Punta Allen, a former lobster fishing community on Mexico’s Ascension Bay in the Caribbean…….. where the road ends and miles of flats and big skies begin. Seven hundred square miles to be precise. What a venue, and what a special slice of pristine tropical paradise. This trip had been a long time in incubation. Conversational snippets with my globe trotting boat partner had crept in to our annual reservoir trout fishing trips to Chew Valley Lake, including descriptions of turbo charged bonefish, that he assured me, went ‘like trout on steroids’. Images from his earlier forays of chrome plated Tarpon and slab sided Permit with their dramatic black sickle tails, tantalised me further. I was never convinced that a trip would ever happen for me, and the UK game and saltwater fly-fishing scene seemed to be the limit of my horizon. Now my ‘note to self’ at the start of 2013, is to ensure that this wasn’t the ‘trip of a life time’, but my initiation to a thrilling new branch of the sport. During the week I enjoyed close encounters with most of the main flats species, but left unfinished business aplenty in Ascension Bay..

For me, that ten second blast with a marauding ‘Barracuda was the ‘oh my god moment’ of the week. I cast a flashy blue and silver lure on my nine weight during a lunch break on day two, having spotted the ‘Cuda 50 yards away tracking lazily across the flat towards the boat. It hit the fast stripped lure like a guided missile, and then took off with blistering acceleration before shedding the hook 50 yards away….I could spend a few days specialising in them quite happily, however bizarre that may be to many experienced flats anglers. Most go to Ascension Bay to patiently stalk the enigmatic Permit, as it is one of the worlds best venues for this most prized species, as I was to discover… Generally, Barracuda are not particularly revered, which is a real puzzle. I guess all branches of our sport develop their own culture which takes newcomers some time to unravel. Of the species that I encountered, this was the one that really took my breath away. I was pleased to jump two baby tarpon of about 4lb, after a long stalk in the crystal clear waters of a channel that penetrated deep into the mangrove, as they were scarce during our week, and a high priority,. And boy, can they jump! Next time one will stick, and I can imagine that the aerial battle that will ensue will be a nail biter in the tight spaces that we fished. My first Jack was hooked accidentally whilst blind casting a chartreuse lure  into likely looking shoreline pockets for Snook, on the fringes of a mangrove island. They can turn up anywhere on the flats, or in the deep water channels I was assured. A real blood thirsty marauder. It was a modest fish of several pounds, compared to the 20 pound bruiser caught by one our party that took an hour to land!

Eventually, I hooked my first Snook, all ten inches of it! It took nearly three hours of landing the fly into pocket water to track it down. Other larger fish were seen, but often not soon enough, as they left a puff if silt in the water as the punt almost drifted on to them.

There were a few proper Snook caught during the week. They are wonderful looking predatory fish with a striking black stripe along  the lateral line. They are reminiscent of the Zander, and commonly the guides take them home, as they are very good for the table and big enough to feed a large family.

To be able to develop my bone-fishing savvy was great, and learning to sight them and predict their movements was the first and most important skill to develop. The guides helped greatly in the early stages. Casting to and catching tailing fish in shallow water without spooking them and hitting a few at long range quickly built my confidence, and I landed fourteen on the most prolific day. In terms of my flats fly fishing apprenticeship this was just perfect, with plenty of shots, thanks to my partner leaving most of the bones to me.  They feel familiar tactically, and are quite cooperative, but far from a give away, especially if tailing with their nose down in shallow water, when both accuracy and delicacy must come to the fore. Bone fish on the move can be intercepted, but you have to be quick and decisive, and they often catch you out by changing direction more drastically than a trout would, just as you release your line!

