Atlantic Salmon are a fish everyone wants to catch. They are known for being strong, resilient fish that continue to make it despite various environmental and self created challenges we place on the fish by commercial fishing, catch and kill mentalities in certain waters, and invasive species we introduced.
That said, many people never take the shot at chasing an Atlantic Salmon, and for understandable reasons. A quick Google search is likely to deter anyone with astronomical rates and limited availability for most well known fisheries being the norm, and an overly regulated, private, and “rich” feel to the fish as a whole, all of which directly contradicts what most fishing demographics are about. So they move on.
I’m not one to give up though, and over the years have gotten my shots after extensive scheming to chase these fish, with each time adding to my likeness for the fish. What other fish takes dry flies and can weigh upwards of 30 pounds in a clean river setting?
When I first started fishing for Atlantic Salmon, I wanted to do it with dry flies and went into it committed to that task. What I found though is that this was a grind, throwing a large sized 2-8 heavily hackled dry fly blind all day, with sometimes only 1-2 looks a day. It was discouraging, and caused me to become a more mixed method salmon angler to cover the bases.
One of the biggest challenges in chasing Atlantics on the surface is the limited feedback you get. You don’t know what is working, or what isn’t, because on most trips you don’t get many strikes period. Atlantics are scientifically confirmed to be non-eating fish when they enter rivers, so any strike you get is an instinctual response rather than an attempt to capture food. Beyond that, even on strong run rivers the fish are relatively sparse in terms of how they are scattered, with 10-15 fish in a pool on a medium to large sized river being a good situation. This further adds to the challenge, though reading the water does allow you to target the likely area(s) these fish are going to hold.
Recently, I was fortunate to fish the Restigouche River in New Brunswick Canada, which was a clear medium sized river that was approximately 150-200 feet wide. We landed 25 adult salmon in 4 days between the two of us, which was not only thrilling but very educational on what the fish want from my perspective. A large part of my success was due to the clarity, which was crystal clear, and allowed me to see the fish I was throwing to before I hooked them. This added benefit allowed me to learn a lot about how the fish responds to presented flies, and what to do to trigger strikes. These are a few things I picked up on:
PUTTING THE FLY RIGHT ON THE FISH HELPS AND MOST STRIKES COME WITHIN THE FIRST FOOT OF THE DRIFT
Being first and foremost a trout fisherman, I have overtime come to fish in a way that extends my drifts and tries to keep the fly “fishing” as a long as possible. What I realized in watching the Atlantics on the Restigouche respond to my fly however is that the fish decide immediately whether they are going to take your fly, and to get their attention you need to put it right on them. By right on them, I mean less than a foot above their face, with different landings ranging from soft and subtle to gradually getting obnoxious and splashy being the x-factor of what can trigger a take. Dead drifting from several feet above was very ineffective, with only a couple fish over a week’s time being taken with this type of presentation.
Applying this to less visible waters where clarity doesn’t allow you to see the fish, I now know that putting the fly where I think the fish is will be critical, rather than landing it above and floating it into the zone where I think the fish is as an instinctual trout habit. I also know to be ready the moment my fly hits the water, as the strikes come most times almost instantaneously with the moment the fly hits the water. Drift wise, noticing this has also caused me to end my drift within a matter of 1-2 feet after the fly hits the water. If the fish hasn’t taken by then, they likely aren’t going to. So you scatter your casts in short, efficient drifts to try and trigger strikes rather than cover the water with long drifts that won’t get touched after the fly has been on the water for too long.
PATTERN CHOICE IS A CONFIDENCE THING- BUT CHANGING FLIES QUICKLY IS NECESSARY AFTER COVERING THE FISH WITH A GIVEN FLY
It’s a strange feeling to be targeting a fish that isn’t eating. Most fish are, so you throw what they are foraging on. But with Atlantics, you are trying to draw a reaction, so that reaction is going to come at the beginning if it is going to happen. Initially, I challenged the traditional Atlantic Salmon approach to patterns and tried a variety of “new era” flies and designs, but found that these experiments did not produce. There is something to the colors and traditional fly design that works for these fish, and I now think after trying to reinvent the wheel that experimentation with non-proven fish catchers is not the best approach.
I think knowing the fish isn’t eating, and that you are drawing a reaction from the fish, requires a different approach on the water. When fishing a pool, I fish quickly, targeting the prime stretch of a given spot and quickly change flies within 1-2 passes through with a prior fly. If that doesn’t draw a strike, I tend to change colors before I change size, since I do think that size matters with these fish and that you need to dictate fly size based on the water flows/conditions that you have. If it is low, you stay small and change color/fly design. Opposite for high flows where you stay large on the fly and change color, etc.
Again, the benefit of seeing the fish on this recent trip allowed me to visually prove this out rather than just theorize about it. Most fish I caught were within 1-2 casts after showing them a given fly, and within 1-5 seconds after the fly had hit the water, proving the instinctual strike you are looking for in this fish comes immediately rather than 100 drifts later on the perfect 20 foot drift.
ANGLES MATTER
Sometimes, I’d spot a fish and found that changing the angle I casted from and/or landed the fly mattered in triggering a strike. I’d usually start from being even with the fish, putting it slightly above them, and then would walk around to present the fly from both an above and below them angle to give them different looks.
I’d also get more aggressive with my presentation after traditional dead drifts didn’t work. I’d purposefully add some slight drag on the fly to try and entice them if the dead drift didn’t draw a response, or even downright wake the fly over their head if subtle drag didn’t draw a response either. Key word being gradual. Sometimes doing the more aggressive presentations turned the fish off entirely, and forced me to move on. But on some occasions, this added element to the presentation caused the fish to rise and take my fly.
SUMMARY
Taken together, what I’ve learned from these fish is that you don’t approach a fish that is not feeding in the same way you approach a fish that is actively feeding in a given body of water. Wrapping your head around this is harder than one would initially think, as it seems odd that a fish would eat your fly for any other reason but for trying to eat. That said, Atlantic Salmon fishing is not the equivalent of trying to snag or line a King Salmon on a great lake tributary. The fish have a natural instinct in them to take flies, and the takes are real and vicious, rather than subtle and unintentional as you often see on the great lake tribs and other non-eating fish environments. The fish is also as stunning as advertised, and when you get one in the net you truly are grateful to have been a part of that process. And the fish can be realistically chased by those that don’t have the millionaire budget, which is what I’m here for.
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