New Season

With the arrival of Sunday 15th January the Salmon season on the river Eden was once again upon us, and I did venture out on opening day, albeit just to blow the cobwebs away. Although the water conditions were good (at last) the East wind certainly didn't help our cause and subsequently we did not see any fish or Kelts in attendance (early days yet). I haven't heard of any reports (as yet) of fish being caught in the first few days of the season, but it's just a matter of time before one of the usual die hards makes an exciting encounter.

The East wind continued into Monday, but the sun did get out and temperatures weren't bad at all for January (especially in the sheltered areas) as I spent the day with a friend higher up the river fishing for Grayling, which I might add are still playing hard to get.

So unfortunately there's not much to report in these early stages I'm afraid, but speaking from experience it won't be long before things begin to happen on the Eden. "Watch This Space".

Washout in December

Unfortunately, the river Eden has been persistently high throughout the month of December making Grayling on the fly almost impossible and with more heavy rain forecast for the rest of this week there is no sign of improvement in the short term. We have certainly had more than our fair share of wind and water in 2011.

So not much to report I'm afraid, but as soon as the rain stops and the water drops I will be out with people once again, targeting those elusive Grayling. It may also help if the temperature drops a little too, which it may still do, as the temperature over the Christmas period has been uncommonly high for the time of year. This usually encourages Grayling to move into the deeper, slower moving areas of the river, away from the chilled surface area, thus giving you much more of an advantage when sight fishing, as any slight movement of your fly line will give you an indication of a tentative take as these subtle takes can often go unnoticed in faster water. That said, if temperatures do remain as mild as they have been recently then spider fishing in the faster flowing water will still be very effective, and worth taking advantage of.

Well here we are again at the end of another year and I hope you all had a great Christmas, with (I am sure) a few additions to your fishing armoury arriving on Christmas day. I look forward to seeing many familiar faces again in 2012 along with a few new ones, and may I wish you all "Tight Lines" for the New Year.

Wet & Windy

The Grayling fishing was slowly building up into the third week of November, and although we haven't encountered exceptional amounts of fish, we have caught some good quality fish, mainly around the 2lb mark, but also one or two bigger than that, as we did previously.

In between a couple of casting sessions with people, I had a keen Grayling angler out on the river with me for three days tuition and fishing, whilst experiencing some unbelievably warm weather for the time of year. We had a few nice fish though, until that is, the weather took a turn for the worst again. "Thought it was too good to be true". Never mind we did get some good fishing in before the river rose again.

Yes, Unfortunately, from late in the day on Tuesday 22nd, the river began to rise and it has been consistently high ever since, never settling, scuppering the chances of any decent Grayling fishing on the fly, and to add to that, the strong winds we have been plagued with over the past few days are certainly not helping matters in any way whatsoever, making conditions ever more difficult. Oh well, we will just have to hold back a little longer. "Let's see what December brings".

End of Season Deluge

A good Eden Grayling being returned

Persistent rain created the worst possible scenario to the end of the Salmon season on the river Eden. The last few days were a wash out, especially for the fly, apart from a couple of fish taken on a spinner on the last day as the water slightly cleared, but still very difficult conditions.

We are now turning our attention to the winter Grayling fishing to which we have already had some success, albeit in small numbers, but some quality fish up to 2lb, and the results have improved with further visits.

The Grayling fishing was put on hold though, with the intervention of the AAPGAI autumn assessment event for potential new instructors, as well as those instructors who were taking the next step on the ladder. The event was held, once again, in Builth Wells, in Wales, one of two biannual events held at either end of the country to allow people from all over the UK to attend, although several international instructors also attended as usual. The event also included a very successful open day which was aimed at those thinking of taking the instructor route with AAPGAI, or those who simply came along to enjoy the many and varied demonstrations delivered by professional AAPGAI instructors, as well as the one to one tuition that followed. You can read more about these events on the AAPGAI website or Blog.

One of the Demo's by AAPGAI instructor Paul Arden

But home again now and back to thoughts of Grayling fishing on the Eden, but I don't have to think about it too long, as I will be out on the river again tomorrow to put it into practice, especially whilst this period of good weather persists, although I do have a sneaky feeling that when the temperatures do begin to fall significantly we will see some good shoaling up of these magnificent fish in the deeper slower moving areas of the river. "Give it a try".

