Tuesday 24 October 2017

Salmon fishing in Ireland


So yeah the season for salmon is closed end of September. I would say it takes a million cast to get one if you don't really know what you do, just like me. Never caught a salmon before so didn't really know where to start or why everybody is on about this mysterious fish.
This year decided to catch some of those species what I haven't caught yet in Ireland. Such as wild Irish Brown trout at very early this season......and then the light bulb lights up. Christopher Defillon, he promises me brown trout and gets me one, so let's chat about this mysterious salmon business. Bingo!! I hit the jackpot because turns out he is pretty much master of this craft as well, on the fly and on lures. To start I was put in my place very well on the river bank that this is not every cast a salmon and they could be really tricky sometimes, explained the conditions that are very important,  the color of the water, the water levels and the light and weather conditions etc they all critical to choose the right lure, the movement, the colour of them.....so thanks for that I had a basic knowledge now what to look for.


So the educational part of the journey was done ....let's go fishing! As I can title myself "extremely lucky".......second cast booom.....didnt take long. Rod bent in half straight and I strike like an animal to set the hook and this thing like a torpedo start running upstream. The only one thing I have forgotten to ask "how to fight with them"? It was a very quick course......"Lose the drag!!!" I heard him shouting.....then "Keep it to the left.....now don't let him  there is tree under the water, hold the rod up there are rocks!" And eventually, she was in the net, she had beautiful slightly brown color because already in the river system a few weeks, camouflaged like a giant brown trout....she was so pretty to be my first salmon. Crazy fight they so powerful it is incredible I was super happy.
I can lose that fish at least 100x times if was alone so many things possibly could go wrong just to start with I dont know the river at all.....I ask "So you know this river like your hand?"......."Oui, fishing for years for trout and salmon"......that explains a lot! It was a super experience and I learned a lot about this awesome fish habitats.


Salmon fishing is a kinda mind game with the fish.....to be honest love it and on the bonus side, the fight is just pure bonkers.
To figure it out what they like on an actual day is crazy, so many things you need to put under concern and need a bucket of luck as well to land them and hook them because they don't give up themselves easy at all. Sometimes going dedicated salmon fishing and all you can catch is trout , other days you just think oke I pop down this evening for a bit of trout fun and boom you hook a salmon.


I know the Eging Special S240M not exactly designed for salmon fishing, but its a perfect crossover with her sensitivity to fish for trout and power to stop a decent silver bar as well. And both species loves a bit of action from the Tricorolls , 2 in 1...job done :D So at the end had a pretty good season on the river this year nailed some lovely fish and hope next year will be as good as this one. There is so much more to learn this type of fishing I love the concept its never still the same always changing and allways have to adapt that knowledge what I have .....challenging!




 Ohh I almost forget I had a beast of a perch as well out of nowhere in the shallow rocky part booom smashed the good old Tricoroll.....it was very surprising, maybe my PB or close to it, I don't know haven't measure it but it was huge :D And if you tempted to fish Ireland after this super fish get in touch with Chris he is a fishing guide and he has access to many private stretches on the river https://www.facebook.com/christopher.defillon....highly recommended ;)
Well I hope you guys enjoyed it and tight lines for the next adventures.
Here is some more pictures from the beautiful Boyne Valley ......keep casting!