Where to fish

Bottom Tweed

Bottom Tweed is classed from Tweedhill up to Milne Graden and in general, tends to favour lower water levels for optimum fishing conditions. Although they can enjoy good fishing throughout the season, these tidal beats fish particularly well during the low water summer months when fresh fish coming in off the tide hold well in this section of river. Even in the summertime, this is big river fishing and the majority of fishing is done from a boat.

Lower Tweed

Lower Tweed runs from Tillmouth Park to the famous Junction beat at Kelso. This section of the river flows through some of the finest arable farmland to be found in this country and is steeped in salmon angling folklore. This is a very productive section of the Tweed and produces consistent catches throughout the season and especially in the autumn. Within the 19 beats that make up Lower Tweed, there are high and low water beats, each liking a variety of water conditions and also benefiting from a high angler to boatman ratio.

Middle Tweed

Middle Tweed from Lower Floors to Boleside is arguably the best combination of good fishing and photogenic scenery. The river is becoming slightly narrower and faster flowing and riverbanks are steeper and heavily planted with deciduous and coniferous trees. Arable fields become less prevalent, giving way to grazed parkland and wooded plantations. For the flyfishing enthusiast, Middle Tweed offers the epitome of classic fly water and there is equal opportunity to wade through the pools as well as fish from the boat.

Junction, River Tweed

© Bill Muir



Fishing on the River Tweed

The River Tweed downstream of the Coldstream Bridge.



Upper Tweed

Upper Tweed fishing extends from Sunderland Hall to Drumelzier Haugh and cuts through the highest reaches of the beautiful Tweed valley. It is fair to say that the best of Upper Tweed's salmon season is essentially only the months of September, October and November. With the vast majority of Spring fish running the Ettrick, few fish venture any higher up the parent river than the junction at Boleside. This section of the river is very water dependant and if early autumn enjoys heavy rainfall, September will encourage some summer salmon and sea trout into Upper Tweed. Mid to late October will see good numbers of fresh and coloured fish begin to appear through the beats, but to experience the best fishing, November is traditionally the best month for this section of the river. To fish Upper Tweed during this month, offers the salmon angler an opportunity to fish pools that are quite simply alive with fish of all sizes.

Tributaries

The two tributaries of bottom Tweed are productive rivers in their own right. The Whiteadder joins the Tweed from the north bank and can enjoy some early runs of spring fish. The Till, which joins from the south bank at Tillmouth, can also benefit from early springers, and is also renowned for its excellent sea trout fishing. The Tweed's main tributary, the River Teviot, joins the river at Kelso and can offer many angling opportunities to local and visiting anglers, at reasonable prices. The main tributaries of Middle Tweed are the Leader, Gala Water and the Ettrick. The Ettrick joins the river from the south bank, just above Galashiels at Boleside. Although not the largest tributary of the river, the Ettrick is certainly the most significant due to the fact that virtually all of the Tweed's Spring stock spawn in the Ettrick system.