I was getting my "stuff" ready for my annual 3 day salmon fishing trip last night when it occurred to me that since I have never yet caught a salmon on the fly, I have never had to worry about what to do if/when I do catch one. We normally fish pretty much alone, as there are four of us to a two mile beat, so it may well be the case that there will be no-one there to assist.

In the highly unlikly event that I catch, should I be using a net - if so, will my 18" dia Sharpe's trout net be ok? If not, how on earth do you grab the thing to get the hook out?

To be honest you might struggle with an 18 inch net. An average fish would be say 25 inches or more on most rivers, I know you can net them head or tail first using a net smaller than the fish but on your own it is quite tricky. And if you get a big un then you will have no chance (saw one caught 42 inches last week ) I usually don't carry a net as the beat I fish has a lot of gravel banks that are easy to beach a fish on, although the other day I hooked a fish on the only pool where you can't beach a fish and had to tail it by hand in about a foot of water - not easy on your own.

If the beat you are fishing is mostly gravel banks then I'd beach them as a first choice. Take you net as well just in case. If the beat had steep banks and no gravel I'd look at maybe getting/borrowing a bigger net.

Cheers St7 - sounds like an excuse for another visit to the tackle shop

If you've not caught one yet on a fly, you'll not be wanting it to come off while you try and get it into your trout net!! Imagine if you're lucky enough to get abig fish on (not unlikely, this time of year)

I tend to tail my fish in the water, unhook them, and slip em back after a photo or two, but if the fish is flailing about while you try and tail him he'll likely come off! either that or if it's a big fish i'll try and beach him if the bank's soft enough..

You're right!! I will be taking the biggest net I can find!!

Is tailing simply grabbing the fish by the caudal peduncle whilst its still in the water? How do you support the head end if you've got one hand round its tail and the other trying to remove the hook? Sounds like a recipe for disaster!

To beach it presumably you have to have played it to exhaustion, which is not great for C&R?

gaff it

__________________
It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)

I have a 24" gye netand if I cannot beach the salmon I lift it out onto grassy banking to remove a hook. If the salmon has been beached I will get hold of the tail to move it.

BK

IF - and its a very big IF - I catch my first one I will be using all possible means short of dynamite to land the ******! If I have to do a Brad Pitt style swim down the river after it then so be it!

Good man. Best of luck with this

__________________
It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)

You could carry a ref's whistle and if you hook one whistle like crazy and maybe one of your co-fisherpeople will come and help

__________________
The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites'