Friday 24 May 2019

“I never knew salmon fishing could be like this”

One of the great privileges of working up here is getting to know clients really well as they come back time after time but perhaps the highlight is seeing the pleasure new rods get out of it.  With Youtube, blogs, chat rooms etc it is easy to find information about how a trip “might” be but until you are here, it is impossible to get a true sense of the place.

Stewart H with one from Moscoi
We have got a really fun group here at Lower;  4 of whom have seen it all before and 4 for whom it is the first time.  That blend of satisfaction that the river is fishing well combined with the sheer awe of the people who are seeing it for the first time makes for a heady mix.

Dom F - it may be his first time here but this is one of 16 he had yesterday
It was another very productive day across all three of our camps.  Here at Lower it was the old hands of Sean McG and Stewart H who led the way with 31 (27 of those in guided hours) and 18 respectively but having landed 16, Dom F has got the hang of the river pretty quickly.  A total of 86 for the day was enough to keep everyone warm on what was another bitterly cold day.

Tony B with a nice one from Middle
The 11 rods at Middle landed 105 fish yesterday with Craig C having a cracking time in Generator landing 16 out of a total of 22 for his day.  Jack has decided to put Generator into the rotation as Simmons is not producing quite as we would expect and so it makes sense to fish where the fish are.

Glyn D on Larder
With running fish it is all about finding them and making the most of when they are there.   Steven O is making the most of his first time on the river landing 11 as did John R who has been here many times.

Paul P with a still from his Go-Pro
Kitza had another excellent day with the 9 rods finishing with 68 fish.  Hamish reported that all of the rods were landing fish and that they had lost almost twice as many as they had put in the book.  They are still fishing high water with withies all around them and it is very easy to snag fish on those as you bring them in to land them.

Stewart with another perfectly formed fish
Perhaps the only downside to what has been a great week has been the fact that we have not managed to have a picnic on the river with everyone.  It has been seriously cold and we have got everyone back to the lodge for lunch each day.  The water temperature is now 7 degrees whilst the air this morning is 4 degrees.  That has not stopped the river dropping though and each day new parts of the beats are coming into action and it is looking spot on.

Lower this morning - it has dropped quite a lot compared to the picture on 13 May...
No blog tomorrow and I will look forward to welcoming the new teams into all of our 4 camps whilst rounding up everything on Sunday.

Charlie White