I was pleased that the Permit arrived, in impressive numbers on the last day for my partner. This species is his holy grail theses days, and I was keen to see what all of the fuss was about. He felt we were very unlucky not to boat one, but, then my ‘semi trout strike’ on the first Permit I have ever cast to didn’t help!  Keeping a low rod, with a direct contact with a taking fish, and strip striking is by far the most important lesson for a newcomer to learn, otherwise fish will be missed for sure. Getting the fly on target from all angles in a stiff breeze, including fast moving fish as they disappear upwind, is a real test of skill, and an exciting challenge that a good trout angler can readily rise to. After an accurate delivery, a Permit may slightly turn towards the fly, briefly. At other times they may follow it to the boat and even balance the fly on the end of their snout! Often, they never flinch. Just occasionally one will engulf the crab or shrimp imitation in earnest, and then the strip strike must be reliable. To be honest, although the guides were great generally, they can be a mixed blessing when hunting Permit, because most of them get so excited!. It was interesting for me as a trout angler to note that their retrieve instruction did not vary whether we were drifting onto the fish or away from them and casting up wind. This made no sense at all., as the speed and depth of fly presentation varied enormously as a consequence, and I expect reduced the number of takes. Every time a permit didn’t take a fly the guide would change it, as if the fly pattern was the only possible cause of rejection. Now, we trout fisherman know better than that don’t we? I developed a sneaking suspicion that being prepared to selectively ignore the guides may have helped for Permit, especially when it came to the retrieve. On that last day my partner counted 19 Permit shots in total! Typically on many Permit flats, several shots or so in a day is considered par for the course. It was a fascinating game of cat and mouse, and we came very close to fish taking, several times.

I understand how a seasoned flats angler could get preoccupied with Permit, and why there are Ascension Bay’s forte.. I was pleased that they were a part of our week, but for me, it was the variety within the week’s hunt, the technical demands and subtleties of bone fishing, the short lived blast from the Barracuda, and the daily anticipation and excitement of being in that vast wilderness that will draw me back. We saw wildlife in profusion aside from the fish, Frigate Bird colonies, nesting Ospreys, Spoonbills, Herons, Horseshoe crabs, Spiny Lobsters, and were able to share our sandwiches with Iguanas on an island at lunch time. One of our party even came across a juvenile Manatee in the mangroves.

It was worth the twenty years or so wait, and a hugely inspiring introduction to an enthralling branch of our sport. If like me you are a regular still water trout fisherman, if you possibly can, spoil yourself at least once, and follow the road to where the land ends and the big skies begin…You will more than cope, and you won’t be disappointed.

Martyn Haines 

Martyn Haines has been a lifelong fly fisher and has worked as Academic Section Head of Fisheries at the SRUC near Dumfries, Scotland. Currently, he is working closely with the Angling Development Board of Scotland, helping to introduce angling and an appreciation of the environment to the secondary school curriculum. Brought up in the midlands of England in the 70’s and 80’s, Martyn learnt to fly fish on the midlands still water trout fisheries, and was influenced by the ‘gurus of the day’, including Bob Church and Arthur Cove.  On moving to Scotland in 1986, river salmon, sea trout and brown trout fishing have been added to his repertoire, and dry fly fishing for trout on the Annan in the spring is anticipated feverishly each winter. 

 

 

 

Next Time – The long anticipated Rivers Dee, Tweed & Teith season openings!

Keep your eyes peeled for our next post on or around the 3rd of February. Greig Thomson will have his reportage from the opening days fishing on the Dee as well as the round up from the Tweed & the Teith openings.  

To all who are venturing out on the 1st February to catch that elusive springer, the team would like to wish you all tight lines and the very best of luck.

If you are lucky enough to catch an opening day springer and have a good picture, then please email the image to info@salmofishings.com along with a few words on your catch to be included in our round up of from the rivers.

 

Fly fishing for trout has mostly been about quantity.  In some of the earliest recorded trout fishing competitions, mainly carried out on border streams and rivers, the weight to number of fish ratio captured was astoundingly low, with an average size of a mere few ounces.  It is obvious from these reports that anything, and I do mean anything, with spots was fair game.  Some of the fish recorded must have been barely parr.

