Summer Fishing
The Spring/ Summer season has been an interesting one. One which none of us were predicting. But that’s the exciting part!
Date: 1st August 2023
I am writing this diary entry sat at my desk at work reminiscing after a lovely week’s fishing at Milne Graden. Following a discussion on Friday 28th July with the A Team – Kev the Hat and Kevin in the fishing shiel – the Spring/ Summer season has been an interesting one. One which none of us were predicting. But that’s the exciting part!
As I look outside onto the newly refurbished decking, it’s sunny with quite a strong breeze with odd strong showers. It feels warm and humid. It has been another memorable week of fishing at Milne Graden. Each year one enjoys comforting, reliable surroundings yet changes in fish behaviour, which is what makes things interesting and feel alive!
This time round, I spent many many hours fishing the Stream. We all thought it was going to be The Banker this time round, but no, The Croys seemed to be where the excitement was. Savvy resident survivors from the week before hid in Fairy Well, flashing and folding at the waters surface. Teasing and testing the space between two different worlds. Exhaustion from hand-lining in this location, I tried everything in terms of flies, certainly disturbed a lot, but no takes! What was going on!
These fish were having none of it! Knowing the water is half the battle but staying focused on the now and remaining agile to amend one’s approach in present conditions matters. Fortunately I have Kev and Kevin to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Being honest, we were a bit flabbergasted about where the fresh grilse went following a great week where Mr Cockburns party did fantastically well putting Milne Graden on the FishPal Map!
In review
Mid May – we saw high water.
Early June – things went very quiet.
Late June – Mr Bob Millers team started to catch fish. June saw plenty of sea trout caught above The Cauld.
Early July – Mr Steve Holtby very successfully pulled out a few!
Mid July – saw some good action. The lift of water on the 16th July aided a strong week, with 200 + salmon being caught across the entire River Tweed and over 100 sea trout. Some ‘stonking big fish’ were caught, including a 18lb’er pulled out by Mr. J. Jordon one evening at The Stream. Sadly his rod cracked in the process, but all worth it for a fish I am told! Two further 15lb fish were caught on the 18th July. Unfortunately a rise of water on 23rd July didn’t result in many fish for my week at Milne Graden, however other beats such as Ladykirk also saw low ratios with circa 3 per day with 8 rods; this was strange. We pondered on possible reasons, but in the end had to conclude ‘that’s salmon fishing for you, you will never quite know!’.
End July – The fortunate Mr. Guy Cooper caught a lovely 10lb salmon on the 27th July – according to Fish Tweed, with hundreds of rods out on that day, only circa 15 fish were caught on the entire river. And finally, on the 29th July, after pondering where the fresh grilse had gone, I was very happy to see that Kev the Hat managed to pull out 3 fresh grilse . Thrilled!
