Almost 6 Weeks Dry!

Malcolm sampling the trout fishing.

Although the title of this months Blog gives the impression that we haven't touched a drop of the good stuff for a while, it refers to something far more serious, that is, as far as salmon anglers are concerned. In this case it means we haven't seen any significant rain since late July / early August, and given that this is usually our prime time for catching salmon on the river, this does not bode well for those in pursuit of the silver tourist. 

Given the present low flows, (below summer level) we are now all praying for rain, and hopefully an influx of salmon into the system too, known as the back end run, which certainly hasn't arrived yet. Yes there are salmon in the system, but no where near the numbers we are accustomed to, however we still have 4 weeks of the salmon season remaining on the Eden, so all is not lost, as we did watch a small number of fish moving into one of the lower beats just before dusk last evening.

Felix into an Eden trout.

That said, many of you have been taking advantage of this slow dry period, in the form of tuition, making sure that you are up to speed with your casting techniques, ironing out some of those niggling little faults prior to any action that may be on it's way. We've certainly had a few good sessions addressing some of these problems. Even Jeff and Malcolm who came up for both salmon and trout fishing (a wise decision) indulged in a bit of casting practise, and considering Malcolm had never cast the salmon rod in a fishing situation before he really got to grips with it, and in the interim caught a couple of trout too, one of which you can see in the picture above right, and Felix from Austria, above left playing another Eden trout.

Lots of Herling in the System.

The trout season has been a very different kettle of fish, "so to speak", with a few difficult days, as always, but in general, some excellent fishing to be had throughout the season, even in these recent bright and warm conditions, given the right place at the right time, not to mention the right techniques. The Grayling fishing has also seen an increase in success, with a large amount of young fish still making an appearance on the lower river, providing some good sport alongside some good sized fish too. The last 3 weeks have also seen a lot of small sea trout (herling, as they are colloquially named) entering the river, reminding us of the good old days when many of the Borders rivers saw large runs of these young fish. 

Another Grayling coming to the net.

With two weeks remaining of the trout season on the Eden, and plenty more sport I'm sure before the 30th September, we will soon be turning "all" our efforts to whats left of the salmon season, taking us into the middle of October, so lets hope we get some rain soon to encourage a bit of that overdue action we all crave before the end of the season. There are plenty of outings still planned so lets see what the rest of the season has in store!