It’s been a bit hectic for me recently.
Less time for angling but the salmon season has snuck over the horizon, serenaded into action on the Tay by Donnie Maclean and opening on the Dee and the Tweed this weekend.
An early season Scottish salmon is something every angler would like on their species list and if you’re out there to catch, there’s a fair chance you’ll be there with a Yellow Belly Devon or a Toby Salmon.
If you are on the fly though, there’s a few things you can do to give you the best chance this spring.
Fly density and colour: Get your fly in front of the fish and hopefully the takes will come. Think about how your fly will sink and behave. Heavier tube flies made of brass with coneheads are often the ones to reach for in your early season box. Mimicking the spinfisher’s lures is a good starting point. These large colourful contrasting patterns in orange, yellow and black will show up well in dirtier spring water.
Try these patterns in various weights – Cascades, Gold Body Wullie Gunn, Snaelda, Francis and it’s always worth having Flamethrower on your line.
Get down there: Spring salmon like to rest up rather than travel rapidly in the cold spring water temperatures, so it pays to concentrate your efforts in deeper resting areas such as pool bodies and tail-outs. Deep and slow is often the key – some anglers like a streamside thermometer and change tactics as water temperature changes.
Try a shootinghead: Spring salmon used to consist of heavy duty 15ft 12-weight rods, full double taper sinking lines and a lot of effort. Setting up a modern, shorter double hander teamed with shootingheads and heavy sinking tips or polyleaders will let you make lots of long casts with much less effort.
Check your tippet materials: A quick inspection of your spools and gear to make sure they’re all in good nick is much better than losing a dream fish to a dodgy leader. You can afford to step up to 20lb fluorocarbon without spooking them.
The extra breaking strain will let you play Kelts quickly and get them in and released without fuss.
There's been plenty of rain recently: The riversshould be up but fishable and as they start to drop, there will be fish running.
So keep a close eye on the weather forecast, check Fishpal social media and have a look at the beat records to find your best bet this spring.
Lots of ghillies and angling associations have regular reports and they're a mine of knowledge to help you catch.
- Ian Gordon's Speycaster blog is definitely words a read to get you in the mood for a salmon this season.
