Living Salmon Rivers

By Jock Monteith 31st March 2023

Have you ever arrived at a salmon river on a fishing day and the river has looked and felt completely alive? There's no doubt about it in my mind that all salmon rivers are living creations and when you sense they are 'awake' normally their inhabitants are too!

High Pressure Salmon Fishing Days

Although many would disagree with what I'm about to say I'd take a high pressure brighter light fishing day over the low pressure dull day equivalent any day of the week. I read a fascinating book once about the effects of a rising barometer and how it pairs in a salmon's mind with food from being a juvenile in the river. That made complete sense to me but the real proof is in the photographs you see of landed salmon as there's more often than not a sparkle of sunlight somewhere in the frame.

Effective Salmon Pool Coverage

While salmon fishing conditions play a big part in getting salmon 'woken up' or moving there's nothing that beats effective & consistent water coverage as the back up plan to your fishing day when the weather & water conditions are less favourable. The key to the 'silverware' safe from what I've seen is the depth, speed and spacings of your salmon fly and how much of that you can keep going throughout the full course of the fishing day.

Show Salmon Something Different

Learning how to force a salmon to react by adopting a sub surface 'psychological' approach will put you in the top 5% of salmon fly fishers and this will keep you enthusiastic when others have mentally given in! Sheer persistency and fishing confidence are highly effective attributes to have in your fishing bag and if developed well enough will give you the fishing power of several salmon anglers. Never allow 'negativity' to creep into your fishing approach as I'm certain salmon are highly sensitive to negative energy and will avoid your fly on every occasion!

Separate Your Salmon Fly From The Pack

Of course its always easier if salmon are in a state of inquisitive alertness but because they are salmon they are not always operating on optimal form! Accept the game for what it is and try to focus on different angles of approach that may well impress a fish well enough into having a go at your fly. When the going is tough be the 'non conformist' salmon angler who experiments with fly pattern, pace and depth and who's salmon fly swim movement profile is more unpredictable than a big bag of unpredictable things!