Here's what happens when I go salmon fishing on the Magic River
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- Опубликовано: 29 окт 2022
- After months of waiting the Magic River got a lift in water, not enough to be ideal but enough to be worth a cast. With the end of the season rapidly approaching I jumped in the car and headed down there for a wonderful day of Autumn salmon fishing. I started on what I believe to be the best salmon pool in the world (Terms and conditions apply, the value of salmon pools may go down as well as up) and made my way up the river until I encountered a salmon and that's where it all went wrong.
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Philip it was great to see you tempt a salmon. It was a lovely rise to the fly and looked like a solid take. At least you had a bit of fun as it fought quite hard for it size. Hope you get another one before the season ends. Tight lines!
Thank you Norman, the take looked good to me and the flies were really tiny, maybe size 14 if it was a trout fly, on a floating line. You can actually hear it slurp the fly :-) I can only guess that it missed the fly and the leader ran over its back and pulled the fly into its back. For most of the fight it behaved as if it was well hooked but towards the end things got a little bit odd so I guess it is just possible that it was hooked in the mouth, dropped that fly, and somehow foul hooked itself on the other fly on the leader in the process. I'll never know but it was a bit of excitement that I really didn't expect in the conditions. I got a few more as there was a rise in water on 1st October so I managed a few more days out, not on this river though as it closes at the end of September. Hopefully more videos will follow.
a great day out, you capture the atmosphere in all your posts, it's ever that important to catch a fish, just a day not to forget
It was a great day and I enjoyed it which is all that matters, conditions were always going to be difficult to get a fish so I was really quite surprised to have one move to the fly at all.
Nice one Philip. A nice day, a lovely river and a fish. Perfect. 😊
Great day out even if the fish doesn't count :-) To be honest, given the conditions, moving a fish at all was a shock to me but it had been a couple of years since I fished this river so although the conditions weren't quite right I went along for a day out and it was pretty successful on that basis.
Hi, Philip. John here from Vancouver Island, Canada. I love your videos. I grew up in the Highlands, fishing rivers and lochs as you do. I emigrated to Vancouver Island in pursuit of winter steelhead and summer salmon but I still regularly return to Scotland. My last visit was in late August/early September when one of my brothers and I stayed in Stornoway and spent a week fishing waters you've introduced me to. We didn't catch salmon but, despite low water conditions, we saw a couple rise in your Magic River. I like the way you convey the Islander's easy way of talking, often to yourself. And the way you don't need to catch much or worry about perfect technique or tackle to enjoy the beauty of the place. I'll likely come back and, on a day near the end of the season when global warming has allowed us a small rise in river level, tie on a red shrimp thing with a wee Stoat's Tail, catch very little, and, enjoying a cup of tea and a banana, reflect on the fact that the love of fishing, which some don't completely understand, demands no more.
Every year is different John and this year we had water really early in May and June before the fish came. The river in this video came to its ideal level (it only really hits its ideal level once every few years) on 1st October and it closes for fishing at the end of September :-) Amusingly it did the same thing last year as well. When this river is just right it really is the most entertaining place to fish but it runs off quickly so those perfect conditions are not only rare but they last only a few hours and, of course, often they occur in the middle of the night and almost always on 1st October. That's part of the fun. I was really surprised to get this fish in view of the conditions but fate had the last laugh with it being foul hooked. A few years back I was on the same river in better conditions and that video gives a better idea of the water when it is good: ruclips.net/video/OmFgF5rdsTk/видео.html
Well done ! I managed a fish last Tuesday within 10 minutes of starting on a river I've never fished before in my life . That takes my tally for the season to- err- one ....
Even one is more than good enough if you are enjoying yourself, the one in this video doesn't count as it was foul hooked so that's me on -1 :-)
super video thank you, I can almost smell the air! Thanks again.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. Despite the lack of a fish it was a wonderful day out and that's what matters.
Another great video of a day out with the rod, and as always some useful tips.
Glad you enjoyed it Tony, I'm not sure that I'm in a position to give anyone tips and especially this season past when it seemed like I could catch nothing. However, I find it is useful to see what other people do as sometimes I pick up some good ideas but I'm also very set in my ways as I've been fishing for a very long time and I'm getting too old to change now!
