Smallest Grilse

[Bogyoch]

It's great to read about all those monsters caught, but what about the smallest ones?

Mine was last August from Carnousie on the Devereon, and measured 16.5 inches and weighed 1lb 9oz.

[macd]

my old man had one of similar size on the thurso in sept......seen bigger herring.

[juniorspey]

MINE IS AROUND 1 3/4LB FROM THE SPEY, BUT i'VE SEEN A SMALLER ONE ON THE NESS- IT WAS LIKE a liced smolt!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[easky]

there were a lot of v small grilse (between 1-2lb) on the west coast of Ireland too last year. A lot of people think that it is the nets which are starting to reduce the average size - I suppose this is just one factor (changes to food supplies at sea etc other factors). It will be 'interesting' to see if the trend continues

E

[fishingd0]

A fish of one and a half pounds off the Ness last year.

What concerned me most last year wasn't just the amount of small fish about, but the amount of fish that were 2-3lb lighter than they should have been for there length.

Would the lack of sand ells be playing a large part in this?

[Bogyoch]

I recall reading a letter or article in T&S saying that a grilse of 12oz had been caught recently.

Are last year's small fish due wholly to lack of food or do they come and go in cycles? Those of you who remember some years ago when there were far more fish on the go, were there still small fish amongst the larger ones? If there were small fish then, would these have been less conspicuous because they were so outnumbered by the bigger fish?

[munro]

In August/September a lot of fish in the Forth spent weeks in the upper estuary going in and out with the tide because of the prolongued drought (so much so that a lot of the bigger fish were stranded on the mudbanks and were "rescued" and sold round the doors by some of the local "Characters").
Some of the surviving fish were more like kelts in appearance. Could the long delay in the upper estuary where food is likely to be scarce have caused or contibuted to the poor condition of these fish ? Of course the problem with that theory is that had they ascended the river immediately the same time would have passed since they left the actual sea. Just wondered tho'

[wilbert]

My first ever Salmon was also my smallest (2.5lbs) and also the only 1 that I have caught spinning! not very exciting or particularly memorable for a first fish but I more than made up for it later that season with a 7lb sea liced fish on fly, much better memory and fight.

[ceilidh]

It is natural to assume that these very small fish are all grilse, however, this is not always the case. I have twice caught mature salmon of under three pounds, one on the Beauly and one on the Ness, (confirmed from scales which I sent to Pitlochry for identification) and may well have caught and released others without realising it.
Both of these fish were in good condition, well proportioned and with no apparent lack of sea feeding, but with a fully developed 'knuckle' at the tail, which is why I kept them for further investigation. Mature midgets occur in many species, so why not also salmon ?
It is also a mistake to assume that, just because a fish is over, say,10 lbs it is a salmon and not a grilse, although for many years I assumed that this would generally be the case. Studies carried out in the Esk & Liddle over the past few years have revealed that a surprisingly high number of fish over 10lbs and up to as much as 18lbs were, in fact, grilse!

[sewin]

I had a grilse of 13lbs from the Clwyd a few years ago and the same week there was a 14lb grilse from the Welsh Dee.

[juniorspey]

I had a clean cock fish of 9.5lb
in the last week of the season on the spey-small head, really looked like a grilse! think it was anyway!