THE LUCKIEST MAN IN FISHERDOM
As well as fi shing on a mile and a half of
Upper Floors and a week on the Alta each year, the Duke’s other great love is excursions to a little-fi shed part of the estate. ‘The other place I love to fi sh is a tributary of the Till that goes up into the Cheviots, called the Bowmont. If Upper Floors is in fl ood in the autumn, my chil- dren and I just love to go up there with our little single-handed trout rods and a little No.8 or No.10 fl y to fi sh this little river that’s no more than ten feet wide. We catch sea trout and grilse and salmon up there and have a fantastic time.’ Unlike his father, the current Duke loves to
In any case, says the Duke, numbers are not
the be-all and end-all. ‘There’s a distinct differ- ence in the beats above Kelso and those below it,’ he says. ‘Those below it tend to be big, open- spaced, quite slow-fl owing; you have to fi sh a sink line and it’s all a bit boring. They tend to be very successful beats in which a lot of fi sh – and a lot of big fi sh – are caught from boats. The Lees, for instance, is a fantastic beat and averages 600-700 fi sh a year compared to our 400-500. But it’s not all about the number of fi sh, it’s the quality of the fi shing. The low river beats are very different from the Floors beats. This is one of the top beats on the river, partly because it’s so private, incredibly beautiful, good wading,and it’s wonderful fl y water.’
FIELD
FACTS The Floors beats have three miles of double bank and a combined fi ve-year average of 932 fi sh. The Tweed season runs from February to November. Tel: 01573 223333
www.roxburghe.net
fi sh with his fi ve children. Four of them – Rosie (35), Charlie (33), Ted (30) and George (17) – are as keen as they are accomplished fi shers, although 19-year-old Isabella, despite having caught fi sh, takes little interest in the sport, ‘and to the absolute fury of my other children has a pool named after her,’ adds the Duke. Satur- days are kept free for the family, as is a week in August, a couple of days in September and two at the end of October, with the hope that grandfather will be there when his grandchil- dren – he currently has two grandsons, aged two and three – catch their fi rst fi sh. As the Duke talks about life on the
river, which encompasses everything from impromptu dips to the day a friend’s Labrador dived in and brought back a 20lb salmon, it’s clear that the river is as central to his life today as it was when he was a three-year-old in short trousers and with dirty knees guddling brown trout. ‘I’m so lucky,’ he says. ‘It’s been a life- time’s experience and privilege to have access to somewhere so special.’
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