Good season so far......

Its been a good start to the fishing on Cardrona, with 10 fish now in the book and only half way through September. Fishing pressure has been light......water has been fairly high since the last report, with the water dropping down to summer level in the last week or so. Iain Bain has had most of the fish to date, finishing today with 3 small grilse.

Below are a couple of fish caught a few weeks ago, with one very fresh grilse.

The beat pools have all been strimmed with good access and exit points.

Given good water levels, the fishing will continue to pick up with more fish filling up the pools as we move into late September and October.

3 fish for week-ending 29 July

Water levels finally steadied off this week with the river falling from Tuesday. It has been an incredibly wet summer and the water has rarely been at a steady height for several months.

Three fish were caught this week - two salmon weighing around 5lbs each and a 5lb sea trout - the latter taken on a squirrel and blue. Prospects are good if the river does not fall away too much this coming week.

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.