River Eden

The last day of July and still the grilse have failed to materialise in any numbers, there are a few fish about but for an absolutely perfect water you would think there would be more. Yesterday was a pretty good day with quite a few salmon taken up and down the river, but today... This is just a fact of life when salmon fishing, you take the good days along with the bad, and the worse thing about it is that you have still enjoyed the day out whatever happens, how bad can that be?

Phil joined me today on the lower river, I must say that I really enjoyed Phil's casting, enthusiasm  and craic, we did see a couple of fish show in the deeper sections just before the tide but nothing in the runs, and even the trout have gone quiet of late.

Carlisle Angling Association yesterday provided a junior day on the Eden at Rickerby Park, it was certainly well attended with almost one hundred participants who were fly casting, fishing and fly tying, food was laid on for everyone, I think a good day was had by all and many thanks to CAA for that.

River Eden

The water conditions on the lower and middle Eden are about as good as it gets with a nice tint to the water and around ten inches above summer level. For whatever reason the grilse have not arrived in any numbers yet. Ireland are getting a lot of grilse now and it is usually a week or so after that we on the west coast get the same, we will have to wait and see.

Due to some cancellations we have a couple of spaces for the Tweed on August 2nd, 3rd and 4th at Tweedswood near Melrose. At this very minute there are good numbers of sea trout on the beat with a few salmon. Should anyone be interested in just the fishing for the cost of day ticket or having some help with their fly casting alongside that please let me know and we can tailor make that for you, it would be a shame to miss this opportunity and we can arrange some accommodation also if needed.

River Eden

Although I did miss the big coloured water on the Eden the last couple of days, I did not miss it on the Dovey. The rain was torrential and the river big, we managed to get the last couple of hours in on the last evening at the top of the river as it began to clear. Also fished for wild brownies on a nice secluded lake up in the hills loch style with palmered flies, it was like going back in time, just beautiful and I felt very privileged be invited.
The Eden now after it's few feet of flood water is starting to fine down now and is at ten inches with a peaty tinge, there have been a few grilse taken today which is the right timing for this, and great news as we missed most of it last season.

River Eden

Just as the river was shaping up nicely with a few fish running the heavens opened last night and today we have a dirty flood. At least it is a good one that will flush the remaining debris away. Fortunately I will miss the big and coloured water as I am on the Dovey for three days fishing with my good friend Illtyd. I was out with a good friend of mine Alexander on Sunday on the middle river and the water was a perfect height with a little tint to it, Alexander contacted a fish on a Boyo fly size eight, which promptly came off unfortunately.

Got to say though Alexander's Spey casting was quite exceptional for having three years off the river. We had to cancel today because of the high water and Alexander will try again tomorrow, good luck to him. The grilse run should begin this coming week when the water clears a little all being well.

River Eden

These bands of rain passing over the county have put a little fresh water and oxygen into the river and the temperature is now at a comfortable 60oF. A few salmon at the lower end of the Eden, my very good friend Ed managed to winkle one out on the fly early this week so there must have been a lot in the pool!
There are some heavy showers over Cumbria as we speak and hopefully this will give the Eden a good rise to wash the remaining algae growth away to give the river a clean start.
There seems to be more sea trout around this year than of late which is good news.
Big tides due to a new moon approaching this week are pushing the river back upstream and rising levels by three feet or more, this does help the fish in and we often get wet weather at new and full moon phases, maybe some fish will run on this. We do need some salmon to get up to the middle river.
Andrew joined me today on the middle river, and unlike yesterday when the barometer was falling and the fishing was slow, today mid morning it was on the rise and he managed a good trout and missing a couple more.

River Eden

I have been on the Aberdeen Dee for the last week running a salmon course, it seems the water shortage was the same up there also. Although we had rain on the Sunday night which put the water up by a foot or two it soon ran off, there was one fish caught of twelve pounds and a couple lost. As soon as the levels dropped back again it was back to casting for the sake of it, very useful pastime but not very productive.
It seems to be a problem all over the UK this season, very dry for long periods everywhere and now we have a hosepipe ban in force. Last Saturday night the rain that fell on the hills did manage to put just over a foot into the Eden and on the Sunday it was pretty dirty with all the algae being washed down the river. By Monday the water had cleared sufficiently to allow good fishing conditions. There are not many salmon running on this but the next lift of water we get will certainly change things, we have an unsettled week ahead of us which is great news.

I was out on the middle river with Keith and Sue today who were very good company, we did see a fair bit of activity in the morning with fish rising on a regular basis, but by mid day it had gone a little quiet. Bit of a shame really, by the time we got the casting good the trout had gone down although we did get hold of a couple on nymphs later which came off.

Never mind we all had a good day and saw plenty of wild life and the weather was just perfect!

River Eden

We have been doing a few school days earlier in the week on the Eden on behalf of Borderlines and the S&TA which were great fun, the weather was very good for those outdoors.There has not been much change in the conditions on the river (seem to have been saying that for a while now), there are good numbers of sea trout around but with the cloudy water they are not ready takers. As for the salmon, they seem to prefer the estuary at present until the levels change. We were hoping that the rain they forecast would come to give a well needed flush, but not yet.
The brown trout fishing is pretty good if we get overcast skies, this morning the wind was from the west and it was cloudy overhead, there were fish showing everywhere, soon as the wind swung round from a more easterly direction it seemed to flatten everything. The weather has to break soon, then we can all get back to business.
Anyone that is interested in some salmon, sea trout and trout courses due the next two months (hopefully by then the rain will come) there are some places left -

http://www.cumbriaflyfishing.co.uk/courses.htm