Tweed - Reports

Poor September, or rather Tweed’s September fishers. First the hottest September week ever, then the weedy aftermath, next a 5ft flood ruining two days of last week, and for the final week we are promised a deluge of rain thanks to ex hurricane Nigel (in my experience, nothing much good ever comes of Nigel). Never mind, with some 200 caught despite missing two days for flooding, was a very decent return. Yet again, the story was of far more salmon contacts than actual successful landings, this becoming a peculiar feature of 2023 salmon fishing on the Tweed.

If the final monthly score ends up about half the September average, then much of that could be down to a succession of unlucky weather and water conditions. Blaming conditions for lack of fish is an excuse as old as time, but September really has been unlucky. On the other hand, correcting the September imbalance, conditions in both July and August could hardly have been better.

As ever, it is impossible to know how many fish there are, but the general consensus amongst those who live and work on the river is “not a lot”, albeit tempered by beats seeing a few, sometimes a lot, one day, and then little or nothing the next, symptomatic of “patchy”, rather than “plentiful”, numbers.

On the assumption that the final week in September will be as disrupted (Nigel) as last, the total Tweed river rod catch to the end of September will do well to reach 4,500, so we could still beat the recent 2018 low of 5,644 for the whole season; let’s hope so.

I find myself torn between, on the one hand, concern at reduced numbers, while not wanting to “talk Tweed down”. We still catch more than any other river, and if you want to catch a salmon, anywhere in the UK, you are as likely to do it here as anywhere. It is just that things are nothing like what they were, and that is a consistently bitter pill to swallow. Maybe this is more of a lament for times past.

As for next week, the extremely unsettled conditions are due to continue (Nigel ágain), and any hope of high pressure must wait until the following week. If the fish are still there, we will have at least one good fishing week to come, that is if  we ever get a frost. These increasingly old summer fish will then both take your fly better, with water temperature down into the 40s F, and start to move upstream with more of a vengeance, as the colder water triggers any number of basic instincts.

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Here are some pictures (also on Tweedbeats Instagram) of a very big autumn cock fish caught in the Learmouth Stream on Saturday. Now, sometimes you look at a picture of a large fish, advertised as being 28 lbs or something similar, and you think to yourself “Naa, lucky if it’s 20lbs, maybe 18 at best”.

While admitting that pictures seldom tell the full story, certainly not accurate weights, you can just tell that any suggestion this one is under 25lbs is absurd, a thick old cock fish, well over 40 inches long, a mighty beast.

What have we put it in the book at? Now, that would be telling. The fish of a lifetime for its captor. That is all that really matters, something, with the photos, he will remember forever.

It is at least some of the reason we go fishing.

Amid much talk of those nasty alien Pink/Russian inspired salmon coming into our rivers, there have been reports of Pinks in other rivers, but not many so far on the Tweed.

If you do catch one, the advice on what to do with it is included in the RTC’s The River publication of May 2023 which can be found here https://www.rivertweed.org.uk/media/41zp4oou/may-final.pdf

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Bemersyde Trophy

Entries are now open for the Bemersyde Trophy for the best salmon landed on a fly on Tweed The winners of this prestigious award (senior and junior) will be invited to a presentation luncheon at Bemersyde House.

Previous winners of the senior award include Jim Reid, Shamus Jennings, Wayne Longstaff, Finlay Wilson, Craig Duncan, Andy Britton, Jonathon Murray, Janice Hogarth and current winner Adrian Gotzheim

Previous winners of the junior award include Jess England, Debbie Harris, Andrew Kitchingham, Debbie Harris, Harry Gotzheim, Samuel Ackroyd, Harry Brownlow and the current winner Sam Taylor

To be eligible for the trophy the fish must be caught on a fly in a sportsmanlike manner and be returned to the water. For more information and to enter this years trophy please contact the Bemersyde Estate office:- Bemersyde Estate, Melrose, Roxburghshire, TD6 9DP

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We would like to thank the boatmen, angling clubs and beat owners on the Tweed system who have contributed to this report by providing their time and information as the weekly report would not be possible without your help and support. If you would like to share any interesting stories or pictures from your time fishing on the River Tweed for the purposes of this report, please feel free to contact us here. 

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