The 2014 Spring Salmon Course

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.

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.

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

Back on the Rio Grande - more big sea trout than ever!

First report just in from Jim and the team down in TDF. Amazing number of big fish being caught in low water conditions. Stop Press: final total for first week 147 sea trout with 13 fish over 20lb! 

What a brace of fish!

Here's Jim's report: 

We arrived to find the river lower than I've ever seen it. But the quality of the fish and the fishing is as amazing as ever. Very few rivers in the world where having not had rain for this length of time could you get fishing of this quality. 

Tactics have been more varied than ever. Villa Maria guides Ale, Jason and Gaston have been ringing the changes. One minute the guys are pulling small sunrays on a floater then next plumbing the depths with Skagits and 550 grain heads with T10/T14 tips.

That's what you fly half way around the world for!

Evening time is always special when the wild things start to move around the pools. Fresh fish are continuing to run the system of every size. The strength of even the smaller 5-6lb class is amazing. The fish in the mid teens are throwing themselves around the pools. Bright silver and solid muscle. 

We have landed 13 fish over 20 pounds. The biggest a brace of 24 lb to Nick Moody. In fact, Nick has the most fish so far and a very high average weight including fish of 20lb, 21lb, 23lb, 24lb and another 24lb. His fishing partner David Eccleston is also catching well and yesterday landed a cracking 22lb fish. 

Ailsa and Ian have just come back to the lunch lodge after a great morning session. Hooking 14 and landing seven with constant action. It seems another run is coming through. 

Richard and Watty are also catching well, although Richard's luck with the 20lbers is still to change. He hooked a huge fish in Freds yesterday which came off after a hard scrap.

Where else in the world can you do this?

Really proud the way the team have adapted to the changing conditions and it seems that even when a pair has had had a tough session one of the other pairings will come back with stories of battles with huge fish!

This is one special place. 

Midfjardara, Iceland, August 2013 - The Trip Report

By Jim Curry

After last season’s low water and testing conditions, everyone had their fingers crossed for the Iceland 2013 season. But salmon fishing comes in cycles and we shouldn’t have worried. The whole of Iceland fished well this summer and the Midfjardara system amazed even those who know it well.

Salmon had arrived in good numbers from even before the start of the season, so we knew the pools would be full of fish. The water was a perfect height when we arrived and it was clear that good numbers of fish were spread throughout the three rivers that make up Midfjaradara system.  Water temperature and air temperature were ideal for salmon fishing and the nerves were starting to tingle.

Nick Moody, now a veteran of the Midfjardara, hit the ground running and finished the week as top rod with 41 fish including one at 25lb and one at 27lb. These are stunning fish for Iceland and a mark of the range of fish sizes Midfjardara produces. They were also great fun on his trusty St Croix six weight single-hander! It was great to have Nick back again with us - always great company in the lodge and a weapon on the river.

Nick Moody lands another on his way to 41 salmon landed

For the first couple of days this year, our group consisted mainly of a team of UK vets headed up by David Babington. In spite of a lack of experience, David and the boys in the group really found their feet on the second day and everyone caught fish! Both of David’s sons caught their first Atlantic salmon – great pictures for the family album!

Special mention also has to go to Bernard Lambilliotte and his son Gabriel who joined us for three days as first time fishers. It was wonderful to see a father and son team that get on so well sharing time together on the river bank. It reminded me of fishing with my father when I was 14! Both Bernard and Gabriel hooked salmon in the first pool we fished. Gabriel returned to the lodge with his first ever fish and true to Icelandic tradition had to bite off the adipose fin. He won’t forget that in while.

Well done, Gabriel, you really looked like a fisherman after three days and we were all impressed by the way you were belting a line out on the windy bottom beat on the final morning.    

A lovely fish for David Babington

We had something a team rotation for the back end of the week, as some saw new rods and some familiar faces joined us and hit the water with the river still in perfect order. Mike Cooney scored well on his first Icelandic adventure with a creditable 17 fish in four days. His fishing partner Paul Lalwan, back at Midfjardara for the second year running, was again on form. And yet again Paul managed to find the big fish, as it seems only he can, anywhere on the planet.

Peter Miles notched up an impressive 27 salmon in four days on both single- and double-handed rods. It was a great effort from Peter for his first Icelandic fishing experience – really thinking through the pools and seeking to fish each one to its maximum potential. Hugh Dalgety, an experienced angler who joined us for our Eden course this year, also came out for three days on his first H&B overseas trip. He put his experience into play from the off and caught consistently.

But probably star of the show was Anne Chaffers, who, in her own words, came to enjoy her “last salmon fishing trip abroad”. Fishing with Rabbi as her guide, she landed twelve fish, including five in one session. Fishing at her own pace - just a couple of hours in the morning and the same in the afternoon - she was a delight to have in the group and an inspiration to us all.

Ann Chaffers battles a large salmon as  Rabbi offer encouragement

As usual on Midfjardara, single-handed rods were the normal weapons of choice. However, due to the extra water this year, switch rods and light double handers also were a worthy addition to the armoury and came into their own on some beats. But even with more water, small, Icelandic-style flies were still all that was needed. Floating lines coupled with small Sunray Shadows, tiny doubles and the occasional heavy but small Frances tube fly did most of the damage. 

As ever Hakan, the chef did us proud with his culinary skills, simply the best food you’re likely to find in a fishing lodge, and which would grace the finest restaurants (where, in fact, he works the rest of the year). Rabbi’s team of world-class guides were a pleasure to watch at work. Their ability to match the skills of their clients to the huge variety of water on each beat meant that the rods kept bending on every session. The guide team is another of the factors that really sets this river apart.

Nick ponders the trek down into the staggering Midfjardara canyon

 And the prospects for next year? Well, a scientific study just conducted on the river has revealed a huge number of big, healthy smolts returning to sea. That’s fantastic news for the future of this incredible river system. 

All in all, this was one of the most hectic week’s salmon fishing I can remember! A whole bunch of new friends made, a wonderful variety of characters, some great father and son bonding moments, first salmon, so many memorable fish caught, hooked and lost and, as ever on these trips, a lot of laughs.

 I’ll look forward to next year with great anticipation – and I know I’m not the only one!

Rabbi shows what Midfjardara can produce

Ueli's report on the Scottish Salmon Course

Ueli Zellweger kindly took the trouble to send us his report on our recent three-day salmon course on the river Tay. Here it is, in his words:

"The invitation for the River Tay Spey Casting Course May 2013 came out of the blue and rather under short notice. Having fished for salmon quite a bit over the last few years, I would not say that I am a beginner but the most enjoyable 3 days on this perfect fly water of Kinnaird House (Lower Kinnaird Beat) certainly improved the full pleasure and enjoyment of my salmon fishing a lot. 

"The 3 AAPGAI instructors - Illtyd, Glyn and Bob - had a look from close for each of us in turns giving tips, advice and correcting bad habits in most useful and easy understandable way. Of course all of the 8 participants failed and struggled a lot but after a while we picked up what was meant and got the real feeling when the line went out much farther than ever before with a fine tune “sschhhh”– all this without the former huge body efforts but with elegance and fine timing of the perfect rhythm. 

"Looking at some of the photos which were taken I do find it hard to believe the perfect D loops I had in the air with the latest Scott McKenzie 15ft #10 rod lent to me by Glyn for free. It did not come as too big a surprise that with this casting I managed to hook and land two beautiful lively spring salmon (both sea-liced and this some 35 miles above the estuary).

That D-Loop

"A huge THANK YOU to all 3 AAPGAI instructors  Illtyd Griffiths, Glyn Freeman and Bob Sherwood."

Thanks for the report, Ueli. We'll look forward to seeing you next year...

- Bob


 

Spring Salmon Course on the Tay

We were back on Scotland's majestic river Tay for our third annual Scottish spring salmon course at Lower Kinnaird. With arguably the best fly water on the river, excellent and friendly head ghillie Martin Edgar, and fresh spring fish pushing into the beat, these few days are always one of the highlights of our early season salmon fishing.

