I was fortunate to have some fishing come my way on the Upper Beauly last week, at a favourable daily rate, and after some phoning around/messaging etc three of us were booked for the Monday.
Unfortunately our 'third' rod had to drop out at the last minute so it was left to Euan and I to do our best. We soldiered on.....
We were on the lower half of the beats in the morning, which suited me as my favourite pool is on that section. Not long after we started Euan had a nice Brownie of about 2lbs which christened his new Salmon rod nicely, the way that rod bent made me think he was maybe into a Grilse. It became clear we were losing water rapidly and as part of a hydro system that's not surprising, they can go up and down like a bloody yo-yo at times. I walked around to get up to the head of the pool where I'd seen a decent fish move...... just as my 'prototype' fly swung round everything locked up and all hell broke lose. I shouted on Euan who made his way upstream and courtesy of his camera:
I was glad I upped to my 13'7" Mackenzie Atlas, the rod I had used earlier might have struggled as this fish was having none of it.....
I have never - I do mean never - had a Salmon spend as much time in the air as this fish, Euan caught this cracking piccie:
After a spectacular fight from a strong fish this was the reward:
And released successfully back to the river:
It was a great day but the river did that whole yo-yo thing and whilst we both touched other fish during the day, this was the only Salmon landed.
Great day, great company
H