My Passion With Andrew Ellis

WITH a packed work and home life, finding space in the diary for my favourite pastime isn’t always easy, but when I do, it is hugely rewarding.

Salmon fishing is huge fun and greatly exhilarating, as well as being an escape – as much as I love my family and job. The salmon is such a magical creature, making the sport such fun and it generates a real passion for spending time on the river-bank doing battle.

Going fishing for salmon early in the year, between February and April, creates a real buzz, because catching a spring run salmon is a real challenge. Having been out in the open sea, fighting currents and avoiding predators such as seals, they are very muscular fish.

A salmon fresh in from the sea is very distinctive, a silver bar in the water, and catching one feels like a real achievement. Having said that, like all sports, it isn’t all about winning and, as much as it can sound like a cliché, simply being out in the boat with the gillie makes for an enjoyable day out. In any case most salmon fisherman are conservationists and all spring fish are returned.

I hadn’t always fished for salmon. When I was young, I enjoyed coarse fishing. Growing up in Doncaster, I would travel to the River Idle – a wonderfully apt name for a relaxing day of angling – or the Chesterfield Canal and enjoy the independence it allowed me.

I got into salmon fishing around ten years ago, when my firm, Weatherall, Green and Smith merged with Sanderson, Townend and Gilbert. One of the partners at Sanderson Townend and Gilbert, Chris Noble, is a keen (and very lucky) fisherman and heard that I had enjoyed angling as a child, so he took me out. His enthusiasm was infectious and we had a great day. I was hooked from that moment.

Chris not only took me salmon fishing for the first time, he helped me to get set up with equipment. Like with many sports, you can get deeper and deeper into not only the activity but also the paraphernalia involved, and Chris was my guide through this.

Now, I fish with Chris and other colleagues and friends, and, despite being with people with whom I work, it is a getaway from the office life.

Sadly, there is limited salmon fishing in Yorkshire. There is some sport on the River Tees, on the county’s northern border, but the salmon run is restricted.

Measures have been introduced but these will take time to have an effect. It would be great to fish closer to home.

In the meantime, it will mean continued early morning starts to the Tweed, North Tyne or across into Cumbria. The early mornings are no hardship though. In fact it is the best part of the day, especially when the bacon sandwiches cooked on the riverbank are ready.