 Atlantic Salmon: Solitude, On The Rocks, Mixed With Friendships
Posted by marshalld on Thursday, December 21 @ 07:50:40 PST
I think I would not choose to fly fish for Atlantic Salmon totally alone. The sport has so much more to offer when you share a trip with a couple of friends. The good talk and jokes on the streamside bench with maybe a snack. I don't want to wander far, because someone may
hook a fish and I like to photograph and perhaps aid in the landing process.
Fishing for Atlantic Salmon requires you to be repetitive almost ad nausium. You have to cover water. The fish aren't very leader shy, and you'll mostly just be casting quareting downstream, mending and letting the fly swing. That's it. Nothing more, really. No subtleties. No casting accuracy, no fancy stealthy retrieves. When I picture in my mind the scene at the river I see a line of several anglers, each casting, drifting retrieving, stepping down, etc., out and let it swing. If the Salmon wants your fly, he takes it.
Being the first on a pool can be key. Sometimes. Sometimes not. Fly selection need not be a conundrum and constantly changing flies won't really do any more good to hook you up, so go with local favorites. Skate some bombers if you get bored or if conditions are right.
The evenings are filled with good food, drink and good cheer. Always. Matter of fact that's the best part of an Atlantic Salmon trip for me. Enter the great dining room scene debates!
The dining room is filled with people who fished, haven't yet fished, can't fish or don't want to fish. Everyone's eventually got a story to tell, and some tell tall tales. I always ate too much.
The main topic; Each day there's a pool choice: Rotate one of the 20 pools, or find off-the-beaten-path waters. The debate among friends at dinner about where to fish in the morning can take a great amount of time, through cocktail time, during dinner, after dinner, this debate often requires several members of the debate and even the onlookers to imbibe large quantities of single malt just to keep focussed or in my case, often perhaps to add an intentional blur.
If you do hook a Salmon all hell breaks loose and that's the big thrill. They're like Landlocked Salmon only way, way stronger and way, way bigger, so be prepared for perhaps the fly rod fight of your entire life. But this reward (the "Quest") will require you to cast perhaps 691,546 times and may indeed never happen, no matter how many trips you make. And, it can cost you some large bucks to get lodging, hire guides, get certain "beats'. Of course, this is all worthwhile to be sure...but, DO NOT expect to catch a fish. Bad carhma. Just enjoy your good friends and the single malt.
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Re: Atlantic Salmon: Solitude, On The Rocks, Mixed With Friendships
by greg on Thursday, December 21 @ 15:56:00 PST | | Nice story Marshall, you captured some of the essence of Atlantic Salmon that some will never get and others enjoy sharing. |
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Photos From The Road |
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