Monday 13 September 2010

Mixed Conditions on the River

Low and high water conditions over the past week or so have afforded some mixed opportunities on the river with the middle reaches and above seeing some very difficult conditions for Salmon fishing as Andrew Hall and party found out, with some areas not even giving us a glimpse of fish, whereas David Bowe (pictured left) who was with me on the lower river saw Salmon fishing from the other extreme with at least 30 seperate fish showing in the beat throughout the day and not one tempted by the fly. In fact on more than one occasion Salmon were jumping so close to him you could have almost touched them and some good fish too. Following some tuition, David was trying Salmon fishing for the first time and after a casting session in the morning he was putting out some nice lines but unfortunately in this case the Salmon did not appreciate good casting as those of you who indulge know very well.

with the water staying relatively low upstream this did help the trout fishing and although slow at times I had John Priest with me early and mid week and as well as a few small fish and loosing a good fish he did manage to hook play and land (very skilfully I might add) a cracking fish of around two and a half pounds, which he insisted on returning to the water "well done", but not before getting a quick snap as you can see.

Phil, Lewis and Craig were with me on Saturday, initially to do some Trout fishing but unfortunately although the river was in good order when they first arrived, not long after that it began to rise and continued to do so throughout the day, but they did have the opportunity to do some Salmon fly fishing albeit for a short period before the water became too coloured at which point we concentrated more on the casting techniques that would come in handy for both Trout and Salmon fishing when conditions improved and I have to admit they were good company too.

Yesterday I was with Andrew and Ian who came to do some Salmon fishing on the lower river. With the water still running high but falling and clearing very slowly, (which incidently was almost a carbon copy of their visit last year) Ian landed a very fresh fish of around 6lb and being a hen fish it was promptly returned to the water. In their last two visits they have managed to chalk up a result of two nil in their favour. The only difference this time is that it was Ian who caught the fish whereas last time it was Andrew who landed a nice specimen of around 14lb which incidentally was also a hen fish.