Wye Springers

What a spectacular start to our salmon fishing season. I still can't quite believe it.

Kate and I were delighted to spend Maundy Thursday and Good Friday as the guest of our friend, AAPGAI master instructor and salmon fishing veteran Bryan James on his home water, the renowned Bigsweir beat of the river Wye on the English/Welsh borders. We knew we were in for a treat - just spending time with such an accomplished angler on his home water is always an incredible learning experience. But we had no idea what was in store.

My best UK salmon. I'm still shaking

The Wye has had a surprising start to the season with 40 fish taken in March, a number almost unheard of these days. But with a sudden end to the warm weather, snow the day before, low water conditions and air temperatures lower than the water temperature, fishing conditions promised to be tough. Bryan was so eager to for us to get hold of one of the spring fish of which he is so proud - but frankly we were happy just to to enjoy the water in the company of such a gentlemen, while mining him for as much local knowledge as possible, of course.

Kate's speycasting has improved greatly since last year's trip to Iceland and under Bryan's watchful eye she was soon throwing a lovely line. Funny how she doesn't argue when he's teaching her! We were also surprised to be joined by another Welsh AAPGAI veteran at lunch, Dave Thomas and his wife Claire - great Welsh hospitality and we were really touched they made the journey out to see us.

Kate throws a nice D-loop on Wyeseal beat

Towards the end of a pretty chilly day, I persuaded Kate and Bryan into a final cast on Rocks beat. "Where do you want to fish?" asked Bryan. "Where's the best bit?" I responded. He pointed to a very narrow strip between two rocks. You know where this is going. At just the point he indicated, I had a surging take and a great tussle ended with a stunning hen fish, complete with long-tailed sea lice, straight off the tide. Bryan was convinced it was 20lb, but even if it was a shade under it didn't matter. To experience such a pristine, powerful Wye springer is one of fly fishing's great moments. Now I know what the fuss is about.

Wye hen springer. No wonder I look stunned!

Really, the second day couldn't be better. Or so we thought. Again, it was really all down to Bryan. On the very first pool, he pointed out a particular lie. I worked my fly out towards it gradually and after a few casts covering the water, Bryan called to me: "You're just covering the rock now." Literally as soon as the words were out of his mouth, the rod was almost jerked from my hand. Standing on the high bank, Kate and Bryan saw the fish swirl - they knew how big it was. I was just hanging on.

I got lucky. The fish towed the line around a rock and thrashed at the surface twice. I tried to clear as much buried line as I could, fearing the worst, but amazingly I felt the line ping off the rock and then lift clear of the surface and I was tight to the fish again. Sometimes you need a bit of luck. Then it was off downstream: the shooting head was gone, all the running line was gone, and plenty of the fluorescent green backing was gone too. "If it goes another ten yards, you've lost it," said Bryan. But it turned. No way to follow, so under very gentle pressure (and with constant advice from the guru) I coaxed it back upstream and eventually Bryan was in the water to tail the most magnificent cock fish for me.

Expert handling: Bryan's pretty sprightly when there's a fish to be landed

These Wye fish are all hard muscle and heavy, so Bryan put it at 25lb. At 39 inches from nose to fork, it was surely over 23lb. But those are just numbers. Simply the most incredible UK salmon I've landed. The only person as happy as me was Bryan. He's proved what his river is capable of.

Back he goes

What also was obvious was Bryan's care for the fish. Only out of the water for the quickest photo and then nursed back in the current until ready to kick out of my hands and power back into the stream. These fish are precious and Bryan's absolute priority is to get them back quickly to fulfil their destiny and keep the genes of these big fish in the river.

Thanks Bryan. But, er, Kate wants one now...!

- Bob