Salmon Fishing Ireland 2012 May 31st

Inniscarra Dam Salmon Fishery

On arriving at the fishery the water was at full load ( about six feet above normal level ) so i started spinning with a 20gr black/silver flying " C ", half way through reeling in my first cast i hit my first salmon. I brought in the fish quickly and released it and on reeling in my third cast i hit a smaller fish of about seven pounds which was also released. I always fish upstream with flying "C's " because you cover lies better and hook-ups are fast and furious, also you can get the spinner down faster to where the fish are. I see alot of anglers spinning down stream and across and you can see the spinner running high in the water column, not good for hooking up with spring fish. The last two fish were caught about  half an hour after the second salmon just before the water level dropped. As the water level was dropping i moved down stream to try Beat 3 & 4 with the fly but whatever fish were there moved back into the lower pools due to the sudden drop in water height. Still not bad fishing for a short evening session.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2012 Inniscarra Salmon Fishery ( May )

Casting The Bombers

Went fishing today expecting some nice water due to the heavy rains the previous day, but when fishing below a Dam that sometimes is not the case, the water was very low and after fishing through all the known hotspots didn't see or catch any salmon. I fished floating lines, sink tips, intermediate lines, small flies, big flies but to no avail when the water is that low the salmon push up under the dam or back down into the deeper pools further down stream. Heading down to the end of the fishery i fished the last groyne hard with different sink tips to get down deep to where the fish should be lying but again no luck, snagging the fly on the bottom a few times let me know that i had covered the pool well. Rather than pack-up and go home i decided to move to the very end of the deep pool and try a floating bomber fly just to see if i would get a reaction from anything. Having used bombers before they are an awkward fly to cast especially as you have to use a very short tippet, this helps to keep the fly floating / skating on the surface. On the fifth cast the fly was just starting to gain momentum skating nicely across the tail of the pool when a salmon came up behind the fly and boiled, my heart stopped for a split second knowing that i had to wait for the line to tighten and the fish to turn away before i could lift into it. As the salmons head turned downwards i could still see the fly skating along the surface and this is the problem with bombers, you will rise many salmon but take very few. All i can say is that i tried everything else and the bomber was the only fly to get some action, so get a few tied up and if the fishing is slow try the bomber you never know if a fish boils at it at least it will show you where the salmon are lying.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2012 Inniscarra Dam Salmon Fishery. ( May )

Inniscarra Dam Salmon Fishery

The water was just above full load and with so much rain falling it should be like this for a few days ideal for spinning. Being lazy i started fishing with a size three flying " C" spinner which i knew was too light for the extra high water and hooked a grilse on my fourth cast, seeing that it was only a small grilse of about 4lbs i decided to bully the fish in and straightened one of the hooks and lost the fish. Changing over to a 20gram black / silver i then hooked this 11lb springer and on landing the fish noticed that another hook was lodged in its throat, knowing that the fish wouldn't last long i took the fish rather than release it. Upstream spinning accounts for most of my salmon caught on spinner due to the fact that i can get the spinner down to the bottom quickly and it gives the salmon very little time to react as it comes at them so fast, they either have to move or hit it. Fishing with braid gives you extra sensitivity and you can feel the difference between weed and rock and also the pull just before the spinner gets caught so that you can lift it up and out of the way before getting snagged. Mono having a 1/3 stretch capacity gets caught before you are even aware that you are snagged and is less sensitive when fighting a fish.

Salmon Fishing Ireland 2012 Inniscarra Dam Salmon Fishery