Grayling fishing the River Tweed at Peebles

Fishing the River Tweed at Peebles for grayling has been on my to-do-lit for a while because on my previous trips to Scotland in winter the river has been unfishable.

After a spate earlier in the week a dry spell of weather moved in from the East, which allowed the Tweed level to drop off. I was in Edinburgh visiting friends this weekend, so I decided to realise this opportunity and booked a ticket on Peeblesshire Trout FA stretch of Tweed.

Grayling fishing the River Tweed at Peebles

There was a harsh overnight night frost so I decided on a late start, arriving at Peebles by 10 am.

They have over 20 miles of fishing to choose from and I decided to fish the stretch above Peebles, parking by Manor Bridge. 

I set up a 10ft, 3wt rod with a team of Czech nymphs (point: size 12, Hare’s Ear shell back with 4mm tungsten bead, middle dropper: size 16, red nymph with a 1.5mm black tungsten bead; top dropper: size 16, black nymph with a 1.5 mm black tungsten bead).

From the bridge the river looked great with quite a few good spots: upstream there was a long glide while downstream there were a number of classic pools.

I decided to start by walking up the right bank to see what was above the glide. At the top of the glide, the river bends round to the left by some bankside bushes, below which is a small pool of deeper water.  Above this, the bank is tree-lined and difficult to fish from the left bank. During my walk upriver I didn’t see any evidence of flies hatching or any fish moving. Therefore, I decided to fish the pool below the bush with the Czech nymphs and then work my way down the glide back to the car.

Surprisingly, working thoroughly through the pool with the nymphs produce absolutely nothing. Next I worked methodically through the glide down to the bridge but again all I caught was the bottom, twigs and weed. By the time I had reached the bridge my legs were cold and I was very despondent with the lack of activity.

After a short break, I decided to continue down the right bank and fish all the pool to the wood. The pool directly below the bridge had several fishy features (deeper channels, feeder stream etc.) and this refuelled my enthusiasm.

I fished through the pool thoroughly but despite this was met with the same response a big ZERO! Continuing downriver to the wood, I fished all the pools with a few changes to the Czech nymphs but nothing I tried made any difference.

There were a couple of anglers fishing the pool opposite the wood from the other bank.  Therefore, I walked back upriver, crossed the bridge and on my way down I met them walking upriver.  I stopped for a chat and found that they had not caught or seen anything, so it was just me who was finding it very difficult. My legs had warmed up again so I decided to fish through the pool above the old railway bridge to see if I could scrape something before calling it a day.

This is the first time I have blanked for over 12 months, bringing me down with a bump; I usually manage to tempt at least one fish even if it is a tiddler. I suspect the sudden switch from mild to cold weather caused aquatic life in the river to hibernate. I will just have to plan another trip when things warm up a little to put this right.

Tight lines until next time, Andrew