Archive for June, 2011

South Esk salmon fungus and stocks estimates.

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

These bulletin blogs represent news about Finavon and the South Esk, and my views as a riparian owner. They are not the views of any other organisation, nor are they designed to promote the interests of any individual or organisation other than Finavon Castle Water and factors affecting the fishery.  Tony Andrews

Friends have been fishing at Cortachy, Downie Park and Inshewan, and what they have told me gladdens and saddens the heart simultaneously. Reports from Inshewan and holding pools upriver are of a spring run reminding us of the abundance of the 1960s when, if the temperature barrier of the Kinnaird Dyke allowed, large numbers of MSW salmon would fill the middle and upper river. With deep holding pools from Justinhaugh up to Dunbog Farm all holding good numbers of spring salmon ranging in size from 7lbs to over 20lbs you would have thought that any fisherman or riparian owner would be uncritically content.

Sadly the world doesn’t operate like that, nor do salmon rivers. The abundance of fish, their overcrowding into deeper pools, and the low water in April & early May, have led to an outbreak of a fungal infection (saprolegnia). On the North Esk the situation is much worse, but of course they have more fish. Both Inshewan and Finavon on the S Esk are reporting dead, fresh-run salmon covered in fungus being taken from the river and buried. I am sure the same is true of Cortachy and Downie Park. Those dead salmon that aren’t found by river staff are eaten by otters (or by labradors if you are unlucky enough to be beside the river with your dog!). I know of at least 60 dead salmon taken out of the middle river, and there will be many others lower down and in the upper reaches. Let us guess that we have lost 200 salmon to disease and that the Usan nets have already killed about 800 spring salmon (60% of which might reasonably be expected to ‘belong’ to the S Esk), and still there are many fish showing in our pools. Based on observation and the catches we have seen recorded, it is not unreasonable to suppose that more than 1,500 salmon, perhaps as many as 2,000, have run the South Esk to date in 2011. If that is the case it is also true that the spring stock, in this year at any rate, is not so fragile as we thought it might be. While there’s no room for complacency, it is very encouraging that there are still spring fish in the river

Of course one swallow doesn’t make a summer, but it is also true that the 2010 run of spring salmon indicated a reasonable return of adult salmon, despite the poor rod catches resulting from low water yet again. The evidence therefore suggests that there appears to be a surplus year-on-year. The problem is that we really don’t have much idea of what the spring stock component conservation level is (or should be) and therefore it is impossible to state with any confidence whether that surplus can be ‘harvested’ without damaging stocks. We don’t know how many salmon and grilse run the South Esk. We only have rod catch statistics to tell us what the trends are. But I will hazard a guess that the five-year average of returning adults into the South Esk, based on 60% of Usan net catches and the declared rod catch, plus our own observations, is somewhere around 10,000 fish. I base this figure on 1,500 MSW fish up to 31 May, 3,000 salmon and grilse in June,  July and August and 5,500 salmon and grilse from 1 September until spawning time (ie including salmon that enter the river after the close season on 31/10) There you are: I’ve put a salmon number on the South Esk! I could argue that my estimate should stand, despite its being based on guesswork, until someone provides the evidence to show that I am wrong. I wish someone would, if only to show that he/she has better evidence than my semi-educated guesses! One thing about making estimates in this way is that with refinement and new data they can only improve! What I can say, and this statement is backed up by some of the UK’s most knowledgeable fishery biologists, is that the South Esk is a very fertile little river which might produce figures something like this: Please note this is guesswork. I would welcome an informed challenge to these figures.

Average number of South Esk salmon and grilse killed by mixed stocks nets = c. 2,500*

Total number of salmon and grilse entering the River  = c. 10,000*

Total number of spawning females, allowing for 20% in-river losses = c.4,000

Average weight of spawning hen salmon = c. 8 lbs

Average number of eggs deposited by each hen fish = 4,500

Total number of eggs deposited in South Esk catchment  (4,500 X 4,000) = c.18 million

Estimated number of smolts produced annually by S.Esk (say 1% of total deposited eggs) = c.180,000*

Assume percentage of smolts returning as grilse is about 8% and of MSW fish about 5% (average 6.5%)

6.5% of 180,000 = c. 11,700 salmon and grilse arriving off the Angus coast (PFA) prior to nets exploitation.

