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Salmon

Dave Johnson

Dave Johnson

Senior Member
It's almost Salmon time.
My new year resolution is to up my catch ratio, 1 week = 1 fish at the moment. (Only been 7 weeks, 1 week a year)
2010 will be 1 week = more than 1 fish. Sea trout don't count but they are a welcome bonus.
It's about now that I start my new year sales list.
Will I catch more fish with a new rod?
Perhaps a new reel will do the trick.
I only have 300 salmon flies, a few more will help fill out my new floating fly box.
I already have lucky pants......that's saved a few quid, great more cash for flies.
Do I need a new cooker to complement my Kelly Kettle, gas burner and the two Coleman multi fuel burners (single and double ring with matching pan set) that I drag up to Scotland? The Kelly makes a grand cuppa in the banks of the Spey and the ghillie was so impressed by it he has bought one for himself. Such a small complement from the Ghillie that means so much to me, and I know that some of you will be wondering what I am going on about but, and this is what it's all about. Ghillies have a way with the rods (anglers) they can wither you with just a look or hollow smile that does not get to the eyes. They will say to you about a cast 'you might be lucky with that but next time try to put your line out another 10 yards' Another 10 yards? pleeeeease I have spent over £1000 on casting lessons and that is the very best that I can do and you want another 10 yards. But Jock likes my Kelly Kettle.
Feel free to add to my list and if you know of any killer flies tell me where to get them.
Tight Lines
Dave
 
I went salmon fishing once. My mate took me to the Towey where he'd been trying to catch one for ten years, I borrowed one of his Devon Minnows and had one of six and a half pounds - job done.

My mate sulked for ages about that :)

I figure that with a success rate of 100% I can retire from salmon fishing.
 
Dave Johnson said:
It's almost Salmon time.

Feel free to add to my list and if you know of any killer flies tell me where to get them.
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The best investment you will ever make - though it will require time, effort and money (though nothing like the eye-watering amount of loot a few days' fishing can set you back nowadays) is to become a proficient fly-tyer. First you will merely copy flies, then you will start to knock out variations on successful themes; eventually, as your own fishing experience and success begin to kick in, you will create new patterns and ways of fishing these patterns for yourself - this is when salmon-fishing becomes something more than just so much hope, faith, a lot of unanswered prayers and even more flogging and fishy voodoo and ju-ju, and becomes really interesting.
 
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Big Vern and me with my 2009 fish, it weighed in at 29 inches and was returned to swim up stream in the Spey.
 

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Dave Johnson said:
Big Vern and me with my 2009 fish, it weighed in at 29 inches and was returned to swim up stream in the Spey.
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I used to do two trips a year up to the Spey for the upper beats on the Brae Water. Stunning, stunning location but to be honest we had more success with the sea trout than the salmon. These days I prefer to nymph for them down here on the local rivers. It just has to be one of the most exciting sights in fishing to watch a salmon rising up through the water following a small nymph before lazily engulfing it.

I still get the double hander out for Spring fishing on the Avon but i've only landed one in the past two seasons out of three hooked!
 
Dave, sounds like a spot of more local fishing might be more productive, the Itchen,s worth the price of a day ticket,July/August, fished it 10days last season, 11fish landed, numerous missed takes and several slipped the hook, Having a bash at both the Test and the Itchen this year, can,t wait, and only an hours drive from home, OK not the scenic beauty of the Spey, but there still Salmon!!!!!
Peter
 
Och Weel yous saesanachs hae ne'r ken'd the best way o' catchin' Salmon.
Ma' ol' da telt me when i was jist a wee bairn, on' i'll tell yas noo, yas dinea need thea fluffy things on' flash rods, or gullies at a 100 poonds on' hoor.

Yes'll need twa glasses, a bottle o' the guid stuff, dae yous ken sae fair !
Yes'll need a ball a' string a nuff tae chuck a ways oot intae the river, a sinker, on'a big fat worm.
Noo yous tie the worm tae the string, or is it the other way roon, i cannea mind ! it disnea matter on'yhoo, just make sure he cannea git off ya ken.

Noo yous put the worm in the glass, on' a wee drap o' the guid stuff in asweel, noo dinae put tae much in or ye'll droon it, jist enough tae gie im' a wee drink ya ken wha' i mean.
Then yous pour yersel ane, on' wait until the worm has drunk his tae' noo he's ready ye ken.

