Salmon Fishing Ireland 2013, fishing report

           
     
              
Having arrived at the river i found that the water was at the perfect height to fish a fly but the clarity wasn't that great maybe about two feet visibility not great for the salmon to see any fly. I put up a floating line on my 6wt Switchfly rod and a 7ft 3.9ins per second sink tip. I fished the lower beats first and met a few fish but they were only pulling at the fly typical fresh grilse behaviour. I moved up to beat one and found it to be very busy with anglers shrimping and fly fishing, i started moving down the beat and got a few short takes so i decided to speed up the fly by stripping the line and straight away i hooked my first grilse, 4lbs and fresh in off the tide covered in female sealice. Landing the fish quickly i released it back into the river, now i had the secret it had worked for me in the past stripping the line or a slow figure of eight while fishing the pool keeps you in direct contact with your fly and when you feel the slightest touch or weight on the line strike. This technique is ideal for short taking fish especially fresh grilse, even when retrieving line for the next cast pause for a second between each pull as grilse will follow the fly across the pool awaiting any sudden movement and then they will pounce.

Seeing a grilse head and tail a few times i put a fly across him and stripped the line back quickly, nothing on the first cast but i thought i felt a slight bump on the fly so i quickly recasted the fly and on stripping the fly the second time i felt the fish and struck fast, the fish was on. A small grilse of about 3lbs but covered in sealice which i quickly released, fishing on i met a few more fish and had one on for a few seconds only to drop the fly in mid air. As it was coming to darkness i moved back downstream and gave one of the lower beats a quick cast before i went home, no sooner had the fly hit the water when the line went tearing downstream another hook up. The fish gave a few good runs and jumped three or four times before i was able to land it, a fresh salmon of about 6lbs covered in sealice so i took the fish. Will see how many fish i can take with my stripping method versus dead drift next time and i will let you know the outcome, also i tried a short tail versus long tail trial very few hits on the short tail but as soon as i changed over to the long tail i began to get some action and then narrowing that down with a stripping action i took fish. All in all keep changing your methods it can only improve your fishing rather than sitting there waiting for things to happen, go out and make them happen.