Fishing The Fly Scotland
Index => Main Discussion Area => Topic started by: Richard Bates on 19/06/2019 at 00:05
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Hi Folks,
I have spent quite a bit of time this past month fishing my local stream. It's a typical high ground spate stream which feeds into lough Neagh eventually, has a good head of wee trout, dollaghan from august and a few late salmon. This year I am catching a lot of salmon par, more than I have ever noticed before. I didn't keep a count but reckon 25 - 30% of my catch have been parr.
Last year we had no water in this stream until November and had a mild winter, again fairly dry too. The salmon run was not great either. Maybe they are on a feeding spree to fatten and smolt, I don't know.
Anyway, after that drivel, my question. How many parr/smolts would you guys catch in a days trout fishing?
Richard
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At certain times of the year nearly every cast hooks a parr. After that very few.
Was talking to a friend about goosanders. If only 5 % of the smolts are said to be returning in place of 20-25% a number of years ago. We have about 70 goosanders at present. Having watched one take 5 parr in a few seconds only a few feet from were we were sitting. That means 350 parr per day or about 2,500 per week. That would mean that they have stopped well over a 100 fish per week returning to the river.
Bob.
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Those goosanders are a menace and their numbers seem to be increasing.
It's unusual to see so many large parr in this burn so late in the year. They usually go downstream before reaching 5-7 inches. We would see smaller parr all year round and smolts run to sea in the spring. Maybe wee had a more successful salmon run the previous couple of years.
The whole river system has been catch and release for a few years now and some gravel enhancement done. Hopefully this is sign of recovery.
Richard