Adele and Donovan arrived in Scotland from England to achieve their ultimate goal of catching an Atlantic Salmon.
The week previous had been hard fishing due to limited water in the Rivers around Inverness, however, four days prior to their arrival we had rain and this allowed the rivers to rise thus allowing the Atlantic Salmon to make way up the Rivers to their spawning grounds.
I had a look at the River levels and luckily for us the river Findhorn had a good supply of water and was dropping again, we decided to look at several pools in the morning and watched the water for any sign of moving fish. The first pool we had checked showed no activity at all and had dropped in water level while we were there by a couple of inches.
We made our way further down the beat to the next pool and it was very active as we spotted three Salmon in the first few minutes of being there. We then decided to set up our Loop rods (14ft #9 Evotec Medium to Fast action) with floating lines and tied on two size 12 cascade flies tied by Sandy Howie. All our Salmon flies are hand-tied by professional fly tyers giving us a better presentation in the water.
I set Donovan up with his rod and he started to fish the tail of the pool as the flow of water looked good and we had seen one or two fish moving in the flow, Adele moved approx 40ft to his left and she started to cast over to and above a rock that we had seen fish sitting behind.
It didn’t take long for Adele as she hooked into her first Atlantic Salmon on the fly. A beautiful take and she lifted the rod asking what do I do next, I got her to keep the rod up and wind in the slackline keeping a firm line on the fish. The salmon took line and headed upriver towards Donovan, Adele could not believe the power of the Salmon as she stated that she was struggling holding onto the rod. Once she got to grips with allowing the rod and reel to do the work she finally started to bring the fish closer to the bank. The Atlantic Salmon decided to turn and go down the river so with Adele now on the bank we followed the fish and slowly gained ground. Now with Adele firmly in control, I walked below the Salmon and tailed it. The Hook was taken out and the fish stayed in the water, Donovan helped Adele secure the Salmon rod and she came down to inspect her catch, lovely colored Cock Salmon. A quick photo was taken and we returned the fish into the water.
Next cast another Cock fish and Adele this time found it easier as she knew what to expect, again another quick picture and released.
Donovan had stood fast throughout the morning and perseverance had paid off as he hooked into an Atlantic Salmon within the next twenty minutes. Donovan a more experienced fisher but new to the fly had the Salmon on the bank in a few minutes.
A great day had by all and a day that I will never forget as not just to catch one but three Atlantic Salmon in one day for my Guests was a remarkable achievement.
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