Chris McCully chases spate-river salmon in Co Kerry.
IT WAS ON the Inny, a wonderful little spate river that bisects Co Kerry on its way to Waterville and the sea, that we almost invented a new salmon angling magazine. I was fishing down a long holding pool for the umpteenth time. The mind – what was left of it – was beginning to wander. What should we call it, this novel and mighty angling organ?
Bright Scales? Pretentious and absurd – no. Wild Angling? Three out of ten for self-regarding ambiguity – no. Total… Something? Maybe. The Total Fly-Rod? A bit 1990s, a bit Top Gear, so – no. Then I had it.
“Total Gonads,” I called over my shoulder to Gardiner, who was working down the pool behind me.
He thought for an instant. He’d obviously been watching my casting with a critical eye. “Total Gonads First Issue Special,” he announced to the Kerry winds. “Shamed by Your Spey Casting? Your Problems Solved by Our Team of Coneheads….”
The Inny is like many Irish and Scottish spate rivers in that there’s often limited space to back-cast. Even as Gardiner fell about laughing – he was laughing at my casting, not with it – I realised he’d hit on an essential angling truth: if you’re going to fish on the Inny or elsewhere for salmon then it’s useful to be a proficient fly-caster.
For years I’ve fudged it. On the occasions I’ve fished small spate rivers for salmon I’ve usually done so with a single-hander. Around me, and notably in Ireland, young salmon-fishers have turned up with double-handers and to a man and woman are able to cover the pools with enviably efficient varieties of cast–single and double speys, snap Ts, snake rolls. They fish with cliffs behind them and smile as they do it. They can cover every salmon-holding crease to the inch.
Denne historien er fra December 2017-utgaven av Trout & Salmon.
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Denne historien er fra December 2017-utgaven av Trout & Salmon.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Mr Goldhead And The Grayling
Lawrence Catlow fishes the rapidly recovering River Irfon in Powys.
Moody Beasts
Stan Headley searches for the elusive sea-trout of Loch Ailsh in the northwest Highlands.
Alone On The River
Cliff Hatton encounters a mighty Wye salmon.
Hop To It
Richard Donkin has a no-nonsense approach to tackle and amphibians.
River Blackwater
THE BLACKWATER rises in the boglands of County Kerry, and although the peaty tinge it carries gives rise to its name it also flows through limestone and that helps it to support a diverse range of fly-life which provides plenty of sustenance for salmon parr and trout. The river is one of Ireland’s most productive salmon fisheries, along with the River Moy.
Hampshire Avon
THERE CAN be few places in fishing more famous than the Royalty Fishery on the Hampshire Avon, even Mr Crabtree has fished its illustrious waters. Two seasons ago an enormous salmon of 40lb was caught in the spring at the Royalty and big salmon are regularly caught in the early months of the season.
A Strange Kind Of Magic
Charles van straubenzee introduces a salmon fly that combines the most unlikely colours and materials to deadly effect.
A Deep-Water Experiment
Stan Headley hatches a plan to catch three species of fish in one day at Loch Calder in Caithness.
Rutland's Old Warriors
James Beeson enjoys supercharged surface sport with Rutland Water’s fry-feeders.
Plucked From The Jaws
Looking for affordable back-end sport? Andrew Flitcroft recommends the challenging Chollerton beat on the North Tyne.
