Archives for May 1, 2015

An Irwell Sea Trout?

Every now an then, anglers catch the most beautiful silvery blue wild trout on the Irwell, which if caught on other rivers such as the Ribble, we wouldn’t hesitate to call a sea trout.

These silver trout have cropped up time and time again, sometimes only 10 inches in length, sometimes a couple of pounds in weight.

We have often raised the question with the EA if these fish are true sea trout, and their standard response is no – they can’t be, and that without the proof of their being to sea, they continue to claim that the fish we are catching are normal brown trout which have undergone the smolting process before going to sea.

The proof required is a scale from the fish. The growth rings on the scale show if the fish has been to sea or not. And so far, us anglers have never been able to provide a scale sample for the EA to analyse  UNTIL NOW !!

Capture

Click on the photo to see it in full size.

This fish was caught by SFAS member Adam Mack near Manchester City Centre this afternoon.

The photo doesn’t do the fish justice, it was a pure bar of silver and blue when it was caught.

Sadly the fish didn’t survive as it had swallowed the spinner and the trebles had caught in its gills. So not only do we have the photos as proof, this time we have an entire fish to take to the EA offices on Tuesday morning.

So…..lets see what the experts say. Will the growth rings shown on its scales be tightly packed as per a river fish, or will there be rings that have wide separation which show the exponential growth that trout experience when they go to sea !

We will of course let you know the outcome.