Overview Season Charges Day Tickets Fish to Catch Tackle to Use Photo Gallery   The Fishing     Salmon With the exception of Grimersta the salmon fishing on Lewis is a grilse fishery with a few summer salmon mixed in to keep the anglers on their toes.The grilse can be any weight between 3-7 lbs with 4-6 lbs the norm.The summer salmon are normally 9-11lbs but in recent seasons a sprinkling of 13-18 lb salmon have appeared in catch returns. The runs of salmon usualy appear with the first big tide in June and ,though not in great numbers these early running grilse tend to be a heavier than average and there is a good chance of contacting a summer salmon at this time.given good water levels,salmon will come in on every tide from then on with the spring tides in late june and early July bringing the bulk of the salmon run-especially on the west of the island with the rivers on the east -notably the Creed and Laxay-getting their main runs on the second spring tide of July. Given water,fresh fish continue to run right to the end of the season in October-the Creed has a decent run of 6-8 lb salmon in September. The above timings are entirely dependant on sufficent rain-all island rivers depend on spates to some degree which makes timing visits to coincide with salmon runs a bit of a lottery. For tackle any good reservoir trout rod of 9-11 ft rated 7-9 is sufficient to handle all but the biggest salmon.It is important to remember that as catch and release is encouraged on most waters it is important to bring the salmon to the net as quickly as possible-so in that respect the heavier the tackle the better. Leaders should be at least 8lb breaking strain with maxima chamelion and rio powerflex being two local favourites. The normal local practice is to fish with two flies for salmon-both in rivers and on lochs.An attractor/wake fly is fished on the dropper and a wee double on the point.Fly sizes vary depending on wind/water levels and ,in general ,the wilder the weather ,the bigger the fly.Muddler sizes vary frm long shank 6 down to14.Point flies are nornaly size 12 but vary from 8-14.As for patterns then all the well known flies work but a better bit of advice is to fish what you are confident with and always be prepared to try something different. The difficult months of August and September (unless there is rain) are the months when smaller flies are employed.In bright,dry weather the anglers prepared to start early and finish late are most successful.But the most important rules in salmon fishing are persistance gives rewards and innovation pays- always try to be different.   Salmon Sea Trout Brown Trout For more information about the fishing season, or if you have any queries contact us and we will be happy to help you.

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