{SALMON-FISHING ADVICE}
MAKE THEM TAKE
PART TWO: HANGING
The much admired Michael Evans shares the tactics that have helped him catch more than 3,000 salmon
Anticipation: hanging a fly from a boat
I I
HAVE DONE QUITE A LOT OF
beach fishing recently.
And, yes, I confess, not with a fly-rod, but a big beachcaster, multiplier reel, 5oz gripper lead, rig and bait. I like it. Or at least I usually do. But not when I cast out into the incoming tide and the whole lot is tossed straight back on to the beach by a rip tide and big wave, as it can be in good bass conditions. I am annoyed because my bait refuses to stay where the fish are.
It got me thinking: ‘That pretty much says it all for a lot of my salmon fishing.’
Which prompted me to suggest another answer to the question often put to me when I catch fish and others don’t: “What am I doing wrong?” This month my solution is ‘hanging!’ or what should perhaps be more accurately called ‘harling in waders’.
Diary entry: 1 August 2014. Location: River East Ranga, Iceland. Three of us, all good mates and competent fishers, myself, Cecil and Eric, are sharing two full rods (well, have you seen the cost of Icelandic fishing these days?), each fishing two hours on and one hour off and we are down on beat 1.
I am off for the first hour while Cecil and Eric fish. My diary records that Eric lost a fish at the top of the main pool because the guide knocked it off with the net as he tried to land it. Eric was not pleased. Cecil below him blanked. Then, as Eric fished on down, Cecil came out and it was my turn to follow both of them down.