Salmon Fishing Ireland 2018.

           

The water was just starting to come on as I arrived for an evening session, it seems to be the norm now to run the water at 4pm just as the lads arrive to fish the evening ticket. I really would like to fish the fly in low water but I have to make do with spinning in high water. The water was quite clear and moving at a good pace so I put up a size 4 flying C and started spinning upstream working the salmon lies when I got a small bump quickly followed by a hard pull and then a few head shakes and we were on. The salmon took off downstream very fast but having set a strong tension I was able to turn the fish and bring it in close for a look to see where it was hooked, luckily it was only hooked outside the mouth so I decided to play the fish fast and control the fish close in keeping the salmon away from the large boulders. Running the salmon in circles I turned it towards the shallows and tailed the fish, removing the spinner I rested the fish for a few seconds allowing it to get some strength back before I released it back into the river. It was a very fresh wild sealiced salmon of about 11 lbs and in cracking shape as you would expect at this time of year. Hopefully the main run will start now and we will have some low water which will allow me to fish the fly.

Salmon Spinning set up.

           

Here is a simple video outlining the way I set up my salmon, bass and pike spinning outfit, basically the tackle is the same in all set ups except for the addition of wire traces for pike fishing. The rod is a 10 ft 15 to 60 gr casting rod, the reel is a 6000 class spinning reel and loaded with 13 kg high visibility yellow braid. Firstly I load 50 meters of nylon onto the spool which allows the braid to bed down well on the spool and stops slippage when the braid is under tension. I attach the braid to the nylon using a double uni knot which can be seen in this video https://youtu.be/NLYX1qwoO-0 . The braid is then reeled under tension onto the spool and filled to capacity to ensure very long casts when spinning. Before I start fishing with new braid I will always cast very far down stream and spin under tension allowing the line to bed down while wet and this also stops tangles from happening when fishing. Every 10 casts I will cast long and just reel up under tension allowing the line to rid itself of kinks thus making sure I have better fishing and no knots or tangles. I use size 4 chrome swivels and these work well for me also helping to stop the kinking and tangling of the braid. The spinners I use are Flying C's in sizes 3,4 and 5 Black / Silver or Black /Gold. In coloured water Yellow can be very productive and also Red but mainly the vast majority of salmon are caught on Black/Silver fished upstream. The size 3 spinners are normally used in medium to low water, the size 4 in medium to high water and the size 5 in high fast or very high water. It's easy to know when to fish the different sizes because if you are not rubbing bottom or taking weed then you need to put on a heavier size and if you are getting stuck constantly then you need to put on a lighter spinner. If you are not fishing at the right depth and covering the salmon lies properly then you are not going to meet fish so achieving the optimum depth is crucial to catching spring salmon in the early season because with cold high water salmon rarely move far to take a spinner or fly. The benefit of using braid is two fold namely direct contact with the salmon at all times and extra sensitivity while spinning allowing me to feel rocks and weeds before I get stuck, if using mono with the stretch capacity it has you are stuck in the bottom before you know it and less feeling during the fight. If you have any further questions on spinning tips just message me below.