Fishing on the River Tweed yields 2 beautiful salmon

It had been several years since I last went salmon fishing on the River Tweed, and when my friend Buddy suggested a last-minute Scotland salmon fishing trip to fish at Innerleithen in November…

I said YES!

After reviewing on FishPal the available salmon fishing on the River Tweed, I booked fishing on the Glenormiston and Traquair beats for Monday and Tuesday, respectively. The fishing on Wednesday was left open, so we could book whichever beat we enjoyed the most.

We couldn’t travel to Innerleithen on Sunday night. So it was an early start on Monday to arrive at the River Tweed by 9 am.

Fortunately, it was a straightforward journey with one pitstop at Teebay services for coffee & a bacon butty breakfast.

We left the M6 at Moffat and took the A708 scenic route over the hills. This route took us alongside the beautiful Loch of Lowes and St Mary’s Loch, which drain into the River Tweed, via Yarrow Water and Ettrick Water.

Buddy hadn’t caught a salmon this year, and this last-minute fishing trip to Tweed was his last bet this season.

So where did we fish, and how did we get on?

Fishing on the River Tweed at Glenormiston

On arrival at Glenormiston, Douglas, the ghillie, greeted us with a warm welcome and a couple of much-needed coffees.

He explained the beat consists of approximately two miles of fishing on the upper Tweed, with the upper mile being double bank fishing. Two anglers were already fishing the top half of the beat. So Douglas took us downriver to the bottom section.

Buddy started fishing the Fawnburn Pool, and I began below him at the head of the Windstream Pool.

Fishing the Windstream Pool.

Douglas explained how best to fish the pool, and I set up my 14ft Vision fly rod accordingly with a floating line tipped with a 15ft sink tip, 4ft of 15lbs fluorocarbon leader, and tied on a Cascade (1″ copper tube).

As advised, I methodically fished down through the pool from the bank but didn’t get any takes.

Next, I changed the fly to a red Allys shrimp (10D) and fishing the pool again was met with the same response.

While Buddy was still fishing through Fawnburn, I went downriver to fish Jawstane.

Fishing Jawstane Pool on the River Tweed

Douglas had explained salmon lie close to the far bank down to the fence on the opposite bank. Therefore, I started fishing the fast run at the pool head using the red Allys shrimp on the sink-tip line and made my way down to the fence.

Opposite the fence on the far bank, I had a take as the fly swung around. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a brown trout and not a salmon. After fishing the rest of the pool without another take, I went back to the hut for lunch.

While fishing Fawnburn, Buddy had just one good take opposite the stream on the far bank, but the salmon came off almost immediately. The other anglers had drawn a blank despite seeing running salmon jump.

After lunch, Douglas took Buddy to fish the Bushes Pool and me to fish the Girley on the upper section of the beat.

Fishing the Girly Pool on the River Tweed

Douglas explained that I should start fishing the Girly Pool from the end of the island and concentrate fishing the seam of slack water formed as the currents from either side of the island meet. 

While following Douglas’s advice, my eye caught something moving over the gravel bar I was wading over.  

It was a salmon that was swimming slowly upriver. I drifted my fly past its nose, but it completely ignored the red Allys shrimp and continued upriver.

Discouraged by this, I change to a Stoats Tail, a fly that has worked for me in clear water conditions. Unfortunately, fishing the pool again didn’t stimulate any takes.

Buddy arrived from fishing the pool above, where he’d seen a couple of fish jump but not connected with anything. I told him I’d seen salmon moving through and suggested he try his luck. 

While he fished through the pool without success, I spotted a couple more salmon swimming upriver. 

For the last hour of the day, we fished through the Bushes Pool. When I was about halfway through the pool, I heard Buddy behind me shout…

FISH ON!

I turned to see his new Loop fly rod bent into a salmon as it took off downriver. 

I got out of the way and fetched the net. It took a while to get the fish under control but eventually, I netted a beautiful River Tweed salmon for Buddy.  

After removing the cut-down collie dog fly and a quick photo, Buddy returned the salmon to continue its migration.

We fished the remainder of the Bushes Pool until the light faded but didn’t catch anything else.

After thanking Douglas for his advice and hospitality, we headed off to the Traquair Arms Hotel to celebrate Buddy’s first salmon of the year with some delicious food and a few beers.

The Traguiar beat – fishing on the River Tweed

Revitalised, after a great nights sleep and a hearty breakfast, we were looking forward to day two on the Traquair beat. It’s probably one of the most popular beats on the upper Tweed because it’s three miles long, and its pools offer fishing to keep anglers of all abilities happy.

We met the Ghillie, Russ, in the car park opposite the iron bridge. He explained four other anglers were fishing the beat, and he’d assigned us to the middle section until lunchtime.

Several salmon were seen in the Boat Pool yesterday, and one lucky angler managed to catch one. Therefore, Russ suggested we start fishing there and work our way downriver.

Buddy was one-up on the salmon front, so he gave me have first shot at fishing the Boat Pool. I saw several salmon jump along the far bank of the pool, but none showed any interest in the red Allys shrimp I was fishing on a sink-tip line.

After resting the pool, Buddy fished it with the Collie Dog that had been successful at Glemormiston, but he also drew a blank.

We’d continued to observe salmon jump as they moved through the pool. So, I changed to a Cascade copper tube fly and fished the pool again but to no avail.

Frustrated, I moved downriver to fish the pools above and below the road bridge, leaving Buddy to persevere fishing the Boat Pool until lunchtime. Despite seeing more salmon jump, we both drew a blank.

After lunch, Russ took us downriver to fish the last pool on the beat. We saw more running salmon but only managed to catch a couple of brown trout.

The river level rose a few inches during the afternoon, and it seemed that the salmon were just interested in moving upriver. All of the other anglers had seen fish but also blanked.

Tired, we went back to the hotel for dinner and downing a few pints of Tempest Session IPA put miles back on our faces in preparation for our final day on the Tweed.

Day 2 – Fishing on the Traquair beat

For our final day on the River Tweed, we had another go at trying to catch a salmon on the Traquair beat. The wet weather had cleared overnight, and Wednesday turned out to be a cold but sunny day. 

Fishing the New Pool on the River Tweed

Russ mentioned we had the whole beat to ourselves and suggested the New Pool, where we hadn’t yet fished.  

Methodically, I fished the pool with a Cascade copper tube fly on a sink-tip line but didn’t feel any takes. Buddy followed me downriver and had a take near the tail, but the fish let go almost immediately.

Over the next couple of hours, we saw several salmon that weren’t interested in our offerings as they migrated upriver.  By 3 pm, it was looking like a day of casting practice.

Then, out of the blue, I had a solid take as I approached the large tree on the far bank. 

My rod bent around as a salmon took off downriver. Finally…

It was GAME ON.

For the next 15 minutes, I struggled to get the upper hand and couldn’t see how big it was. Eventually, a large, well-hooked salmon surfaced, I applied more strain, and Russ expertly netted my first Tweed salmon.

After Buddy had taken some good photographs, the salmon that had fallen for the red Allys shrimp was released to continue its migration.

Getting a Tweed salmon in the net provided the necessary stimulant to continue fishing until sunset. We saw more salmon but didn’t touch any of them. So we retired to the hotel to celebrate our catches.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our salmon fishing on the River Tweed, which was a fitting end to the 2021 season. Also, we vowed to return next year for more salmon fishing and maybe an earlier trip for a spot of grayling fishing.