Catching a Salmon

Catching a Salmon

On the River Bundorragha

Yes I caught a Salmon, I actually caught a Salmon on a fly (a Cascade for those who want to know!). It wasn’t the catching of the Salmon that was particularly special, but it was everything around the catching of the Salmon

Yes it was only a Grilse (a small returning Salmon), yes it was a ranched fish, so I could take it and enjoy poached wild salmon with frothy hollandaise. With the satisfying feeling that I had caught it, netted it, landed and killed it on my own, before anyone had woken up that morning

But what for me was so special, was that I had caught this fish on the River Bundorragha, which is a commercial fishery but also has the highest status of environmental protection in Europe, and as a result has crystal clear waters and banks as plump and as protective as an eiderdown and the river bed like a cobbled street of fresh water mussels. Oh that my own river, The River Wye was in such a healthy state

 

Athene English