Salmon Fishing

Blackwater Trout & Salmon Fishery provides predominately salmon fishing.
A state license is mandatory to fish for salmon or sea trout.

The preferred method for salmon fly fishing is with anything from an 11ft switch rod up to a 14ft double handed salmon fly rod depending on river conditions.

In spring it is desirable to have sinking lines (e.g. sinking shooting heads) and/or Skagit triple density lines to handle the larger salmon flies or weighted salmon tube flies.
Good patterns are the Green Highlander, Cascade, and Willie Gunn.
Heavy leader (12-15lb) is advisable for presenting these larger flies.
In summer and autumn, a floating line (spey/shooting head), float/hover or float/intermediate is advisable with lighter (8-10lb) longer leaders for improved presentation. 

Smaller flies such as size 10, 12 or 14 salmon doubles and trebles are most productive, and popular patterns include the Stoats Tail, Silver Stoat, CCK Partridge, Curry’s shrimp, Brolly Gold, Bann Special, Ally’s Shrimp and indeed most shrimp type patterns.
In low water, it is possible to fish for salmon with a single handed fly rod and switch rods are becoming more popular amongst our guests.
Extremely small flies down to size 16–18 and also hitching flies can be very successful in these conditions and are available in our onsite tackle store.

Spin fishing is permitted and can be the best method in high & coloured water. A 10-11ft spinning rod is ideal with a good quality spinning reel loaded with 12lb monofilament line.
Lures include the ever-reliable Flying C or Silver Bullet, Devon or Lane minnows, Toby or Stuki style spoons and Rapalas. We encourage all our guests to adhere to state fishing laws and good salmon fishing etiquette.