On the hunt for elusive springers - February fishing

The Salmon fishing season in the UK starts as early as 11th January on some of the most northern rivers of the British Isles including the Rivers Naver, Helmsdale, Halladale and Carron to name but a few. Catching a fresh fish in the early season months of January, February or March is the more difficult bit, albeit the ultimate reward in Salmon fishing. If you're able to hunt down an elusive springer and then lure it in to taking your fly, you are likely to have on the other end of your rod, a sparkling silver, blue, purple sheen of a fresh Salmon straight from the sea. The fish could we have sea lice on it which, as they drop off within a few days of being in freshwater, show just how fresh from the ocean the Salmon is. It's also likely to be in top condition if its missed the potential danger from seals, dolphins and predatory birds coming in, together with it's peak physical condition, the cold water and likely decent flows providing oxygen will give you one heck of a fight to land it.

Lenny enjoying some unseasonal sunshine in early February on the banks of the River Dee, Scotland. Fishing in the Spring for Atlantic Salmon can be summed up with patience and persistence. It's likely that you can go all day without seeing a fish let alone catching one. It requires hundreds, if not thousands of casts and letting it drift round slowly again and again. The times it pauses and you wait for it to tighten but it's just another snag, you need to remain patience so the one time it is a fish, you don't pull the fly from its mouth. The cold weather, the wind, the rain and the lack of fish around mean you have to be persistent in this game. Occasionally, you might have the quick heart flutter from a kelt (last years run of Salmon) and if you're lucky, the elusive Springer.

One of last years fish washed up on the bank, hopefully it spawned and aided the continuation of the Salmon lifecycle. My brother and I set out with a mission this year - to catch a February Springer! It was mainly due to personal circumstances (a baby on the way for me, meaning less time on the river bank imminent) and my brothers job as a river Naver bailiff starting on 1st April. We were both time constrained in a way and we both love a good challenge, so we made a plan. A three day trip to Scotlands finest spring Salmon river - the River Dee and then a further 4 days on the River Spey (although 2 of these days would fall in to March). So, we had our chance which was 6 days of prime Scottish Salmon fishing in February. We'd need to fish hard and long, be tactile, persistent and patient. Our first trip to the Dee was actually the first time we've been fishing together without our motorhome which is how we usually go. We crammed everything in to my brothers Toyota Yaris including the dog, who of course requires the entire row of seats in the back and set off to Scotland. We stayed in Aboyne and fished the mid river beats, in most circumstances looking to get their first fish of the season. We had some amazing weather for February, albeit mainly sunny, the river was at a fishable level and it was around 6 degrees so perfectly tolerable. The beats we fished were Woodend, Kincardine and Birse. I think they're all great beats with lovely water and beautiful surroundings. We had a great time on the first day, getting out there after the long off season and it was very sunny which made it pleasant to be outside. we mainly fished the Moral pool and long pool at Woodend, connecting with plenty of kelts in the long pool but no springers, it was a good chance to blow the dust off and have a cast. In the evening, we met up with Iain 'fishmonger' Wilson and some of his pals, they all fish at a really high level and it was really interesting to hear their fishing stories. They'd been fishing on the lower river at Invery and Tilqhuillie but had nothing either. For day 2, we went to Kincardine, it is a beat I like and always think has some great pools but difficult wading in places, the boat pool, village pool, calm pool and claypot are some of my favourites. A fish lost here but I'm pretty sure it was a kelt so no big deal, I've found the kelts must follow it round on the drift and when you start to retrieve it in, it triggers some aggression in them and they often take then. It was again a nice day to be out and we say some springers head and tailing up the margins of the village pool, I was fishing this at the time but noticed it would be very hard to get the fly in front of where they were coming through. The flow didn't really take the fly in to the final 10 feet or so of the bank where the fish were running, it goes to show where to target and also some merit in targeting pinch points which they will have to pass by. Day 3, we finished off at Birse, it's a lovely beat with a knowledgable and motivational Ghillie, Drew Paterson always keeping you right. We were the only 2 rods (4 maximum) on the beat and concentrated our efforts on the lower portion. Birse is a long beat with over 3 miles of water if I remember correctly, they have some lovely pools with a lot of variety. My brother, Alex had a chance, something hooked early on that pinged the hook, Drew was sure it was a springer as it rolled on the surface, we'll never know. We spent the rest of the day back to relentlessly casting, slow drift, 2 steps, next pool and repeat, we ended the day with a couple of kelts but no springer. I felt Birse was our best chance, Dess who shares the opposite bank had 2 fish that week so it was looking like a likely resting spot for the fish. I should mention, we saw nearly nobody else fishing this week, quality beats on the other side of Commonty, Carlogie and Dess with seemingly no rods. It makes me think that although there's few fish accounted for in February, the rod pressure is light and I wonder how much those numbers would alter if beats were rodded daily. Our set up was pretty similar throughout the week, we both fished our new RJC rods (www.rjcflyrods.com) which was excellent, a real quality, hand crafted and customisable rod, I love mine. Set up wise, we had a mix of floating lines and a fast sink poly leader tip (5 IPS or 7 IPS) or a 3D sinking line for the deeper pools. Fly wise, I was using a gold bodied willie gunn or a Dee monkey and my brother using purely the latter. I'm less convinced in the Spring that the fly choice is as important as size of the fly, speed and depth, I concentrated efforts on fishing slower and deeper, making sure to let it come right round on the drift sometimes adding movement to the fly by sawing (moving the rod back and forth).

