Ladies Day

[munrokiller]

Last Tuesday both female members of our fishing party caught their first fish from Kinermony. For the lady pictured, it was her first ever Salmon after 13 years of patience, a smile worthy of her efforts.

[tyneandrew]

Super, great picture too!

[easky]

really well done, shows that perseverance pays off - great fish and lovely looking water

[madkeen]

Well done

[macd]

super pictures munro- the smiles say it all.

you look a bit nervous in the first one- 'keep its heid up!!!!!!'

well done

ross

[hornet]

Superb photo and fish. Water looks excellent.

Hornet

[williegunn]

hornet said:

Water looks excellent.

Hornet

It looks a super well run beat on the other bank.

[munrokiller]

Malcolm,

Looks like the other bank fence is in need of repair to me and the net looks rather dry !

Contiued dilemma today. My third French beginner caught his first ever fish today. 1 experienced rod in charge of a party of 3 total beginners; they had never even seen a salmon rod before Monday! Obviously down to the casting instruction !

Although I am obviously overjoyed that they have all caught fish, and do realise that the first fish is worthy of recognition, I'd rather they had spread them out a little as we have now killed almost as many this week as we have all season!

The traditional 'blooding' of anglers is often quite poignant, especially for the likes of the lady above, but I can assure you that after 3 in a week, my smile is growing rather thin.

Yes Ross - the hand signal did indicate that her rod was a wee bit on the low side but I had seen the hook firmly in the scissors by then so the nerves were all in her court.

[splash]

springer said:

Jock,

Is there not a kill your second, fourth etc policy? I was lead to believe when I was up there last week it was mandatory.

That is sad to see so high a percentage of the weeks fish killed and I can understand why your not as overjoyed as your rods

Lets be totally honest with ourselves here. Its utterly outrageous that we kill these fish - lets have all rivers revert to C&R for the next 5 seasons. The kill your first fish argument is complete bullshit; did I kill my first striper, bonefish, tarpon or bluefin tuna -absolutely no way. This is catering for the corporate oriented, tweedie mindset , should have no place in the current environment and conditions that we face and must drive all progressive minded salmon anglers to despair. Fer Christ sakes have you fished the East coast rivers this spring - its totally desperate . Lets get rid of this businessman on holiday attitude from UK salmon angling for good

[juniorspey]

I agree with c & r, and return most of the fish i catch, but is it too outragious to let an angler keep his or her 1st salmon after many years of trying?
i think perhaps not.
I have noticed that on some beats 'tweedies' and businessmen taking a break from work, some of whom are good friends of mine are volintarily returning all the fish which they are sure will have a good chance of survival. Wild
salmon is a precious natural rescource that should be treated with respect, and i feel that the almost all anglers do so.
I do not grudge it if, at the end of a hard week, an angler wishes to take one for the pot. BUT; what really annoys me is the angler who kills everything, fresh, coloured, cocks and hens. these are the people who need to be educated in c & r, and equally as important, if not more so, how to handle a fish which is too be returned.

[donsidecaster]

Splash
whats the big issue.How many fish have you retained in thr past.??I agree with some of your opinions,but its up to the Gillies & proprieters to enforce the regulations,as per Fishery Board recomendations.As stated repeat customers,do you want to drive away the future Anglers.Can you remember your first Fish. Such events are retained for "Life" Memories Forever

If youve experieced despair on North East rivers,thats Life,Wrong place ,wrong time,Next season choose a Beat further Up River.Where have you fished so far this year,River & beat??
Tight Lines

[madkeen]

Can't see the problem with someone keeping their first ever salmon. If they go on fishing for the next 20 yr and return the majority of the fish they catch surely they are an asset to the salmon fishing world.As JS says it's the kill everything brigade we have to educate.

[splash]

donsidecaster said:

Splash
whats the big issue.How many fish have you retained in thr past.??I agree with some of your opinions,but its up to the Gillies & proprieters to enforce the regulations,as per Fishery Board recomendations.As stated repeat customers,do you want to drive away the future Anglers.Can you remember your first Fish. Such events are retained for "Life" Memories Forever

If youve experieced despair on North East rivers,thats Life,Wrong place ,wrong time,Next season choose a Beat further Up River.Where have you fished so far this year,River & beat??
Tight Lines

