Saturday, March 11, 2006
Salmon 2005
When I think of my 2005 flyfishing season, bridges and fishing huts readily come to mind. 2005 was the year of the salmon for me.
Spanning across many of the salmon rivers in Sweden and the UK are wonderful bridges. There is the Tulbron bridge crossing the Atran in Falkenberg Sweden, a beautiful grey stoned arch bridge with its cobblestone deck carrying one lane of cars and foot traffic before the river meets the harbor. There are the famous bridges on the River Tweed in Scotland like Union Bridge, a strong wrought iron suspension bridge carrying the occasional car across its one lane from Horncliffe, England to Fishwick, Scotland. These bridges represent a bridging of my flyfishing experience from one one type of flyfishing to another type, from trout to salmon.
The fishing huts found along the length of these rivers at various intervals are points where fishers gather to rest, watch others and sometimes socialize with one another. Often made of wood, usually with a bench and sometimes a fire pit with a cord of wood behind the structure, they seem to call out, offering you the pleasure of sitting for a short while, forcing you to take some time, slow down and reflect.
After catching my first Altlantic salmon in 2004 on the River Atran in Falkenberg Sweden, I decided to focus 2005 on really learning about salmon fishing. I set two goals for the season. The first was to learn to cast a two handed rod well enough to keep up with the salmon fishers on the River Tweed, Scotland. The second was to catch 6 salmon in one season.
I attended a day-class on two handed casting from Mattias Drugge of Loop Flyfishing in 2004 on the banks of the River Saevaan near Gothenburg Sweden together with 15 or so locals. A cold April day it was, with the instruction in Swedish made even more difficult due to it being muffled by the brisk wind. Even so, by day's end I was able to gather enough information to make halfway decent casts across and down the river.
A bit more than a year later I was in the Atran for my first solo attempt at casting. A little concious about how well I could cast in front of other more experienced fishers, I found a relatively secluded part of the river and began casting from the left bank using a simple underhand, or single spey type cast, which is easier for a left handed caster moving down the left bank. By the end of the day I had gained skill and confidence enought to take on the right bank which required a double spey type cast. No fish, but I had fun casting and was on my way.
I spent the season mostly on the Atran and Orekile rivers in western Sweden which feed into the Kattegat and Skagerrak Straights running into the North Sea. I watched the weather, tracked the rise and fall of the rivers and read the internet catch reports over the season in attempt to enter the river at times when the fish were most ready. I learned about when to use certain colors of flies depending on the river color, sky color and water flow. I learned how to fish effectively down and across to get the fly to swing broadside to a fish at the right speed. I thought about how to cast in order to place my line relative to the current speed and length of the cast. I thought about the water column and how well the fly was covering it. I became mezmerized when casting, feeling the relaxation that comes from repetition and good execution, and at times contiunued to cast just because the rythm of the cast was present even though I had already covered the water well. All of this helped me become a better caster, not only with the 2 handed rod, but with a single handed rod as well.
Well, lets say 2005 it was a year of learning more than catching. I did catch a fresh grisle with sea lice and seal marks on him out of the River Tweed's Tweedhill beat, as well as a sea trout on the Boleside beat, in September. Alas, I did catch a good size salmon early one morning on the Orekile, as well, in September. This one was with a single handed rod in a confined area using adapted spey casting techniques I had practiced all summer. Had I not learned to cast the two handed rod I never would have reached the fish.
So although I did not hit the 6 fish goal, I did learn alot and met my goal of being able to cast well enough to match those on the River Tweed. More importantly, I have started a journey that crosses into another dimension of flyfishing.
Spanning across many of the salmon rivers in Sweden and the UK are wonderful bridges. There is the Tulbron bridge crossing the Atran in Falkenberg Sweden, a beautiful grey stoned arch bridge with its cobblestone deck carrying one lane of cars and foot traffic before the river meets the harbor. There are the famous bridges on the River Tweed in Scotland like Union Bridge, a strong wrought iron suspension bridge carrying the occasional car across its one lane from Horncliffe, England to Fishwick, Scotland. These bridges represent a bridging of my flyfishing experience from one one type of flyfishing to another type, from trout to salmon.
The fishing huts found along the length of these rivers at various intervals are points where fishers gather to rest, watch others and sometimes socialize with one another. Often made of wood, usually with a bench and sometimes a fire pit with a cord of wood behind the structure, they seem to call out, offering you the pleasure of sitting for a short while, forcing you to take some time, slow down and reflect.
After catching my first Altlantic salmon in 2004 on the River Atran in Falkenberg Sweden, I decided to focus 2005 on really learning about salmon fishing. I set two goals for the season. The first was to learn to cast a two handed rod well enough to keep up with the salmon fishers on the River Tweed, Scotland. The second was to catch 6 salmon in one season.