@@caorach3354 very true Philip I think we are all a bit set in our ways, especially the older we get. I haven’t done a lot of river fishing so I do find watching your videos a great help 👍🏼
Good to see ya got good water levels our waters here in Cape Breton NS were terrible till the around the last 2 weeks of season now the fly rods are put away and the waterfowling and deer huntin have begun along with rabbits.
We were the same this year - there was reasonable water in May and June, when it's usually dry, but no real water until October. This river was too low to be ideal but had maybe just enough water to be fishable so it was worth a cast as this was right before it closed. Like you I'm into the deer now and they are going better than the fishing did.
All the best brother fae Scotland.
Nice fish and so beautifull stream and place..from France
Thank you Philippe, because it was foul hooked the fish didn't count but such is life. We have an angler who comes from France every year and fishes a local salmon river that is free to fish, sometimes he would stay for 3 months or more if conditions are good and I think his best result was 11 salmon for the day, so he is much better at it than me. In the end it is such a privilege to get out and about in such beautiful places.
Enjoyed watching that,my local river is just becoming good for the salmon now just when it’s about to close typical.
That's always the way Robert, that is the only day I've had on that river in 2 years and even then there wasn't really enough water. It is one of those rivers that the water needs to be exactly right and it only lasts for a few hours and happens maybe every 3 - 4 years or so. Once it goes right then it really is the most fantastic fishing.
Them midges would ate ya. That's a great video on a lovely river.
Thank you, the river is fantastic and luckily I only really had the midges for a short while in the morning until the breeze got up.
Aside fre the foul hooked fish, what s braw day in terms e the weather, hey? How can we ne get that on Skye? Hahaha
Great video as always!
Thank you, we had no water all season so I don't know you want that sort of weather :-) It was a nice day out and while the sun pretty much puts and end to fishing it makes for good tea drinking.
We enjoyed that! Was that filmed recently or earlier in the year? The weather seems pretty good for Autumn. We have never fished for Salmon. The flies looked like single hook flies. Were they from your usual supplier? Do large trout flies work?
Hi Paul, This is from the end of September. What I mostly do is go fishing and then, once the season is over, take the time to edit and publish the videos. It is a little confusing that my fishing videos all appear out of season but, being honest, getting to relive the day helps cheer me up during the winter so in a weird way it extends my season. The flies were very tiny doubles and the fish "took" a Barvas Crippler that might have been a size 14 if it was a trout fly, though it was on a double. As ever the flies were tied by John Maclean, even if you aren't looking for flies it is worth checking him out just to see what he is tying: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057469959391&comment_id=Y29tbWVudDo2NjUxNDM1NjE4Mzc4MDlfNTU3MDY2OTM2MjI4MjUx Trout flies will work just as well certainly in lower water like this but a double is helpful in higher water just for the wee bit of extra weight. The "standard" cast for salmon or sea trout on the Gress River, for example, is a Donegal Blue and a Soldier Palmer with many other trout flies getting regular use on all the rivers and lochs. Being honest I usually have a different box for salmon than for brown trout but many very successful anglers would just be using the same flies.
Thanks Philip. John's flies look great and I made friends/follow him on FB. I agree the revisiting of a fishing day can cheer me up too. I have been to Lewis but its a bit of a drive from Durham so I fish it from my armchair by watching your videos!
@@pauljohnsontwonoviceangler6170 You should make the effort to drive up :-) The slight problem with Lewis trout fishing is that it requires a lot of exploring and, often, walking. I personally love that but it doesn't suit many people, and as I get older I'm coming to understand that I can't walk to the more remote lochs for much longer. Access to the salmon and sea trout is, generally, much easier going but even then requires some walking. The Uists market their trout fishing much more and so have, generally, easier access with the ability to get the car to the boat and someone to row you around the loch. Also don't forget that the Hebrides have a fisheries promotion officer who has fished nearly every loch on the islands and is an absolute encyclopaedia of info, as well as being an all round nice guy, so it is well worth contacting Donnie and getting another trip north booked: donnie@ohft.org.uk
@@caorach3354 Sounds like a plan for the 2023 season.
@@pauljohnsontwonoviceangler6170 It would be a great adventure :-) One positive about Lewis is that most of the brown trout fishing is free and there is a lot of it plus the ferry isn't too expensive compared to, for example, the ferries on the Irish Sea. Also the angling associations offer good value salmon and sea trout fishing. So the fishing does not have to cost you much at all. There is very low fishing pressure and so local anglers and the clubs are usually more that willing to show visitors the good spots and encourage them to fish etc. The down side with the brown trout fishing is that you have to find the fish as there are 1000 lochs to chose from so you have to explore - almost all of them hold trout but finding that secret loch stuffed full of 5lb fish is not easy :-)
Had the same jet fighter experience up the river dochart actualy blew me of my feet ...got a bit o a fright💩 🤣
This one wasn't super close but they aren't as common as they used to be and I was in a little "valley" part of the river so it just appears with a wave of noise, and vanished. Great to see them despite the shock it gave me.
