Water at Last!

Christian & John Previously

July continued very dry and warm curtailing any sport we may have had with the salmon, although there were, (and certainly still are) fish about. I was out on the lower Eden on the 27th of July, just as we had experienced a couple of inches of fresh water in the system, and whilst giving a casting lesson, we saw a small run of very fresh fish cutting through the water in front of us, it was great to see because prior to this we were not seeing much at all. Since then we have been seeing more and more fish entering the system and whilst out on Wednesday the 6th August with Christian and John (two regular visitors to Border Game Angling, and I like to think, good friends) we almost experienced some very good results, I say almost, because although John did manage to hook 3 salmon in succession, he unfortunately lost them all, the biggest being around 12lb as we watched it roll over in the water in front of us just before parting company with John, that's fishing I'm afraid, it doesn't always go according to plan, but at least we know they are there. Conditions were very good that day as the water was dropping steadily following a two foot rise the day before, but by six in the evening the the best of the day was over as the additional rainfall from up the valley the previous day had taken it's toll and begun to lift the river once more, and as a result the action slowed down again.

John having just released a Sea Trout

Prior to this I was out with John Dunn, another good friend and regular visitor, and I must add, a very nice fly dresser too, and I have caught many a fish on his creations. We made our trip to the river at the end of July, before the fresh water (we have now) had arrived, our aim was a session on the sea trout to give John a nocturnal experience with the fly rod, and with some success I might add too, as John proceeded to hook and land 5 fish, all of which were returned to the water, he was having a very good session until the wind turned to the east around 1 am and brought the takes to an abrupt end, it was as if someone had threw a switch and the action suddenly stopped. However you certainly couldn't say it wasn't a great first experience in the dark. Well Done John!

On the Fishing Island at Lowther

Since then, following the recent rainfall, there was a few days when the river was out of order, but luckily it didn't disrupt things too much, because as the river rose over the weekend of the 9th & 10th of August I was once again doing my bit at the Lowther show as part of the AAPGAI demonstration team, although it did put the river out of order the following day, Monday the 11th. However, every cloud has a silver lining, as they say, and on a brighter note, the fresh water has also been instrumental in encouraging a few salmon to take our offerings over the last couple of weeks, (up to 22lb) in the periods when the river has been falling and clearing again.

A happy competition winner at the Show

Yet another great show, just over the border in SW Scotland, on the weekend of the 16th & 17th August, where I was once again part of the demonstration team for AAPGAI and also part of the Borderlines team at the show. We held a series of casting clinics down on the lake as well as an accuracy competition and a family casting competition. A good time was had by all, as you can see from the face of one of the young competition winners in the picture on the left. Another good social event, well worth visiting in 2015. 

Returning a Brown caught on the Spider

A few casting lessons on the river with people again this week, including today, and we also had another good salmon water again yesterday as the river was dropping and clearing nicely following another bought of rain, but as the fishing was slow we noticed a few trout topping, so we got the trout rods out and had a good hours sport on the upstream spider, we did try the dry fly too as there were a few small dark olives about, but the trout seemed to be focused on something in the surface film and were ignoring everything else, including the black silverhorn sedges that were dancing on the water.

A Black Silverhorn (on my car window)

Some regular visitors coming up again next week to indulge in a bit of salmon fishing, and with this extra water and September fast approaching we should hopefully experience some good results. "Here's Hoping"!