Salmon

I was in Kerry for a few weeks holidays and on my first day caught my first and only salmon of the trip. I was surprised to catch him as there had been very little rain which is usually needed in order to catch them. The fish fought like a tiger and I ended up with the fish in the river ready to be netted and a drop of about 10 feet from where I was standing on the bank. Nothing for it except to jump into the water which was waist high. I wasnt wearing chest waders, instead my wellies so I got a good soaking. I finally netted the fish which made it all worthwhile and then turned around to climb out. Now while it was easy enough to get into the river it proved a different task to climb the bloody bank back out. I had my rod in one hand and a net with an angry salmon the other. After about ten minutes I was back on dry land. It was one instance when I was glad there was no video, I was quite an undignified picture crawling up the riverbank!

Anyway I got the fish home and decided to eat one half of it fresh and make gravlax with the other half. I will post on the gravlax next time. When I am lucky enough to catch a wild salmon I always do the same thing with it. That is poach it in the fish kettle with some veggies and wine. I then serve it with homemade mayonaise and a cucumber salad. Here are a few pics of dinner that first night with my wife Sandra tucking in!