The never ending heatwave: Salmon & Sea Trout
This summer reminds us of the heatwave we experienced way back in 1984! Rivers then had a disaster of a season and anglers decided to go shopping with the wife or take a break from fishing until the rain arrived. Lets hope we get some heavy rain soon and anglers can get back to feeling confident and looking forward to going fishing in more normal weather conditions.
At least there are fish to be caught as there are runs entering the River Leven at specific times and heading on into Loch Lomomd. The runs are not large but given the weather conditions they provide the opportunity for sport.
Jim Raeburn went out for a camping weekend at the tap end of the loch on Friday with fellow angler Gerd Elsweiler. They netted a nice sea trout of 3lbs whilst up the loch which was returned. This was the second sea trout they had caught in the same area recently. That evening they decided to go back down to Rowchoish when the inside rod screamed and after a good fight a bar of silver with sea lice was landed weighing 9lbs.
Jim Raeburn with his 9lbs salmon fresh with sea lice: Caught up the tap end of Loch Lomond 18th June 2010.
Jim was mighty pleased that his new boat has now been officially christened. Well done. They headed back down on the Saturday, they did not see many boats out!
The bailiffing continues with checks on the loch at night and the river leven and Clyde Estuary. We are being effective at deterring poachers but that does not stop the poachers moving towards areas we have no jurisdiction over. Currently the Chinese are active netting over on the Southern side of The Clyde Estuary at Langbank etc. Hopefully those with interests on the River Clyde, Carts and Gryfe who claim they have umpteen Crown Bailiffs etc etc will perhaps deal with the problems experienced on that side of the Estuary.
It is always easier to take the easy option when rivers are low and presume that when the fish are in the Clyde Estuary they are not also YOUR problem. Sadly when fish are held up out in the Estuary they require protection and such protection costs money, decent minded anglers understand this and are willing to pay that bit more to ensure that fish destined for their waters are given reasonable protection.
Hopefully we will have some better news for anglers by the end of the week.
Tight Lines The Committee LLAIA