Noo dinnea be puttin' yes finger in the glass, or he'll hae it off a' the knuckle ya ken.

Noo yous tak' the worm, on' swing it o'er yer heed, until ya got it swinin' guid
on' then let it gae wi a guid chuck.

Noo yous need tae ho'd on ticht yae ken, cos when he grabs tha' Salmon he'll be awa' leek the flyin' scotsman on the record run ya ken.

On' thats hoo yous catch Salmon, the big yins ya ken nae these wee parr tha' you saesenachs keep catchin' - Crooky noo dinnea be tryin this yersel, nae withoot a guid gullie, these are prooper fish ya ken, nae these English Grayling ye'r used tae. :D
 
Nigel, your spot on there, the sheer, heart stopping excitement of raising a fish at close quarters takes some beating, the whole aspect of this style is quite new to me, but I,am totally hooked now.
Have been busy tying up some interesting variations on the "nymph" theme, they are going to be very interesting to try out, got my ticket for the Test on-route, now just need a willing party to share a ticket for the Itchen, anyone interested?
Peter
 
Ah Ian, maybe too much information. Is this the secret method you use on our local rivers for barbel? You forgot to mention it when you spoke about bait.
Next time that I see you on the bank I may check for your 'water of life' stash.
Dave
 
Dave Johnson said:
Ah Ian, maybe too much information. Is this the secret method you use on our local rivers for barbel? You forgot to mention it when you spoke about bait.
Next time that I see you on the bank I may check for your 'water of life' stash.
Dave
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:D Hic noo jis wha' is ye' hic tryin' tae say David .. Hic, tha' i dinnae catch ma' fish fair on' Square hic . come on noo, oot wi' it .. hic :p
 
Can only be a good move to protect the future of the species, a trend thats becoming the norm in many areas now, it certainly seems to be paying off in the chalkstreams in the south. Just a matter of sorting all the other problems, IE sandeel massacres, drift netting and the effects of salmon farming.!
peter
 
My first fish always goes back but, I will always keep one fish per visit if I am allowed, keeping salmon is not the reason that I go to Scotland to fish but it helps. Each fish that has been presented on my table has cost in the region of £1500. The cost has travel, accommodation and the weeks fishing included.
The Irish system of restricting the take to one per day and tagging killed fish is the way forward, it is the same for local and visiting rods. Where I fish the locals pay scant attention to local authorities and law makers, the cost of a locals season ticket is in the region of £75 and the guidelines for catch and release are voluntary and are therefore ignored. Some fish have been known to end up in the fridges of local hotels and pubs. Occasionally the Scottish EA bailiffs visit the town hotels and inspect the fish in the kitchens but there are lots of hiding places in hotels and pubs. The beat I fish is restricted to 3 rods, the town water has queues and on a good fishing day the 'town rods' are in the river before first light, we wait until 9am.
I am a great believer in 'live and let live' but the fishing authorities target the wrong fishers in my opinion. I know that every little helps but the wholesale taking of fish by local rods must be stopped and then the law makers can realistically ask visitors to follow the same rules. It's an easy win for the fishing bodies to demand C&R from visitors but rather hypocritical when they are not on the bank demanding the same from others. One of the town rods where I fish is known locally as the Heron, and it's not because he has a long nose and stands in the margins.
Dave
 
A friend of mine has just bought some well known fly patterns with a plastic 'chin' similar to a diving lure. Has anyone fished with them or seen them in action?
It's almost like fishing with a small lure in my opinion.
 
Yes. They're a variation on the Scandinavian "Fat Back" (big, long, soft mobile wing) flies that were coming out of Sweden and Norway in the very early 1990s - flies that "swim" in a Rapala-like fashion. I had some very big sea-trout and steelhead in Argentina and Chile in the mid 1990s on these flies, then used them on salmon and big sea-trout (in high water) over here. Since then someone has added a vane, to make them really Rapala-like. Not fished these vaned flies, then, but have their predecessors.

By the way, your comments about killing salmon and your "costing £1500 a fish" take on keeping salmon: not wishing to sound or to be patronizing, but catch some more salmon then you'll not kill another one. I killed my last salmon in one of the really "huge years" for salmon, 1988; I haven't bashed another since.
 
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