OK, its all finally got too much for me, I had to get out, its been a long cold winter and I'm sick of the bloody sight of Edinburgh.
A good friend of mine was coming up from down south for a few days so, it had to be done. The venue was a new one to us, I have past it on a few occasions heading down the Borders but, never thought of checking it out till now. So, yesterday morning the 3 of us traveled up just past Gifford, on the Duns road to Tweeddale...
Tweeddale
When we left Edinburgh, the sun was out, looked like it was going to be a nice day. By the time we got there the wind had really picked up. I wasn't holding up much hope of getting anywhere with my wee #3 river rod. First up, pay the man, 4 hours catch and release will do in this wind we think.
Tweeddale has 3 pools, the top, much larger pool which I never even attempted because of the wind, a slightly smaller but more sheltered middle pool and the bait pool further down the hill. I figured my best chance would be to try get my self out the wind as much as possible or, go hire a heaver rod. I managed to find a relatively sheltered spot with the wind behind me and proceeded to catch the back of my hood with my flies every few casts. The water was freezing, I figured I'd have to get as deep as possible so all those weighted nymphs and gold heads I have been tying all winter came in very handy.
About an hour had past before we seen a fish, first one of the day fell to Ben, a good 3lb.......
Tweeddale Rainbow
At this point my camera gave up the ghost. Just in time for me to get my first one of the day, a little smaller than Ben's, caught on a pheasant tail but, it has to be said, these fish don't hang about, really good fighters and amazing quality, stunning fish!
About an hour past until the next one again fell to Ben, smaller than his first but still a hard fighter. By this time Mike had a bit of a face on being the only one who hadn't caught. Unlucky for him the next one after this fell to me again, this time on a rather psychedelic gold headed woven nymph. Thanks to Ben for use of his camera....
Last Of The Day.
Its not often I get my picture took as you can see, I wont let it happen all that often that's for sure. I much prefer looking at pictures of my hands, they look better than my face, mind you, so does the trout!
All in all though, I had a great day, defo beat of the winter blues. I must admit, I will be back to Tweeddale, the people are very friendly and helpful and the fish are top quality.
4 fish caught and one very sick Mikey, better luck next time mate!
Tweeddale When we left Edinburgh, the sun was out, looked like it was going to be a nice day. By the time we got there the wind had really picked up. I wasn't holding up much hope of getting anywhere with my wee #3 river rod. First up, pay the man, 4 hours catch and release will do in this wind we think.
Tweeddale has 3 pools, the top, much larger pool which I never even attempted because of the wind, a slightly smaller but more sheltered middle pool and the bait pool further down the hill. I figured my best chance would be to try get my self out the wind as much as possible or, go hire a heaver rod. I managed to find a relatively sheltered spot with the wind behind me and proceeded to catch the back of my hood with my flies every few casts. The water was freezing, I figured I'd have to get as deep as possible so all those weighted nymphs and gold heads I have been tying all winter came in very handy.
About an hour had past before we seen a fish, first one of the day fell to Ben, a good 3lb.......
Tweeddale RainbowAt this point my camera gave up the ghost. Just in time for me to get my first one of the day, a little smaller than Ben's, caught on a pheasant tail but, it has to be said, these fish don't hang about, really good fighters and amazing quality, stunning fish!
About an hour past until the next one again fell to Ben, smaller than his first but still a hard fighter. By this time Mike had a bit of a face on being the only one who hadn't caught. Unlucky for him the next one after this fell to me again, this time on a rather psychedelic gold headed woven nymph. Thanks to Ben for use of his camera....
Last Of The Day.Its not often I get my picture took as you can see, I wont let it happen all that often that's for sure. I much prefer looking at pictures of my hands, they look better than my face, mind you, so does the trout!
All in all though, I had a great day, defo beat of the winter blues. I must admit, I will be back to Tweeddale, the people are very friendly and helpful and the fish are top quality.
4 fish caught and one very sick Mikey, better luck next time mate!
Never thought I would see the day you would go Rainbow Bashing- lol! Is the Whiteadder Reservoir still down that way and fishable? I caught my first still water Brownie there - oh about 30 odd years ago; On the day the last Vulcan bomber flew over heading to the Air Museum at East Fortune.
ReplyDeleteTweedale sounds like a place to try sometime- must be itching for your days out on the Esk now though eh?
Your not joking mate, got a good couple of weeks yet before i'll be able to get down the river. Going by what the weathers like just now, its going to be the middle of April before its really fishable.
ReplyDeleteThe Whiteadders a good still water, i've not fished it my self for a good few years though. Another one i've been hearing very good reports about lately is the Watch Water, its now under the same management as Tweeddale.