To help study the local Trout and Grayling populations, The Tweed Foundation uses a small meshed seine net every Summer to net pools in the Tweed system.  Using a seine is not a precise capture technique as an unknown number of fish can escape, but when it works properly, the results can be quite staggering. 

Pulling the net in on a section of the Teviot

A pool was netted at Nisbet on the Teviot Water on 18th August 2010 that was less than a hundred metres in length.

The results were 1370 Grayling Fry, 14 Grayling greater than 8” and 41 Brown Trout greater than 8” (including one monster that was 55 cm)!  The very high number of Grayling Fry could have been due to favourable spawning and growing conditions in Spring and early Summer (warm and low water). 


The huge haul of Grayling

Evidence from catches from the Earlston Grayling competition shows that year class recruitment for Grayling can be very variable.  2010 may have been a very good year for other parts of the river as well. 

All of the Brown Trout were in very good condition and the presence of 41 takeable fish provides strong evidence that there is a healthy stock of Trout in the local area.
 

Two takeable Brownies

A large Trout was also caught the previous time the pool at Nisbet was netted and it seems to be a common pattern from other sites netted to find at least one large Trout of around 50 cm in each pool.


A wonderful Brown Trout specimen