Salmon Fishing Ireland 2015 " Salmon on the Fly ".

      
Well it took a bit longer than expected but i got my first springer on the fly, i had been busy over the last few weeks and couldn't put the time or concentration into my salmon fishing but i got a small break last evening and went up to the Dam for an evening session with my Switch fly rod. The water was very low and even worse still dropping but the clarity was good and i was surprised to see that the water was cold maybe only 6 degrees. One of the sluices was open and this was definitely oxygenating the water, i started at Beat 1 with my Switch fly rod using a floating line and a Rio 6ft sink tip ( 2.6 ins per second ) and my trusted Ahilles hot orange shrimp fly with a slight variation only known to me as every angler and his dog is using that fly these days so i have to give the salmon something slightly different. ( the pattern will be in my last post for the 2015 salmon season )............ I concentrated my time on a few known salmon lies as the water was so low that these areas were probably the only hot spots in the whole fishery that could have a fish present. Using a few different mends i allowed the fly to fish slowly around some of the rocks and faster through some of the lies, i am of the belief that salmon are like kittens, if you annoy them enough or send something past them fast enough they will chase it and then you have them.

The salmon hit the fly very hard and almost caught me off guard by running at me and then heading upstream like an express train taking lots of line off the reel, it made a few good jumps and long runs before i was able to control it in front of me and it still wasn't finished as it tried to shake the fly by rubbing off rocks and the bottom by rolling over itself on numerous occasions. Beaching the salmon i noticed that it was a wild fish with long tailed sea lice on its back just fresh from the sea and at about 11lbs a great specimen of a springer and my mind was made up it was going back. Unfortunately almost all the spring fish caught to date have been killed and that is sad due to the fact that salmon anglers are complaining that there are very few spring fish around and still only a few are being released. I have been releasing salmon for many decades well before it was fashionable to do so because i saw a decrease in the stock and also a lot more angling and poaching pressure that ever before. Next time you catch your first salmon think and if the fish is healthy let it go you will always remember the ones you lose or release and quickly forget the ones you kill, you can take the next fish for the pot.