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Regret Missing a Salmon after Hooking

This morning Ken Sawada finally succeeded in hooking a salmon at, so called, ‘the most difficult’ spot. He pulled the fish which ran more than 100m. Then, oh dear, the hook came off.
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This spot is famous for failing in catch after hooking. The heart of the stream is on both side and we make the fly drift from its top. Most salmon bite the fly in the middle of it. Then they ran straight downstream briskly, feeling no water resistance. If we hook a big salmon, we will barely land it.

But salmon often bite here. That is the trouble. We have been thinking all the time how to fish this spot successfully. It does not matter how long we spend the time to solve the problem.

Today it was very fine, indeed. Salmon were not eager to bite. The water temperature in the morning was 6 ℃. The river had high water from the morning because yesterday’s daytime temperature rose nearly to 20 ℃ and snow melting was quickened.
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We used the larger fly, regular pattern for high water. But salmon, which were supposed to make moving, paid no attention to the fly. Ken changed it into a small tube fly. A salmon bit the new tube fly at his first casting.

But the bite was not so strong. In spite of perfect hooking the hook came off. When the fish are rare, we deeply regret that we miss one, even one, after hooking. He said it was not so big, judging from the feeling of hooking. Nevertheless we felt discouraged to learn that even a small fish ran away after hooking.
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We fished Bridge Pool, the famous spot at the upper reaches, for the first time in this season. We aimed at salmon which were supposed to come upstream in last week but the river was completely calm.

In the evening we came back downstream and waited for salmon. We only saw several jumps but got no hooking. The water temperature rose to 9 ℃. We enjoyed a quiet mood of fishing except for no catch.

Gradually more and more salmon have come upstream. We have not got a sense of fishing empty pool any more, unlike last week. Our feeling has been changed from ‘no catch because of no fish’ into ‘no bite from fish in front of us’. What big difference! We realize that in the end of the day. Tomorrow we will catch!


ROD: KS SW 1712H, KS SW ROGNES, KS SS 1712D_H
REEL: KS THE HONEYCOMB Salmon II, KS SU Salmon II Burgundy
LINE: DST-12-S Type II, Type III, DSS-12/13-I, DST-12-S Intermediate
FLY: Shimmer Pattern, Rosemary, Black Fairy
HOOK: ST4 #4, XD1 #2
Weather:Fine
TEMP A: 9-23℃
TEMP W: 6.0-9.0℃
Volume of Water: 260-180m³/sec