King of the fish

I'm talking of the Atlantic Salmon of course, a fish that hundreds of years ago was so common, that the peasants of this country objected to eating, because they had it so often.

But lets be realistic, goodoldSalmosalar (the leaper), is probably the most beautiful, most hard fighting and most fascinating of all the fishes that swim the watery mead in these fair islands.

And there is no doubt if we put out minds to it we could have them back in quantity for all to enjoy.

I live virtually on the banks of what was, many years ago, Yorkshire's finest salmon river - the River Don of course.Only a few miles away lies a section of the river called Salmon Pastures, where is wassaid that the apprentices of the steelworks objected to being fed salmon ever day.

Butperhaps one day, those time might come back. Certainly we read of efforts being put into increasing the number of samon running the rivers bythe EA. Fish passes are beingimproved and spawing redds are being created so that the fish can spawn. Certainly there are areas on the River Rother where gravel has been laid, not more that a few miles from there I am sitting now.

Good show! is what I say. A salmon caught on the fly rod is one of the great dreams of many anglers; and it fights a bloody sight harder than any barbel.Perhaps if all goes to plan, even ordinary people will one day be able to boast of a fly caught springer of 20 lbs fromTrent, Don or Rother.

I hope I can live long enough to see it.

/forum/smilies/big_smile_smiley.gifYes Ron; It,s about time that the good old days were back.

Also Ron: I,m glad you are referring to the Wild Salmon here and not that farmed full of fat crap in which is on sale.

All well and good, but as soon as riparian owners find they now have salmon in their bit of river, rents will sky rocket, coarse anglers will find themselves excluded etc.

I like a bit of Salmon fishing, and even my cheap week on the Tweed costs over £500.

The EA spent <u>£millions</u> on the Thames building fish ladders on every weir and then introducing stock to find its way out to sea. Sadly the little beggers didn't come back in the numbers that were expected.

One even turned up in the Welland in Lincolnshire, very lost and starved.

SO NO! That's my answer unless you want to see you EA Rod Licence double to cover the cost of further experimentation. Where there are salmon, so be it, protect them by all means, BUT NO MORE!

And no more artificial stocking of barbel into rivers where they don't belong. And no more illegal stocking of zander, or catfish. <u>British rivers for British fish</u>, I say!

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Where have I heard similar to that before? /forum/smilies/thinking_smiley.gif

The Don needs a few wiers sorting out but if it all went to plan there would be a run of significnt numbers in 5 years

I love to see salmon jumping in the rivers they fascinate me tremendously. And I probably see a lot more than most on this site because of the nature of the river I fish. However, I've no intentions of fishing for a fish that does not feed in freshwater, there just isn't enough hour in a lifetime to do that.

So I'll just sit there content fishing for fish that do feed in running water watching the quiver tip and catching out of the corner of my eye the majestic creature that is the salmon, clearing the water for some unknown reason in the pool I'm fishing.

BTW Ron what makes you think that by stocking the rivers with salmon that you would catch a springer?

Many of the rivers that still have natural salmon in them don't have spring runs at all!

And just for Woody I have every intention of being the first person to record the sighting of a salmon running the River Medlock before I shed my mortal coil.

And if you think it's a wind up Woody, I can assure you they are entering the Mersey system in good numbers now, its just a matter of time, observation and patience.

I've already recorded a seatrout 2 years ago.

I agree mate; the term "springer",is a bit of a misnomer and really means a fish that is straight from the sea, irrespective of what time of year it runs the river.

As to whether the salmon refuses to feed in freshwater, well here again, this is perhaps not entirely true. It's said that in the British Isles, more salmon are caught on worms than any other method. Don't tell me they don't mean to eat those worms!

But the most interesting, and in the right conditions most deadly way of catching salmon is with the fly rod.

Fully agree with you on British fish for British rivers Woody. Carry a good heavy priest, then you will be able to deal with those zander and catfish.

Keep them on your rivers Ron. We don't want them down here. I can remember all the restrictions we used to have on fishing times, both in terms of time of day and parts of the season,so that a few upper class twits in funny hats could have the river to themselves. These people are as bad as golfers

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I think is those days returned I think I would pack up fishing and stick to darts.

Salmon on many formerly famous salmon rivers are a busted flush; the reasons are many and complex and not fully understood. Despite all sorts of efforts with spawning propagation, catch and release, buying up nets etc. the run on waters like the Hants Avon is close to extinction compared to 40, 50, 60 years ago. The failure to tackle avian predation is significant in their decline togther with other reasons.

Like Dave, I find it hard to mourn their passing though their decline is in common with other coarse fish declines that may share the same reasons.

Why on earth would we want EA money spent on salmon via a stocking programme, there are plenty of salmon in the sea for trawlers to decimate even further than they already have so why should we contribute towards their profits?

The same rivers that bred those fish are still here but the reason the salmon in our rivers have declined has nothing whatsoever to do with anglers or lack of fish passes nor for that matter the state of the rivers. Netting the returning salmon at the mouth of the rivers and the revealing of their growing grounds off Norway for trawlers to plunder are the main culprits.

If you want to fish for salmon Ron go ahead and do it there are still salmon in the rivers, or do you just want greater numbers so as to make the catching of them easier? It is a greater challenge now than it was 20 years ago so presumably salmon anglers aren't up to the challenge.

Apart from all that I don't want access to the Wye cut off once more by rich, selfish, useless,twice a yearfisherman (they aren't). /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif