Not knowing what the conditions would be like further up the valleys, I decided to stay local on the chance that the rhym might be fishable. Really glad I chose to 'slum it' on the rhym!
Water was back up to about '4' on the guage which is normally where the river fishes best. A bit tinted and fast, but very fishable. Nothing seemed to be rising, so I put on a sz 14 flashback hares ear with a partridge collar and a sz 14 Tungsten PTN.
Oooh boy! I had a really awesome 2 hours with about 8 trout (some of decent size) and the same number of grayling. None of the grayling were juveniles. It was nice to finally get into some good size grayling.
Best for last. I also hooked a good size salmon. River conditions were perfect, so I should have at least considered the possibility. I've hooked them in this spot before, but they always broke me or threw the hook quite quickly.
I really thought I might have a chance to land him as I was fishing a larger than normal 5lb leader, the hook was a heavy nymph hook, and the fish wasn't fighting too hard. I had him on for quite some time. He didn't appear particularly bothered about being hooked. He swam a little bit above me and I thought my odds had increased as he was now fighting me and current. But every time I tried to lift him off the bottom he responded with a series of agonizingly deep head shakes.
As luck would have it, I even had my camera with me, but of course I had left the net at home.
Well, after a while of this head shaking and praying, I thought I've got to just wade in and try to tail it or get a steeper angle on it or something because the suspense was killing me and I was getting exactly nowhere as things were. So I waded stealthily into the run, reeling up slack as I went. I got within 3 feet of my 9 foot leader, lifted as hard as I dared, and brought him near the surface. He went on his side for a moment and I really thought I was going to have him. It was a nice fish...I don't really have experience catching or weighing salmon, but it was about the size of the ones you see on ice at the supermarket. For me, it was a trophy.
As he fell back towards me in the current, I put some gentle side pressure on him and steered him a bit towards some slacker shallow water with the intention of beaching or tailing him. He was having none of that. Suddenly he turned and took off downstream! NO! there was nothing I could do. The angle was all different now, and I had no control. It was like being connected to a steamroller. Not moving incredibly quickly - just sort of showing me who was boss. The hook popped out about 30 feet below me.
I was pretty disappointed, but also just kind of glad to have seen it and to have had the experience of hooking and playing a fish that big.
(He took the flashback hare's ear spider/nymph by the way)
Another day maybe. I'm now more convinced than ever that I need to have a proper go at this salmon fishing mularky!
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lovely fishing in the winter catching on the top
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