21.5lb salmon caught on the fly | Dochfour | salmon fishing Scotland 2022 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

That's a proper fish. As each new salmon fishing season begins, there is always the anticipation of hooking and landing a leviathan, a fish of a lifetime. Stories persist of exceptionally large salmon that continue to run the Ness system; what catches my interest in these stories is that they are told, not by fantasy filled anglers who talk of the one that got away, but by far more credible sources. On a day early in the 2022 season, an angler battled for 45 minutes to land a stonker of a salmon on the upper Ness system. That fish was assessed and recorded by NDSFB staff as weighing in at 32.5lb before it was released. Interestingly, there was another salmon observed holding station in the vicinity that was considerably bigger than the fish that had just been landed. The largest fish that made it into my net in season 2022 weighed in at 25lb. Several much larger fish that were hooked on the fly unfortunately came off; one such fish was played for around 8 minutes and 30 seconds, kindly showing itself just prior to spitting the fly. It looked every ounce of 40+lb to me, a bar of silver in the height of the summer run, the power and pace that it demonstrated was simply outstanding. Definitely a fish that I'll never forget. So, we made it through into September and along comes visiting angler Steven, accompanied by his friend John. They told a very common story; the river they were booked onto had next to no water in it, and they suddenly realised that the Ness had plenty cool clean water. They booked their day and the rest, as they say, is history. Steven's fish was the largest fly caught fish that I netted in season 2022 and you can tell from Steven's response that he never fully appreciated just how big the fish was, until it was in the net. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph Steven's fly after we had recovered it from the mouth of the fish. The fly, a #8 double, was completely destroyed. Hooked in the left side of its lower jaw, the fish was able to crunch down onto the fly and almost broke the fly apart. Although squashed flat, thankfully, it retained its hold on the fish. Hopefully season 2023 will be as kind to us as season 2022 was and perhaps, just perhaps, the fish Gods will allow us to land one of the many specimen salmon that travel though the Scottish Highland River Ness, each and every year. One thing is for sure, as long as your fly is in the cold clear water of the Ness, you have a chance. Happy days ;) #salmon #flyfishing #scotland #lochness