Early fishing

Many have probably wondered what to choose in a jungle of equipment and why.
In this article, I intend to highlight some factors that will help increase the chances of coming into contact with fish.
I have fished every summer in Orkla for as long as I can remember and got my first fly rod at the age of 7. It should be said that at the beginning of my career as a salmon fisherman, there were not many June salmon caught on fly.
Many people would argue that salmon fishing is all about luck, but I would argue something completely different. It is no coincidence that you see the same names frequenting the catch statistics the most in the rivers year after year. Of course, it is a lot about luck, but I would also argue that with the right equipment and experience you will have luck more often. 

To increase your luck, it's a lot about the right presentation, depth, speed and fly choice. This can vary depending on when in the season you fish and where you fish.
In this first article I will describe a little about how I approach fishing early in the season. How often have you seen fish that walk and show no interest in the fly, but perhaps fish are being caught on other gear above and below where you are fishing. I remember once I fished the start in Surna and a few fish were caught, but all were caught on lures or groundbait, while I, who was fishing with a fly, had not caught a single fish for several days. I finally got so frustrated that I found the lure rod after a slightly damp Saturday evening. I lost the salmon to the postman's great despair, but I was good and full and just as happy.
The reason I didn't catch fish on a fly, I would say, was simply ignorance, the wrong fly and line choice. Because if you catch fish on a ground and a lure, you can also catch it on a fly. A small fly served completely in the water crust when fishing early for migrating fish may not be the most effective, but if you serve the fly in the middle, and preferably a fairly large fly, in the path of the fish, you will probably have a much greater chance of making contact with it. Then you give it a choice to move or take the crap that gets in its way. During this early fishing, I often cast almost 90 degrees to the river, let the line sink while I move 3-4 steps downstream after the cast instead of moving while I pull in the line for the next cast, which I prefer to do when fishing on a summer river and warmer water.
As the river can also be large, you will have more limited space behind you at times. In that case, a shorter sinking line such as SCSS or extreme short speedline will be a sensible choice. I myself have usually rigged 3-4 rods with different sink rates. The reason for this is that I want to fish deep throughout the pond. For example, a line with a high sink rate will fish higher in strong currents or when you come down into the pond where the current has calmed down. But it is important to note that if you are going to fish really deep, you also have to wade deeper to avoid straining yourself too much unless you are fishing from a river embankment or similar. Therefore, it may also be a good idea to go over a round first where you go almost inland to fish the stream edges and shallower water with a lighter line. Then wade further out on the next round with a faster sinking line. Depending on depth and current speed, I often start at the top with s2/4/6 to s1/s2/s3. The nice thing about lines like SCS and SCSS is that you can replace the tip if you go to the bottom too often. However, it should be said that if you feel the bottom regularly, you are fishing correctly, you should risk wearing out some flies and straight hooks early in the season to get in touch with big fish on the move. On the other hand, if you are sitting on the bottom on almost every cast, you can put on a tip that does not sink so much. I always have tips ready rigged with a blank on the inner pocket which means that I can quickly put on a new tip while I am in the river so that I do not have to go ashore. Here I have all the sinking degrees of SCSS in a folder but also Skagit T tips that really sink quickly. If the line still wants to go too deep, I switch to a line where the belly is not sinking so quickly.

As you get further down into the pond, where the current speed calms down and you start to sit on the bottom, you have to use another line that doesn't go as deep to continue fishing. A scss in hi2, 123 or maybe even a float/sink line to get enough speed to avoid sitting on the bottom.