Hi all,

I just got back from 4 days in Ireland chasing the atlantic salmon about. The river came into good order on Saturday and a couple of hours with Claret Dabbler had both of us with a take a piece on the fly. The fish were everywhere and in the mood.

That afternoon Trapper Dave and Mike arrived so we left early to meet them and try for a seatrout.

Sunday saw Brian take his salmon of about 3.5lb in the afternoon after a bit of a lie in, (apparently I snore....) and Ken took one on the fly of 4lb and lost another three hook ups. I had a fish on and an over tightened drag which tore the hook out and left me hurling insults and obscenities in three languages at an otherwise serene river...

Monday morning and Ken lost two on the fly while both Trapper and Mike were turning fish that were following but not committing. At this point I was getting desperate for some micro flies and tiny brass tubes and the doubles were getting n plucked at without real commitment.

Monday PM and I had enough of seeing fish and not landing one, so out came the cutlery and 15 minutes saw the best fish of the week landed straight off the tide.







Tuesday morning was a couple of hours on the upper reaches of the Easkey. Ken hooked two and Mike landed one, a nice fish of about 5lb which had been in the river about a week or so.



All in all it was a heavy few days and I now remember why I love salmon fishing and why it is so addictive. I'm definitely going back for the springers next year and I think a week in September with a few mates should be in the diary well in advance. Fish were running the river every day with sea-liced fish being caught in the main. Although many of the fish we saw were in the 3-4lb bracket there were plenty of bigger fish about.

Rgds,
Kiri

Nice job, mate!

I've tried to catch salmon a couple of times, but never connected. I used to have really good patient with fishing, but not anymore.

How are you gonna cook it? Or do you smoke it?

Nice one - is this public fishing available to all? I assume those are 'tags' in each fish - how many do you get?

good to see a report of the salmon fishing i was fishing the nore last week and had 6 in 2 days all on the fly had a few pulls as well returned all barr one for the table .going to blackwater next week for 2 days fishing hope its as good as there saying

Hey Bog,

Some of it was public fishing but we also fished a private beat of the same river. Basically the fish are in the system so give or take you are always fishing over fish. The problem is in actualy getting them on the hook and that's where a ghillie is worth his weight in gold. Ken and I have been fishing together n these rivers for about 8 years now, and it is amazing to see how this guy can catch salmon. He never had a rod in his hand for more than about 40mins before taking a fish. The tags are national tags that go on the returns. The 21 day licence allows for 5 tags IIRC but you only get three to start with and you have to go back to get the others.

As for the cooking, he's under the grill tonight with a very light teryaki glaze. Last night I took the two tail end fillets to the local sushi restaurant and the guy turned them into Chirashi and sashimi. It was very nice indeed although next time I will make sure I get a cool box and ice the fish rather than refrigerate them. If I had a second fish I would have smoked it.

Steyr,

Coloured fish which many are at this time of year always get returned. I knocked this one on the head but I would rarely take more than two fish over a weekend, perhaps three if I'm fishing a week. I am guilty of knocking the seatrout on the head though as I think they are some of the finest fish about!!

It was a good weekend which I joined at short notice.

I was badly under pressure. I didn't get finished work until nearly 8.00pm on Friday night. I was up before 6.00am and on the road for seven on Saturday. Met up with Kiri before 10.00am.

The water was really too high, and still rising on Saturday morning after heavy rain in the early hours. I had an enjoyable but unproductive few hours on the upper Easky. Saturday afternoon, I mainly sat back and enjoyed the views while the guys toiled in vain for an estuary sea trout.

The guys were on the road before 6.30am on Sunday, I skipped the early morning session having had a "disturbed" nights kip. I caught up with them about 10.00am.

The Easky private beats are beautiful, with great pools, but very over hung with trees. I will be the first to admit that I am a poor river fisherman, I much prefer to fish the loughs from a boat. I was getting frustrated towards lunchtime trying to work the fly in fast water. I felt compelled (the shame of it) to resort to hardware as I knew I was under time pressure.

In any case, within half an hour, the net result was this little grilse, rather short of 4lb's. I was under pressure again on Sunday afternoon, my wife wanted me home for 7.00pm as we had friends coming for dinner. I arrived home about 3 minutes before the guests arrived......



I have come to equate salmon fishing with wild boar shooting. You traipse around the country at ungodly hours, stand in line, or a river, getting tired, bored, frustrated, downhearted....

Then the boar breaks cover, or the line tightens, hours of frustration are forgotten and the adrenalin surges...

Pure magic.

Its hard to describe to your family just where the attraction lies in standing in a river that looks astonishingly like Pepsi Cola with a good sample of gale-blown leaves tumbling about in it and snagging on your fly.
Especially when they are convinced that you should be in bed and possibly in hospital.
But somehow I pulled it off and I think I've introduced the thin end of the idea that we should be going back next Spring.
I had the distinction of catching the smallest, bravest and most ambitious Salmon of the weekend. At a little over 4", that little Parr wasn't much larger than the lure it managed to get its mouth around.
I'm expecting it to be fully grown next time we connect.
I'm also expecting to be able to drink a little more and cast a little better.

