Cong River - April salmon flies

emcor

Any suggestions for flies and size for fishing in the cong river in april/may spring salmon

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Olives and sedges are common on that river but I think most April/May salmon on the Cong usually fall to spinning and worm.

Zzippy

James Chubby Scone wrote: »

Olives and sedges are common on that river but I think most April/May salmon on the Cong usually fall to spinning and worm.

I don't think too many salmon will take an olive or sedge pattern anyway!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Zzippy wrote: »

I don't think too many salmon will take an olive or sedge pattern anyway!

Nobody ever told the salmon I had on dry sedges and sooty olives, amongst others. But such is angling.

Zzippy

James Chubby Scone wrote: »

Nobody ever told the salmon I had on dry sedges and sooty olives, amongst others. But such is angling.

Well there's always exceptions to the rule, but their rarity is the reason they're known as exceptions. Olives and sedges are called trout flies and not salmon flies for good reason.

ComfortKid

Zzippy wrote:

Well there's always exceptions to the rule, but their rarity is the reason they're known as exceptions. Olives and sedges are called trout flies and not salmon flies for good reason. 

I know of plenty salmon accidentally caught on trout flies.

If salmon dont actually feed in our rivers and bite out of aggression, then why does it matter what flie is used?

Zzippy

ComfortKid wrote: »

I know of plenty salmon accidentally caught on trout flies.

If salmon dont actually feed in our rivers and bite out of aggression, then why does it matter what flie is used?

Because probably 99.9% of salmon are caught on salmon flies, in rivers anyway, and like you said, some are taken accidentally on trout flies. Advising someone to use trout flies to target salmon is not really helpful, as they would be far better advised to use a salmon fly, which is proven to take salmon much more often.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Zzippy wrote: »

Because probably 99.9% of salmon are caught on salmon flies, in rivers anyway, and like you said, some are taken accidentally on trout flies. Advising someone to use trout flies to target salmon is not really helpful, as they would be far better advised to use a salmon fly, which is proven to take salmon much more often.

Just to be clear, i was not advocating trout flies for salmon. I fish salmon flies like sooty olive and golden olive and sedge tube flies for salmon. And have had many successes with them over almost 60 years. Of course I use others but I was suggesting flies particularly to match the time of year on the Cong.

popsy09

A willy gunn or gold bodied willy gunn will take fish on any river

Ipso

Zzippy wrote: »

Because probably 99.9% of salmon are caught on salmon flies, in rivers anyway, and like you said, some are taken accidentally on trout flies. Advising someone to use trout flies to target salmon is not really helpful, as they would be far better advised to use a salmon fly, which is proven to take salmon much more often.

You also have to consider that 99.9% of anglers use salmon flies when fishing salmon, so chances are that's what they will be caught on.
Of course in heavy water there's not much use in using a size 12 fly.

thehamo

Is the Cong river still owned by the castle? Therefore still no longer free to fish?

Zzippy

thehamo wrote: »

Is the Cong river still owned by the castle? Therefore still no longer free to fish?

The castle own the rights up as far as the eel weir. From there upstream it's free fishing, IFI provide access at the back of the hatchery or just walk in and fish further down along the river. The locals fish the castle stretch and are tolerated but I think non-locals will be asked for a permit.