I've never really been a salmon fisherman; it's always seemed too remote, too exclusive, too monied and too difficult. I never really thought I'd have the patience, or I suppose, optimism to try and catch the king of fish. The apparent ease and accessibility and no small pleasure of fly fishing for trout has always seemed more my kind of thing. That was until recently. My interest had been piqued I suppose by visiting the River Camel for trout fishing when I worked for the Environment Agency. No salmon were seen or caught or even fished for, but the fining water looked so good and the recent returns showed the salmon fishing had been good too.
So it is that I come to find myself arriving on the sunny banks of the lower reaches of that classic salmon river of by gone eras- the Hampshire Avon. It was only recently that I found out that the word Avon means river. There are many avons but to my mind and those of many a fisher the Hampshire Avon is the most famous Avon. Anyway, this Avon was looking in fine fettle as it was carrying a bit of extra water and height after some recent light rains. Together with the recent spring tides this made conditions look promising.
Optimism bolstered by forum reports of catches upstream at Somerley and downstream at The Royalty, I had kitted myself out with some heavy brass and copper tubes in all the classic patterns such as Willie Gunn together with some new kids on the block like the fashionable Cascade and Pot Bellied Pig. The order of the day was to fish as slow and low as possible so I had attached a heavy poly leader to the end of my fast stinking line. I just about managed to cast (or more like lob and duck) this with my 10" reservoir rod and I think the fly was fishing fairly slow and low judging by the occasional bump and snag- better this way than skating way over any resting fish so I had been told.
I worked the marked pools avidly yet such is the way of things that without a sight of a fish one's optimism and therefore chances of a fish began to wane as morning turned to afternoon. I think I fished competently but being a newcomer to this style of fishing I could never really be sure. Most advice I had read suggested that early season fish like the fly very slow and right on their noses as they tend to be unwilling to move far to investigate. To top this off Avon salmon are reckoned to be fairly rare beasts with very few fish if any coming from the Avon Tyrell waters each season. Judging by the occasional catches still made above and below Avon Tyrell this may be as much to do with very low rod pressure as low stocks.
Later in the afternoon I bumped in to a chap who turned out to be the keeper. He was a bit surprised to see me and after a brief misunderstanding we agreed that I was a guest of the house rod. A nice chat didn't exactly leave me feeling like I was about to catch as he reported that he had seen very few brown trout, sea trout or salmon during his time on the Estate. I didn't ask him how long he had worked here for but felt a little reassured that he thought it worth himself having an afternoon after salmon as he trudged towards the top of the beat.
No fish, but I had a good day. I wouldn't say I have yet caught the salmon bug but I'm keen to catch one. As nice as it would be to catch Salmo Salar on the fly I shall be back to the banks of the Avon tossing a no4 Mepps after May 16th.
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