I attended a day-class on two handed casting from Mattias Drugge of Loop Flyfishing in 2004 on the banks of the River Saevaan near Gothenburg Sweden together with 15 or so locals. A cold April day it was, with the instruction in Swedish made even more difficult due to it being muffled by the brisk wind. Even so, by day's end I was able to gather enough information to make halfway decent casts across and down the river.
A bit more than a year later I was in the Atran for my first solo attempt at casting. A little concious about how well I could cast in front of other more experienced fishers, I found a relatively secluded part of the river and began casting from the left bank using a simple underhand, or single spey type cast, which is easier for a left handed caster moving down the left bank. By the end of the day I had gained skill and confidence enought to take on the right bank which required a double spey type cast. No fish, but I had fun casting and was on my way.
I spent the season mostly on the Atran and Orekile rivers in western Sweden which feed into the Kattegat and Skagerrak Straights running into the North Sea. I watched the weather, tracked the rise and fall of the rivers and read the internet catch reports over the season in attempt to enter the river at times when the fish were most ready. I learned about when to use certain colors of flies depending on the river color, sky color and water flow. I learned how to fish effectively down and across to get the fly to swing broadside to a fish at the right speed. I thought about how to cast in order to place my line relative to the current speed and length of the cast. I thought about the water column and how well the fly was covering it. I became mezmerized when casting, feeling the relaxation that comes from repetition and good execution, and at times contiunued to cast just because the rythm of the cast was present even though I had already covered the water well. All of this helped me become a better caster, not only with the 2 handed rod, but with a single handed rod as well.
Well, lets say 2005 it was a year of learning more than catching. I did catch a fresh grisle with sea lice and seal marks on him out of the River Tweed's Tweedhill beat, as well as a sea trout on the Boleside beat, in September. Alas, I did catch a good size salmon early one morning on the Orekile, as well, in September. This one was with a single handed rod in a confined area using adapted spey casting techniques I had practiced all summer. Had I not learned to cast the two handed rod I never would have reached the fish.
So although I did not hit the 6 fish goal, I did learn alot and met my goal of being able to cast well enough to match those on the River Tweed. More importantly, I have started a journey that crosses into another dimension of flyfishing.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Sweden, Orekil River Sept 11, 2005
(an email I wrote my dad)
Dad,
I finally landed a decent sized fish this morning at about 0730, which was w/in five minutes of when I started fishing. He was not a monster but weighed about 8.5 lbs and was almost 30 inches long. I caught him on a small black and silver single hook called a Stoat's Tail, not the big double/treble orange shrimp patterns everyone else uses. The fish was a male with a slightly hooked jaw and had some color on him so he had been in the river a while. He pulled hard, especially on my single handed rod, in the swift run but did not jump at all, which is typical of fish who are not fresh run. A little tricky landing him since the bank was full of trees hanging out into the water. It was a nice sunny morning with the river still in shade with mist coming off as the sun touched the tops of the hillsides. I was fishing this stretch of the river for the first time and liked it because it required some hiking to get back and down into it. I did not see any fish jump all day.
This should do it for my season this year as I doubt I will go out before the closing day at the end of the month. I did not meet my goal of 6 fish, but had only three. However, I did meet my
goal of being able to cast well enough with a spey rod to keep up with those on the River Tweed. As well, I feel I added another diminsion to my river fishing and casting techniques.
The link to the catch report is below - not big enough for a picture
though. If the link doesn't work, just remove the part after ".com" and click on the "fangster" button on the web page. The other two fish were caught on a spinner in a section that was reserved for only three fishers today. In my section, there were 17 fishers total.
http://www.orekil.com/fangster/def.htm
DAL
Dad,
I finally landed a decent sized fish this morning at about 0730, which was w/in five minutes of when I started fishing. He was not a monster but weighed about 8.5 lbs and was almost 30 inches long. I caught him on a small black and silver single hook called a Stoat's Tail, not the big double/treble orange shrimp patterns everyone else uses. The fish was a male with a slightly hooked jaw and had some color on him so he had been in the river a while. He pulled hard, especially on my single handed rod, in the swift run but did not jump at all, which is typical of fish who are not fresh run. A little tricky landing him since the bank was full of trees hanging out into the water. It was a nice sunny morning with the river still in shade with mist coming off as the sun touched the tops of the hillsides. I was fishing this stretch of the river for the first time and liked it because it required some hiking to get back and down into it. I did not see any fish jump all day.
This should do it for my season this year as I doubt I will go out before the closing day at the end of the month. I did not meet my goal of 6 fish, but had only three. However, I did meet my
goal of being able to cast well enough with a spey rod to keep up with those on the River Tweed. As well, I feel I added another diminsion to my river fishing and casting techniques.
The link to the catch report is below - not big enough for a picture
though. If the link doesn't work, just remove the part after ".com" and click on the "fangster" button on the web page. The other two fish were caught on a spinner in a section that was reserved for only three fishers today. In my section, there were 17 fishers total.
http://www.orekil.com/fangster
DAL
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)