food for thought

i have come to a dilemma as my main tool that i have been using this year with all this high water to catch salmon has been the fantastic flying c and fantastic it is as a fish catcher but this is my dilemma their has been 2 fish and no returns and its not for the lack of commitment in returning fish although my first fish of the season i always keep for the mother inlaw ,but even if i had wanted to return that fish i could not have done it as it had took the lure deep and was bleeding profusely and today with another fish of around 6lb which i was looking to return and yet again it had been badly hurt by the treble hooks on the flying c which was very sad to see, so I'm wondering is this quite common with this type of lure as the damage that was done today was to the gill plates which if damaged in any major way their is no chance of survival i don't think as this is what I've always been told so reluctantly i had to dispose of another salmon with only one person smiling out of the sad situation and that's the mother inlaw oh well at least it is not going to waste on the riverbank ,but i must admit it is sad to see such a lovely fish dieing in such an awful way I'm thinking of putting on only a single hook on my flying c from now on and seeing how that works out as i know of others who have done that and it has worked for them so i think i owe it to the fish to at least give it a go as i don't think i can justify the use of trebles on them any longer ,give me your thoughts please.......

Pondering if i should go or not

with the river level being very high I'm sitting here pondering if i should take the chance and go try my luck with the tool being my spinning gear and a flying c hmmmm!!! ,is it to high or will their be fresh fish on the take like the other week when the river was high i managg-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ed to bank myself a nice grilse on the flying c which was black with a red head and gold blade ,the real dilemma is that i don't have available transport at hand were i can just step down stairs and climb into the front seat turn the key and foot to the floor or i would already be on my way their now, no its a sad journey in get yer self seen fishing gear that the whole world want to have a good giggle at not that i really mind as I'm going fishing and when I'm going nothing really matters ,but when I've got to get one bus then the other that's when it get to this point of should i or should i not and again hmmmm!!! ,so i go over what i need to take to be able to cover a session using spinning gear and yes i could probably keep it very light with only 5-6 flying c and my rod and reel with my waders and then of course i should take some worms just in case and then it takes over ,I'm talking of the madness that is compulsive tackle worry that you wont have the said stuff to enjoy your outing so i then add worm and hooks and weights and that means two boxes of tackle to be added to my bag and now I'm packed and I've not even made up my mind if I'm going ,of course i am ain't i,am i and then one last look at water levels on the sepa site just in case it has changed ,so i have checked the sepa site i know the river is high and probably unfishable and now i have no more excuses i have to make a decision will i go or not ,,,and then my final decision,,"i might " tell you later if i went or not...well it is now 9.30 pm and guess what i didn't go as i thought it through again and realised that if the rain stays off tonight then tomorrow would be a good day for the flying c and the worm so ill keep the bag loaded and set off as early as permitted too by the misses ,got to be keeping on her side as I'm getting a nice wee 100 quid bonus for gear and don't want to rock the boat as I've got my eye on one or two things id like and what i buy ill let you in on a.s.a.p OK bye for now lads

a confession to make

well it was Sunday yesterday and i was fishing the usual haunt the kelvin and with my 9ft sierra fly rod i set out onto the water my set up was to the limit and i used a size 10 woolly bugger hoping to get one of those big trout that seem to come on the feed just after a period of heavy water as I've had a few at these times in the past ,anyway as i said i was wading into a run just behind the transport museum and had be have some fun enjoying casting my fly line into the now clearing waters of the kelvin and had only had about 4-5 casts when ,well you know don't you pull not a bang and i know what a slow but heavy sharp pull means and i was right ,i had just hooked my first salmon on the fly and off it went across to the far bank when it seemed as if it was quite willing to commit suicide rather than give itself into me as it propelled its self out the water and nearly onto the embankment on the far side what a sight it was and then it made a screaming run up into faster water were it try,d to hold itself low and deep which i knew i had to stop as i could not rest this fish i was trying to get it in so i could release the fish but the fight on the small 9ft rod seemed to begetting the better of me never mind the salmon or it may just have been a lack of expertise in the playing and landing of larger fish on fly fishing gear as i wanted to touch the fish as it meant i had caught it but i was worried all along i would end up having to kill an exhausted fish which sadly turned out to be the case as when i managed to bank the fish with another guy and his son around the fight had already took over ten minutes and on gathering the salmon to remove the hook i noticed the hook was stuck fast into the back end of its tongue which was now detached from the bottom of the jaw i then did what i thought was best and chapped the said fish on the head ,the fish weighed around 6lb and made my day and showed a great account of himself and why we all love to catch these wonderful fish as they are fantastic..