'Summer hitching' - fishing for Atlantic Salmon in Ireland with 'dry fly'

Summer 2020 was a strange and challenging one in so many ways, so it made it even more special when you could escape to the riverbank!
Hitch fishing with a tiny tube fly for fresh run Atlantic salmon is for me one of the most visual and exciting ways to fish, and something I look forward to every year.
Sit back, relax and hope you enjoy!

[@MultiTROUTMASTER]

Brilliant. That's cheered up my Friday lunchtime 👌

[@AndrewMcGall]

Cheers Seamie and hope you’re keeping well!

[@waikarimoana]

Awesome video and great footage, thanks and thumbs up and greetings from New Zealand.Tight lines and best regards,, Tony.

[@AndrewMcGall]

Thanks Tony, been to Oz but didn’t make it to NZ.. looking at your channel I will have to rectify that! 👏😄👍👍

[@waikarimoana]

@@AndrewMcGall Perhaps one day mate and if i am around i will invite you for a few days trip for trout fishing in New Zealand.Best regards.

[@AndrewMcGall]

Sounds good and likewise if you are ever in Ireland!

[@jamiemcdougall8365]

Brilliant video, great shots, music worked really well with the scenes and obviously 2 fantastic fish!

[@AndrewMcGall]

thanks for your kind comments Jamie and glad you enjoyed it! Tight lines for the season ahead :)

[@alexbreckenridge2432]

Thoroughly enjoyed that, nice fish and nice release too. Thank you.

[@AndrewMcGall]

Cheers Alex 👍👍

[@philippendlebury4518]

Lovely video Andrew. Well done.

[@AndrewMcGall]

Thanks Phillip 🙏 and tight lines 🎣👍

[@FinLineFly]

Enjoyed that a lot!

[@AndrewMcGall]

Thanks! 👍👍

[@stuarty567]

Great take 👍

[@AndrewMcGall]

cheers Stuart.. less toothy than the variety you fish for :)!

[@Lukasz_Fishing_Ireland]

very nice :)

[@stephensmyth9730]

Well done Andrew. Nice video and well presented. Seems like quite an exciting way to fish! Have never tried it yet. Take it the water doesn’t need to be low for this method to work? Looks to be a wee bit of water still on that river?

[@AndrewMcGall]

Thanks Stephen and yep very exciting way to fish! 🎣😄. It’s often seen as a low water technique but I’ve used it in medium water with success also. Cheers and tight lines

[@steveg7504]

Great content Andrew what cross S1 do you use for this ? Looks quite light weight

[@AndrewMcGall]

Thanks Steve and I use a 10ft #7 which I find a good balance and have had fish up to 15lbs on the hitch on it 😊🎣👍

[@byrodandbarrel]

High Andrew Great video! Do you use a small hitch in faster water or a bigger hitch?

[@AndrewMcGall]

Thanks and I find a lot of it is to do with visibility, generally it’s easier to control the v wake when you can see the hitch fly. In faster water it’s often harder to see how well it’s fishing and so you may want to use a bigger hitch for better visibility. So I suppose a bit of horses for courses if that makes sense, tight lines 🎣👍

[@jack-zz9hb]

Lovely fish. Does 'hitching' refer to the vertical holding of the rod after casting the fly?

[@AndrewMcGall]

Thanks and hitching is where you create a v wake across the surface of the water to induce the salmon to take. You normally do this by either doing a hitch knot of your leader on the side of the head of the fly or use a small plastic tube with a hole on the sides or bottom (and thread your leader through it). By having your leader at an angle to the fly it creates the wake and then it’s about controlling the line so you create and then maintain the ‘v’ wake for as long as possible. Holding the rod up helps to create and maintain the v and tension on the line/fly. Hope this helps 😊🎣👍

[@conorrush]

@@AndrewMcGall Nice video Andrew. Would you be able to share a clip of how you tie the hitch and some of the tubes you use? Is it a tactic for mainly summer low water conditions?

[@AndrewMcGall]

@@conorrush thanks Conor and I’ll see what I can do. And hitching in my experience is more for low to medium water heights. It’s all about creating that surface disturbance and generally in higher water there is more water/river turbulence which would make it harder for the fish to see the fly.

[@conorrush]

@@AndrewMcGall Thanks Andrew

[@ClearStreamsUK]

Great video! What's your leader and tippet set up?

[@AndrewMcGall]

Thanks Mike and I just use a length of straight nylon (Maxima) and then one or two hitch tubes. Keeps it simple and effective 🎣😊👍

[@ClearStreamsUK]

@@AndrewMcGall Never thought of fishing 2 hitches!! Do you just tie a standard dropper like on a trout rig (newbie to salmon)

[@AndrewMcGall]

Yes just a standard dropper like you would for trout, allows you to vary the presentation with two flies

[@ClearStreamsUK]

@@AndrewMcGall brilliant!

[@147leonard]

Is that annick beat andrew

[@AndrewMcGall]

Yep exactly 🎣👍👍

[@147leonard]

@@AndrewMcGall was trying it there in july got 1 an several takes some craic

[@AndrewMcGall]

@@147leonard well done Leonard and yes a nice part of the river!