Things have changed a lot since then.  The law, of course, has changed and it is now a criminal offence to kill trout of less than 9 inches.  But the motivating force still lives on.  Last season, on Leven, when things were particularly dour (round about July time) a year class of fish, averaging about 11 inches in length, surfaced in the area between the Reed Bower and St Serfs.  I was out on Leven on a regular basis during this phenomenon and quickly became aware of the situation.  The first time I spotted the boats gathering over these fish, I didn’t realise what was happening, but when I pulled up over the area I sussed it out in a matter of minutes.  Two at time; I was beginning to understand the almost unbelievable numbers some guys were reporting.  I dropped down the drift about two hundred yards and snagged a good fish of about 2½- 3 pounds.  To each his own, but I would rather have one fish over two than a dozen 11” fish.

Nowadays, with stocking policies being what they are, the bulk of fly fishing has become a numbers game.  This, unfortunately, does not transfer happily to wild trout fishing.  There are a few waters where reasonable quantities of modest-sized, sporting fish can be expected.  The Harray Loch, Boardhouse, Watten and Eye still produce good quality fish in large numbers.  These lochs are shallow, fertile, productive waters, and as such are not the norm in Scotland.  Many Scottish wild trout waters tend to be on the infertile side, and if its numbers you want from them, then don’t expect quality as well.

I have always said that I’d happily spend a fishless day waiting for that big ‘un, the trophy fish of a lifetime.  I understand that I’m in a very small minority, but there are a growing number of like-minded souls out there who believe that big is beautiful, first, last and always.  Salmo International will be catering for trophy trout hunters in the forthcoming season and I am pleased yours truly will be hosting the first of these adventures this coming spring.

There are two types of big fish waters – deep, infertile waters where trout grow big on an exclusive diet of charr and small trout; and then there are the shallow, highly productive waters where food is in abundance and big trout thrive on crustacean, molluscs and insect larvae.

The former exist throughout the highlands of Scotland, mainly in the form of hydro-electric dams, although a good number are natural lochs.  Big, pisciverous trout from these waters are often referred to as ‘ferox’.  Popular belief is that these fish can only be caught by trolling at depth.  While this is a popular method of fishing for them, there are lochs in Scotland where trout of this type are regularly, and daily, caught on fly, and not at depth either, but on floating or intermediate lines.  I know, I’ve done it.

Lochs Arkaig and Lochy, up in Inverness-shire have been famous for well over a century for providing enormous trout to fly fisherman, and I am hoping to explore some other lochs which may well provide similar sport.

These trout can grow to immense size on a fish diet and fish of up to 20+ lbs have been recorded from Arkaig & Lochy, and the basic technique is traditional drifting in specific areas with traditional trout fly gear and size 10 & 8 flies.

Timing for this style of fish is critical.  The best times are from mid-April – June, and then September to the end of the season.  During high summer (if we get such a thing in Scotland) these fish are only catchable during the last hours of light.

The other loch type, as mentioned above, is totally different.  These lochs are almost always very shallow, fertile and very productive of fish food.  The trout they produce are magnificent creatures and can achieve double-figures in weight.

Because they are small, fragile environments, I tend not to give their names away as they are very susceptible to over-fishing and abuse.  Their fish populations tend to consist of a small number of very big individuals with a reasonable number of modestly sized fish.

Again, the methodology is traditional gear, tactics and flies, but on many of these small waters boats are not available so a good set of breathable waders is a necessity.  Timing is again critical.  Almost all of these environments are prone to weeding-up, and once the weed has grown productive fishing is nigh on impossible.  Generally speaking, they give of their best from May to the end of June, which is a small window of opportunity.

Of course, there are always big trout in almost every loch trout population, but seeking them out is a hit or miss (with an emphasis on the miss) venture.  Loch Leven, for example, throws out some stunning fish, but you’d never know when one was going to come along.  Your next cast could catch an 8 ounce fish or an 8 pounder.  There is no sure-fire way to improve your chances of catching bigger than average fish.  The biggest fish will more than likely take the smallest fly.

