Salmon Fishing Ireland 2014

           



         

The water was at full load with one sill open and this was topping up the height and speed of the river, i fished with a 25gr black / silver flying c just to get depth so that i could get under the very fast top current to properly cover the salmon lies. Most anglers just do the 80 % and forget about the other 20 % that can be the difference between catching  fish or not catching fish. I will definitely be putting up a video on youtube soon on the proper casting and spinning techniques needed to increase ones chances of catching salmon, including how to achieve proper depth and speed control while spinning in fast high water using the upstream spinning method. A lot of anglers turn up at a river and really cannot read the water, they don't know where the salmon lies are in low, medium or high water so they spend either a very long time in one area or they shoot through the beats hoping to cover as much water as possible in an attempt to catch fish. Proper intelligence on a river is important so doing your homework on gaining information from expert anglers or gillies etc., on the holding pools and salmon lies is probably the best thing that a novice angler can do, even watching other anglers cover certain parts of the river will give one an idea where to cast to increase ones chances.

The salmon hit the spinner twice, bumping it on the first attempt and then nailing it on the second hit as the spinner was coming down the pool. I hit the fish really hard because of the strong heavy water as sometimes they are very lightly hooked when the spinner comes at them so fast and with a few head shakes they are free. Even when playing the salmon i could see that it was lightly hooked and this was great because i was releasing the fish and the less damage to the fish the better. I was holding the salmon with one hand reviving it and  with the other hand i was setting up the camera for some underwater shots when the fish decided it was time to go and knocked over my underwater camera but luckily i got the shot of the fish swimming away safely and strong. It is very hard catching, playing, filming, landing fish with only two hands and as i hold a camera in one hand as i play the salmon to get the best shots some people think that i'm mad but it adds to the drama and excitment of the fight, so next time you watch one of my videos see if you can play a strong fish out with one hand while trying to get some good steady footage with the other, trust me it will definitely add excitement to your salmon fishing and if you really want to show off wear a blindfold....