Salmon action on the River Creed

My first day out for salmon in the 2023 season and it was action all the way with the fish taking really gently and my having real problems hooking them, and getting them to stay hooked. The River Creed is really great association fishing for salmon and when the water is right there is a real chance of plenty of action and you might manage a better take to fish landed ratio than I did on the day with only one fish actually coming to the bank. A really fantastic day out with no shortage of action.

[@thedoggedangler]

Lovely water and conditions, congratulations and well deserved! Thankd for sharing

[@caorach3354]

Glad you enjoyed it, it seems such a long time ago now but nice to have the videos to look back on.

[@tellitlikeitis4740]

Well done lad...very well earned fish...👍👍

[@norman5202]

Philip it was great to see you getting a Salmon. What a lovely river and it was in perfect condition. Tight lines for the New Year.

[@caorach3354]

Hi Norman, I hope you are making some great plans for the coming season and that it will be a good one no matter what you get up to. The Creed is a really great river to fish and can provide some exciting days out so although I didn't fish many days for salmon this year it is always great to get out there and get a cast.

[@wildfisher]

Nice fish Philip from a nice looking river!

[@caorach3354]

We are very lucky Fred, even in a bad year this was my first day for salmon and I lost two and landed one and that is pretty good for association fishing. Also the fish were taking really weird on the day, which is why I dropped two, as it felt like little trout nibbling the tail of the fly. This made them hard to hook and I'd say I had maybe about 6 of these "takes" for the day where I'm pretty certain the fish never had the fly right in its mouth. It made for an exciting day out.

[@tonyjones5530]

Good to see you on the river Philip and a great video again, at least you had some action to. All the best for Christmas and the new year. Tight lines.

[@caorach3354]

Thank you Tony, it was an action packed day as the salmon appeared to be just nibbling the tail of the fly so what isn't in the video is probably about 6 takes that I just didn't touch the fish at all. In one way it was frustrating, and I think I'm lucky to have managed to land one, but in another way it was a pretty action packed day.

[@richardfleming4850]

Well done. Energetic fish!

[@caorach3354]

I like to fish late in the season Richard and I think that sometimes those fish have been well rested sitting in the river doing nothing since July :-)

[@richardfleming4850]

It looks more like they might be training all summer, preparing for that late-season day that you show up! @@caorach3354

[@johnmaclean9318]

Great video Philip. Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. Looking forward to catching up with you in season 2024, all going well.

[@caorach3354]

I hope you have a very Happy Christmas and New Year John, I'm working and have been sort of flat out for a while now but hopefully things will settle once we get into the New Year. Then it is time to start planning for next season :-)

[@pjmurphy2153]

Lovely video as always, it was a very bad year for salmon fishing very dry.Happy Christmas Phil.

[@caorach3354]

I think the lack of salmon returning also had a big impact on many rivers. Interestingly some places had a really wet year but on Lewis it was pretty dry.

[@roddymcniven8734]

Well done Philip, Merry Christmas bud

[@caorach3354]

We are very lucky having easy access to rivers like this that can provide a good chance of some action even in a "bad year" so despite me not fishing for salmon much this season it is great to get out now and again. A very Happy Christmas to you and all yours.

[@raftonpounder6696]

A great day! Happy Christmas!

[@caorach3354]

Thank you, a very Happy Christmas to you and all yours!

[@billymacneil3839]

After all those trout vids i thought you forgot about salmon Phill for me the first tug is the drug with salmon nothing like it those hard takes.Do you ever use bugs or bombers on that river.

[@caorach3354]

Hi Billy, i was just busy with other things and so didn't pay the salmon much attention this season. I know the salmon videos attract much more interest and views but I'm only fishing for my own interest so sometimes the channel ends up being pretty boring for anyone except myself. On this particular day the takes weren't actually hard, it felt like a tiny trout just picking at the tail of the fly. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like it but by the end of the day I'd probably failed to hook maybe 6 fish that I believe were salmon but I just couldn't find a way to get them on the hook. I was lucky with the one I did get and unlucky with the two I lost. I never used bugs or bombers but the truth is I think salmon will take anything if you can bounce it off their nose but we all have our fave flies and techniques. It is only in very recent years that I started with the sinking line and the cone head tube flies and while many of the fish in my videos have come on the cone heads (the big pools on this river run on peatlands so although they aren't wide they are mostly 10 - 12 feet deep) before that I seemed to be doing just as well with a small traditional double.

[@billymacneil3839]

@@caorach3354 Phill buddy if i ever gets over there i'll be hookin up with ya for a day of fishin.We can't use a double here and salmon take whatever fly they feel like lol.I use a sinking tip instead of a full line i find the line doesn't cast great but the tips do.Keep up the vids its got me back to drinkin tea instead of rum lol but i must say i enjoy your vids cause some day i want to see where i come from.Or should i say were my family originated from Barra ,till they were kick out starved out or left a couple of hundred yrs ago...

