Upper North Wark Salmon Fishing Beat On The River Tweed End Of Season 2020 Report - Tay Salmon Fly

 Upper North Wark Fishing Season Review 2020 

Finally we have time to sit down and reflect on events at Upper North Wark over the last 12 months We  could not have imagined what was about to happen we were preparing for the start of the 2020 season.

 As opening day arrived we were greeted with 50mph winds which was quite a challenge for the winter rested arms and casting was tricky into that angle of wind. On the 4^th February Mr Mike Graham landed our first fish of the season. He had previously done this on opening day 2019 and won the Tweed Trophy at the same time.  Mike caught a beautiful 12lber on a 2” Black and Yellow copper tube from the Back Of The Isle with boatman Mr Richard Farr doing the necessary with the net. The rest of the month was a wash out as we lost 15 days to dirty water.

As we moved into March, which traditionally is our best spring month, we were greeted with 4ft 9” on the gauge!!  And it wasn’t until the 4^th we were back fishing with a bang landing 3 springers on the fly. Mr Richard Farr landed 2 and Mr Hugh Newton 1. On the 17^th we had a very interesting day when we hooked 9 fish but only landed 1 from the Snipe with Mr Jason Tumath managing to hang onto one. With hopes high we thought the following day could be very productive but we were greeted by a 6ft dirty flood! Good job the beat fishes well in high water and on the back of that flood landed a further 6 springers.  Mr Hugh Newton landed 2 on a 2” Black and Yellow, Mr Steven Hogg, Mr James McLay, Mr Richard Farr and Mr Martin Ritchie all getting one apiece. On the 23^rd the beat was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and with the 2 meter rule stopping boat fishing, we remained closed to the public until the 1^st September.

The summer months were pleasingly wet with regular rain which seemed to keep the fish coming. It’s not often we get to fish ourselves at these levels so It was nice to get a cast albeit from the bank only. We had some good sport landing 22 Salmon in July and 21 in August with fish up to 20lbs being landed and many of the fish being in the teens of pounds. We had an incredible day on the 31^st August when we hooked 16 fish in the day!! An unbelievable day's sport.

With the relaxation of the 2 meter rule we reopened to the public on the 1^st September and it was gratifying to see our regulars returning. . Father and Son team Keith and Jack Triffitt were our first rods after reopening and they picked away and landed 3 fish for the two days and lost a few more. The best fish went to Keith with a 14lber from the Snipe on a Samurai Shrimp conehead fly.  After this it became a frustration game of “what if “as we lost 22 fish for the rest of the month and only landed 11.

October was also frustrating with a week being lost because of dirty water and high winds. We landed 10 for the month. Ms Amelia Busk landed a superb 24lber from the Back of the Isle on a 1” Red Frances. The Red Frances produced well for us during the month with Mr Mike Graham landing 3 to 16lbs , Mr Richard Farr a 13lber from the Mill Stream from the same fly . We had a fun day with Peter Stott on his first trip to the beat landing 2 in the Dub and Mr Ralph Holmes completing the catch of the day with a fish from the Snipe. A special mention to Mr Alan Triffitt who has been working hard on learning how to speycast and was suitably rewarded with his first fly caught fish from the Snipe on a Burgundy Frances.

November started with a 7ft 6 flood!! On the falling water, fishing a Wet Cel 5 spey line, 15ft of T21 tip and a 2” Black and Yellow Copper Tube we landed a 14lber from the Snipe. On the 5^th we landed 4 fish and lost 5. Fish landed were 24lb, 20lb, 14ln and 4lb. The following days the fish just seemed to start taking that bit softer and we went on a run losing the next 5 we hooked. On the 9^th we had a special moment when Head Boatman Martin Ritchie rowed Taymount beats on the River Tay’s Head Ghillie Mr Cohn O’Dea onto his first Tweed salmon in the Dub Pool.

 Mr James Aitken completed our catches for the season and landed a 10lber from the Dub on a Cascade Tube. With the changes in the Coronavirus restrictions we decided to close the beat to the public on the 13^th.

 It has been an interesting season!!  At times hard work to manage the bookings during the lockdowns and regulations that prevented fishing.

 We landed 85 Salmon for the season, which we are pleased with in the circumstances but we do have nagging feelings about what could have been if we could have used the boats during July and August.  We will never know but it was great to see such a good head of fish on the beat.

Mr Mike Graham finished the season as top rod with 11 salmon all on the fly, he also had our joint biggest fish of the season with a 24lber, Ms Amelia Busk had the other 24lber also on the fly. We had 2 other fish over 20lb for the season.

On Behalf of beat owner Mr Jonathan Hufford, Myself and Richard I would like to thank everyone who fished with us during 2020. Your custom, support and understanding during what was a turbulent season was very much appreciated and we look forward to welcoming you back to the beat in 2021 hopefully with no restrictions in place and we can get back to doing what we all love properly.

If you haven’t fished with us before and would like to come and fish at Upper North Wark please give Martin a call on 07825 334427 or email bookings@uppernorthwarkfishing.com.

Have a Merry Christmas, Stay Safe and Tight Lines for 2021

 

Martin

www.taysalmonfly.co.uk

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To book or enquire about fishing on the Upper North Wark beat on the River Tweed please give Martin a call on 07825 334427












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