Anglers share Sunday blame

AS a once-keen rod and line angler myself I was interested to read the views of Andrew Douglas-home on the “mystery of the Sunday salmon ban” (The Herald, May 17). His arguments against the ban seem to make absolute sense, especially in regard to the working man (or woman) losing one of their precious days off to the Sunday ban. He then, however, went on to destroy his own argument with the tally of fish plundered from the river.

Thursday, 14 salmon caught. Friday, 20 more salmon. Saturday, 23. On Monday, another 26. All this by a very small group of anglers on one small section of river. Thank goodness that fishing on Sunday was banned as taking fish in those numbers is and was unsustainable. I presume that all the fish were killed as that would have been usual in 1983. Catch and release was not commonplace until much later.

Rod and line anglers blame everyone but themselves for the demise of our migratory fish and

I am sure that many other factors have had more impact than that of the angler, but taking fish in the numbers described above is completely unjustified. Sadly, it is now illegal to take a single migratory fish from many of our once-prolific rivers.

David Clark, Tarbolton.