The world of the fly fisherman is a varied one. Salmon, trout, grayling and char inhabit the most beautiful waters of the world. Rivers and lakes that reflect forest trees, snowy topped mountains, and sometimes blue skies. The fish that live in crystal clear waters demand the very highest of angling skills. You will not hook that king of fish unless your presentation is virtually perfect. Even when not fishing, the angler can be tying flies for the next season, sitting by the winter?s fireside, lost in dreams of the next season?s catch.

Salmon ? The fish that have hunted in the sea, some for just one winter, some for as long as five years, return to the rivers where they were born. Some salmon, including the sockeye, die after spawning. These fish make their ascent to the spawning grounds once only. Others, including the Atlantic salmon, do not necessarily die at the spawning grounds but may live to migrate three or four times in their lives.

For many years mankind has marveled at how, after journeying far across the ocean, a salmon can return to the river in which it was hatched. Does this remarkable power of orientation have something to do with magnetic fields, the sense of smell, an instinct, or something else as yet a mystery?

In the Yukon River of Alaska and Canada, king salmon that were tagged and tracked travelled 3,200km (2,000 miles) in 60 days. A leap performed by Altlantic Salmon at Orrin Falls, Scotland, measured 4m (12ft).

From entering the rivers, salmon cease to feed and live on the fat built up when feasting in the ocean. Others benefit from this stored energy - bears, eagles, mink, otters, martens, wolves, and many more hunters await the salmon?s arrival with all the enthusiasm of human anglers.

One of the many wonderful things about salmon is the different number of ways in which you can catch them, despite the fact that they are supposed not to eat anything once they have left the sea!

However to many an angler there is little to beat the excitement of seeing a salmon turning in the water as it takes a fly fished in the surface layers and the quick tightening of lightweight line is an electrifying sensation.

So let us agree that salmon fishing with the fly represents the art in its purest form, even if we never lose sight of the other strategies for catching this magnificent fish.

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