After all the rain, cancelled fairs and a week on the Dee, finally
it was back to the River Spey this week. The first half of this week I have
looked after a group of guys from Latvia and two from Austria and the latter
half of the week, the same Latvians, an, elderly English gentlemen and a Zimbabwean.
How things change on the river! Who would have ever believed 25 years ago, we
would have seen such a mix of nationalities fishing the river. It’s really
strange how the luck is spread around though! On a week where the river is beginning
to fill up nicely, fish are showing in ever increasing numbers, and being
caught on a regular basis, why is it, within a group, there always seems to be
a lucky and unlucky person! Why can one
group member hook 7 fish in one session and another, equally good angler, hook
none at all? And this same story is played out for 3 days! Right place at the
right time springs to mind, but there is also a lot more to this than meets the
eye!
Anyway, this was exactly what happened and is continuing to
happen this week. After 3 days without as much as a pull, one chap heads home,
his place taken by another fisherman, not such a consistent caster, but full of
enthusiasm. One morning in the river and his reward, a nice grilse of around 5
lbs! Why indeed? An interesting question which, in the case of salmon, I
stopped asking myself long ago!
Although suffering from Parkinson’s, the Gentleman in
question, is somewhat of an inspiration! Having come to learn to cast earlier
this year, he feels he must come back to put his new found skills to the test
by trying to catch a salmon. Now, for us able bodied folks, a trip north on the
plane followed by a taxi journey to the hotel, placing yourself in the hands of
people you have met only once may be like water of a ducks back, but to a guy
of 81 years young, such a trip on your own must be fairly daunting. Not a bit
of it! Although frail on the outside; on the inside the spirit is nothing short
of fantastic, for me, like I say, a real inspiration. How fortunate to be paid
to be in the company of character full of charm and wit, someone totally relaxed,
confident and happy within himself! Put a guy such as this in the right place
at the right time and you just know a salmon is around the corner. Relaxed and
confident is something which, funnily enough, can be found in young people too.
At the other end of the salmon fishing age spectrum we find
someone at the age of 13, the son of a good
friend of mine landing a 27lb fish, the thrill and excitement of catching this
fish will never leave him, nor for that matter, will the experience of being
with his father when that happened. For the older guy, the person sharing this
moment with him, although different, is equally important, as is the experience
memorable.
To those looking on, salmon fishing is about standing in a
cold river, rain dripping from our nose and running down our neck, but to those
who know, share and understand it, salmon fishing is the “ultimate hunting
experience” shared by people of all ages, social backgrounds and the world over.
Andrew Edey and Proud Dad John with his Fantastic 27lb Salmon
.JPG)
Māris Olte with a nice fish from the Brae Water
John Thompson With his 5 lb Grilse from the Spey
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