John West goes Ultra light fishing

Every now and again in fishing something unexpected happens. A catch you weren't expecting is often very pleasing. People have had tench, carp, and bream on lures and they're not even foul hooked, it happens loads. Well for me it wasn't the shock of hooking something that wasn't known as a predator, as this one with a big hooked beak is known to take a lure or two, but a shock and a surprise for me none the less. I never expected I would be catching my first salmon in a river that was once so polluted it was a national laughing stock form the freak "snow storms" it would produce. Chemicals from the upstream textiles industries caused soap suds to fill up the whole town, I'm not even kidding. Way back long ago though, long before I was even a small fry.

So to have one thrashing around on the end of my line was marvellous. Firstly for having the pleasure of seeing them back in the river and secondly, because I'd never caught one before. So a new, unweighed, unmeasured pb. My first salmon which took a cheap version of a Mepps number 3 on my ultra light rod. I'd love to say it was an epic battle, but it was far from that. A good fight though, but more similar to a trout thrashing, wriggling and rolling around all over the place. It didn't matter anyway as from the point I knew it was a salmon, the rest was a bit of a blur. Panic, amusement, fear, all sorts of emotions until the fish was finally in the net. I knew it would struggle to gain it's strength back so I left it there for ages. On returning the fish it sank to the bottom of the shallows where I watched it lay there for a good forty minutes.

I was lucky that I had a mate close by who could take me a few snaps. It wasn't a monstrous salmon by a long way but as my first and even possibly my last salmon, I wanted to get a nice photo. What a turn up, what a surprise and what a pleasure. So much so that it makes up for my recent poor returns of pike and perch together with some frustrating short sessions. Amazing how such a freak capture of a non target, not ever thought about fish can leave you with a beaming smile. Let's hope these rivers of ours continue to recover and grow and that the seemingly endless barrage of nasties out there hampering them are over come.


As usual, a bit of video from the day also. A special moment.