Salmon Fishing Tuition
By Jock Monteith 25th September 2020
Salmon fishing is like anything else in life when it comes to knowing exactly what you are doing and a solid understanding of what makes an effective river approach will separate you from the vast majority of UK salmon fishers. I am 100% certain that Scotland would produce double the amount of salmon annually if the general salmon fishing standards were 'fine tuned' amongst anglers.
Salmon Fishing Tackle
It is simply not enough to go out and buy what a tackle dealer is pushing as the latest best kit and then turn up at a salmon river and expect instant results. In saying that there's nothing in this sport that beats being in exactly the right place at the right time but these occasions are very few and far between. Normally your fly selection, water coverage & general salmon pool approach has to be correct to give you a good chance of success in salmon fishing.
Hire A Professional Guide
Few people bother to take proper tuition in this sport and rely on advice from their fishing colleagues or snippets of advice from beat ghillies who in many cases are busy doing their jobs in looking after multiple guests on any one fishing day so often unable to focus effectively on one particular guest. It is important that you seek proper personal salmon fishing tuition & advice from those who have served their time on the salmon rivers of Scotland.
Full Time Salmon Fishing Experience
There is nothing that beats career river experience whether it be astute advice on how to read a salmon pool or fine tuning the loading ability of your fly rod when performing the Spey cast. A 'professional' ghillie will have seen it all thousands of times and that supersedes any advice a 'part time' guide/riverbank companion or tackle dealer could logically ever be expected to deliver. A professional salmon guide who knows this business intimately will transform a guest into a fly fishing water coverage machine after an effective yet brief crash course in Spey casting where he will also simulate exactly how the new fisher should respond to a take from a salmon should one occur.
The Elusive Salmon
The business of catching an astute creature that has swum blind folded to and from its rich oceanic feeding grounds navigating on its extra sensory perception, scent & the magnetic fields has to be given credit for being an intelligent creature with its added ability to avoid predation from birth in the river and all throughout its adult life in the sea. With this in mind you need to know exactly what you're doing to be in with a reasonable chance of success and again that starts with mastering the Spey cast, proper riverbank fly swing spacings & movement & knowing exactly how to set the hook should you earn a salmon take. These are the main 3 crucial components of a guided salmon fishing introduction.
Salmon Fly Avoidance
Don't underestimate a salmon ability to avoid your fly or lure or even if you're fortunate enough to hook one how it will easily escape capture if you don't play the fish correctly. Taking proper tuition and salmon fishing advice from one of Scotland's professional salmon guides or ghillies will significantly and effectively accelerate your start in this amazing pursuit and will likely keep you in this magnificent pursuit for life.
Necessary Salmon Fishing Tuition
Most other sports or skills require formal tuition or proof that you're able to perform adequately prior to participation. Imaging getting into a car with no prior driving experience or turning up for some deer stalking and failing to hit a basic competence target for your stalker at the start of the day! On the salmon rivers of Scotland anyone can just turn up and participate but the reality of that is that their chances of success are very slim and in too many cases they soon lose interest in the sport.
Early Success In Salmon Fishing
Early success will bed you into this pursuit for life and ensure you gain value from your initial fishing equipment outlays so your kit doesn't become an Ebay casualty! In addition to that staying in this traditional Scottish sport will give you the most amazing natural dimension to your recreational life that's a polar opposite to the normal crap society has to offer. Book a professional Scottish salmon fishing guide to grasp all the required salmon fishing tactics to accelerate your personal multi faceted learning curve into this amazing, unrivalled and completely 'unique' pursuit.