Top Tips for finding a resting spring fish on the River Spey

Firstly, the most important thing to find out is –

• The depth of water you are fishing.

• How near the surface/bottom fish are lying.

• Look at your pool, think where the fish may be lying and target that area of the pool to find the correct depth.

• Don’t have the fly fishing too deep in that particular area of the pool.

Some people don’t like using fast sinking lines and would rather use sink tips. Both are fine, as long as they have the desired effect, which is to get the fly in front of the fish. Although fresh fish, generally, are good takers, when the water is cold they are also tend to be quite lethargic, they won’t move too far for the fly. Look at your pool and think of yourself as a hunter, think, if you don’t get a fish you’ll go hungry! As long as the fish is at rest in your pool, at this time of the year you have a good chance of catching him/her. Having the fly in the correct area, fished at the correct depth, and at the correct speed are the three main factors. What you need to remember is – You must be right with all three of the above to be successful in the spring. Achieving 2 out of the 3 will cut your odds by at least 50%. This is why you see the same people catching fish when others don’t. If you don’t know the depth of the pool, ask someone who does. The most successful fishermen are always those with most local knowledge. By that I don’t mean Locals, I mean more knowledge of the locality!!

Top tips for catching a running spring fish on the River Spey

• Use a spinner, the more metal the better. Blair spoon is a great lure.

• If fishing with the fly, Fish many times with different flies over known resting spots.

• Don’t waste time in areas of the pool which fish well in the late spring and summer.

• After the fly has fished round, make the initial line retrieval slow and constant.

• Always fish your line out at the neck of a pool. Don’t miss the first 20 yards by stripping 20 yards of line off the reel.

Even if you’re not visiting the river this Spring, if you have one, please feel free to ask a question on the above, or any fishing related subject. If you don’t ask, you may never know!