Mersey system- general ramblings

I make no apologies for the Carp. I'm a genuine all rounder and I've recently been developing an interest in Game Fish.

Right well A Salmon was caught a couple of years ago at Warrington. I'm wondering if they are more than a few in number and if they ever reach the headwaters i.e the Goyt, Tame, Etherow etc. Has anyone any expriences/ opinions?

I fluked a 5.15 Brown Trout in the Goyt 2 years ago while fishing for Chub. How big is this on a national scale for wild Browns?

For a river wild brown, this is a very big fish. Most of the biggest browns have come from lakes and lochs and are of the sub species "ferox", if it is a genuine sub species at all.

Personally I think it is just another form of brown trout.

Some of the largest wild brown trout were those in the Thames that inhabited weir pools.

Some of the biggest wild river brown trout taken on fly tackle were captured in the 50s and 60s by **** Walker and Frank Guttfield in the Bedfordshire Ivel.

Thanks Ron, interesting stuff. I've listened to various opinions about the Trout of the Mersey trbutaries/ headwaters and generally 2 theories shine through. 1/ there is a proliferation of Crayfish (American Signal) providing a rich food source. 2/ The tributaries flow through Millstone Grit,apparently this encourages a good amount of suitable food.

By the way 3-4 pounders are relatively common, perhaps this is one hell of a resource that's been almost compltely overlooked..

Favourite bet for where those few salmon that enter the Mersey go is the Bollin. If you have a look at a map you'll see that the Bollin enters the Ship Canal right opposite where the Mersey and canal seperate at Rixton. The EA have a trap in the fish pass at Woolston New Weir which they have used to monitor salmon going up the Mersey.

Large brownies get reported at times from the Bollin, but I wonder if some of these may actually be coloured sea trout.

I've seen big brownies in the Bury to Ramsbottom stretch of the Irwell and 3lb plus fish have featured to bait fishers.

We await the first sighting of a salmon in this stretch. Back at the start of the Industrial Revolution, and before the Irwell was totally polluted, apprentices in Salford had it put in their articles of employment that they should not be served salmon for more than four meals in a week, such was the plentiful supply in the river.

Congrats to the agency for their work in cleaning up the Mersey system. As a boy I lived for many years near the confluence of Goyt and Etherow at Romiley and us boys were warned not to fall in the river; we would be more likely to be poisonned than drown!

It's great to hear that the rivers in this area now have wild brownies.

What are they doing however about the wild Scousers?

Over to you Eddie.

Me??