating the streamier necks of pools, rather than hanging out with the old red kippers. Water is relatively low for time of year, and very clear, but it did rise around 3" by late afternoon.

A nice fresh hen fish was taken today, about 10lbs, from the neck of the Lower Nutwood. It is incredible to think that we are in the 3rd week of November,yet the successful tactics are what you might use in late summer - a hover/intermediate line and 1/2" tube.

Some good days.....

Like October, November has proven to be a difficult month so far. Fish remain largely off the take, despite the huge head of fish in the river. Nevertheless, a couple of parties experienced some excellent sport.

Messrs James, Griffith & Badland fished 2-4 November and shared a respectable catch of 11 salmon, including a 22lb and 18lb fish.

Bernard and Philippe, over from France, fished 8 & 9 November and took 6 fish between them.

Some fresh fish are featuring in catches, and good numbers have been running in the high water. The last two weeks of the season should see a good run of the fast running November fish coming in. These are generally large and tend not to hang around the lower/middle river at this time of year. As a consequence they are likely to be fairly fresh.

Below are some of the fish taken by Bernard & Philippe.

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.