how many fish do you keep

[topender]

Just wondered how many anglers keep thier fish and how many a season do you keep ; Be honest, if you dare

[wilbert]

I generally keep my first clean fish of about 8 to 10lbs and then the rest go back, I sometimes take 1 or 2 sea trout too but have never taken more than 2 fish (salmon and sea trout combined) in a season. I only keep what I can eat and would never give a fish away. Next year my local river the Ribble with have a mandatory 2 fish (salmon) limit for the season, some will grumble but for me its more than plenty.

The fun in fishing is the anticipation and the waiting until you get a take out of the blue and then fight, the occasional meal at the end is a bonus not the goal.

[salmonking]

On a good year i will maybe take three fish a season,its been a while though so its usually one or two,which are given to the props for my fishing.

[altmor]

I would normally aim for 3 fish kept over a season, one for Christmas, one for my birthday, and one for a late summer family gathering, normally to coincide with another birthday.

I had 19 landed this past season, and kept 4, the other 15 returned, so this year near on to an 80% release.

I try to take only 1 from any given river, that meet my own criteria, being, cock fish, absolute bars of silver (preferably with lice), and in the 8 - 10 lb class. The 4th fish this season was infact a clean silver hen, but would not revive, bleeding heavily from the gills, and which was dispatched to prevent a sure slow and traumatic death.

The fish I retain are eaten within the season of being caught, except the one we eat at Christmas, and we look upon them as a bonus for a special occasion.

Fish kept this year include R. Awe, R. Ness, R. Ewe, returned fish include Rivers Awe, Ness, Tay, Earn, Endrick. Didn't fish this year on the Rs. Tweed, Spey or Dee, (normally do - just too much going on this past season), and blanked on the R. Tummel.

[scotty]

last season i only kept a small cock grilse about 3.5lbs, from the spey at grantown, the reason i only kept one is............i only bloody well managed to land one , that is the only spey fish i have ever killed. i have returned many to the spey.
on my wee local river some anglers tend to keep everything unless the fish is black, yes words have been said to various anglers but at the end of the day they are not breaking any rules or laws. not my cup of tea to kill everything.

scotty.

[macsalmo]

I kept two fish out of 14 last season. One 3.5lb silver cock fish and one 5lb sea liced silver cock fish. Next season if I am lucky enough to catch, I want to try and return them all (much to the disliking of my salmon loving family).

Gary

[elwyman]

I kept 1 from 11, a 7lb mint cock fish in September which the family enjoyed on Boxing day. Also kept a couple of sea trout from my home rivers.

I'd be happy to return all my catch, but some of my family do enjoy the occasional salmon.

I think the main factor is the state of the runs in the river - I'm happier taking a Tweed fish than a Conwy fish, for example. I wouldn't kill a hen fish again - the sight of all those wasted eggs should remind any conservation minded angler that the future of the species is partly in our hands.

[exerod]

In 2004 kept 4 out of 20 (a good grilse run on the Exe)
In 2005 kept 1 out of 10
Last season kept 2 out of 17

When it comes to C&R aren't we preaching to the converted on here, its just that some are bit more fanatical than others I'm not bothered if I don't get one to take home in a season, and thats happened more than a few times, but I do want the option.

As Elwyman says the state of the runs should be taken into consideration. I'd sooner take fish out of the reasonably prolific Exe late run (when we get water) than I would take a relatively rare summer fish.

Andy

[salmonking]

I cant get to grip with how well you guys fared last season,
i must have been doing something wrong ,I'd have been in dream
land too get into the teens ,was that a bad yr for you lot ??
HELLS TEETH ,FINGER OUT THIS YR...
sorry for the hijack.

[exerod]

salmonking said:

...was that a bad yr for you lot ??

No, it was a very good year for me (would have been even better without the drought), why do you think I didn't give my totals for the three years before 2004
I usually average about 6 or 7 a year. I've had a very understanding girlfriend/ghillie this year and that helps enormously ;D

Andy

[altmor]

It's not quantity Col, it's quality - saying that - I do get a good dose of both. ;D ;D

[tyneandrew]

1 salmon and 2 sea trout out of 37. In seasons past i have generally taken a couple more salmon but never more than 3.

[elwyman]

Greed or ignorance, whatever the club should speak to the guy and impose limits on numbers taken, and possibly ban the use of prawn which is likely to damage fish when unhooking.

Was this down at Wylam bridge pool?

[say]

I landed 19 fish last season and kept 2 both silver and sealiced. One (6lb) was badly seal damaged and the other (5lb) was too exhausted to go back.

My dad landed around 15 and returned all his fish.

As for the lad who kept over 100 fish, I assume he must be selling these to hotels etc, is this allowed in England..??

I know of one guy who fishes the beat opposite where I usually fish and he kills everything that is silver. Comments have been made but he shrugs his shoulders and thinks nothing of it.

[altmor]

As far as I'm aware, it is still legal to sell rod caught fish in England. Obviously, and IMO rightly so, not the case in Scotland. Why doesn't England follow suit, as surely this must still promote the attitude of "I can pay for my fishing with my catch", selling fish to local hotels, restaurants, etc.

There again, we got hit with the smoking ban first (after Ireland of course) !!

[say]

or in that one 'anglers' case, make a living

[altmor]

Allegedly, you can command £20.00 per pound of fish (salmon), sold in the London markets. If that one "angler" kept say 100 fish, at an average of 8 lb per fish, that would give 800 lbs of fish which in monetary terms would be £16,000.00.

Your not far wrong with that Say, but it doesn't justify the slaughter !!

[tyneandrew]

Im prepared to name and shame. This practice will undoubtadly have occured on Chester le Street Angling Club Waters on the Wear.

The pool will have been the buckles/muckles pool which is the upper tidal pool on the bottom of the river, where fish stack up in low water conditions.

June 16th 2005 c40 fish all taken on prawn - all killed.

[acw]

altmor said:

Allegedly, you can command £20.00 per pound of fish (salmon), sold in the London markets. If that one "angler" kept say 100 fish, at an average of 8 lb per fish, that would give 800 lbs of fish which in monetary terms would be £16,000.00.

Your not far wrong with that Say, but it doesn't justify the slaughter !!

Its 4 years ago but the mad chef and I got a 20ish wild fish in and were paying £45 + for a Kilo ,the fish came in and we were just in awe gorgeous ,think it Came from the Esk nets .

[Bogyoch]

For 2006, I had to keep the my first spring fish as it was bleeding, and later on I kept two grilse. That was from 53 salmon/grilse and 17 seatrout.