Farmed Fish

[Fruin]

After the large escape of farmed fish from Loch Striven, these fish are still dominating catches on the Leven. I just hope that they don't make it to the tributaries. Anyway, managed to chap one on the head today, to do my bit, and it saved the day from being another blank. The fish was about 12lbs and is large for a farmed fish, as they are not usually sold at this weight. There are bigger farmed fish in the river, which makes me wonder just how accidental the loss of these fish was

[salmonscotty16lb]

another angler asked me yestrday (sat) wot i thought of the small grilse he took from the annan? on looking it weighed about 3lb small for a annan grilse but mint condition he was wondering if it was a farmed fish. only seen pictures in mags ect of fish with deformed tails rubbing on fins ect and were a total give away. still think this guys fish were true wild fish but the one in your picture looks in good condition for a farmed fish? cant see tail though. is there any sure fire way of telling if u catch a farmed fish even if the fish is in good condition?

[williegunn]

I'm not convinced it is a farmed fish either, usually they have more spots.

Any more photos?

[johnmac]

i have to agree... for an escapee it doesnt look that bad at all!! i guess the tail must be the give away!

"is there any sure fire way of telling if u catch a farmed fish even if the fish is in good condition?" in answer to salmonscotty's question... i think the only sure fire way to tell if it is a farmed fish is to llok at a scale sample under a microscope. It not massively difficult and i have started to get quite good at it!!

Generally speaking a farmed smolt is produced in a six month period using photoperiod..... or at worst one year as appose to a wild fish that may take anything from a few years to seven or more to reach smolt size. This difference can be seen in the juvenille stage on the growth rings of the fish, and can also be used to tell if a fish is a multiple returner or not! not that many are these days!

and like you said Fruin... at least you got a fish... and helped the environment!

[Fruin]

The fish was fresh in and had a few sea lice, but the giveaway was the dorsal fin. All the farm fish that are being caught have virtually no dorsal fin.
The tail was in good condition, but was slightly rounded at the top. The adipose fin on most of the farmed fish that have been caught seems to be slightly larger than one would expect on a wild fish in our system. The other fins were all a bit ragged.
Most of the farmed fish that have been getting caught have had more spots than you would find on a wild fish, but some, like mine, are more akin to the markings normally found on wild fish.
It did give a good acount of itself. I like to play my fish on a short line and gain as much line as possible before the fish realises what is going on. I had this one on a short line quite quickly but it made a few good runs across and down the river after this, and I never managed to get below it until the latter part of the fight. Mind you, it always seems more difficult when the river is up a bit and you are fishing on your own.
I wish that I had taken a close-up photo of the dorsal to the deformity. Another picture of the fish...

[jimthefish]

Best looking farmed fish I've ever seen.

[salmonscotty16lb]

looks much deeper than the first photo fruin. johnmac thanks for that far to technical for me! do farmed fish colur up the same come end of season? imagine last day of season you land a tart dorsal not quite right one hand says put her/him back asap?other hand says something not right i will take it and look at scales under a microscope? if the fish is wild the reds would benifit from the fish and to late?how often do we insect a gravid fish? i wouldnt even remove the head from river nevermind inspect it

[salmonscotty16lb]

ps sorry guys my spelling is rubbish!! only went to school when the weather was bad and no fish to be had

[Fruin]

Some of the farmed fish that have entered our system are already starting to colour up. I do not now how many escaped, but we are still getting them in fresh from some of the tides.

There are falls on our two major spawning tributaries and I only hope that the farmed fish struggle to pass them. This may limit the damage

[D-Loop]

Like Fruin I have had two 10 lb salmon recently off the Leven but am unsure about their origin. Apart from the damaged dorsal fin on the first fish they were fin-perfect, in great condition and not tinny-coloured, ragged-finned Tesco torpedoes. They were not sea-liced but both put up a great fight. IMO they both are wild but any comments welcome.

cheers,

Tom

first fish


second fish

[Fruin]

Tom,

I recognise you now; you showed me the Snap T cast one day when I was fishing with Tom Walker down to McKinnons and into the Garden Stream.

The first fish looks like a farmed fish to me. The second one is a coloured wild fish, probably came in and sat about the bottom end of the river for a while. This would make it likely, but not certain, to be a fish that was going to spawn in the Leven and not one of the higher tributaries or burns.

Tight Lines,
Gary

[D-Loop]

Gary,

I also recognised you from your photo.

I should be around McKinnons, Bucks, Bonhill the next few Saturdays. If I remember you wanted to try some lines so you're welcome to have a go with these.

I'm not sure about the marking on the fish's head (hopefully not UDN).

Tom

[Fruin]

Tom,

I'll be fishing on the Tay or the Don this weekend, depending on water levels, but I should be about over the next few weeks, whenever I escape from family duties.

Hopefully, the back end run will make up for the rest of the year

[D-Loop]

Tight lines, Gary.

[flyman]

as has been said thats the best farmed salmon iv'e ever seen.



jim

[salmoseeker]

I just wonder why it is possible for those responsible for this sort of environmental pollution (the fish farming industry) are able to escape any sort of responsibility for their continual bad practice. Your farmer up the glen who dares lets his sheep dip get into the watercourse (rightly) gets done; so why not this lot? At the risk of seeming a NIMBY if we need farmed salmon than lets have it from Norway.

[salmonscotty16lb]

Gary any chance of a up date on the farmed salmon now the curtain is getting ready to close for the season?
its all went quite not sure if this is good or not

[clydebuilt]

salmonscotty16lb,

Have a look at a regular Leven fishers website for further information on the "farmers" debate.

www.robbieredball.net/fish%202005/october%202006.htm

Cheers
Clydebuilt

[Fruin]

There are still farmed fish being caught on the River Leven, although most of them are now coloured. The thing that gets me is the fresh ones that are being caught; either they have been hanging around out at sea or it's more escapees. I have heard that after 3-4 weeks at sea, the tails start to fork out like a wild salmon, none of the fresh farmers seem to have developed nice forked tails, and this would lead one to believe that they are further later escapees - I hope not!!!
I fished the Endrick, a tributary of Loch Lomond, for an hour on Friday morning and had a wild fish (returned). Thankfully, there have been no reports of farmed fish being caught up any of the tributaries, as yet.
The unfortunate thing is that the farmed fish are unlikely to have been treated to stop them spawning with natural fish. This is a real worry, as they will threaten genetics of the wild fish in the system.

[stalker]

Check the pectoral fins thats one of the easiest ways to tell. Farmed fish swim round the edge of the nets and its common for the pec fin to be worn down, it can even be seen on the tail too in certain cases.