I don't think the fish was foul hooked. It's likey that took your fly and came unhooked, but not until he had wrapped himself up in your leader, meaning that the fly had nowhere to go but into his flank. Well done.
I honestly don't know what happened in that the fish didn't feel foul hooked until towards the end of the scrap but there is no question it was foul hooked by the time i was netting it. I was fishing a floating line and very tiny flies as the water was low, with salmon flies sizes don't always mean much but if they had been trout hooks I'd guess you'd have said they were size 14. The take looked good and you can even hear it sounds like it slurped the fly down :-) I'm not too worried as it is about the day out and I had a great day out but it was certainly weird. Interestingly I've had a few foul hooked salmon, I've another video from this year (not published yet) where I lose one that was foul hooked: I tried not to net it and the first fish in this video was also foul hooked: ruclips.net/video/OmFgF5rdsTk/видео.html
@@caorach3354 aye, foul hooked fish feel totally different. like you said though, though, the day on the river is more important than the catch.
Not much to say other than try the hang down ,gives the fish a moment to get the fly
I'm not sure I know what a hang down is but to be honest I don't think anything would have prevented this as if you watch the fish had "risen" and gone down again before I felt it and lifted the rod, you can actually hear the splash if you listen carefully. Initially the fish didn't feel like it was foul hooked which kind of caught me out and I'm not clear how it managed to end up hooked on its back. Stuff like that happens and in a way it is part of the fun and excitement of fishing.
Is there ever anyone else on the river? It would appear you always have the place to yourself
Fishing pressure is relatively light on Lewis even on association waters so I believe there was another angler fishing this river on this day but I didn't see him, we have about 1000 brown trout lochs and 30 - 40 salmon or sea trout systems so it is rare we all end up in the same place. I also, generally, don't include other anglers in the videos just in case they might object so some days I do see other people but I simply don't include it in the video. Also some of the areas I fish very strictly limit the number of anglers. To be honest I quite enjoy bumping into other anglers now and again for a chat so sharing a fishing hut, or the shelter of a peat bank, with the legendary Robbie Bell or the Super Stoat can be as much part of the day out as the fishing.
I tend to never fish floating line or tip and just use a smaller fly when the speed of the fly get slower when the waterlevel have dropped. I do however fish large rivers here in Norway so there is quite a difference in size. i go all the way down to size 14 hookflies even in the big rivers here where the average fish is around 12 pounds through the entire season and about 6500 salmon caught the 3 months the season lasts.
On these smaller rivers it is sometimes useful to keep the flies out of rocks where the stick up etc. Also a common cast would be an orange muddler on the top with a silver stoat on the point and you want the muddler to skate a bit on the surface. The floater is very useful for both these things and many people would fish very successfully the whole season through with a floater.
@@caorach3354 Yep i use various hitch, bomber/tchernobyl ants too on the smaller rivers but very rarely in the big ones.
@@MrKveite1 Yes on Lewis the Orange Muddler has been the "go to" bob fly for salmon for years and I guess it was our version of the hitch thing that is now becoming quite popular it seems. It works well in a good wave on the loch especially but can also be very effective on the river.
Is this the grimestar?
I am afraid that if I haven't named the place where I am fishing then I am not going to do so. I don't claim to represent any of the estates or waters where I fish and might not be saying things that the fishery owners would agree with so for that reason I simply don't name the waters. Other people might make a guess, or might express views relating to a named fishery but, apart from with the angling club waters, I will try to avoid that. This isn't because I believe I know some big secret, I don't, but is simply because I don't own this fishery and don't wish to misrepresent it. I am going to assume that you are interested in the Grimersta (Abhainn Ghriomarastaidh) fishery and if so you can contact them via their web site: www.grimersta.com/ For more general info then the Hebrides have a fisheries promotion officer based on Lewis and he can give you lots of info on salmon, sea trout, and brown trout fishing on Lewis so be sure to drop him an email: donnie@ohft.org.uk