Professional career based salmon fishing advice about how to fish for salmon on bright light days.
During bright light conditions in the early months of January, February & March when the river is still running cold from snow melt from the hills you should be targeting the top 3 feet of the water column and no deeper than that. Remember that the warmth of the sunlight on a salmon's dark back from a bright day during early Spring is the temperature trigger that gets salmon active and on the move. When cold water running fish stop and can be caught they'll also be positioned high up in the warmer river thermals and not down deep in the colder water (contrary to popular belief). On the hydro dam fish ladder on the River Tummel in Pitlochry I've seen the hard evidence of salmon holding high up in the early Spring cold water column during the early Spring months with the sun on their backs and then holding down deep near the bottom later on in the Spring in the warmer water conditions.
Once April arrives and the rivers start to warm up a bit more that's the time to consider going deeper and more so when the warm water of Summer & early Autumn arrives which forces resident salmon down to the bottom of the pools where naturally the cooler water is to be found. The video of this salmon being played by one of our guided salmon fishing guests (during a very hot & bright September day) was shot when several anglers had gone through the pool beforehand with the conventional robotic high water column approach with no success. This fish was hooked on our first attempt at the pool by swimming and sinking the fly right down in amongst the resident salmon in 8 feet of water. When you've been in this business long enough you'll start to think like a salmon after you realise exactly how they behave throughout the varying water temperatures and river conditions. If you want to take more professional advice on how to advance your salmon fishing skills to a higher level then book a professional salmon guide in Scotland to assist you.
