Salmon Fishing Ireland 2014 " The Big Boys "

         


           

Three salmon landed and released and a further two salmon lost by short takes not a bad evenings fishing even by my standards. The only downside was that rather than keep the big fish out for a few photo's i put it back so that it wouldn't exhaust itself and for that it beat me up before leaving in a burst of pure power. Starting at the top of beat 1 woodside i fished my way down towards the end of the beat covering every inch of water and every salmon lie while i had the chance as over the past few times that i have been out it has been very busy akin to combat fishing. Even when i could cover some of the lies there was always someone about with a question etc., and this eats into my fishing time and as anyone that knows me will tell you i like the odd chat but i pay for my ticket like everybody else and i like to concentrate on my fishing and test my skill without interuption. I have built up a vast knowledge of this part of the river over the past few years and knowing the hydrodynamics of the water i know where most of the fish will be at any given time in most water levels. I covered a short lie between two rocks and got a slight bump and knowing someone was at home gave it a rest for a few minutes, casting back a long the same line a few minutes later i hooked into the 16lb fish and it took off downstream in a flurry of cartwheels but i stopped it and brought the fish in close to me and allowed it to wallow for a few moments and then i ran it in circles until it was ready for landing. The Landing Area is so small and with some large rocks, under water weeds and tree stumps its strewn with hazards an easy place to lose a good fish but with 3 to 4 ft of water outside you there is nowhere else to land the fish. I brought the fish in close guided it past the weeds and rocks, landed it, removed the spinner that was only slightly hooked in its mouth and released it back into the river.

The second fish took halfway down the beat and with a very short fight i  landed it fast and released it, it just shot back so fast that it was stronger going back than it was for the entire fight probably gassed out from the hard journey up from the tide in high water. The big fish took me in mid river ran straight over to the wall cartwheeled twice screamed downriver with my reel drag heating up i stopped the fish in mid burst just then Marc came up from the lower beat to see the action and i asked him to film the fight on my small camera as i played out the fish. The fight was over in under five minutes as i gave little or no ground to the fish bullying it to swim in ever decreasing circles until i was ready to guide it past the obstacles into my small landing area where i removed the spinner and after being beaten up by the fish it was a very quick release. Having released big fish before it is always better to let the fish do what it wants to as trying to stop it will either hurt it or you as they are very powerful and with this fish being very green i just wanted the hooks out so that it could be on its way. I always bully fish in fast so that they are in great shape to swim away, sometimes i see anglers play out a fish within an inch of its life and then expect it to swim away and survive, if you want to release fish always bring it in fast as it doesn't get a build up of lactic acid and it will survive better than one that has been played to exhaustion as they will certainly die.