The biggest salmon seen on the River Tweed for years – a fish close to 50lb – has been landed from the river below Sir Walter Scott’s favourite Borders viewpoint. Ghillie Ian Farr helped land the mighty cock fish, the biggest he’s banked in 25 years at the job. 

The lucky anger was Edinburgh’s Jim Reid who said he could not have landed it without help from his ghilllie.“This was by far the biggest salmon I have ever caught,” he said. “It was an amazing experience and I can’t thank Ian enough for his skill, encouragement and moral support. There was no way I was going to land that fish if he hadn’t been there!”Jim was fishing at Top Corbie before the start of fast water on the Bemersyde beat of the Tweed.

The pair measured the fish at 50 inches long with a 25in girth, and on the bank Ian Farr estimated it to be just under 40lb. However, after consulting charts and other guidelines, he now thinks it was around 47lb.Jim Reid tempted the salmon using a one-and-a-half-inch Gold Bodied Willie Gunn tube fly, one of the most popular patterns used by anglers on the river.

Pic: Jim Reid with the massive River Tweed salmon estimated at just under 50lb!
Pic: Total Fly Fisher