[@Luggiefrank]

Another great video Phil, and a fish into the bargain. Is that one of the Glasgow angling centres reels you have there.

[@caorach3354]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it and it was nice to get the fish. The reel is a Danielsson, I don't know much about gear as if I've got a rod and reel I'll go fishing no matter who makes them but the Danielsson reels seem to be very well made and good reels to use for reasonable money.

[@Luggiefrank]

@caorach3354 they do look excellent value for money, merry Christmas and a good new years when it comes

[@Gareth_Thomas]

Well done.

[@caorach3354]

Thank you Gareth, we are so lucky to have easy access to waters such as this.

[@Highlandjames]

It was a difficult season in the mainland rivers I fish two highland rivers and hardly any were caught, I only managed two small grilse. The two storms flushed all the fish out the river in October not sure if they went back in the river to spawn. I’d love a cast on your river !

[@caorach3354]

It hasn't been a good season anywhere I don't think though, as you can see, I had plenty action on the Creed plus the fish were taking really, really funny so I moved about 6 more that aren't in the video that seemed to simply nibble on the tail of the fly. I guess that's why I dropped 2 as they weren't hooked at all well and even the one I landed was hooked in the front of the mouth. Unfortunately this isn't my river :-) However because it is angling association water access is really easy and you can get day permits or a season permit at reasonable prices so you should certainly add it to your Christmas list: syangling.com/

[@Highlandjames]

Yeah it’s very strange and a worry hopefully it was just a blip and not a serious pollution event or disease that’s caused the decline this year. It’s funny that I had the same fish nibble my fly five times kept missing 😂 I had a fairly long winged yellow black sheep perhaps the long tail was the problem. If I ever go back over to Stornaway I will definitely have a cast there !

[@ChristopherBridges-v6r]

What a wonderful days outing seeing the river in all it's different moods. Great video Philip! Is this river open to the public?

[@caorach3354]

Glad you enjoyed it. The river is an Stornoway Angling Association water and so is very easily accessible, there are day tickets or you can get a season ticket for about £100 that includes the river and associated lochs plus about 14 trout lochs as well. Often you'd meet another angler, but it is rarely busy and in reasonable conditions you can usually rely on some action on either the river or the salmon lochs. I don't know if you saw it but I made a video in similar water conditions last year and was lucky enough that the water started to fall just after lunch: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3uZo4WKr5eYqLc The SAA have a web site. If you were thinking of coming to Lewis to fish then an SAA ticket would give you far more fishing than you could cope with in a fortnight: syangling.com/

[@DaiHGowerWales]

Superb video. Can I ask ..What rod length #size and line / leader set up was it. How string was the tippet line?

[@caorach3354]

I fish with 11 foot 7 weight rods for everything, I do have a 10ft Shakespeare multi-section type rod as they don't make an 11ft in that rod. I think the rod in this video is an 11ft Shakespeare Agility. The line is one of those Rio Versatip things that you can change the tips on, so on this occasion I was on a fast sink tip with the river being quite high. Salmon aren't leader shy so you can pretty much use anything you want, though using Fluro is never a good idea if you actually want to land the fish, so I have to guess that I'm probably fishing Yo-Zuri Hybrid in either 10 or 15lb breaking strain. With it being a sink tip and a cone head to start the day I'd guess it is a fairly short leader. Later in the day I experimented with different flies, sizes, and tip sink rates (that bit isn't in the video) so I think I finished the day on two traditional salmon doubles. In the end none of this stuff matters too much as you either find taking salmon or you don't and the more I experiment the more I become convinced that this is the case.

[@RickLohrey]

Really enjoyed this one …the type of fishing that doesn’t exist in my part of the world ….Atlantic Salmon were tried many times …but failed to establish …great Pity I think

[@caorach3354]

I really enjoy a day for salmon even though I didn't do it so often this past season and I especially like the wilder days right at the end of the season when you can have rain, snow, hail, sun, rainbows, strong winds, no wind, midges etc. all in one day. However other fishing can be just as much fun and sometimes small trout in the loch are as entertaining as the chance of a salmon. I guess I'm not as committed a salmon angler as many and the truth is that I stopped salmon fishing for many years and only started back into it about 10 years ago. So although you are missing out I'd bet that you have other stuff that is just as much sport.

[@georgeholmes6099]

Lovely stuff! What's your method for fishing 2 flies? Two bits of tipper from a tipper ring? May have missed it

[@caorach3354]

I tend to tie on a dropper of maybe 5 - 6 inches about half way down the main leader. I think the knot I used is called a water knot, but I could be wrong as I've just always done it this way :-) The danger with two flies is getting caught up on the bottom or even in your own net when you try to net the fish so it is a balancing trick and occasionally it goes badly wrong.

[@georgeholmes6099]

thanks very much! I am up to Scotland next year hoping to do some Salmon fishing. First stop is river Lyon then heading up North@@caorach3354

[@caorach3354]

@@georgeholmes6099 Good luck with the trip, hopefully you will manage some good sport and a few fish.

