Better late than never. I wrote this on Friday morning while it was still dark outside. Daylight revealed the full extent of storm Éowyn and while personally we had no damage it did leave a trail of destruction. It is now 16.00 on Saturday and power has just returned, thousands are still out. Looking around the countryside and seeing all the damage, to nature alone, it will take a long time before the country recovers from this one.

Good morning from a wild and windy Foxford. It was a rough night and the Status red weather warning is still in place so we will not be fishing today. My apologies to anyone that missed the blog for the last couple of weeks, between one thing and another it just was not possible to get anything done. Its hard to believe that January is nearly gone and the Salmon fishing season will be starting on the Moy very soon. As I normally would advise, don’t get too excited just yet. Its far to early for a run of fish and Mid-March is early enough to start. By then the days will be longer and the weather will hopefully be better.

We have had a look at a few spawning areas and there seems to be a reasonable number of redds, hope for the future. To whet the appetites here are a few early season tips which will hopefully help you make contact with an early season bar of Silver.

Travel light: Early season salmon fishing calls for a mobile approach, cast and move, cast and move. You are searching for a resting fish so the more water you can effectively cover the better.

Pick your spot: In most cases salmon “Lies” do not change from season to season, unless of course something has altered the bed of the river. Target pools and specific places where you have caught or seen fish caught previously. There will be plenty of time in summer for searching out “New” spots.

Time: It could be a complicated equation related to the effect water temperature has on the movement of fish and the warming effect of the sun during the day, or just the fact that I don’t like getting up early, who knows but my favourite time of day for a springer is the evening and especially that last hour. Of course, if you do spot a fish showing in a pool late in the evening make sure you are the first angler to “Cover” that fish the following morning.

Slow and Low: Probably no need to say this but in cold conditions a salmon is less likely to move to intercept our bait. We need to swing our fly, spinner or whatever we choose to use as close to its snout as possible. The real key to success is to hang our bait there for a few seconds. That sounds easy to do but it takes a considerable degree of skill and knowledge to succeed.

Size matters? It’s debatable, I have seen Springers taken on baits as small as size 14 salmon flies and as large as 11cm Rapalas. I would say though, that overall, I have seen more taken on larger baits. The reason for this is quite possibly that they fish a little lower in the water which brings us back to slow and low. Another school of thought is that the larger bait is more visible and intimidating and is more likely to evoke a reaction.

Colour :  Again there’s a few schools of thought. My own experience is that for fresh run fish, bright colours seem to work best. On the Moy you will never go wrong with Black, Yellow, Blue, Silver, Copper. Whether it’s a hair wing fly pattern or a Flying C, some combination of the above will work.

There’s probably lots more you could add to this but I think if we fish with these few things in mind, at some point the line will tighten and the rod will double, something to look forward to.