Nora sends a tight loop over the Junction pool

The first day was spent concentrating on casting for most of the team. With an upstream wind, the circle spey cast was first on the agenda. One of the great things about these courses is seeing friendly faces return year after year, and to watch the progress they make. Back again this year were Frank and his daughter Stephanie, along with our old friend Karl Kliem and his daughter Stephanie, who flew in from Germany for the course.

Frank bends into a long cast on Mike's Run

Master instructors Illtyd Griffiths and Glyn Freeman run this course with me and we were all delighted to see the progress these guys have made. The difference is unbelievable and they were all casting beautiful lines with double speys and circle speys off both banks and with both left and right hand uppermost. The Tay is a big river and they covered the water beautifully.

Stephanie in great water on the Junction

After the slightly high water we had experienced in previous years, the Tay was dropping nicely to 1'3" on the gauge at Lower Kinnaird, pretty much perfect water height for this beat. However, temperatures were still a little cool for the time of year and the easterly wind on the first day didn't help the fishing.

Ueli sets up a dynamic D-loop

No matter, because by the second day the wind had shifted right round and was now coming downstream from the west. Everyone was casting well now, and the wind change was perfect for fine tuning the double spey casts.

Mark covered the water excellently every day

By early afternoon, we were seeing fresh salmon show in the Ash Trees pool and expectations rose sharply. Illtyd was certain the team would get a fish and took Ueli Zellweger and Karl into the Ash Trees with the firm instructions to keep casting until they got us a fish! In fact, it didn't take long for Ueli, who was now casting a long line with ease after just a few tweaks, to latch into a stunning 15lb+ springer. Complete with long-tailed sea lice, this hen fish had clearly come straight off the tide.

Ueli with his first sea-liced springer caught in the UK

This was just the quality of fish we come to the Tay for. You may not catch lots of fish, but when you get one it is pure muscle, bright silver and almost certainly into double figures. The pull of these fish is so strong that almost everyone wanted to keep fishing after our bankside dinner in the spacious fishing hut. So we kept going until the light began to fade around 9pm!

Jeremy searches the water

Our other team members were all fishing well, with great determination. Mark Riley was fresh from his triumph on the Rio Grande in Argentina, where he caught the biggest sea trout of the season at 26 1/2 lbs. He may have used up all his luck, though, because even his casting was not enough to tempt a fish this time. Jeremy Grace, keen to tune up before his regular Tweed visits later this season, was also casting a beautiful line and moved on to the single spey, which he was handling with accuracy and delicacy.

Simon covering the full width of the Junction pool

Delicacy is not Simon Frobisher's forte, however! Always entertaining, Simon made a grand entrance by jumping from his car so eagerly at the start of the course, that it began to roll away unhindered by a handbrake. His spey casting made great strides in these few days, as he concentrated on timing rather than power. The difference was a revelation. 

Karl's deserved reward - about 14lbs from the Ash Trees

 On the third day, with excellent conditions and even more fish showing in the beat, the Tay had plenty more excitement for us. Karl, fishing from the left bank at the Ash Trees hooked a strong springer that took him right down to the head of the New Pool below, almost running out his backing and taking him through a few gorse bushes on the way. A fast dash from Martin ended in the Tweed-clad ghillie wading far out into the river to net a fish that Karl had thoroughly deserved. A change of Kinnaird Tweed suit was deemed a small price to pay for such a stunning salmon.

And then, later that afternoon, we all watched as Ueli took his second fish, this time around 11lbs, from lower down the Ash Trees - a very lively hen that gave normally-unruffled instructor Glyn Freeman quite a tussle as he tailed it.

The obligatory team photo

 And there was still drama to come. Simon, wading deep and determined to cover the lies, hooked a very heavy fish that just stayed deep, pulsing the rod tip. For some minutes the big fish just stayed deep, trying to rub the leader on rocks. Before we could even see the fish, the polyleader suddenly snapped, presumably damaged on the rocks during the fight. Well, it;s the ones that get away that keep us coming back to fish for these heart-stopping spring fish.

Illtyd, Glyn and I will be back at Lower Kinnaird for two three-day courses next May. Get in touch if you'd like to join us.

- Bob