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| Trout & Salmon Magazine |
As expected, April did eventually warm up, but it certainly took its time! The trout are only just now beginning to show a proper interest in our offerings, but fly hatches are not exceptional apart from some steady hatches of Grannom from time to time.
April kicked off with a very enjoyable rod test for the Trout & Salmon Magazine which can be viewed in the May edition of the publication. The test consisted of a variety of 13' to 13' 6" rods for a range of applications. Some really nice rods in the mix which we put through their paces with a good selection of fly lines.
In between tuition sessions we travelled up to the river Tay on our annual pilgrimage to represent AAPGAI (Association of Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors) as part of the joint AAPGAI / SANA (Scottish Anglers National Association) assessment team. The aim was to assess potential SANA candidates taking their SGAIC (Scottish Game Angling Instructors Certificate) qualification. A great weekend was had by all (with good weather for a change) with a 50% success rate as 6 out of 12 candidates successfully gained their certificates. Well done to them!
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| One of several fresh lower Eden fish |
Back home on the Eden, it was good to see a few spring salmon being caught, with the majority of fish being double figure fish too, just like the one in the picture on the left courtesy of David Pinner who fishes the tidal beat I lease on the lower Eden, and whilst the river is now low once more these tidal reaches are still doing well given that these very fresh fish are now having to wait around for fresh water before continuing their journey upstream.
Another good sign yesterday was the amount of silver smolts dropping down the river in an attempt to make it back to sea, and only yesterday I had to stop fishing as I was catching too many of these valuable fish on their important journey, and I must say, they were good quality smolts too, with the majority being in the 7" to 8" range. Lets hope they manage to avoid the multitude of fish eating birds we are now seeing on our rivers and that their journey is a successful one!
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| David's well chewed fly |
Plenty of fishing days booked in for May, so fingers crossed that what is often a very fruitful month lives up to our expectations. May is probably my favourite Month of all, especially after a very fickle April as things start to come to life on the river and hatches improve encouraging the trout to be a little more accommodating. A lift of water wouldn't go a miss either to encourage some of those lower river salmon to populate some of the upper reaches. Watch this space!