So, how do you go about catching trophy fish.  Simply by going where they live will vastly improve your chances, and we know where they live.

So, who’s joining us……….???

Stan Headley

IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU READ AND WANT TO JOIN US IN MAY 2013 CHASING THESE BIG BOYS, THEN PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR FULL PACKAGE DETAILS OR EMAIL US AT BOOKINGS@SALMOFISHINGS.COM.  

ALTERNATIVELY YOU CAN CALL US ON +44(0)845 8381936 OR VISIT OUR MAIN WEBSITE WWW.SALMOINTERNATIONAL.COM OR USE THE LINKS ABOVE.

This post is a toast to our four legged friends. Fishing with dogs, whether bank or boat, has been a lifelong pleasure for me.

On the rare occasion I connect with something, they’re equally cock-a-hoop, and when I’m busy de-fankling or retrieving flies from a bush, they look on with resigned bemusement. Thank heavens the pooches can’t talk.

I always smile when I see a well-trained dog on the bank, following their master downstream.  You can almost smell the anticipation, the dog pricking its ears at a rise willing the fish to take.

And to be quite frank, a dog is a finer companion than one or two fishers I’ve encountered over the years; patient, hardy and not prone to bragging.

Nuka, my faithful old hound, is a veteran of many an outing. Sometimes shivering, eternally patient, she’s always been a wonderful buddy.

There’s been the odd blip though.  As a puppy years ago, I took her on the early morning shift on the Oykel. With little sleep to my name, and after an hour or so breathing Macallan fumes on the water, the previous night’s excesses eventually took a hold, and I retreated to a particularly appealing mossy mound for 40 winks.

Drifting in and out of slumber, I heard a curious crunching sound, but thought little of it.  Big mistake.  I woke to find that Nuka had been breakfasting on the tip of my brand spanking new Bruce and Walker Norway rod.  The air was blue for quite some time, trust me.

Bizarrely, when I took the remnants into Nick at Gamefish in Edinburgh on my return, there was a fella there with a broken rod recounting how he’d just caught a bat.

And then there’s the late, great Dougster.  He belonged to an old pal Ed, our host on the Shin for many a year.

Wonderful dog, but when a salmon was on the line, he was in the water, barking and biting.  Anything for a sushi fix.

After the Oykel chewing incident, I was in a huff most of the day, until I hit a purple patch landing three splendid silver bars in sixty minutes in the evening light.

That’s as good as it’s ever been for me. Must be a moral in there somewhere.

Next time our trout man Stan Headley shares a few words on the leviathans that lurk in our waters, plus an interesting invite to join us catch them!

Until next time,

Will

Well folks, that’s the first few days of the 2013 Tay salmon season over and I must say, what a start the river is off to!

We were graced on opening day with perfect water conditions at Taymount in what looked like a winter wonderland. The high pressure and lack of wind made fishing today a real pleasure.

The opening ceremony at Taymount was hosted by Taymount Estate laird John Lindsay along with head ghillie Cohn O’Dea. Alex Graham gave a first class speech prior to John Lindsay piping us down to the river to have the first cast of the season at the Majors cast along with a toast to the season ahead.

As you would expect early in the season, many kelts, baggots & rawners (unclean fish from last season for the non fishers out there) featured in the catches where spinning for the most part was the order of the day. Even with the lack of a Taymount springer in the morning, the day was by no means dull. A few heart stopping moments were had with at least 3 of the fish caught. In the morning John Lindsay hooked  and landed 2 clean looking fish whilst harling. After careful examination the fish were identified as late running fish and as such could not be counted.

At one o’clock we stopped as usual for a superb lunch that was provided by Cohn’s wife Gail, her spreads never disappoint!

After lunch it was swap around where the Linn Pool rods headed to the top end for the short afternoon session. It was not before long that the radios came to life with ghillie Mike reporting a silver fish landed from the Majors cast. Again on careful examination and a general consensus of opinion, it was agreed that this fish although in excellent condition should be checked by the fishery board.

