Several four man teams competed on the day - and the Tweed Foundation's Trout & Grayling Biologist, Kenny Galt, was a competitor as well as - obviously - taking a very keen interest in the results. Anglers drawn to fish on the River Tweed met with difficult conditions and had to deal with high water and strong winds.
The competition was fished Catch & Release and, despite the conditions, the average Brown-trout catch per angler for the River Tweed was the highest it had been during the five years that the results from the competition have been analysed fully and archived. In contrast, despite possibly benefiting the trout catch, the conditions had a negative effect on the average Grayling catch per angler from the River Tweed, which was at its second lowest during the five recorded years.
The Leader Water, by contrast, was in perfect fishing condition and many of the anglers who drew the Leader had good catches. Two local anglers managed 58 Brown-trout and Grayling over 8” between them during the six hours of the competition (with many more undersize also caught).
The winning team was the St Boswells, Newtown & District Angling Association who retain the competition trophy after winning in 2008. Many congratulations to them.
The catch results from the competition are donated to the Tweed Trout & Grayling Initiative and are used to help monitor the Brown-trout and Grayling populations of the Tweed system.