More Lewis salmon fishing

There is a river I know that, given the right conditions, can appear to be a magic river in the sense that it will produce good numbers of fish. This depends on exactly the right amount of water, and with it being a spate river so the sweet spot rarely lasts more than a few hours. A little while back I got almost the right amount of water but, unfortunately, bright sun. Bright sun spells the end of fishing on our smaller rivers and so turned a potential "big day" into a bit of a "nice day to be out." However, it was a lovely autumn day and it was just fantastic to be out and with the help of low early morning sun, and a few clouds, I did manage some catching as well

 
Cup-o-soup......now that’s novel......l was expecting good strong tea !!

Great day, plenty of fish about, happy the video didn’t finish before you landed your last fish.

Always good to watch your videos, so relaxing for me, maybe not for you.
 
As you say, what could be better!

Mrs Gunn has asked me how come you seem to catch so many fish??

I really don't catch a lot of fish, in part because I spend at least 3/4 of every day drinking tea, eating, or asleep behind a rock. We have a local angler who, a few years back, had just over 220 salmon for his season. When you consider that we are a grilse fishery so the fish don't come until July that must average out at almost 20 fish a week for the season - that is catching a lot of fish! One angler who generally fishes the river in this video had over 100 this season so, again, that is good going when you consider that he isn't spending all day every day fishing and earlier this season the Super Stoat had 13 over two days. So I'm a mere amateur compared to these people but, equally, I enjoy my days out as I like to mix the fishing with looking at moss and having tea and so on whereas others are more dedicated to the actual fishing. It is also the case that I'm mostly a trout angler. This season because of COVID I'm really unfit and so spent more time at salmon simply because I wasn't fit enough to walk the big miles to trout and as a result that skews the videos this season.
 
100 in a season is amazing.....220 simply astonishing!

When the conditions were good I think the best we managed was 27 for the week - and that was perhaps across 4 or 5 rods.

I think when you have just a week or two at most to fish you tend to fish hard, and perhaps to the exclusion of everything else, which is in many ways regrettable. Whereas when the opportunity is there more frequently, and you know you can catch fish, you get to appreciate better everything else that is there and available.

It is wonderful watching you catch fish from such delightful rivers, but equally so getting a chance to see everything else and hear your musings.

That country certainly does look like the expectation of seeing a dinosaur might one day be fulfilled!

Please keep the videos coming.
 
100 in a season is amazing.....220 simply astonishing!

When the conditions were good I think the best we managed was 27 for the week - and that was perhaps across 4 or 5 rods.

I think when you have just a week or two at most to fish you tend to fish hard, and perhaps to the exclusion of everything else, which is in many ways regrettable. Whereas when the opportunity is there more frequently, and you know you can catch fish, you get to appreciate better everything else that is there and available.

It is wonderful watching you catch fish from such delightful rivers, but equally so getting a chance to see everything else and hear your musings.

That country certainly does look like the expectation of seeing a dinosaur might one day be fulfilled!

Please keep the videos coming.

Yes the 100 and 220 figures are trustworthy and well documented, as you'd understand there are some people who rarely catch less than 10 per day no matter the conditions but who have their "catch returns" ignored when it comes to compiling figures :) The thing about Lewis is that it is a grilse fishery so we tend not to get the bigger fish and spring fish are very hard to come by but, on the other hand, we are fishing small rivers with trout rods so the fish give us a lot of sport. As a result when the fish numbers are there it is possible to make great catches, if I hadn't had the sun on my day out then my expectation was for a 10 fish day but my expectation would have been for a 10 fish day for anyone who went out to fish. I'm certainly not an expert and I'm very casual about my fishing as, pretty much, I've caught all the fish I need to catch for a lifetime so it is just a day out. I'd go so far as to say that part of the reason I enjoy it is because I'm so bad at it - so I don't get to worried about the actual process of fishing because I know every little about it. Equally I do understand the drive that people have to catch fish when they consider "fishing" their hobby and they only have a few days in the year but I'm not sure that sort of pressure counts as either fun or relaxation. It is very difficult to get a balance there.

With this season being so weird there aren't too many more videos to come as I didn't manage many days this season due to the complications surrounding the COVID thing. There should be a few more, and there are a few more salmon to come, but nothing too exciting.
 
I'm certainly not an expert and I'm very casual about my fishing as, pretty much, I've caught all the fish I need to catch for a lifetime so it is just a day out.

As time moves on I find myself coming more and more to that same frame of mind - in many ways if I never caught another fish or had to shoot another deer I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I have to confess that, these days, taking a good photo of a deer with the camera gives me way more pleasure than taking a deer with the rifle!

Apologies also if it seemed I was questioning the numbers in any way - I have no doubt those kind of catches are very possible. I might not have expected 10 in a day, but I have certainly taken 5 or 6 in the right conditions. Some times everything just feels right, and you go to the river with an expectation that is not misplaced. Not that often, mind, but enough that you can really enjoy it!
 
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