With all the rain in recent weeks it was only a matter of time before the bigger salmon started running. True, we have had a good season so far with lots of sea liced fish in the six -eight pound bracket but its the big ones that really give you a run around. Mark ‘Fishless’ Pedley came up for a day and really hit it right with two salmon off the Woodhall bottom beat. The first a hen of around six pounds took a spinner in the slack crease off the wood end and put a smile on Marks face , but then it all went quiet for a while. Undaunted we thought we’d try the humble worm and after a fiddle around to get the weight just right -tripping the bottom slowly- we had a couple of taps from trout. Five yards above the ash tree Mark gets a hard knock on the rod top …”thats a fish..what next?” he says as the rod wallops over. What next indeed.. how about a hard close in tussle, a serious leap clear of the water showing silver flanks and a fish that looked and behaved like a seventeen pounder. With the rod (one of the new Harrison Hope spinning rods) locked up solid, the fish set of back to the sea with Mark and I in hot pursuit along the bank. Its amazing how fast a man in waders can run!! One field later the salmon is still seventy yards away, but slows long enough to start walking it slowly back up and after a good fifteen minutes of hard work we get it into the net.What a fight and well done ‘fishless’ for dealing with it so well. estimates varied between fourteen and seventeen but a good double figure salmon and a grin on Marks face to last beyond the journey to Biddulph I was so pleased I had to nip down the Cauldron myself afterwards, for a seven pound sea liced fish off spot X on the second cast. A suitable finish to the day.

I’m off down the river now…tarra

‘Fishless’ Pedley with a cracking Autumn Salmon

Bob Days first salmon

Mark Pedley dealing with one