Don’t forget a net for catch and release

Anglers are sometimes accused of being prone to telling the occasional fib.

Personally, I believe anything that is reported to me, but others like more evidence.

This is why the honour of being declared the captor of the first salmon, caught upstream of Motherwell, fell to Mr Reid, of Crossford.

The difference in his case is that he was able to get photographs of himself with the fish.

It was estimated to weigh 13lbs, though he could have weighed it in his net and then subtracted the weight of the wet net.

It would have been safely in the net when he gently unhooked the fish, it would have been supported by the net while water was allowed to run through its gills, and when it indicated that it was ready to go, the salmon would be encouraged to swim out of the net.

Even if we don’t agree that catch and release is necessary on the Clyde, we have to adhere to the rule imposed upon by the Scottish Government.

For this reason we should carry a suitable net, which would help us to avoid injuring a fish by drawing it through stones near the bank, or trying to beach it. It is also a good idea to use barbless hooks or flatten the barb on a normal hook.

During July, quite a lot of salmon were being caught, although this is not actually expected this early in the year.

Cool water, and just enough rain, has encouraged salmon to come upstream in good numbers, earlier than normal.

Perhaps because they were out of practice, most anglers have been finding that they are losing their fish in the closing stages of the fight. They might be disappointed about this, but I prefer to regard these as distance releases.

The salmon were going to be set free anyway and it is better, all round, that the fish get away before they are exhausted. The need for this was demonstrated when one angler spent a long time trying to nurse a salmon back to a condition at which it could be expected to swim away safely. Eventually he realised that it had expired, due to the amount of lactic acid in its muscles.

In previous years he would have been allowed to take up to five salmon, and this fish would not have gone to waste, but this year he had no alternative but to push the dead fish out into deep water and let it drift away downstream. Perhaps a hungry otter could take advantage of the unexpected bounty.

If last month was just a taste of what we can expect to see in the next three months, this year might be one of the most productive for many years.

Salmon are not line-shy, and anglers provide the only evidence of the health of the river that the Scottish Government’s advisers will accept. Category 3 classification is not required, on our part of the Clyde, as the number of parr and the numbers of spawning fish prove.

Recent rain should have prompted another massive run of fresh salmon direct from the sea. With the slightly higher temperatures, many of them will not pause at Blantyre Weir. Some will attempt to run up the face of the dam.

There is a danger that a large salmon might injure itself on the wall, and anglers hope that the majority of salmon will use the safer route of the nearby fish pass.

Sea trout seem to be able to get over the dam much more readily. Trout anglers have been finding that the weather conditions have been confusing both them and the fish that they are trying to catch.

In July we expect trout to be rising freely, on cooler days, and feeding all through the night if the delays have been too warm for them to be active before the cool of the evening.

As the month progresses, the optimum time for fishing will gradually be earlier in the day.

Large Dark Olives should be appearing again, and it is to be hoped that enough of these will be emerging to tempt the trout to take them from the surface.