We have been witnessing a good quantity of fish in the past few months. Certainly a very good sea-trout run and within this decent salmon and grilse. The river condition has been inconsistent with lifts of not necessarily clear water ! quite often suspended matter which can be off putting. The local view of this state of affairs is please do not give up ! The Tyne has not been the clearest of rivers its no Tweed nor Spey and for various reasons and in the past not good ones,add to this a combination of a peaty moorland colour stain , farming and other run off. As an ex scuba diver I donned a mask and snorkel a few years back in the pools expecting to see shoals of amazing salmon, alas even on a clear bright day the visibility is not what you might expect all I had was a few feet and nothing seen. Don’t be deterred keep at it, fish your lure high in the water and move it, the fish can see way more that we think.
When adult salmon enter the oceans they have to adjust their vision from very shallow waters into much deeper where the light is greatly diminished and the colour spectrum changes and red and black creatures predominate making them in theory invisible.
The fact that salmon can feed and sense at great depths probably means they can see more than we assume so don’t be downhearted if the river is coloured!
In the past few weeks we had a great time with our regulars on the water, Guy H and his team hard at it ably guided by Barry Mitchell lots of dogs good banter and hope springs as ever eternal. Two salmon appeared to be on but somehow got off ! One morning I took over from Barry and joined John (a guest of Guy) he got into a few in the hut pool with a good run on but none stuck dammit, we just gritted our teeth and carried on. Meanwhile Lady M caught a lovely sea trout above us proving women are just better at most things ! Their trip promised more but we just didn’t quite hit into the fish, nothing anyone could do the salmon were taking short.
Neil his son Sam and Tony D were on the waters next and with great anticipation I assured them the beat was full of fish and that they only had to flick a fly on the water and it would be easy! (oh well !) Barry Mitchell took charge and we saw many fish they tried all manner of stuff but only Sam had what appeared to be a slow long pull from a fish in the pump. Sam is still new to it and possibly was bemused rather than hit it so after discussions we reviewed it and said there will be a next chance! Sure enough the following day his first salmon, great effort Sam you showed us all how to do it.
A fantastic achievement Sam’s first ever salmon
Dave W and Graeme took the lodge and the beat in early July they were set up for a cracking few days as there were a good number of sea trout running so they focused their efforts on them wisely. Dave W had a couple of salmon on one a very good one that parted company in view of Graeme and the other just on then off. They re grouped and decided to have a late evening and early morning go at the sea trout. Sport at last fish taking on and off and 4 caught a few good sized ones at that. The conditions chilled and the other evenings were just too cold and what promised to be a tremendous few days was somewhat dulled by the Northumbrian weather!
Our last team took the whole of the second week in July and combined complete beginners and expert fly fishers. Barry Mitchell fly casting tuition for a group of graduates and meanwhile Phil and his friends covering the pools of Farnley and Grey Court. In truth the river was now crying out for water and it was very very hard going. Dr Phil sent me a lovely report :
“Only three sea trout from Farnley and three from Grey Court. We almost made it that we had no blank days both Chris and I lost fish on the Saturday. Other highlights include a salmon on in the Pump, pulls most days often with salmon jumping afterwards a reasonable number of fish seen”
thanks Phil and yes will split your fishing up nest year just need to see who might swap around! Come on rains please help liven things up…