Firstly, I would like to wish everyone a happy new year and I hope the fishing gods will be smiling on us all in 2017. Secondly, and more importantly, the new salmon fishing season in Scotland is almost upon us again! Rivers in the North of Scotland such as the Naver, Helmsdale and Thurso open their doors on the 11th of January and the River Tay follows soon after on the 15th. My local rivers the Dee and Don open on the 1st of February and the 11th of February respectively.
I really can't wait for the season to start. It has been a long, but mild winter but I was really hoping for a bit of a cold snap just to bring back to some sort of normality for the salmon after the far from normal warm and wet Decembers of the last few years. Hopefully it will cool down in the early months of the year though and a bit of snow and frost wouldn't go a miss just to cool the river temperatures and slow down any of these early running fish.
My first outing of the season is nearing ever closer where I'm on the River Tay just one week from now. The customary tying of flies and tidying out the the tackle boxes has been done and the online chats and messages are in full swing. As the anticipation grows, the days seem to get longer and run up to that first fishing trip of the year feels like it takes forever! I'm looking forward to sharing my fishing experiences with you again. Tight Lines to anyone lucky enough to be out on the river in the coming weeks.
 |
| A fine opening day springer from park on the River Dee in 2016. It turned out the be the largest fish caught on opening day. |
 |
| The River Oykel. One of the finest salmon rivers in Scotland. |
 |
| A still from my GoPro of a lively 14lber from the Ballogie beat of the River Dee. |
 |
| A selection of salmon tubes for the early Spring. From left to right- (L) and (C) Gold Willie Gunn (R) Black & Yellow. |
 |
| An annual necessity. Lines all cleaned and reels serviced ready for the new season. |
No comments:
Post a Comment