While these figues do work – well, sort of – I have asterisked the ones I feel are priorities for investigation. As I say, this is my best guess after more than 35 years of observing runs of salmon in the South Esk. I would be interested to see what our fishery board’s estimate is, but only if accompanied by the data – e.g. evidence such as juvenile counts, redd counts and fertile wetted area calculations as applied by the Environment Agency in England.

I will certainly return to these figures and refine them as more data becomes available.

TA

Arctic seas, feasting salmon & conditions now perfect for FCW sea trout.

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

I feel a bit of a fraud as I sit writing this blog in a room in the Arctic Hotel in Ilullissat, 250 miles north of the arctic circle on the west coast of Greenland! One reason why perhaps I can justify writing a bulletin about Finavon from this distance is that this is where our two-sea-winter salmon come to feed. The sea is a few yards away from where I am sitting, and the view is breathtaking with brilliant sunshine on massive icebergs exiting the great Jacobshavn Glacier. As far as I can see there are icebergs of different sizes, shapes and colours, ranging from ten-story tower blocks to the size of a mini, from shimmering white to deep blue. The sea is very calm in the blazing sun, and the coastline behind me a mixture of bare rock and snow patches. There are snow buntings and a team of twenty or so huskies lazing around on flat slabs of exposed rocks, chained up because they are not always of a friendly disposition. There is also a litter of husky pups causing general mayhem, all within a few yards of my window. Talk about panoramic! When I return I shall download some photos of this incredible seascape, huskies included, for this blog.

Below: Where our salmon feed at sea near the town of Ilulissat, 250 miles inside the arctic circle on the west coast of Greenland

Icebergs exiting the great Jacobshavn Glacier

Sunlight on icebergs in the sea off the Jacobshavn Glacier

Sleeping husky, chained-up because these working dogs are dangerous!

So this is where our two and (if we are lucky) our three-sea-winter salmon come to stuff themselves with capelin, squid, and anything else of the right size for them to eat. The salmon here are grossly fat and oily. Their flesh is soft and full of fat. We never see them like that because, by the time they get back to the South Esk, they have the physique of an athlete, after swimming the two thousand miles of the return journey. By the time they arrive with us all the fat has been worked off and they are fit and firm-fleshed, and much nicer to eat of course! I have never been in much doubt about the salmon’s status as a top-line predator, but seeing the way they feast here in the cold Greenland coastal waters, has confirmed that in my mind as a certainty. So, when you fish for salmon in Finavon’s pools maybe it’s a good idea to keep the fly moving, because they really do like to chase their prey. It seems rather odd that we are putting these top-of-the-food chain predators into cages and stuffing them with South American anchovies in order for us to eat them as farmed salmon. Rather like an African tribe deciding they like roast lion steaks, so they cage-up the lions, and feed them antelopes in order to fatten up the lions so they can eat them. I can’t think of any other predator we treat in this way. Wild salmon are very special animals and perhaps we need to rethink our relationship with them. 

Night fishing

The best sea trout fishing is at night

The other reason why I feel I can write a bulletin about FCW sea trout prospects from long range is because of what modern technology provides in terms of information. For example, the webcam tells me that the river has dropped nicely to a level where sea trout should be moving upriver steadily and, with any luck, be starting to shoal in the main pools. I would expect there to be some sea trout in all the pools, with some good shoals developing in Tyndals, Willows, Upper Boat (all Milton Beat), Red Brae, Kirkinn (Castle Beat), Haughs, Tollmuir and House Pool (Bogardo Beat), Melgund, Frank’s Stream and of course Indies (Indies Beat). If I were going fishing at midnight tonight (Sunday) I would put money on seeing and hearing sea trout splashing about in Indies and Willows. Following reports of significant numbers of sea trout going through, and some being caught, at Kinnaird, there are bound to be fish in those FCW pools I mentioned above. The warmer water after the superb weather on Friday and Saturday should encourage sea trout to run. The new FCW sea trout syndicates start this coming week. I wish them all every success – good warm summer nights with exciting trysts with sea trout and the occasional salmon, perhaps interspersed a convivial blether & dram in the Indies fishing hut.  Incidentally, well done, Ian Ingledew with that lovely 11 lbs fish from the tail of Haughs (Bogardo Beat) last week. That was a welcome surprise for a night sea trout fisherman! This is a magical time of year, so enjoy. The fog, snow and ice will be back far too soon, so, like the grass-hopper, party-on while the sun shines!

Postscript: Moray had a 2 lbs sea trout at 0400 today from Frank’s Stream (Indies Beat), but that is all for an early season night. From here on things should improve.

TA