Slow Finish to the Salmon Season on the Eden

Heading for the bank in coloured water

With salmon in attendance throughout the system, and a few being tempted to the fly in the final throws of the season, the pools in general have been relatively quiet for this time of year, especially as October is generally our prime time for salmon fishing on the Eden, and a time that we should have been seeing our biggest concentration of fish in the river so far. Also, the few fish that were showing themselves were of the coloured variety i.e. predominantly resident fish.

I am not entirely sure why this is, but there have been several suggestions, one of which refers to the heavy flooding we had four years ago which may have impacted on the Redd's and therefore we are now seeing the knock on effect from that event. However electrofishing projects following these events have shown positive results and therefore refutes this theory somewhat. My personal feeling is that the inordinately higher temperatures we have been experiencing (and still are) for this time of year is effecting the migratory instincts of these magnificent fish. After all they are not equipped with the Gregorian calenders that we are privy to, nor could they read them even if they were. They are simply driven by temperature and pressure changes that occur around the time that they should be arriving. This does happen from time to time and we then get a cyclical event which we have all experienced before over the years. It is as if this season has been totally turned on it's head, with a very cold start and a very warm finish, and we did see an upturn in the spring fishing this year too. "Who really knows with Salmon", but this is my theory anyway. Hopefully when temperatures begin to fall we will then see an influx of fish into the system and with no further pressure on them, due to the season being over, a good spawning outcome. Let's hope so!

One of several Sea Trout in June/July

On a brighter note though, the brown trout season has been phenomenal yet again and even during the spells of low water and warm conditions we had some good sport (when adopting the right techniques) and for those die hard's (including myself) who ventured out at night from mid June to mid July there was some very good sea trout fishing to be had, which also produced some hefty browns from time to time.

However, we are now turning our thoughts to the Grayling fishing, with a few nice fish beginning to show an interest in our offerings throughout the day and with temperatures remaining relatively mild for this time of year spider patterns are still working from time to time, but weighted bugs will often tempt a big fellow from his deep dub and when temperatures eventually do begin to fall rapidly (and they will) we should turn more to this type of approach.

One of the Demo's in Wales

I have spent the last few days down in Wales with many other like minded anglers whilst enjoying yet another of our biannual assessment events where this time 10 successful candidates (just over 50% success rate) either gained a further qualification or became AAPGAI instructors for the first time. This coupled with a great open day event where those wishing to know more about our association could come along and watch the demo's, as well as take part in the tailor made tuition sessions, made for another very enjoyable experience.

Back home now though, and as mentioned above my focus will now be on the Grayling fishing, a fantastic fish that has the added bonus of extending the game anglers fly fishing season, what's not to like about that. I will keep you all posted!