[Iain Cameron]

got a wee report back from Jamie, the river's biologist, on some sea trout kelt scales i'd sent.
Fascinating stuff. or it was to me anyway:

I had a look at your scale and I've got it marked down here as a 2.1.SM.0 which means that
2 = It spent two years in the river before smolting
1 = It returned as a 1 sea winter fish last summer
SM= Then it spawned last autumn
0 = means that at the point of capture it had exhibited no marked scale regrowth confirming that it is a kelt.



kinda interesting to know something about the history of your captures!

iain

[Iain Goolager]

Nice one Iain 

That's for posting BUT a picture (I know it was a kelt & you would have been eager to get it returned) would have finished that 'case study' nicely.

Can the scales indicate sex and approximate weight? if so was that something that Jamie sent you?
Iain

[Dave Mundie]

That's interesting stuff didn't know you could get all that information from a scale

Dave

[Iain Cameron]

Can the scales indicate sex and approximate weight? if so was that something that Jamie sent you?
Iain

good question - i guess so, but on the scale sample packet that I send to jamie I have to complete a guesstimate of length, weight and gender - all guesswork, since I don't carry tape or weigh scales. And out of breeding season, I've no clue to ID-ing the gender

Photo - don't have a camera (that I'd be prepared to drown...) probably a good thing, as I immersed myself recently. Might be nice to go look for a cheap digi camera that I could carry.

oh, and I'm pretty sure I caught that same sea-trout again on Friday - same lie, same time of day, different fly - slightly fuller looking, which suggests a recovering kelt - i'll get those scales to Jamie too for comparison

iain