I am pleased to say that this fish was confirmed as a true spring salmon which makes this the second year that Alex Graham has caught the first springer of the season on Taymount.

Overall, all the rods had a great day’s fishing with everyone having a bend in the rod. 

Elswhere on the river, there were some decent catches and an impressive opening day over all.

Gordon Nicol gave himself and Portnacraig Pitlochry Beat a great start to the season with a magnificent deep springer estimated from its length and girth to be about 21 lb. It was caught on a yellow and black tube fly on Pitlochry bank at the Moulin Burn Mouth just after noon and carefully released. The capture was witnessed by fellow club members Iain McLaren (who netted the fish) and Ross Gardiner (who took photos and helped measure the fish). Well done Gordon!

To Kenmore, the first cast of the Tay season was made by Perth Provost Elizabeth Grant shortly after 9:30am. The river at Kenmore was thronged with anglers thereafter. I was told of two fish being caught locally a beautiful 18 pounder and a fish of around 13 pounds.

All the permit monies were donated to AFYD – Angling for Youth Development. Opening day and the evening gala dinner raised well over £90,000 (yes ninety thousand) pounds for AFYD, CHAS and other charities. That’s the angling community putting something back!

Ally Gowans has advised me that the attendance at Kenmore was between 300 and 400 people. Several entries were received for the McTaggart/Kenmore trophy competition for the best springer caught and released anywhere on the Tay system and this was won by Gordon Nicol from Pitlochry. Ally himself taught Gordon to fish for salmon just two years ago so quite an achievement.

Down river at Dunkeld, a ceremony to mark the opening of the season, organised by the Dunkeld and Birnam Tourist and Angling Associations, with the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board (TDSFB), the Tay Foundation and the Perthshire Chamber of Commerce, took place at the Hilton Dunkeld House Hotel.

A piper led anglers to the riverbank, where drams were shared before the fishermen’s boats – and the water – were blessed with a dousing of whisky.

River board chairman Bill Jack said: “It is pleasing to note that numbers of large spring salmon, for which the Tay was always celebrated historically, seem to be recovering.

“2012 saw the highest average weight of spring salmon in the Tay since 1987. The average weight is now over 12lbs, compared to 10lbs a few years ago.

“Starting five years ago we have seen a sustained resurgence with many more spring fish in the high teens and twenties of pounds and 2012 was the best yet.”

He said the introduction of catch and release had more than likely played a part in the improved figures.

Mr Jack added: “Before the advent of catch and release all big spring fish caught by anglers were killed.

“Now they are able to continue their journeys upstream to spawn and help produce the next generation. It is vital that we retain our spring conservation measures so that this recovery continues.”

Fishing managers are said to be expecting a good opening day with the river running at a good height following less rain and far colder weather.

The biggest salmon caught with a rod in the UK, was landed on the River Tay. Georgina Ballantine reeled in a 64lbs fish in 1922.

The opening day tally on the river so far is as follows:-

Stobhall 1, Taymount 1, Ballathie 1, Lower & Upper Islamouth 3, Meikleour House 2, Murthly (1) 1, Murthly (2) 1, Newtyle 1, Dunkeld House 2, Dalmarnock 2, Lower Kinnaird 1, Portnacraig 1.

This was certainly the best opening day for overall catches and conditions in recent years, lets hope this trend continues.

Taymount today (16th Jan) like the rest of the river was sitting well below 0 degrees for most of the day, as such only kelts were caught on the beat and for the whole river with the exception of Pitlochrie & Catholes, Glendelvine and Meikleour House who all had a single fresh fish.

Back to Taymount now and as always, the craic was great and the extended lunch was superb. Although no fresh fish were caught on the beat  there was no disappointment from the rods.

For those of you braving the river tomorrow, we wish you tight lines and again best of luck. If you have any pictures or reports then drop us a line or two to info@salmofishings.com

Here is a short film from the opening day events at Taymount. We will have a full 30 minute feature on Field2StreamTV in around 10 days time.

Tight lines,

Greig