Not Long Now!

We are once again heading towards the end of the Salmon season on the Eden, and like much of the season the water has continued it's unsettled trend. As I write this, there is more heavy rain forecast for tonight and throughout the early hours of tomorrow morning, which will inevitably raise the river level yet again, putting Wednesday out of commission with only two more days to go, "Grim". Click here to view the river level at Warwick on Eden.

John's Favourite Corner

Since my last post I have been out on the Border Esk with the Borderlines team again, introducing more schools from the surrounding areas to angling and the environment. We were quite lucky with the conditions as the Border Esk has also been prone to high waters of late, but we managed to get out and the kids had a great time. 

Chris with his specimen

All is not doom and gloom though, as the short spells of settled water in between the rising water did produce several Salmon up and down the river, which included a few for Border Game Angling visitors too, as well as some good trout before the trout season closed on the 30th of September.

One visitor did get a pleasant surprise when he encountered a very nice fish of over 20lb on the fly, a coloured cock fish which he returned to the water after an epic battle on an Ally's Shrimp. "Nice One".

Russell with one of four Browns

Had to cancel the last two days due to high water, with today not looking much better, but nevertheless if the conditions continue to keep us off the water until the end of the Salmon season, (Friday) there's still the Grayling fishing to keep us going over the winter months, which I am looking forward to immensely, and I already have a few bookings lined up. "It's a really good way to extend your fly fishing season".

From Iceland to Eden

Into one of Iceland's big Sea Trout

I returned from Iceland on Tuesday to find the Eden running high yet again, nothing seemed to have changed since I left last Thursday, and after talking to a few of the guys on the river it seems I hadn't missed out on much either, although I have heard that there have been a few fish caught during the spells when the water was dropping, but still not as many fish showing as we are used to at this time of year. "Yo Yo water yet again".

A good result

Iceland was certainly a whole different ball game, with plenty of fish being caught by our group over the 4 days we were there, with a grand total of over 100 Salmon between six shared rods, and an additional 22 Sea Trout of over 3lb, a few of which would touch the 10lb mark, and slightly above, not including the many smaller Sea Trout we caught during our time on the river. Just when I thought it could not get any better, I was fortunate enough, (along with a few others)  to land one of these leviathans, a Sea Trout of around 10lb (pictured here). A fantastic trip with excellent guides and a group of like minded AAPGAI instructors who are also good friends, how can you top that. I would certainly recommend it to anyone, and I hope to return next year for a second innings.

A nice Salmon at the end of a day

The Eden was still quite high yesterday, although above Lazonby, (where I was busy giving a Salmon fly casting lesson) it was dropping nicely, with the water clearing well as the day progressed. Therefore the water at the lower end of the river should be coming into good form over the weekend, as long as the rain stays away that is. Lets hope it does and a few fish are caught before the closed season is upon us. "Fingers Crossed".

I will be off the Eden tomorrow, as the Borderlines team will be running a family fishing day on the river Esk at Langholm, but I will be back again on Sunday for a tuition & fishing session for two adults on the lower river, so hopefully we may encounter a fish or two.

Latest Happenings

Allan with a fresh Grilse

A few Grilse started to show up on the river around mid to late August, but not in the numbers expected, with many of the fish caught being in the Salmon category, (generally larger fish) but with the water levels continuously fluctuating Salmon fishing has been hard at times with few fish showing.

Yuichi's First Salmon

Water levels rose yet again today and with only five weeks of the Salmon season remaining, (on the Eden) all we want is the water to fall to hold a few fish up for a while "no more rain please". 

That said, we have certainly had several Salmon, and lost a few too. Here are some of the recent catches from Border Game Angling visitors, including Yuichi Takayama's first ever Salmon "Excellent".

Andrew with a fish of around 11lb

The trout fishing has also continued in good form with some good quality late season fish (when the water has permitted) to add to the exceptional early season fishing we have encountered on some of the Eden beats, and Doug Douglass (pictured below) has certainly had his fair share of quality trout on a couple of trips with me this year as well as landing and returning a nice cock Salmon of around 9lb on Monday.

Doug with one of his many trout

Plenty of fly casting tuition going on with a couple of people having refresher sessions before travelling abroad, which is exactly where I will be going on Thursday when I will be flying off to Iceland to do some fishing of my own. I will keep you informed.