Last Chance Of A Salmon

Off to the River Nith in Dumfries later this week to take in the last 2 days of the Salmon season & maybe a days Grayling fishing. Hopefully the river levels will have dropped back to something like normal. You can see from the graphs below it's been a bit on the high side.

Nith at Friars Carse

Recent river levels collected from gauging station 

Last 28 days

6 ft 5 ft 4 ft 3 ft 2 ft 1 ft 6 ft 5 ft 4 ft 3 ft 2 ft 1 ft Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon 30th 31st 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th October November

Staying at Friars Carse Country Hotel http://www.friarscarse.co.uk/ right on the banks of the river, they've just under 2 miles of single bank fishing. Stayed here numerous times before and Nick and his staff really look after you.
Will keep you posted as to how I get on.

Update:  THURSDAY - Up early heading up the M6 to get there in time for breakfast at the hotel, it was -3 so plenty of de-icer on the car. Arrived safe & sound at just after 8 am it was still freezing. The river had dropped off nicely and was running very clear, temperature was about 3 degrees (b****y cold). Only 4 rods on today so there was plenty of river to go at, started at the Farm Pool and worked down through the Riding Stones, House Marsdens, Island, Policeman,s & Fyffes without so much as a tug, a couple of fish showed in the tail of Marsdens and at the end of the Policeman,s. One of the party lost a nice fish in the Policemans Pool just before we finished for the day. The biggest problem during the day was keeping the rod rings clear of ice, which was quite often. Someone needs to invent heated rod rings.


FRIDAY LAST DAY OF THE SEASON - Heavy frost overnight -5, it didn't get much above 1 all day. Nine rods out today, five locals and 4 guests, all fishing various methods fly, spin & even worm. 2 Hen salmon were caught and released by the same young chap - well done to him. More fish were seen today but none others were caught. One fisher had one on briefly in the Island Pool before it shed the hook.
Off to the bar at the end of the day and talked of what might have been.

SATURDAY - GRAYLING TIME - Another heavy frost but it soon climbed up above zero, at least during our time here it hadn't rained and there was no breeze, just clear blue skys.
Fished down the Riding Stone, Island and Policemans and it was here that I managed to find the Lady of the Stream in fact 3 of them. All half way down the pool in the sluggish water just off the small burn that comes in on the opposite bank.
Never mind the salmon lovely fish to end three great days fishing.

River Wharfe 09-11-2012

Wild and windy day fishing the River Wharfe at Burnsall on Friday with fellow guide Chris. First time I'd been there and I could imagine what it would be like on a day when it wasn't so inclement. Upstream wind and constant drizzle didn't make for good fishing but still we persevered. Czech nymphing was the order of the day with not a fish to be seen.
Chris was first to be into a fish in the fast run about 1/2 a mile above the bridge, a nice Grayling, he managed a further 2 from this run. before moving on further upstream.
I chose to fish the far run off the island down into a small pot and on into the tail of the pool, carefully fishing all the way down and not managing even a pull.
Further upstream we tried the slower deeper water of the pool above. However no results for either of us.

On to the next pool which looked really fishy, a run off just below the fast water coming down from the falls. We both fished slowly down the run and I was soon into a lovely Grayling a nice fish of about 1.5lbs & in great condition. The fish took a red czech nymph, fished as the fly swung up onto the shelf at the end of the run. Chris meanwhile tried both Tenkara & conventional methods on this run both to no avail.
Next stop was the stretch below the bridge in the village by the green where we fished the run beneath the bridge footings, no luck for either of us.
Onto the next pool and we both fished one behind the other Chris opting for Tenkara and myself sticking with the traditional rod. No luck until right at the end, when Chris was into a fish that broke him off without him even seeing it one for next time perhaps.

Time to call it a day and head for the dry & warmth of the local pub for a well earned drink.