Politicians still not getting it

Last month, at the time of the Scottish elections, I watched a map of the country filling up with yellow, red, blue and green as each constituency reported its results.

At the recent conference about the Salmon Homecoming, I got clarification that something similar was carried out on behalf of the Scottish Government. A map of Scotland was filled in using the outlines of existing Salmon Fisheries Boards.

Everything was coloured in except a large chunk of the west of the country. This entire area was deemed to be a single fishery area. Some Salmon Fishery Boards are so tiny so there is no justification in lumping everything together, as has been done.

One speaker showed us the plight of the declining salmon population in the Clyde by starting with rod catches since 1952. Everything looked fine to begin with, but obviously fewer fish were being caught in the last 20 or 30 years, and it took a moment for a number of us to realise that something was wrong.

The whole point of the conference was to celebrate that salmon returned to the Clyde in 1986. Based upon the number of salmon caught in our part of the Clyde in 1952, the salmon has not been declining at all.

What was confirmed for us was that the figures were based upon the catches in the Loch Lomond system.

Where is the evidence-based decision-making process that the Wild Fisheries Reform promised us? Our part of the wrongly-designated area has been improving year upon year for the last 30 years.

In the real world, salmon have started to come up the Clyde in reasonable numbers for this time of year. Early reports have been of fish of around 6lbs, all looking like perfect bars of silver.

Initially these were being caught in the Mid Clyde Association water, downstream of Blantyre Weir; they were soon also found in water controlled by the United Clyde Angling Protective Association. I regard this as being a bit early, but there has been enough rain to prompt the salmon to move beyond the barrier.

Trout anglers are still having difficulty in finding feeding fish. The competition section of Scottish Anglers’national Association held two heats in May; one was ruined by a strong wind, with 20 top class anglers taking a total of eight trout, and a week later, in colder conditions, the angler who finished second had eight fish himself. The angler who won had only six trout, but they were obviously of a better quality.

June has the shortest night of the year and this is excuse enough to give night fishing a try. For anyone who hasn’t tried it, the best thing to do is get to the river early. That way we can check the water, and the bank, for obstructions which will not be visible in the dark.

Trout that hide in the rough water of fast-flowing streams during the day will move to the slower pools under cover of darkness. Getting to know these will take more than one visit, but fishing during the gloaming rise will give us time to start the process.

This calls for small flies or spiders, which closely match the colour of those on the water. As darkness falls, larger insects will appear on the water, most likely brown caddis flies. Never fish alone, and take at least one torch with you.