I have been on a bit of a roll recently and have been fortunate enough to land a few salmon for my time spent on the river. I landed a cracking cock salmon yesterday which was roughly around the 12lb mark and today I landed a hen salmon around 15lb. Both fish were in their spawning colours and were safely returned to the river.
A cracking male salmon in his full spawning outfit taken on a Black Snaelda at Ballogie.
A still from GoPro camera of the fish in mid air shortly before landing it.
A video from my GoPro camera which captured the action of playing the fish pictured above.
Although these fish are heavily coloured, you can only catch what takes your fly. If I could choose, I'd certainly take a nice clean sea licer over an old hen fish any day of the week but these fish are as equally important as the fresh run ones and careful handing is paramount to ensure they are returned to the river with minimal fuss.
Underwater release.
Hopefully these fish will make it to the spawning grounds safely in the next few weeks and do what nature intended them to do. The more salmon that make it onto the redds can only be a good thing and this will ensure the river populations maintain a healthy level.
A big, old hen salmon from the River Dee today. Estimated at 15lb. A Red Frances did the trick this time.
I was out on the River Dee for a cast yesterday and was lucky enough to land a cracking hen salmon around the 18lb mark from underneath the wires in the Village Pool at Carlogie. The fish took a Black and Orange Franc N Snaelda fished off a H/I/S1 shooting head and a 4ips versi leader. The river was sitting around the 3ft mark for most of the day and was heavily peat stained.
A quick photo before release back into the river.
I don't normally take photos of fish lying on the bank but due to the high water and being on my own it was the only place I could safely land the fish. A quick photo whilst removing the fly and it was back into the water as soon as possible with minimal fuss.
Not the best picture but it gives a better idea of its size.
