Salmon Autumn 2021

 We had to go to England to fish on this Sunday. It was a wet trip to the North Tyne at Falstone. After arrival the weather changed and even the sun showed itself now and then. The river height is controlled by the amount of water released from Kielder water. This can be checked on the website:  https://www.tynereleasekielder.co.uk/current-information The release of  7 cumecs gave us an ideal height to wade. Unlike most rivers in England and Scotland the North Tyne is not much influenced by rainfall. Mind you keep an eye on the release scheme before going there. We saw about 5 fish crashing near us but unfortunately we could not hook them. Only three snapshots, we were busy fishing. A not so positive graph for fishing on Monday.

 This morning Mike questioned David Carrick the secretary of the Tyne Angler's Society about places we could fish. We checked the gauges and the North Tyne and the Rede were fishable. Franca decided we were to go to Hass loch today and to the Tyne tomorrow. Our local Oxnam water was still coloured although I could see through about 20 cm, have to check again tomorrow before we leave for the North Tyne. En route to the Hass we investigated the Jed Water but we could not locate an access path. Moreover the river was still rapid and held colour. We later discovered it was not permissable to fish the Jed for trout or grayling at this time of year.  It was a dry and sunny day at the Hass and Mike had a leviathan brown trout on a Shipmans buzzer size 16. The weight of the fish 7 lbs 2 oz. Franca managed to persuade Miguel to put him and his catch on Facebook only if he was sufficiently disguised so not to be recognised in keeping with his extremely modest disposition. Franca assiste...

The gauges are showing the river level is dropping but it is a long drop from 3.5 m. to the level at which fishing is comfortable around the 1 meter mark. If no substantial rain falls in our catchment area we will be able to fish again on Monday. We are considering fishing an English river coming Sunday. Today I went for a walk up the River Oxnam that borders the Crailing estate where our cottage is situated. The Oxnam was high and coloured and as expected my fishing was not effective. The autumn colours and  views of the surroundings were very nice. In the afternoon Mike did some shopping in Kelso for he would be the cook this evening. Echalion shallots were new to me and so was the tasty dinner he prepared with these onionlike bulbs. We met him later in the afternoon at the Hass loch where we all caught a rainbow trout, Mike had the biggest. 

 Since there was no reason to race to the river (height almost 2 m above normal) we were up at about nine. Yesterday the wader test had a favourable result, no leakage for the first time since I arrived here. And today another two waders were repaired, a pair of  Mike's breathable waders were treated with glue and a few patches and Franca's neoprenes were glued. It is raining heavily in these parts of Scotland and there were flood warnings issued. The gauging station at Hawick showed a height in the red part of the graph. They are getting nervous there. Some of us had poached eggs for lunch. And now some serious water. After a thorough inspection of the river we headed for Sainsbury's and amongst the goods we extracted from the reasonably filled shelves we had hand stretched sourdough pizza! We could not find banana shallots and we forgot the olive oil.

 We were slow to start today. We should have started at 6 because in about an hour the river was unfishable. I managed to catch a wee trout on a big weighted tube. Mike returned home to repair his waders. Franca had a few chucks at the streams early on and when it became unfishable she had some time at the bench pool. I had a look at the borders of the widening river and was amazed how fast the water rose. At some places I could cast a heavy fly with a short leader and 15 foot extra fast sinking tip, mainly stripping the fly parallel and close to the bank. Nothing happened. Did some work on the river by removing branches and clearing paths. Also filmed the racing water in the various places we normally can fish. At about four o'clock Franca decided to have a walk home. We checked for the best route to avoid the busy A698. This is the normal route we take by car since Kalemouth bridge is still closed. She made the following pictures en route. More rain is falling in our catchment ar...

My test result of the Day-2 test taken on Day-6:  Result: SARS-CoV-2 RNA NOT DETECTED Franca had her Day-2 test today and the kit was dropped in the post box. We performed an additional wader test and found a substantial leak in my Hardy chest waders. It is in the drying room, to be  repaired this evening. We met Adam and Tommy (the Bailiff) at the hut. After the usual exchange of  fishing tales we (Franca Adam and Hans)  started the morning at the Streams and Mike went up to the wear. All three at the Streams had a fish on for brief moments but the fish were lost after a short drill, only Adam hooked and landed a cock salmon just before lunch. Mike had a sad story to bring us from the cauld, he hooked a hen salmon that could not be revived and so had to be euthanized by a blow on her head. It later was brought to Geraldine as  a compensation for the received apple pie. The footage is too dramatic to present to our viewers. In the afternoon Adam and I went to th...

 Yesterday I picked up Franca from Edinburgh airport. We did the standard inspection of the Tweed at Leaderfoot bridge. We had lunch at Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. Mike had visited an old friend and also went to our former cottage at Edenmouth. Geraldine gave him three pieces of apple pie with a lovely flaky pastry. Overnight the river rose  and so did the porridge. The water was coloured but there was  reasonable visibility of 15 cm. So we chose bright flies with some weight to get them down in the fast current. We could get in the water at the willow in the Streams but it was quite challenging so we went to the  Boat Pool where the wading on the gravel was easier. We saw otters, kingfishers and ducks, goosanders and swans and a pair of little grebes. And a seatrout on the end of my fly. No more catches today but Mike hooked a fish momentarily and all I could see was a first and last crash on the water and a fisherman in tears.

 The day started with an explosion.  Poked the swab in throat and nostrils and put it in a plastic container and into its return packaging. Tossed it in the post box at Eckford whose collection was due at 11 AM. Mike caught a hen salmon around lunchtime after which Bruce arrived at the hut where we "chewed the fat". Just upstream from the cauld I caught a decent cock salmon. An extra few pictures: No Sunday fishing here in Scotland. I will pick up Franca at Edinburgh airport.

 Today a planned outing to the river Whiteadder a tributary of the Tweed. But first we shopped in Kelso. We found the sanding paper but at the tackle shops (Orvis and Fin and Game) there was no 15 lbs Maxima left, empty shelves! At Fin and Game I bought  aquasure, three polyleaders and a 15 lbs spool from Rio The isopropylalcohol to detect holes in my waders was nowhere to be found in Kelso.  We had no time to visit the Salmon Museum. The steps at the photography shop, even there Mike popped in to ask for alcohol. After almost an hours drive we parked the cars at Hutton bridge and geared up. I chose the 10'3'', 9 weight switch with a Rio switch chucker #8 and a 5 foot fast sinking polyleader and three feet leader. Mike had his switch rod 11"6'' 8/9 weight and  a floating line with a Rio slow sinking polyleader and a six feet 15 lbs nylon tippet. After a steep descent we came to the river which was runing clear with a peaty colour. The vegetation on the banks wa...

Mike is unusually late this morning and he explains this by attributing this to a condition calling for two poached eggs. It took him some more time to get to the water. Clear blue skies in the morning with a wind in gusts and cooler than yesterday. It stayed dry the whole day. I saw a pair of otters chasing fish, it was too far away to make a photo or film it. With the Loop LTS 14'6'' #10 and a Mid Spey 10  line I flogged the river all day to no avail. Saw only one big fish head and tailing. Mike started grayling fishing with a # 5 Switch rod and had about 6 grayling ad 4 trout. He changed to salmon fishing and had another grayling but not the desired species. I have to find some time to pay attention to my two leaking chest waders and the two leaking thigh waders! Even the plastic bin bag I put on before stepping into the leaking wader collected water. Bruce send a picture of us he made yesterday, we were too far up river to meet. We will see him Saturday. Tomorrow we wil...