No photos, but here’s a report of the fishing from the weekend.
It’s been hard to even get my kayak onto the Sound since the demersal closure, with “wrong winds” just about every weekend since September ended. SeaBreeze was telling me that Saturday could be the day I would be able to search out the (now resident) salmon. So on Friday evening, I rigged up my 10wt Epic with a sinking line and a big flashy fly.
I launched in to the dawn gloam, hoping to ambush them before they moved from their customary overnighting location. Unfortunately for me, my sounder refused to play the game and showed nothing but The Black Screen of Hell. I still launched, having previously established the surface signature of big schools hanging deep. “No problems, I’ll just use my eyes …”
For 90 minutes I searched in vain: nothing showing on the surface in any of the usual locations. I was blind casting into a common gathering spot for them when I heard some gulls making a commotion behind me. Turning to see what the fuss was about, I found the whole area boiling with salmon that were busting baitballs everywhere!
I started pushing over to the spot, but before I had gone 20m, they were all around me. I fired off a quick, short cast and stripped twice. The rod buckled over as a salmon took to the air. The fly line rooster-tailed from both ends as the slack was taken up by the airborne arripis. This is FISHING!
I was marvelling at the extreme bend a fibreglass rod can develop during the fight. It’s easy to really lay into the fish, knowing the blank can handle the abuse. And that’s exactly what I did. With the rod bending through to the reel seat, I could feel the cork flexing in my hand as I put maximum pressure on the 20lb tippet. After a few minutes, I had the fish on-board, the fly removed and had begun to looking for the next target.
I didn’t need to look far: they were still busting up in all parts of the area I was fishing in. Two casts later and I was repeating the story …
After landing the second fish, the bulk of school had begun to move south and I set off after them. However, there were still stragglers around me so I fired off a few more casts and was well rewarded, landing a third for the morning.
By the time I’d finished with that one, they were well south of me and moving fast. I decided to concentrate on targeting stragglers. A few on these rocks, others under that weed mat. Alas, I got nothing else other than a few short takes. Time to head home.
So, as it turned out, there was little need for my sounder: the fish were in plain sight the whole time!
Cheers,
Graeme
Airborne Arripis
Airborne Arripis
IFFF Certified Casting Instructor
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Re: Airborne Arripis
great report Graeme 

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