Salmon on the Eden

Our Spring Salmon Course on the renowned Warwick Hall beat of the Eden was a great success, with some excellent Spey casting and a couple of lovely fresh fish thrown in.

Jim taught the course with Eden-based instructor, and our great friend, Glyn Freeman. Some recent rain had put the river into perfect order and the team saw plenty of fish showing.

Hugh, Willie, Tina, Richard and Paul joined us for the course - and everyone made great progress.

Hugh sends a cast to the far bank

Paul Lalwan opened the account with his first UK salmon, a sea-liced springer over double figures (see earlier blog post). True to form, he went on to land another lovely fish on the second day, a little smaller at around 7lb.

Paul the fish magnet

Throughout the two days Jim and Glyn were delighted to see the casting progress made by the team.

Beautiful D-loop

And what a location for a course! The river was stunning and in excellent shape. The accommodation, food and service at Warwick Hall was superb.

Lunch at Warwick Hall

These courses are such great fun, and they are the perfect way to learn new skills or just to fish with a great party of friends. They are so successful, we're going to do more of them for both trout and salmon. And hopefully we'll get plenty more action shots like this:

Paul takes control of a salmon (or perhaps vice versa)

- Bob

On the Eden

Just squeezed in a great morning on the lower Eden in Cumbria, trying for a spring salmon with our good friend and fellow AAPGAI instructor Glyn Freeman. Glyn had kindly invited me up to fish one of his beats ahead of the AAPGAI assessment meeting in nearby Cockermouth this weekend.

Bob concentrating hard on a cracking lower Eden pool

We had a stunning spring day and the Eden, though a little low, was looking beautiful. This is one of my absolute favourite English rivers and made me look forward very much to our special one-day trout course on the Eden with Glyn in May.
I had a strong pull on a Spring Boyo fly - the Illtyd Griffiths pattern that Glyn has popularised through his success with it on this river - but after a brief roll on the surface, the fish was gone. Almost my first spring salmon of the year!
We fished through until the effects of the high tide pushed back the current and then, right on cue, a strong hatch of brook duns emerged, enticing some trout to feed on the surface. After a quick coffee, we switched to the trout rod and managed a few cracking wild trout on dry flies - a taste of what is to come on our course in May.
Glyn is also a brilliant H&B trip host, so the flying visit gave me the chance to talk through plans for some international trips we have in mind. Keep an eye on our hosted trips page for news of what Glyn is up to. And if you get the chance of a day on the Eden this year, I can strongly recommend it. And no one knows the river better than Glyn. Contact him at Cumbria Fly Fishing.
Now on to the serious business of assessing aspiring instructors and the AAPGAI meeting...

- Bob