Personally, I'm convinced it's all a plot on the part of the local anglers. They've fueled the negative image so they can keep all this great fishing for themselves. One spring, for example, I caught four salmon and two grilse in four hours of fishing one morning. Every salmon angler knows that litany. Still, if actually catching two or three salmon in each day of fishing seems excessive, you probably won't like spring fishing.
Spring salmon fight extremely well.
Part of it is big fish using the currents to their advantage. But part of it is the fact that these are, after all, Atlantic salmon. Over half of the spring salmon I've caught and virtually all of the grilse went airborne one or more times, and almost all ran at least into the backing. Yes, spring salmon are slender compared to bright salmon, but there's still beauty and power aplenty. It's a little like comparing a sinewy martial artist to George Foreman.