Last Saturday morning the Tweed was running dirty at Dryburgh Upper, so Gerald Dutton decided to take the morning off and watch England Vs Argentina in the Rugby World Cup. He returned at lunchtime after watching England score six tries and comfortable winners 39-10 to find the river, still high, had cleared enough to fish.
Brian the head ghillie decided to take Gerald to “tod holes” pool at the top of the beat, opposite the small fishing hut. A prominent rock that looks fantastic but has never produced a fish. Gerald cast a line across to the rock and the line tightened and the fish was on. The fish didn’t show and both angler and ghillie thought it was about 15/16lb fish until it came to the net!
Brian said “I went to net the fish using my medium sized net and it was about 6 inches either side of it. Thankfully I had my other net in the boat”
The fish was weighed in the net at 34lb. We took a quick photo with Gerald as this was his biggest ever fish and his first fish off Dryburgh Upper. The fish was then quickly put back in the net and released. Normally we keep the fish and angler in the water, but as the river was so high it was deemed unsafe. The stone where the fish was caught has now been changed to the Dutton Stone.
The fish took a Caledonia Fly Company copper bodied Willy Gunn purchased from from Borders Gunroom in St Boswalls.
The fish is also a Bemersyde Entry for the best fish on the River Tweed this year.