Donsidecaster - I actually didn't kill my first fly caught salmon and can still can remember putting it back. Its spring fish and the protection thereof I'm referring to here. You ask what beats I've fished and suggest I move up river to conquer the problem. Hmm, this Spring, I and my friends have fished the Tweed at Upper Floors, Ravenswood, Horncliffe, Sprouston, Birgham Dub and Upper Hendersyde; The Dee at Park, Borrowson, Crathes , Kincardine, Dinnet, Lower Dess and Crathie; The Tay at Newtyle, Stobhall and Cargill, The Isla at Coupar Grange ;The Tummel at Portnacraig and East Haugh and the North Esk at The Burn and Stracathro, a reasonable sample size of decent beats spread over lower, middle and upper rivers. Talking to ghillies and fellow anglers alike its absolutely clear that there is a paucity of fish in these rivers this year and anyone who thinks this is not the case is in denial IMHO. Look at the posts on this forum or even better look at the catch returns posted by the beats. The main point I was really trying to make, albeit perhaps in a rather extreme way, was that notwithstanding the fact that we have to address the issues out at sea, what really need to consider a total no kill policy for spring fish when the numbers in the river are clearly diminished. We must protect these fish when they are in the river. Hiding behind board policy and beat rules is not really the answer its a decision for the individual angler to make and is a mindset issue. Its been done before - look at the recovery of the East Coast striped bass fishery which was near extinction and compare this with what we have allowed to happen in Scotland with the West Coast sea trout fishery culminating with the closure of Loch Maree. Of course, this requires much wider action on the political front and maybe I'm being naive to think the problem can be addressed at the individual angler level. I know one thing though, a springer in the river that gets chapped sure cant spawn.....

[robmason]

I think a compulsary C&R along the lines of England and Wales is needed. The principle seems to have helped the Dee catches over the last decade, although it seems its far from 100% at the moment. When the initiative is voluntary it becomes too easy to fudge for the sake of a first salmon, bleeder etc.

[williegunn]

The Spey manages a respectable +70% catch and release so retaining a special fish is not really a major concern, I am sure Jock will work on next week's tenants to get his % back up.

[splash]

williegunn said:

The Spey manages a respectable +70% catch and release so retaining a special fish is not really a major concern, I am sure Jock will work on next week's tenants to get his % back up.

Is that the whole Spey including the association waters WG or just the private beats?

[williegunn]

splash said:

Is that the whole Spey including the association waters WG or just the private beats?

That is the Spey as a whole, some beats are better than others and I am not suggesting that the association waters are any worse or better than the private beats.

[munrokiller]

Splash,

The whole river, association beats included returned 70%+ last year. If you left out the association waters, I'm sure it would be in the high 80s.

We have caught only 32 fish so far this season and have killed 7, 3 of them this week. Unfortunately our overall release rate for this week is 50% but I assure you that it will 80%+ by the end of the spring and even higher by the end of the season.

As I've stated earlier, unfortunately the minority of anglers, mostly local I'm sad to add, follow the Spey Fishery Board guidelines verbatim, not as a minimum. ( Springer ) These guidelines do however remain voluntary and until a total catch and release policy is mandated by a higher authority, we just have to chip away and positively encourage these folk to change their attitude in any way we can.

In my opinion apart from dissuading you in following a political career Splash, I think your strongly worded approach would only puts their back up, in reality a more subtle line of attack may be worthwhile. This season, I have personally stopped killing fish on behalf of my guests, and although this may not seem to be a big deal, it has certainly caused surprise and a few have been taken aback. Imagine a Ghillie refusing to kill fish !!

Fortunately most are fully supportive of our conservation policy and whatever happens in the future, spouting about it on here will achieve little in my belief, so I'll shut up!


I'm impressed that you returned your first fly-caught salmon, ( reading between the lines were you a spinner before that, or have you only taken up fly fishing in the past 10 years or so ? )
I caught mine in 1975 and at the age of 12 didn't even get the opportunity of making such a decision! In retrospect, I have killed far too many fish and my only defense like many others who feel this way, is that I began fishing in times of plenty when the minset was completely different. Fortunately in my profession I have the opportunity to directly influence the decisions of anglers and I certainly do plenty of that - trust me!

Finally it looks like I owe myself and apology as I have stolen my own thread - going from heartfelt congratulations to opening a can of worms on the dreaded topic of catch & release. Sorry Guys..................better to leave it here eh!

[splash]

williegunn said:

splash said:

Is that the whole Spey including the association waters WG or just the private beats?

That is the Spey as a whole, some beats are better than others and I am not suggesting that the association waters are any worse or better than the private beats.

Thanks WG, I noticed the website quotes 71% salmon and 49% sea trout returned for the river in 2006 although in glass half empty mode you could argue that based on these 2006 returns its circa 4000 salmon and 1800 seat trout chapped which kinda makes you wonder how much things would improve with 100% C&R?

cheers

Splash

[salmonking]

Guys,interesting reading...but you could make it easier
to read by not using the full width of page