It takes an almost irrational faith for an American fly fisher to fund a week of

Mike with Guide Barry about 5 minutes into the first day on Crabbes River....it only took about 3 more casts.

Atlantic salmon fishing.  Traditionally, Atlantic salmon journalists offer fly fishers scant hope of hooking a salmon, let alone landing one during a week of fishing.  Such stories had not encouraged Joanie or me to break our vacation budget just to say we had fly fished for Atlantic salmon.  To us, any fly fishing "dream trip" costing thousands of dollars should not start out with an admonition that "you probably won't hook a fish, and if you do, you probably won't land it."

At the Hawkeye Flyfishing Association annual meeting in 2003, a program on Atlantic salmon fishing in Russia presented by Dick Talleur challenged some of the traditional Atlantic salmon paradigms.  His program convinced us that Atlantic salmon were affordable, even with a destination like Russia.  He made us believe that if we booked with the right outfitter on quality waters, we had a better chance of hooking a salmon than most stories portrayed. Enthused, we planned a trip to
Russia for 2004, but the Iraq war and unstable world situations prompted us to cancel our plans for Russia.  The vision of hooking an Atlantic salmon on a fly, however, would not let us rest.

We researched Canadian Atlantic salmon rivers as an alternative to travel abroad.  Since sixty percent (60%) of the Atlantic salmon rivers in North America are located in Newfoundland, we focused our search for camps, guides, and outfitters on Newfoundland.  We chose Bill Bryden of Eureka Outdoors in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, as our outfitter due to his client success ratios, his dedication to the resource, his reasonable price for an all-inclusive trip, his willingness to
accommodate a husband and wife fishing team, and the limitless enthusiasm he conveyed in our phone conversations.

We chose to maximize our learning and hooking opportunities by booking dates during the heavy early run in June that is comprised primarily of grilse.   We accepted that there would be few salmon over 15 pounds, but agreed that it was more important to have a chance at hooking several fish a day than it was to have one or two trophy opportunities during a whole week.

Mike's first grilse from Crabbe's River about to be vanquished and released.

The runoff in 2004 was early and fast, the spring was dry, and the initial grilse run on western Newfoundland rivers was slow and late. We arrived to find local salmon experts having a tough time.  Fishing for grilse was as demanding and difficult as if we had booked a trip for the later run of big fish. After three days of hard fishing on the Humber and two smaller streams, our party of four fly fishers had only landed one grilse.  We had seen a number of fish, and even managed to rise a
few, but the salmon, as they say in Newfoundland, "were not flying".

Our optimism and enthusiasm stayed high because we were focused on learning about Atlantic salmon, and our guide and outfitter were great teachers on the subject.  Barry Carter, our guide, made every effort to explain the "whys" as well as the "hows" of location, presentation, and fly selection.  Barry had the rare ability to teach technique and improve performance with only a few words of correction or encouragement.  He could intuitively match us to the best lies for our
respective capabilities. By the end of each day, he had gotten performances out of us we didn't think we had.   While we were driving to the rivers or conversing over meals, our outfitter, Bill Bryden, added numerous facts about current salmon management successes and failures as well as tips on rising Atlantics.

During our first three days of fishing, we had learned volumes about catching Atlantics on the fly, but we also understood that a lifetime would not be enough to learn what we wanted to know about this fish. Atlantic salmon fishing is more than psychomotor skills and an encyclopedia of facts conveniently linked in the database of the fly fisher's mind.  Fly fishing for Atlantics is a game of skill and perseverance, but it is also a game of intangibles, intuition, and yes, even some luck.

There is a Zen element to the sport that combines intuition, philosophy, and fine art with the logical and objective.  Salmon in the river do not equal salmon actively taking a fly.   Salmon turn on and "fly" at the time and place of their choosing, not at the convenience of the fly fisher, guide, or outfitter.  Doing everything correctly is an absolute necessity, but it does not guarantee a rise, a strike, or a landed fish.  Focus on results, and you will go crazy long before the first take.  Focus on the game itself, and you will find enjoyment and satisfaction in each cast.

An inexperienced Atlantic salmon angler's best chance for hooking and landing a salmon (unless he or she wants to depend upon luck alone) is to be guided by a highly qualified mentor who can put the fly fisher in the proper spots, using the proper flies, and fishing them in the proper manner to prompt a take.  If you have such a guide, then you must place unconditional faith in your guide, patiently endure long hours without a take or rise, pay your dues, and wait for the salmon to "fly".

Barry had us doing everything right, but by Thursday morning, Joanie and I were physically exhausted from too little sleep and casting a rod for ten to twelve hours per day.  We had paid dues until our accounts were empty, and we needed a break.   We knew that our lack of hook ups was due to both the nature of salmon fishing and our inexperience.

We rented a car, hijacked our guide, and took a day off fishing.  We toured the west coast of Newfoundland checking out three legendary salmon rivers; Portland Creek, River of Ponds, and Torrent River.  It was great to actually see waters I had read about in Lee Wulff's stories and to let the swelling in my casting hand go down to where I could see my knuckles.

The break was good for our guide and good for us.  We attacked Crabbe's River early on Friday morning with new enthusiasm and fresh hope, knowing we had only two days left to hook and land a salmon.  Within an hour, Joanie had landed her first grilse, a strong fish of three pounds. By early afternoon she had landed two more grilse of five and seven pounds, and lost a salmon in the range of 12-15 pounds.

I could not duplicate Joanie's success of landing three out of the four fish she hooked.  I hooked several fish only to lose them on a jump or run when the hook came free.  After losing the twin to Joanie's 12-15 pound fish, I finally landed the big fish of the day estimated by our guide to be 10 pounds.  In all, we hooked nine salmon and grilse that morning, and landed four.   Our luck had changed, partly because we had located a river with fresh fish who were "flying", and partly because we had started to put all of the pieces together.
 
 

Joanie works the waters of the Upper Humber River. Many rises were had, but the fresh running fish simply were not eating the fly well.

The slow days during the week had refined our casting and presentation skills to maximize the time our flies were in front of fish.  Barry's tutelage had us confidently fishing the best waters of each pool and tail out.  By Friday, every swing of the wet fly had us expecting a take, not hoping for one.  We consciously placed our flies to cover every inch of the best water in the pool, and had learned to make 20 foot, drag free drifts with our dry flies, allowing the salmon a long look at our offerings.

Saturday's fishing was slower than Friday's, with only one fish landed and several takes, but, again, that is salmon fishing.   Before leaving Newfoundland, we reserved dates in 2005 for late July, hoping that each of us will have a chance to hook and land a salmon of 20 pounds or more.

Describing Atlantic salmon fishing to someone who has never indulged in this madness is an impossible task.  It only takes one rush to the fly and a solid hook up to create an Atlantic salmon addict out of an otherwise normal and sane fly fisher.  When you hook your first Atlantic, the hook goes more deeply into you than the fish.  Once you have experienced Atlantic salmon, they will dominate your thoughts and dreams.  Your addiction will demand that you, like the salmon, find a
way to return to those rivers where you can cast to the "fish of kings".
 
 

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