COLUMN: Perseverance is the name of the game when it comes to fishing
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Northern Lines by Dr Keith Williams
Salmon catches have been particularly poor across Scotland this year, leading me to prepare myself for a long wait to get off the mark.
Thankfully, my recent fishing on the Carron provided me with my first, long anticipated, fish of the season. The sense of satisfaction was enhanced by familiar surroundings and the use of a rod and reel that have a lot of sentimental value.
Despite putting in relatively few hours of effort, a combination of good river conditions and a little knowledge of the beat I was fishing combined to allow me to meet the fish I was searching for. Sometimes, it is better to be lucky than good.
Normally I would have a variety of guests fishing alongside me during the week most of whom know the beat well. This year, however, a combination of illness and family issues prevented the usual friends from joining me.
Rather than let the fishing go to waste, I invited a local lad to take advantage of the opportunity. Joe Polson has been more than keen on his fishing for many years and fishes the Kyle during the summer school holidays. Happenstance was on his side and my week of fishing coincided with the Easter school break.
In stark contrast to myself, Joe put in many hours fishing without initial success. Despite casting a very tidy line, he did not have so much as an offer for the first five days. To make matters worse I added a second fish to my tally when demonstrating a certain way of fishing.
I like to catch a salmon as much as anyone – but there are times when you just wish somebody else would catch a fish rather than yourself. This was one of them.
Many seasoned anglers would have despaired and let their enthusiasm dwindle. Undaunted, Joe suggested we start fishing an hour earlier on the Saturday, our last day to fish. Shortly before lunch, his perseverance was rewarded with a fine fish of around 9lb on the same fly that I had caught a fish on earlier in the week. I was delighted to net it for him.
The floodgates were now well and truly open and a second, similar sized fish, was landed by him in the afternoon. Luck in fishing ebbs and flows without apparent reason but times of plenty and of dearth always end eventually.
If I have learnt one thing about salmon fishing it is that lean times must be fished through, and efforts redoubled. This is not a lesson that Joe will have to learn: already perseverance is his watchword.
Dr Keith Williams is the director of Kyle of Sutherland Fisheries.
