Salmon Fishing Ireland 2013 .

Having spent the morning fly fishing for salmon at the Dam fishery in really low water i was only too happy to see the water levels rise to full load. The low water was having a negative effect on the salmon due to the lack of movement and the water clarity was very bad and in some places you couldn't see your feet when wading. I had fished with my switch fly rod using a floating line and a green sinking tip but had change to a tapered leader to get some movement into the fly. The fly was a Park shrimp size 15 double salar and i got four plucks at the fly during the morning session. As soon as the water came on it cleared away the algae colour from the water and also oxygenated it as well. I changed over to my spinning rod and using a size four Flying "C" i quickly caught and released my first salmon, a nine pound fresh fish with red markings on the belly as it had just come up over the weirs. The second fish was an eight pound bar of silver with sea lice and this fish was also quickly released, actually it released itself just as i was turning on the camera it broke my grip and swam away. The third fish hit fast and strong with three blistering runs and the reel tension could be heard screaming a long distance away. Bringing the fish in close i noticed it had a bad marking on its side and this was very fresh but luckily for the salmon it hadn't broken skin or drawn blood so i reckon that it will survive to spawn. The fish put up a very spirited fight and this normally happens when a salmon's mouth is closed shut and that's what had happened, the fish had rolled and the line had wrapped around its mouth and  trapped it shut thus making the salmon go berserk and that is why it took so long to revive, it had burned itself out. There are a good number of big salmon showing up again this year lets hope that anglers will do the right thing and release the bigger multi sea wintered and multi spawing fish.