Alex in to a Kelt on Wester Elchies, River Spey. Our next trip was to the River Spey, a river we haven't experience on, we once did half a day on the Grantown association water in 2020 but that's it. It is a river with some secrecy to it, fishers love it (and I now understand why) and catch returns, rods etc aren't often advertised. Our trip consisted of 2 days on Wester Elchies (Monday and Thursday) and 2 days on Orton (Tuesday and Wednesday). It was the end of February with Wednesday marking the 1st March so we had 2 chances to get a springer and all on new beats and a new river to us. I should also mention the value of fishing you can get in February, all the days I've mentioned in this blog post are between £30 - £65, it's hard graft but we connected with fish/kelts on every day but 2. Our first day on the Spey was at Wester Elchies and when we eventually found the beat hut and got fishing, we'd missed a portion of the day. It all made me a little less relaxed than usual as I'd been rushing to set up etc, also finding out the whole river had 3 fish up until this point (11-27 February), I did have a thought we might have been better sticking on the Dee which had had around 30 fish. Nevertheless, the fly water on Wester Elchies and the whole of the Spey I saw and fished was marvellous. It's a fairly shallow river with most of the pools you fish seeming to be between 3 and 6 feet deep, it's littered with big boulders giving many a spot for a resting fish and giving you some really interesting water to fish. My set up varied for this one, a floating line and a 4 IPS poly leader (10 foot), 4 feet of leader and a 1 1/2 inch copper tube gold bodied Willie Gunn on the business end, Alex had similar but a heavier tip 5 IPS and a lighter but similar size fly - a Kinnermony killer which was quite fitting as Kinnermony is the opposite bank. We fished out morning on the bottom half of the beat mainly in the boat pool, I touched nothing all morning. Alex hooked a kelt in the Boat pool and something else in The Rhynd (a lovely pool, a pig to wade and John Ashley Cooper agrees in his book). In the afternoon, we got fishing the pool outside their hut - Delagyle and I was shortly in to a decent fish. It fought well but was again a well mended Kelt (probably around 15 pounds or so when it came in, judging by its huge fins in comparison to its slim body). Whatever though, it felt good to get hold of something and I continued to fish down, almost right to the end, the slow drift round, coming toward the end of the drift, the line stops, it tightens, the reel pulls of a few intermittent inches, I clamp the line and lift up, fish on. It instantly jumps out of the water but its a way out, perhaps around 90 feet away and then it comes toward me so I'm not necessarily thinking its a springer. It's only after the fight advances and I just can't move this fish out of the flow, it doesn't want to come in, I start to think - it's a fish (fish is a fresh Salmon not a kelt). When I finally see it, I call it out loud, 'it's a fish', a beautiful iridescent mix, a translucent-ness and a silvery blue that looks like nothing else. The ghillie Sam slips the net underneath the fish after the powerful scrap, 'well done on your springer'. I was totally made up, it was a small fish of around 6 or 7 pounds but absoloubtly solid, a wee blue bullet with sea lice on its gills, showing its freshness.

My first February Springer I instantly tell my brother to fish on as I re enter the pool behind him, I'd love for him to catch his first February fish now as well and fish often run in multiples so hopefully, he can hook his big brother. Alas, nothing doing and we have a choice, repeat this pool where we've just landed a fish or explore the rest of the beat with 3 further pools. We go for the latter although, I dare say the odds on a springer were more likely in favour in staying in the same pool, who knows really though. the other pools at the top of the beat are Brock, Delene?! and Pol Macree. My brother hooked something in Brock, similar to what I was talking about earlier, a rock snag where you pull and then it starts moving.. It throws the hook shortly after. Sam shows us the final two pools and the time is about 4 30 so maybe an hour left at most, I go off to fish Delene and Alex is on Pol Macree, I can see him so its all good. Both are lovely pools and Pol Macree has some of the deepest water we've fished all day. It happens for Al, I hear the distant rumblings of an inexperienced 'splash and dash' angler (I joke) in to a fish. Immediately reeling in and running to him via the car to get the net. His fish is a good size and it's not showing but powerful head knocks and short runs. We are absolutely riding high at this point, what a day. It doesn't end badly, don't worry, I net the fish and what a beauty, short but thick and solid with a purple sheen along its flank. The fish weighs just over 10 pounds and upon return sets off like a steam train. We couldn't be happier, both of us had managed a February fish and on the same day, we're elated.

Als camera shy fish, just before it motors off for freedom. The rest of the trip is now in high hopes after an extremely memorable first day, we are sad to leave Wester Elchies as fish certainly seem to be stopping here. We nevertheless head over to Orton for a couple of days, the ghillies Phil and Andy are legendary here and made up for some less eventful fishing, in short, Orton has some lovely water but the fish were racing through whilst we were there, we didn't see anything on our 2 days or touch on anything. It wouldn't put me off returning one bit, it was just the time we had here and as I understand it, when this beat gets going, it can be prolific. I would love to visit Orton in another month or so in low water, my brother is heading back at the end of March so fingers crossed for him then. Another day on Wester Elchies was much anticipated and we were hoping for round 2 on from the Monday we had there. Whilst spending 2 days at Orton, another fish had been caught so it was very encouraging. My brother caught a Kelt in Brock and I lost something in The Rhynd (who knows what?!). It ended up with us fishing the boat pool in to dusk and trying all sorts, there's quite a few kelts in there so it always feels quite fishy. I was doing the longest most aggressive sawing actions in the end, as it crept round I was imagining this fly bobbing up and down a few feet at a time, something grabbed it eventually but didn't hook. I fished all the way down to the bridge, marking the bottom of their beat, I didn't want to leave, I enjoyed so much our early season fishing and knew at the time it will likely be June before I'm out again. My partner and I will welcome our daughter in to the world, that will be a whole new adventure and hopefully, as a family we can enjoy some fishing together some time soon. I hope you're encouraged to get out there for some early season fishing, it's tough but the rewards can be oh so worth it.

Tight lines, James