In this modern era it seems that many of the younger generation who try the pursuit of salmon fishing are clearly only content with instant gratification where objectives are laid out bare for them to hand pick and revel in. Scottish salmon fishing has never been easy as far as I can ever recall and even back in the 1970's I remember blanking on the rivers much more often than succeeding. Through a natural Piscean river passion and a notable professional career in this pursuit I sucessfully market 'Scottish salmon fishing' and not 'Scottish salmon catching' but sometimes guests who were never given or requested the guarantee of a fish feel the urge to write a hit piece when they blank after every effort was 'concientiously' made to give them the very best chance of success. They say the golf course reveals the true character of a person but I'd say a salmon river is a far better psychologist!
Salmon fishing has never been an instant gratification kind of business compared with other easier caught less prestigious and more predictable target species. The potent shot of 'Salmo Salar' adrenalin from contact with a salmon has an uncanny knack of mentally deleting the often many hours (or days) of searching! My late River Tay ghillie mentor Willie Laird who I was very fortunate to fish with in the 1970’s as a boy used to describe the lean times as ‘soul destroying’ and there were generally more fish about back in his era between the 1930’s to 1980’s. Salmon are a wild, 100% natural and often ‘cyclical’ species so even the best crystal ball would struggle to predict the outcome of any one fishing day, week or month. This year there’s been generally a lack of water which continued much longer than anyone expected right through the Summer months. One of the lower River Spey beats this Summer was producing as many as 200 fish per week as the entire Spey run decided to stop and hold down there! On other upstream more famous Spey salmon beats a lot of the professional ghillies will be glad this season will soon be over! Last Thursday a guest of ours on the River Tay hooked and landed a 32 pounder within hours of ever touching a salmon rod highlighting the fact sometimes being in the right place at the right time beats all the angling skill in the world! My own personal mind set throughout my professional career (even when absolutely on top of my riverbank tactical, spiritual and youthful persistent energy game) was that every blank day got me one day closer to a perfect salmon capture and that is the correct and only way to view this special pursuit.
Like most worthwhile pursuits or achievements in life whether it be business or pleasure there's usually always going to be failure before success is achieved. Salmon fishing on the Scottish rivers is and has never been any different so anyone who's going to have their entire day, holiday or year trashed by 'blanking' should a completely wild creature that has migrated all the way back from Greenland dare not surrender itself in the fisher's landing net on the fishing day of their choosing should stay well clear of this glorious yet often challenging pursuit and stick to heavily stocked trout ponds or lochs where success is virtually guaranteed. This is the 'King of Fish' and not the 'Pussy of Fish' and to succeed in this business it takes a healthy positive mental attitude, a good set of ears (when guided) and some good old fashioned persistency paired with the ability to 'man up' and take the inevitable defeats on the chin as part of the evolution to success and not get broken hearted like a spoiled child in need of some effective parenting.
Treating professional guides or ghillies with some basic courtesy and respect is always going to make a salmon fishing guest's day more pleasurable (for both parties too) and will dramatically increase the guest's chances of catching salmon. A completely rude 'I know best' approach to any seasoned salmon fishing guide from a brand new and often inexperienced salmon fisher is 'illogical' and completely diminishes the ability of the guide or ghillie to steer the guest onto a fish via his hard earned career feel for the 'mood' of the river. I've seen this often and seldom will an unharmonious guide/guest relationship produce a salmon proving the customer is 'never' right on a salmon river! All salmon fishing guests have a responsibility to extend basic courtesy to their guide or ghillie and take onboard the instructions and all professional advice issued. This is also 'imperative' for riverbank safety reasons too and I've seen guests being literally washed away in need or resue needlessly risking both party's lives after refusing to listen to the wading safety advice they were given.
I was once asked by a BBC Radio reporter what was the main attraction of standing all day beside a river in pursuit of a fish that may or may not cooperate. I replied that 'river therapy' in my opinion was the real attraction. There is no doubt in my mind that the beautiful God given natural splendour of the Scottish riverbank environment paired with the fresh air and hyptonic flow of the stream is a very powerful proposition. Take these natural attributes and pair them with the 'chance' of an adrenalin inducing encounter with Neptune's finest marine creature that can completely captivate any angler's mind for days or even months before the next fishing day attempt and there you have the real attraction of Scottish salmon fishing.
One of my mentors the late Peter Anderson was a globally renowned salmon fisher and exhibition caster with both salmon & trout rods. His skills with a fly rod needed to be seen to be truly appreciated and unlike the general management of Scottish salmon rivers he was way ahead of his time with his 'factual' thoughts on how best to manage the wild Scottish salmon resource via proven traditional 'river husbandry' techniques. I vividly recall Peter describing how easy it was to catch salmon in the River Tay's old Newtyle Beat fishing hut when asked by a fishing guest. Peter simply stated' Atlantic salmon are the easiest fish of all to catch' before pausing for a few seconds and then saying the word 'sometimes'! For me, that was the best description of this fine pursuit I'd ever heard or will ever likely hear again!
To make this clear to all potential Scottish salmon fishers whether new to fishing or whether from a background pursuing different more easily captured fish species. My professionally earned advice is to stay positive during the full course of the fishing day whether a salmon has been seen or not as sometimes they won't show until they are hooked! Never assume salmon are not present or cannot be caught in any water or weather conditions as you should already know what 9/10's of all assumptions are! If you've had the fortitude to hire a professional guide don't shrug your shoulders like a frustrated child if you've not succeeded after an hour or so or talk completely irrelevant nonsense about your prior successes at catching oceanic baitfish! Embrace the challenge, focus on the new fishing skills you've been taught and for God's sake bin any possibility of your mind transmitting a negative 'frustration fuelled' thought spark jumping from your immature predatory mind all the way up your rod and down the wet line where a salmon could intercept that negative charge as they will and always have been supersensitive and will shy away from it on every occasion!