[@garykeany5521]

Another great video. The way you film and edit your videos makes me feel like I`m standing right beside you as you fish. Happy Christmas and tight lines for next year.

[@caorach3354]

I'm glad you enjoy it Gary, I don't put too much effort into the videos as my main purpose is to be out fishing but I also get a bit of fun out of the videos as I enjoy looking back on them and, of course, I like people to see the Lewis fishing as much of the fishing on Lewis was very exclusive and so there aren't many videos on KZbin. I enjoy it so much that I feel it only right that other people get to see :-) A very Happy Christmas to you and all yours and tight lines for whatever you are planning for next season: it's time to start getting the maps out and looking for lochs and rivers to visit.

[@caomhlufahey3153]

what length / weight rod are you using

[@caorach3354]

Pretty much I use an 11 foot 7 weight for everything including springers but I do have one of the Shakespeare 10 foot multisection 7 weights as well. I also have some 11 foot 4 weight rods that I sometimes use but with Lewis getting a lot of wind they can be really limiting on a lot of days.

[@billymccullough2624]

Love your salmon fishing videos Philip. What would you say is the better river. Creed or Gress?

[@caorach3354]

That's a hard one to answer as in a way the two rivers compliment each other. The Creed produces more salmon whereas Gress produces more sea trout, generally speaking. Gress has the advantage of the tidal saltings areas which means it doesn't need high water to get sea trout as they will move in and out with the tides. On the other hand the Creed has the lochs and if there is water at all fish will run the river into the lochs where they can be caught in low water. Gress runs off very quickly and so generally has perfect water only for a short time whereas the Creed is slower to run off and so is usually coming right just as Gress starts to drop too low, if you watch some of my past videos you will see that I often hit Gress before moving on to the Creed and this is another example of how they compliment each other. If I could only fish one then it would probably be the Creed but if you are coming to fish then my advice would be to get tickets for both and let the conditions make up your mind for you each morning, a Gress season ticket is only about £25 and having the flexibility to change river on a whim makes it very good value. Another point to consider is that the rivers flow in a slightly different direction and are fished from opposite sides and so if the wind is making one fairly miserable you can always migrate to the other one. Both rivers are fairly "late" in the sense that they often fish best as the season progresses but the Creed will probably be the better of the two in July, when many people come on holiday and to fish. The Creed is probably more easily accessible as some of it is in the Castle Grounds with paths along the river, seats, shelters etc. I never fish that bit so it isn't in my videos but it can be very productive. None of the bits of the Creed I fish are especially remote but the walking is a bit more boggy etc. On Gress then for some areas having a 4WD vehicle is a big advantage but the saltings and many of the lower pools are also easily accessible with a normal car. This video, if you haven't seen it, is probably a good example of what to do after an Autumn night of rain - Gress at first light and then onto the Creed: kzbin.info/www/bejne/haCtZJxtgJdmf5osi=WeWhPuSgS21rvcHa

[@billymccullough2624]

Many thanks for your detailed answer,will be in Lewis for the first time next September for a week ,and if water is good, will give them both a throw. If I see you,we shall have tea and bananas. Merry Christmas from Belfast 🐟🐟🐟👍

[@caorach3354]

@@billymccullough2624 There's over 1000 trout lochs and 40ish salmon or sea trout systems so you're going to need longer than a week! :-) Being serious if you can manage more than a week then do it as it takes some time to come to terms with the huge amount of fishing available. Also get in touch with Donnie Maciver as he's the fishing promotion officer for the area and he lives near to both Gress and the Creed but knows just about every loch on the island and has contacts on every salmon or sea trout system as well. Once we get New Year over drop him a mail on: [e-mail] Donnie will give you the lowdown and will also give you another "angle" on the fishing compared to mine as I'm very particular about what I like to do and that isn't always what others might enjoy. I think September is the best month for Lewis fishing as in the early part of the month the trout should still be fishing well plus there should hopefully be water for the salmon and sea trout and the weather should still be relatively decent for sitting by the loch drinking tea. The Gress association have a great Facebook page and they are a very friendly club so be sure to look it up and ask questions there as you will get loads of help. There is usually someone from the club on the river most days in September, plus Jem Dog is there sometimes, and they will always point you in the right direction. The Creed is also very friendly and they also have a FB page so if you've questions that's the place. Also if you want to take one of their boats out for salmon it might be worth looking into a ghillie for the day, on somewhere like Loch an Ois a ghillie would make a big difference to your chances. The legendary Robbie Bell is often on the Creed FB page and if you can get him to ghillie for you then don't miss the chance, you might want to talk to him about a day on the Big Loch if you will troll spinners and are fit enough :-) Robbie isn't hard to pay. Hopefully I will bump into you, unless there is absolute disaster then I usually fish on Lewis for all of September so chances are I'll be about somewhere.