Lovely viewing, we all love the Salmon with the same passion. With about 10 days left on the season I got my only season fish, a cock fish about 10lb. Sort of pleased I hadn’t blanked the season I expected that to be it. Fitted in a day the next week, more or less end of October and took a hen fish about 25lb. Took over an hour to net it. I’m still smiling now. It is the best feeling, and that cock fish of yours was a clunker. Good skills !
Glad you enjoyed it. A 25lb fish would have me smiling for a long, long time. Clearly the spirit of the salmon was testing your patience before bestowing such a wonderful gift upon you.
Reliably educated by those much more senior than me, a fresh late run fish. An absolute beast which made the 20 minuter 17lb late fish I got last season look like Miss Mary. Salmon anglers are all patient, the ones that arent return to Trout fishing. ......@@abakerslife
Great to get the take on camera, fish put up a good scrap well done ! Was a bit nervous for you when landing it, maybe get Santa to get you a net with a bigger bag on it 😉
Thanks, you're right the bag on that net is too shallow which is a shame because I like it otherwise. I will have look into getting hold of a replacement bag and maybe have a go at customising it.
Top angling dude. Lovely take. Big deep net will help you let the fish keep breathing while you’re moving in the water, the more we keep em under water the better they spawn 👍 you’re getting good at this. Your Spey casts left and right shoulder show the effort you’ve put in. Great casts and line mends. Chuck in some slow figure of eight retrieves and you’ll increase your hook ups. I expect you’ve covered lots of fish and probably had more follows than you know of. You cover the water really well. Some of the pike rubberised deep nets with telescopic handles like Abu Garcia and fox rage are perfect for salmon and cheap too. Thanks for the great videos.
Many thanks, one thing I have done is put the time in to improve!! Will look into the pike nets or even better see if I can find a replacement net bag and look to customise the one I have. I like that net because the profile is good for scrambling through trees and bushes without getting constantly snagged but I never liked how shallow the mesh is. Will try the fo8 next year, cheers.
I'm guessing Coquet ! Well done. Haven't been up this year from Snowdonia but last year-one visit, one fish on fly (only one that year ); cracking river and a lovely area. Merry Christmas to you and yours !
All the best to you, not the Coquet this time but not far away. I've been asked to keep this one quiet this time which isn't my normal practice but I would like to be invited back 😅
Thanks, I guess as I climbed out it drew the fly up to the surface. Must have made it look irresistable. The funny thing is as I was driving to the river that night I had a sure feeling that my name was on a fish that night.
It's a funny old game! I was trying to avoid a big hole in the riverbed and I guess climbing out drew the fly to the surface and made it look irresistible.
My recollection is that it took when I was on the bank facing away from the river as I saw the take out of the corner of my eye. I was climbing out to avoid a deep hole and I guess the fly was drawn up to the surface which brought the fish up. Don't know if I could ever recreate it but I'll take a bit of good fortune as I made enough casts last year before I eventually got one.
@abakerslife Rob what have you been drinking lol ,you've got me mixed up with someone else , never met you before ,but if your up the Tummel in the spring months, I'm on a seasonal pitch , number 46 ,Salmon permits available from the site office, cheers Alan
Huge fish are mostly a dream that rarely comes true in UK theese days so i stand my ground. merry christmas to you and yours Mr baker with a glorious hobby:)@@abakerslife
Yes but it's sad to think about the fact that 20 years ago they where not uncommon at all in couple english rivers and def not in Scotland. The decline in size and stocks over there scares me:( @@abakerslife
I wasn't fishing 20 years ago so don't know the good old days. I meet a lot of anglers who look back with misty eyes to the River Tyne in the 1990's and the big salmon that were around. I have no choice but to take things as they are nowadays and enjoy the fishing for what it is. I have no other choice because as very well you know salmon fishing is an addiction and I got hooked badly. Someone said to me that taking up salmon fishing in this era is like falling in love with a dying woman. It's a doomed enterprise. I personally don't think things are quite as fatal as most people seem to think. Only speaking from my own experience on the rivers over this last two years I do think that there are salmon to be caught, in my local rivers at least. The more time I spend on the river the more I come across the dedicated anglers who still catch plenty of salmon and big fish too. These guys know that to catch fish you need to be there when the water is right and make a massive effort to be on the river. They still get decent numbers of fish. I know of at least 3 anglers who had around the 100 fish mark (50/50 salmon and ST) for the season which to me is a healthy amount for any era. I know people got more than that in the past but they are figures that give me hope at least. I'm sure salmon behaviour is evolving too and the times of the runs is maybe having an effect on catch numbers. The river Wear for example had a strong run of big salmon in November for the second year running but the season closed on October 31st. I think as an angler you have to evolve too and start thinking differently about how and where you fish. This year the prime lower beats on the Tyne were very poor while further up some beats had very good returns. I had 10 salmon this year which is a couple less than last year but I also had 15 sea trout where last year I had none. I know I could have had a few more salmon too. I lost a few I shouldn't have because of inexperience and bad tackle choices. It's a steep learning curve and there are no shortcuts. If I could go back and replay last season with better hooks and a bit more knowledge I could've had a pretty good year I think. Next year hopefully I will be in a better position and it will all fall into place. As for big fish on the Tyne with my own eyes I have seen a very big salmon and I was told about a huge salmon hooked by a very creditable angler this year. Obviously we don't get them Norway size but this year was actually a good year for 10kg plus fish. The fish I saw was at least 15kg btw which would be a very big fish for the Tyne. @@MrKveite1
