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78 salmon and 7 sea trout was little short of fantastic from what was without doubt the most difficult season conditions-wise that I have ever encountered in 30 or so years fishing the upper Tweed.
The Spring fishing was by any definition a total disaster on the entire river. Not that we ever expect more than the odd fish on Upper Tweed at this time, because the bulk of the Springers do run up the Ettrick, but even the smart beats lower down were devoid of fish. As one boatman aptly put it “Tweed Springers this year were as rare as hen’s teeth.”
The cause was more than likely to have been the big flood in 2005. The worst flood for 40 years hit in January of that year, the most dangerous time, just as the salmon eggs are developing in their shallow gravel redds. Thousands of tons of shifting gravel would have buried or just washed away a great number of them and the Ettrick was particularly badly hit. Huge scars still remain. Such a disaster has to have a dramatic affect on the numbers of fish returning four years later in the cycle.
And so it was with nervous anticipation we prepared for our main season in the autumn.
Upper Caberston
Summary of catches in each pool by year
Upper Caberston summary
Salmon & Grilse | Nov only | Drought yr | | Nets off | Croys removed | Nov flood yr | Drought yr | Flood yr | | Pool | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Island | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Bishops | 5 | 5 | 11 | 25 | 19 | 23 | 15 | 8 | 21 | Clure | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 9 | Goosendale | 4 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 13 | Cauld hole | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Upper Runners | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | Weavers | 5 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 20 | 9 | 9 | Shaws | | | | | 7 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | Bridge | 5 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 30 | 19 | 26 | 17 | 19 | Unknown | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Total | 24 | 23 | 43 | 81 | 101 | 76 | 89 | 78 | 78 | 5 Year average | | | | | 54.5 | 64.8 | 78 | 85 | 84.4 | | | | | | | | | | | Sea Trout | | | | | | | | | | Pool | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Island | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bishops | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Clure | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Goosendale | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | Cauld hole | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Upper Runners | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Lower Runners | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Weavers | 0 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Shaws | | | | | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bridge | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1 | Unknown | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Total | 2 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 26 | 24 | 12 | 15 | 7 | 5 year average | | | | | 13.8 | 18.2 | 17.6 | 17.8 | 16.8 |
Heavy rain in late August flushed out the river and conditions looked promising. Then just as the autumn fish began to arrive at the beginning of September the drought set in.
Whereas in 2008, September produced 19 salmon and 2 sea trout for us, this year in the same period we managed only 3 salmon and a single sea trout.
Then into October the drought continued. Week after week wind and drizzle but not no serious rain until almost the end of the month. Up until October 27th we had only managed to add two more fish and one more sea trout!
Salmon fishing is bad enough when you have booked and paid for your precious few days away only to find conditions hopeless, but spare a thought at such times for the ghillies. Their very livelihood depends upon happy anglers. Poor Steve had to endure these conditions week after week, but as always kept everyone going. I really don’t know how he does it.
 “I know exactly how he feels!”
But finally the rains did come and thankfully so did the fish. 12 more salmon were recorded over the next four days and – as so often happens with hard running fish – there were countless more tales of fish lost. Things were looking up.
Had the river got a chance to settle, especially with the encouraging numbers of fish about, Steve though that we might still do very well. But then it just went on raining.
Upper Caberston
Catches of Salmon Grilse & Seatrout by height by year
| | nets off | croys removed | nov flood yr | drought yr | flood yr | drought/flood | | Height | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | | off guage | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | | 0-6" | 8 | 14 | 0 | 66 | 0 | 5 | | 7"-1ft | 23 | 32 | 40 | 11 | 7 | 12 | | 1`1"-1`6" | 44 | 10 | 19 | 12 | 42 | 9 | | 1`7"-2` | 5 | 26 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 1 | | 2`1"-2`6" | 3 | 5 | 20 | 0 | 12 | 14 | | 2`7"-3" | 7 | 28 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 11 | | over 3ft | 3 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 37 | | Total | 93 | 127 | 100 | 101 | 93 | 89 |
Week after week, heavy rain was followed by a few days drizzle or gales only to be followed by yet more rain. We never saw the 2ft marker on the gauge outside the hut again.
 “A cracker on the second last day of the season. Note also from the flotsam the height the river has been.”
Countless days were lost and one particular flood on November 20th reached just a few inches short of 12ft.
But as we know from previous years, ever since we did the works on the beat, Caberston has some wonderful high water fishing. Even when conditions seem utterly hopeless we can still find fish and a number of our rods who either failed to turn up or went home early have hopefully now seen that you should never abandon Tweed as hopeless - particularly Upper Tweed.
So whilst most of the other beats hardly fished at all, Steve kept our guys out on the river and we had some amazing successes. On no less than four separate days we landed the only publicly recorded fish on the system and on one of those days landed four salmon and lost six more!
But sadly for me the season this year was not just about fishing and as most of you know by now I was forced to put the beat on the market in August. All that not made any easier by problems with our access.
Anyway the good news was that in time for our Christmas party I was able to announce that terms had been agreed to sell the beat to a good friend of mine, John Miller.
John intends to keep things very much as they are which at least means everyone will be re-offered their fishing in 2010 and you should get your usual right of first refusal shortly. There will be a small price increase but since prices have been held for nearly three years now whilst costs have risen substantially, so I do not think this unreasonable.
Steve is staying with us thank goodness and John has asked me to help him run the beat and do some of the administration. We are also both confident that the access problem will be sorted in time for next years fishing.
And so, apart from me saying a big thank you to both John and Steve for ensuring that we can all continue to enjoy fishing this magnificent beat, all that remains for me to do now is to wish you all (well all with the exception of that b…..d in the turreted house) a very happy Christmas and peaceful new year.
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