As I sit here and write this very strange river report from a period that is unprecedented here on the Tweed with the river been closed to comply with the Government lockdown. At the time of writing we are awaiting the next announcement from the Government to see what is going to happen after the 7th of May and if the restrictions on the fishing will be eased any or if at all.
During April we had long periods of settled weather and lots of sunny days. With this settled weather the river dropped steadily through the month and in now below summer level. They appears going by reports to be some reasonable numbers of smolts heading down the river currently fingers crossed they can find safe passage to the sea.
Around the beats essential maintenance is been carried out when it has been safe to do so, especially just now with the Giant Hogweed really starting to grow and needs dealt with before it gets the chance to establish and spread. The beat ghillie’s try their best to keep on top of in on their beats but if you notice any hogweed in public areas or would like training on the spraying of hogweed please get in touch with the Tweed Forum by email on info@tweedform.org
Regular contributor to my river reports Lower Birgham Head Ghillie Mr Tom Davis adds “Well this is probably the strangest and most unique of fishing reports I have ever and will ever write. Firstly stating the blatantly obvious there were no fish and no fishing took place in the month of April since we have been in lockdown. Luckily for me as I live near the beat I am able to walk (as my daily exercise) down along the beat. So at least I can see the sand martins arriving in numbers, an odd swallow flying around. Brown Trout sipping flies from the surface, and even the odd salmon splashing in the pools... I think everyone is feeling the same withdrawal being away from the water and fishing, that we love doing so much. It seems an age since we sat in a boat fishing the pools, wondering ‘is there a springer there?’, ‘is there two?’ And ‘what black and yellow should I use...? But there are bigger worries and concerns in the world at this moment with this virus that has swept across the world with ease. I’d just like to wish everyone well and ‘stay safe’ and fingers crossed we are able to go back to fishing, in whatever terms and conditions we are able to do soon. Tom”
In the April issue of “The River” which in a monthly publication of news from Tweed Fisheries Management: The River Tweed Commission & The Tweed Foundation. I found this quite interesting and thought I would share it for the readers who are unable to get a copy.
A historical perspective to the cessation of fishing Fishing of all sorts on the Tweed has come to a full stop during the present crisis, something completely unprecedented as far as is known. There have been other crises of different sorts in the past, the World Wars, UDN and the Foot and Mouth epidemic: what effect did these have on angling? One way of looking at this is to see if catches fell during these events as a possible sign of reduced fishing effort. It is difficult to get consistent records over long periods, but we do have figures for a middle river beat that has not changed its boundaries since its records began in the late 1880s. The two World Wars had no effect on catches – 1944 was actually the second best year ever on this beat. UDN did appear to have had some effect, there was a noticeable drop from 1966 to its outbreak on the Tweed in 1967 but the catches of the UDN years are not very different from annual totals since. The catches of the Foot & Mouth year in 2001 are no different from those of the years around it, despite the restrictions on movements of that year. Going further back, the “salmon disease” of 1878/79 which was so severe on the Tweed that it caused a government enquiry did not have any apparent effect on the catches of the one surviving set of angling records that cover that period. None of these past crises therefore appear to have significantly affected fishing effort. The effect of the Border wars and the famines and plagues of the past on the exploitation of Tweed salmon is unknown, but it seems unlikely that even the Black Death of 1350 would have completely stopped people from catching salmon as food – indeed, when food production was disorganised, the salmon and trout of the river must have been lifesavers.
Filling the time I have been working on creating a boxed selection of River Tweed origin flies which I have been in discussions with Eoin Fairgrieve once complete to make these available with a percentage of each sale going towards Tweedstart. The fancy classics are a bit out of my skill setting so I have had to put a modern twist on some of them. It has been a fascinating time researching and finding out about these fly patterns and I’ll hopefully be able to put something together once complete with more information and some of the information that I have come across with great help from a couple of people so far that have helped immensely.
Looking forward to May and any potential restart to the fishing on the river lays in the hands of the Government. With the likelihood of the 2 meter restrictions and other measures expected to remain in place for quite a few months to come fishing as me know it could be a bit different this year, with boats and fishing huts mentioned as not been suitable for use as closer than the 2 meters, We will just need to wait and see what comes and take it from there.
Please continue to stay safe and I hope we are all back on the river bank as soon as it is safe to do so.
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