Unexpected surprise

As a result of the recent run of decent fish being caught I was itching to get down to my usual beat on Sunday morning. There had been a small lift on Friday that had dropped back nicely and all looked perfect. I Put up the 13' 8# and tied on a good strong leader ready to do battle with the big fish that have been showing. After the usual head scratching of fly choice and rummaging around my disorganised fly box I opted for a pot bellied pig in black and orange.

Ever changing pools

Any one who reads this blog will see that I'm constantly remarking on how the pools change year by year and with them, the lies. Looking in my diary there is absolutely no pattern of where the fish tend to lie. This is the 5th year i have fished one of the beats and it would appear that hot spots do not tend to be the same each year. Although certain pools and runs can be relatively predictable the location of the lies at the start of the season is anyones guess.

Greenland to start commercial netting!

My intention with this blog was not to air my political views but I feel this issue warrants some discussion.
I find this news very sad, I read this story this morning and it has left me feeling pretty empty. Despite all the advice, Scotland, Ireland, Norway and Canada have continued to support or increase their commercial Salmon fishing activities. Sadly, although predictably, this has led to the Greenlanders deciding this is not fair any more and deciding to resume their commercial netting of the Salmon in their feeding grounds, one of the key reasons for the massive crash in Salmon stocks in the 80's.

As Mr Salmond has been actively encouraging the renewal of dormant netting licences and even tuning them through paying grants I cant help feeling that we have been severely let down by an ill informed politician.

Here is a link to the full story:

http://www.fishandfly.com/news/3309-international-salmon-treaty-fails-yet-again.html

One from the Hut pool

Despite my run of never landing a fish from the hut pool until last year it would appear that things may be changing. After last year continued high water and re shaping of pools I wondered what effect this would have on the river and how it fished.

Off the mark at last!

Yesterday was not your typical perfect day for Salmon fishing, bright sunshine all day and very hot. I had planned to meet a friend down the river who came to do a piece for his online fishing magazine. Obviously, catching a fish to order is never going to easy and it looked like yet another blank day ahead for me. When we arrived at the beat, I tackled up with a plan of fishing up first with a spinner and if we saw any fish we could go back and cover them with the fly. We arrived at the first pool, one of my favourites and I pointed out where the fish might lie and that they would follow the spinner out of the deep hole and take as the spinner started to come up the shallower pool tail. Five casts later - Bang!

Finally - fish!

After a slow start the fish appear to have finally arrived, I heard of a fish caught way up river above Wool last week and was full of hope that the fish have finally started to run. I arrived at the river a little later than usual today and soon had a call from my Friend Robin reporting a fresh 14lb hen fish.