Remarkable salmon catches question

caorach

Well-Known Member
I'm not much of a salmon angler and very rarely go salmon fishing and even then it is mostly for the day out and to spend some time somewhere nice. However, as I reported previously, this year I did some salmon fishing while on the Isle of Lewis and managed 5 fish for a day.

The season is nearly over in that part of the world with some places stopping at the end of September and others on 15th October. They have had what can only be described as a remarkable season with huge numbers of salmon caught in some areas, we are talking small systems with a few miles of river and a 5 year average around the 150 salmon mark having 536 salmon so far this season. Have other parts of the UK also had bumper years for salmon? What has the experience of salmon fishing been countrywide this year?

Now, it was a funny year as although the rest of the country has been wet Lewis had an extremely dry spring which lasted until nearly the end of July so the fish were held in the sea a little while longer than usual, though probably only by a few weeks. However this also means that there was less time for actual fishing so it is hard to say if the loss of some days is made up for by the strange weather in terms of catch stats. To me it just looks like there are a lot more fish than usual coming back into the rivers with many rivers boiling with fish even over the last week.
 
Mate had 20 lb male fish on the dee last week his face was a picture ,good news for the salmon wettest summer for a while ??
Regards
norma
 
Salmon fishing down here in southwest England has been superb throughout the season. In general (certainly on the river I work on, the Tamar) I don't think there are more fish in the system than usual (in fact the EA counter is showing a downturn in numbers... accuracy doubtful at best however!). I think it's more down to good water levels for much of the year and therefore better conditions to catch them in. Therefore more people have been fishing. For the first time in many years, we've been complaining about too much water in the river rather than a lack of it! Did have a day on the river about a month ago and must have seen 20 fish show and hooked six. That's very rare for any westcountry river but it was a one-off... right place right time for once!
 
The slightly odd thing about the situation in the Hebrides is that they have had a very dry spring and early summer and they haven't had remarkable amounts of water since that - so conditions have been less than ideal for big catches hence my suggestion that there may be more fish in the rivers than usual. Interesting about the Tamar being doing on numbers though as that doesn't fit with my guess of what is happening on Lewis.
 
Yes, a very different situation by the sound of things... but then the two areas are a fair distance apart!
One interesting observation this year has been the numbers of big fish. Our fish of the season is usually 12-13lb (with a good number 8-10lb). However this year the river has produced any number over 15lb with several 17-20lb and one of 25lb (a one in ten-year fish for the Tamar). Similarly other local rivers such as the Dart have produced a good number of big fish this year so they've obviously found some feeding somewhere!
 
I'm not much of a salmon angler and very rarely go salmon fishing and even then it is mostly for the day out and to spend some time somewhere nice. However, as I reported previously, this year I did some salmon fishing while on the Isle of Lewis and managed 5 fish for a day.

The season is nearly over in that part of the world with some places stopping at the end of September and others on 15th October. They have had what can only be described as a remarkable season with huge numbers of salmon caught in some areas, we are talking small systems with a few miles of river and a 5 year average around the 150 salmon mark having 536 salmon so far this season. Have other parts of the UK also had bumper years for salmon? What has the experience of salmon fishing been countrywide this year?

Now, it was a funny year as although the rest of the country has been wet Lewis had an extremely dry spring which lasted until nearly the end of July so the fish were held in the sea a little while longer than usual, though probably only by a few weeks. However this also means that there was less time for actual fishing so it is hard to say if the loss of some days is made up for by the strange weather in terms of catch stats. To me it just looks like there are a lot more fish than usual coming back into the rivers with many rivers boiling with fish even over the last week.

Like you I am not much of a salmon angler, and don't know a great deal about them, one thing I do know though is back end fishing is as good as it ever was, but we no longer have the spring runs we used to have why?
 
Like you I am not much of a salmon angler, and don't know a great deal about them, one thing I do know though is back end fishing is as good as it ever was, but we no longer have the spring runs we used to have why?

It's the same down here... and all over much of the UK to be honest. Scientists will come up with thoeries and more thoeries... but there are so many variables and still a lot of mystery in the salmon lifecycle (certainly once they hit saltwater) that I'm not sure it's a question that can really be answered... yet. I heard an American scientist talk about a salmon river having different 'clans' of fish. ie. the springers, the grilse, the summer salmon, the autumn fish, the winter run etc. Sounded like sense to me - obviously the spring 'clan' has been and continues to be struggling somewhere. But why is the Dee spring run holding its head up?
 
One interesting observation this year has been the numbers of big fish.

I didn't get any big fish myself and mine were all around the Hebridean grilse standard size of 4lb - 5lb however it seems to me that more big fish were caught. This is however a very unscientific statement and it is possible that it is just because more fish were caught that it is more likely some of them will be big. Even so there was the occasional report of a 20lb plus fish with double figure fish seeming much more common than I ever remember before.
 
I believe that catches on the Solway rivers are anything but remarkable,I spoke to a bailiff last week who says that both the Nith and the Annan will propably have had their worst year on record..
So all you fishers that have had a bonanza, they are our fish put them back!!!!!
 
Have had the best season for a long time,with the poorest month being this one due to a lack of fresh fish,although the river is full of kippers. The spring run was outstanding compared to the usual and when in spate big numbers were coming through. Lucky to be able to worm and spin when the conditions allow and the last three days I have had with the old fella we have had 19 between us with double figures lost. Hopefully it is the start of an improvement but probably not.
 
most of the rivers on the north coast have had a good or very good year this year, my wee river has had the second best year on record for salmon catching 1 fish per rod per day, not bad for a small spate river
 
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