Early Season Salmon: Reading Height and Colour

In cold, high water, salmon sit deep and are reluctant to move far for a fly. This is when a sink tip and a bigger, brighter fly earn their keep — the goal is to get something in front of a fish's nose, not to tempt it across the pool.

As the river drops and clears through the day, or over a few days, it's worth sizing your fly down and fishing slightly higher in the water. A change from a size 8 tube to something smaller and more sparse can be the difference on a river that's fined down.

Coloured water after rain isn't necessarily bad news — it often pushes fresh fish upriver and can improve the fishing once the peak of the flood has passed and the river starts to settle and clear from the edges inward.

Above all, be willing to change tactics through the day rather than fishing the same fly and depth from morning to evening. Conditions on a spring river rarely stay the same for long.