Well the salmon was great with the teryaki glaze and coconut rice. I may have gona bit overboard for 6 people and I was damned if it was not going to be eaten so someone had to step up to the plate....!!!

Brian, It was good to see you again. It's been too long. I was talking to Ken and I can see a week next September staying in the gate house is on the cards. You will have your own en suite room and the only thing to keep you awake will be the whiskey and the sound of the salmon splashing about in the laundry pool!!

I haven't been out on the salmon since the kids were born and I remember why I was so mad for it back then.

As for the cutlery you shouldn't worry. You will only start really getting stick when you turn to the dark side of the drilled lead ball and the worm rod at the falls....

Anyway time for bed, I'm off to another airport in the morning. Surprise surprise...
Rgds,
K

Great photos.

I had a couple of days on the Tweed last week. Had a 7lb salmon, 4lb sea trout, lost a nice fish and got smashed by a massive take. Happy days indeed.

I'm going to need a trip to Russia one of these years. Meanwhile I'm looking out of the window at 36 degrees and acres of sand!

Richard,

Russia has been a bit of a wash out for the last couple of years. Strange weather patterns and late winter/spring thaws have made the fishing difficult. Of course everything is relative...

The big fish rivers that my friends guide on Varzina and Kharlofka, ( I think hes just back from running the camp on the latter for two weeks, have both fished difficult. Still saying that the small numbers of fish taken have been spectacular with a friend of mine taking a 29.5lb fish on his last night and a handful of others through the week. The Ponoi (Sp?) is better for numbers with this year showing around 30 fish per week per rod but averaging 8-10lb IIRC.

I'll see if I still have the photo of Kevs fish from this June!!

K

Kiri, That salmon ate really well.
Farmed salmon just don't have the density, colour or flavour.
Now that I'm off the antibiotics I'm beginning to get my appetite and energy back.
The Sloe Gin is coming on and I ordered 1000 16 bore shells today.
Really looking forwards to the season now........

Dave, We are shooting some Ducks at Ampton on Friday if you fancy a warm up session. Probably will stay on for a Muntjac too in the evening so gimme a call if you fancy it?

I'm off to Holts now so let me know if you are in town at all.

Good to hear you are on the mend,
K

Hi Kiri,
Can't make Ampton. Have appointment with troublesome Munties elsewhere.

Here's a picture of you fishing;




And here's a picture of that bullseye rash:

Good report and good to see everyone getting fish. I've no interest in salmon but my girlfriend announced, out of the blue, that she wanted a salmon while I was on Lewis on holiday earlier in the month. Almost all the systems on the island were full of fish, with some reporting really remarkable catches of sea trout as well, but she had never cast the fly before.

I picked the day and river (better than a loch I thought for the beginner as the river can take some line out) carefully and we went out with the plan of staying for an hour or so, with a beginner there seems no point in boring them mindless. All I can say is that she didn't get bored as we landed 4, all sea trout I will admit, and lost what I'm sure was a salmon in half an hour. We killed one sea trout of about 3lb for her dinner and she was over the moon.

I don't think there is a better introduction to salmon fishing for the beginner the only problem being that she might think it is like that all the time! Her nephew had 6 salmon on the fly for the following afternoon providing, I suspect, even more evidence for her that salmon fishing is easy. I just hope that future trout fishing trips to Lewis are not going to be blighted by requests to go salmon fishing

quote:

Originally posted by caorach:
the only problem being that she might think it is like that all the time!

Caorach,

I had the same problem a coupe of years ago when a client said he always wanted to catch a salmon in Ireland. He lived in Dublin and had caught salmon in Canada where it was a fish a cast so he was convinced we would have the same thing here.

Anyway we ended up with these springers between eight of us:



Everyone had a fish on the day and managed to take one home with them. The two biggest there are just under 14lb

Whatever I said to those guys about that being a oncein a lifetime day on the springers they didn't believe me!!

FB

That is a cracking catch of springers FB, like you say it is easy to look at something like that and think that all salmon fishing days go the same way. I suspect many people consider themselves lucky to get a fish for a week when it comes to salmon fishing and that is one of the reasons why I don't really enjoy it. I'd rather be catching a reasonable number of trout and being able to apply some logic to why they take the fly and which fly to use. Salmon fishing, for me, always seems to be a case of blindly chucking a random fly in the hope that some random event beyond your control will happen and you will hook something. I'm lucky, I guess, that if I really wanted a salmon I can sometimes get access to water where there is a good chance of a fish but this is, I suspect, a function of the number of fish in the area.

However, best not to show the girlfriend the photos of your springers as she has become especially keen, just since her first experience, to catch a really big salmon! With the small ones being so easy I guess it is the only challenge left for her :-) The problem, of course, is that Lewis doesn't get big fish with 10lb being a remarkable fish indeed and a 4 or 5lb fish being pretty much the most you can really expect.