17lbs salmon caught in Beeches Pool in April 2013 by John Wood.
I was looking through some photographs of salmon caught at Finavon during 2013 and found the one in the picture (photo taken with a mobile while keeping the salmon in the water to release it safely: hence the… poor photo!). This 17lbs spring salmon was caught by John Wood in the Beeches on a very small Willie Gunn in April 2013.
These early running salmon arrive in the pools of Finavon Castle Water any time from March onwards. The best time to fish for them is when the water temperature starts to climb in April and into May. All these early arrivals are multi sea-winter salmon which means that they stayed at sea for more than one winter. Multi sea -winter salmon feed far away from Scotland’s shores, unlike our grilse (one sea-winter salmon) which tend to feed near Iceland or in the Norwegian Sea.
This beautiful two or three-winter salmon, fresh from the sea and in prime condition, probably spent nearly two years in the fjord waters of west Greenland where there are huge quantities of prey species, including squid, pipefish and capelin. When they are ready to return to their native river, after putting on kilos of muscle and fat, these fish leave the Greenland coast and swim all the way back across the Atlantic Ocean – a distance of more than 2,500 miles – and back into their native river.
These multi sea-winter fish are in short supply, and their numbers continue to decline. They are far and away the most valuable group of salmon and command huge prices (up to £60 per Kg) at Billingsgate and in city restaurants. The fact is that for every 100 smolts (small & young salmon leaving fresh water for the first time) that leave their native river only about 5 return as adult fish. The rest die at sea.
It is ironical that, at the time when Scotland is producing more than 150,000 tons of farmed salmon, a very small number of people are legally still killing wild spring salmon in coastal nets, and in the process endangering their very existence.
Isn’t it time the law was changed?
Shouldn’t there be strict quotas, at the very least?
Shouldn’t we close down the most fragile fisheries completely (rods and nets)?
Anglers at Finavon carefully return all these salmon alive to the river. They represent the future. They are our broodstock. They are also the most beautiful fish it is possible to imagine! I leave the following question hanging in the air…”shouldn’t we be leaving these fragile spring fish to enter their rivers without any threat of rods or nets to hinder their progress to their spawning locations?”
TA 3/1/2014