I lean over and watch the water. A thought crosses my mind, how embarrassing to fall in..regardless I press forward a little closer this time, my eyes deep into the noise, the roar, the crushing force of river. I see the salmon now, dark shaped creatures waiting for the moment to move. I can’t comprehend the scale of what I am watching as there are so many fish suspended, folding across each others paths as they jostle for the flow and the current, feeling the fizz of white water parting over and round them. They are restless and anxious waiting to move stacked as part of a shoal of fish, but in reality each independent of the mass. Each fish on its own individual journey and determined to make it own way. And still they bob and weave, sometime forward, sometime back. I can see a few as they ghost up and down the water column, but there must be 50 fish of all sizes, from new run grilse to the bigger multi sea wintered fish who can grow beyond 20 pounds plus before entering the Midfjardara river system. These bigger fish have been here before and driven by a life force of the present, they arrow forward, arc up and out of the water and over the lip of the waterfall crashing into the tail of the pool above. Now pause, but always moving, they fidget, tails flashing in the sun as they catch their breath.

Spotting salmon on the stunning River Midfjardara

You can try and cast a fly at these fish but the fish are distracted and highly sensitive to their surroundings. The slightest noise or shadow across the pool and they will drop in silence to the deeper corners of the river. Occasionally a very fresh run fish will follow the fly hitched creating the irritating wake that salmon can find so irresistible but hook the fish and you might as well have set off a car alarm in the pool. You may hook one, but it will be unlikely to catch two. Instead just for a moment, take a breath and just watch these beautiful creatures in their own place.

There are moments when I am really focussed on catching fish, the light is right, the water levels perfect and I know there are salmon in front of me. Increasingly though, I like to stand and watch and see whats happening in front of my eyes and in doing so to enjoy the real privilege of fishing in a wilderness for the truly wild.

The stunning scenery of the River Midfjardara