Catching Salmon in Difficult Conditions
Funny how the internet, along with a general negativity within the salmon fishing community in 2018 has influenced our clients this season. It has to be said, those arriving arriving to fish with us on the Aunan Beat of the beautiful River Orkla, although not pessimistic, were a little less up-beat than normal. Stories of river closures, river levels at a 80 year low had taken its toll even before we began. However, even with the river losing 50% of its flow, the electric company dropping the flow from 20 to 10 Cubic meters per second (Cms2) within 5 minutes of their guests arrived, the excellent guides and staff had instilled an air of positivity, something that’s mega important when fishing for salmon. Irrespective of the seemingly hopeless conditions, because the river had fish in it, our guides new the guests would have a great chance of catching fish.
There’s nothing better for a salmon fisher to be confident when they take the first, last and each cast in between. But in such conditions, is it just the word of the guide that instills this confidence? Well, no is the answer, they can only do so much. They provide the catalyst, the spark, the remainder is provided by the rod themselves. OK, the pools may be low, with not so much fishing as in perfect conditions, but unlike many places, even in dead low water conditions, albeit limited flow and length, nearly all the pools still fish well and have decent flow. Add to this the fact that most of those have a decent showing of fish, and instantly those fishing get a confidence boost. Then, add to this a nice “fishing” water temperature derived fro the compensatory water released from the dam and things are certainly not as bad as they are on some rivers. The final piece of the confidence building jigsaw comes in the form of overhead conditions. I’ve always said, in order to have decent salmon fishing the 3 main requirements are, fish, good water (temps and flow), and overcast weather. Take one of those away and the chances of catching fish drop, take two away and things get difficult, all three and, well, it’s time for golf, barbecue or partying! How fortunate we were this past week to have everything apart from water flow in our favour. However, in the necks of our pools this was good too. So, the guides had good reason to be up Beat, as did those fishing the river. Although low water flow conditions seldom provide “bonanza” fishing, the correct planning, as long as you have fish and good water temps, light fishing effort and fishing at the right times nearly always provides us with some sport and this week was no exception. Knowing the river and approaching it with stealth helps too.
The week ended with the group fishing Aunan catching 20 fish between them, but more than this, although the fishing could be tough at times, they had great fun fishing the pools, utilising different tactics. One final caveat to add is - Having someone fishing who not only knows the river, but is also a good angler. Those people catch fish when the chips are down, again, instilling confidence into those others who don’t necessarily have the same level of experience. Thanks Marissio! We had all of the above during our first week s fishing here at Aunan during the past week. Trying conditions yes, but with confidence instilled and using every aspect of the fishery properly, good fun and fishing prevailed. As I write this, the air temp is 30oC, sun baking down and the water is now beginning to over heat. Two of the three main ingredients are now against us but because we have fish then we have a chance….u
