Our 2014 Spring Salmon Course was, as ever,
a huge amount of fun even though we arrived to find the Eden at its lowest
level in months!
With Jim now engaged as a member of the
Guideline Pro Team, we had a great array of rods and lines to play with – and
we didn’t waste any time getting started.
We began the first morning working on Spey
casting. Our six participants split into three slightly more experienced salmon
fishers and three complete novices with the double hander.
Jim provided the more experienced trio of
Hugh Dalgety, Godfrey Holden and Iain Roxborough with a detailed explanation of
shooting head systems and they were soon throwing lines across the upper pools
of the Warwick Hall beats.
I started with the newbies – Peter Alpin,
Bill Fazackerley and Alex Ward – working on the Circle Spey cast. It wasn’t
long before all through were making rapid progress and making some nice,
efficient Spey casts.
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| Alex Ward's first ever salmon - caught right in front of Warwick Hall |
After such a good start, we refreshed
ourselves with lunch in the Warwick Hall dining room (still in waders thanks to
the very understanding proprietor Val Marriner). In the afternoon, Peter, Bill
and Alex attacked the lower beat, switching to the Double Spey cast.
The others continued on the upper beat at
Warwick Hall where the odd spring fish was showing. Godfrey had a lovely spring
salmon follow his Monkey fly right to the bank but it turned away at the last
moment.
Dinner at Warwick Hall is always an event
and, with a few aching muscles, we stayed up perhaps a little later than we
should swapping fishing stories in the drawing room.
On the second morning, Jim started with a
detailed presentation on tactical salmon fishing – this is essential knowledge
for modern salmon fishing and few people are better at it than Jim! He talked
through the ranges of modern tackle, including the pros and cons of shooting
head systems, and then moved on to angles of cast, speed of fishing the fly,
unconventional tactics, line management, fly choice and reading the water. Jim
gave us the benefit of years of experience distilled down into an
information-packed session.
Then I moved on to a Skagit casting demonstration to cover the full range of modern tackle choices, followed by a
Snake Roll demonstration – in which everyone was keen to join in and was
surprised at how quickly they could get this effortless-looking cast to work.
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| Bob demonstrating how to manage all that running line! |
Jim finished off the morning with a switch
rod session – and again everyone was amazed at how sweetly these small
double-hand rods cast. I’m sure there were a few converts!
With the sun shining, lunch was taken on
the spectacular Warwick Hall terrace overlooking the river. We could have
lingered for a long time, but there were new skills and new casts to put into
practice. Hugh, Iain and Godfrey worked carefully through Crow Wood and the
Coops Stream on the lower Warwick Hall beat – all casting beautifully but to no
avail with few fish about.
It was a different story on the top beat,
though, where Alex Ward locked into a powerful spring fish (just where we had
been demonstrating in the morning session!) and eventually landed a sparkling
springer of around 12lbs – his first salmon. Alex works at John Norris of
Penrith, a sponsor of our courses, so we’re pretty sure that tale will be told
a few times on the shop floor!
Thanks to Val Marriner at Warwick Hall for
her lovely hospitality and tolerance of waders and Guideline for the supplies
of all the latest kit.
If you’d like to join us next year for the
H&B/Guideline Spring Salmon Course at Warwick Hall, get in touch. Dates are
22 and 23 April 2015.
- Bob
