For most salmon anglers the ultimate fish to catch is an early season springer. Sadly, nowadays spring salmon are few and far between. This is why anglers hold springers in such high esteem. In January and February the weather can be atrocious in Scotland. Driving snow, howling gales and fluctuating river levels are just a few of the conditions anglers regularly contend with in the hope of landing that early season salmon. Perseverance in such brutal conditions can pay rich dividends and to land a fish on the fly early in the season has to be the ultimate achievement.
Many anglers believe that a fresh springer is the easiest fish to catch but the most difficult fish to find. Because of this, it is important to cover the water and try and find a fresh fish. Spring salmon are usually good takers of the fly. If you are able to find and cover a fish successfully, there is a high probability of your line tightening. It is very important that you are well equipped in terms of tackle when fly fishing for salmon early in the season. This will firstly increase your chances of hooking a fish and also shift the odds in your favour when it comes to landing one. There is nothing worse than losing a fish of a lifetime due to a tackle oversight.
When considering the tackle required for early season salmon fishing two factors need to be taken into account. Firstly, the weather anglers have to contend with in their quest of landing an early season salmon can be extreme and so this often requires powerful long rods coupled with heavy lines. In addition to this, early season spring salmon are invariably very powerful, so it is important that your tackle is robust enough to cope with a prolonged and often savage fight.
The length of the rod you choose is often dictated by the size of river. A powerful salmon rod between fourteen to sixteen feet is usually sufficient. The rod needs to be powerful for a number of reasons. Firstly, if you are fishing in very windy conditions it can be advantageous to have a powerful rod to punch out the fly line. As we already discussed it is important to be able to cover as much water as possible when early season fly fishing and a powerful rod should enable you to do this.
The rod you choose should also be able to comfortably cast heavy sinking lines and weighted flies. In the early spring, river levels are usually high and the water is cold. In such conditions, sinking lines coupled with heavy tube flies are frequently used. It is therefore important to make sure that your rod has enough power to be able to handle this. The other factor to take into consideration is the fish itself. Early season spring salmon can be extremely powerful. If you hook a springer in high water with a strong current, you really need a rod which has a stiff action so you can control the fish. It is important that you are in control of the fish and not the other way around. Large spring salmon will regularly sit close to the river bed through the course of a fight and can prove difficult to move. So it is important that your rod is capable of handling such a situation.
The reel itself is also a very important piece of the tackle jigsaw when it comes to early season fishing. Probably the two most important features to look for in a reel are an adequate line capacity and also a good drag system. As we have already mentioned springers are very powerful fish and they can strip yards of fly line from your reel in matter of seconds. It is therefore important that your reel has got enough capacity to hold a decent amount of backing. I have seen a fellow angler lose a large spring salmon because he had run out of backing line. The fish had stripped off all his fly line as well as around the eighty yards of backing he had on his reel. Eventually all that was left connecting the fish to the reel was the backing knot. Unfortunately the fish broke the leader and the angler in question was heartbroken.
A good drag system on your reel is also very important. Having a good drag system on your reel coupled with a stiff rod ensures more control when you are playing a fish. A correctly set drag also ensures that the fight is not prolonged and can help tire the fish, especially if you get into a situation as described before when a springer is lying close to the river bed and proving difficult to move.
One of the most important factors in being able to cover the water adequately is to have a fly line which complements the rod. If the fly line you chose works well with the rod it becomes much easier to cast. This is especially the case if you are casting heavy flies into a strong wind. Also, a balanced outfit can result in less effort being needed to cast the fly great distances. This means you are not going home after days fly casting, having strained every sinu in your body and feeling that you have been in a boxing match!
Usually due to low water temperatures in early spring the fish lie quite close to the river bed. It is therefore important to be able to get the fly down in the water column. This can be achieved in two ways, by either using an intermediate or sinking line or using a weighted fly. If the water is very high often you need to use a combination of the two. It is therefore important to be able have different line options available. I personally use a multi tip line in the early spring months. This easily allows me to change the depth at which I am fishing with minimum fuss. Some anglers do not enjoy using a multi tip fly line system and opt for sinking polyleaders. These attach to the head of the fly line and can also help get the fly down to the desired depth. Regardless of which method you choose to use, it is important that you have the ability to change the depth at which your fly is fishing, by making adjustments to the fly line during the early spring months.
As we have already discussed, the spring salmon is very powerful, with savage takes and prolonged fights. It was therefore important to use the appropriate leader material. One of the most frustrating reasons for losing a fish is when the leader snaps. Leader material with an adequate breaking strain can often limit this. I usually use nylon, between fifteen to eighteen pounds in breaking strain early in the season. The heavier nylon not only limits breakages during a fight but also helps turn over heavy tube flies when casting. In high water early in the spring, there is no need to be subtle in your approach. The salmon are not as easily spooked as they can be in low clear water conditions. It is therefore better to opt for a slightly heavier leader material to avoid heartbreak. I also usually choose nylon as opposed to fluorocarbon during the early spring months. I feel that that nylon is more robust than fluorocarbon and therefore has a distinct advantage, especially when a subtle approach is not necessary.
Finally we come to flies. As already mentioned, a fresh spring salmon is usually a good taker of the fly. It is therefore important not to get too preoccupied with the fly pattern itself. I think it is important to be bold in your fly selection because often you are covering lots of water searching for a fish. So a visible fly of a decent size is usually all you need. Each angler has their own favourite spring patterns. Personally I cannot see passed the gold bodied Willie Gunn. The fly pattern itself has to be a personal choice. What is probably more important is to have flies which are different in weight and size. A decent selection of tube flies are usually the answer. They come in various lengths form half an inch to three inches. They also vary in weight as the body of the tube can be constructed from various materials. Aluminium, copper and tungsten tube are all very popular. By using flies of varying weight, you can control the depth and which your fly is fishing. This is important especially if you want your fly to sink quickly in the high, cold water conditions of early spring.
The early season springer is the ultimate prize for any salmon angler and rightly so. They are just as beautiful as they are elusive and there is no greater challenge. There is nothing more frustrating than battling away for days in inclement conditions and then going on to lose that early season springer because of a tackle oversight. To avoid this disappointment, it is important that your tackle is not only able to cope with whatever the weather throws at you but also the sheer power of an early season springer.