Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Century anniversary of a river monster
YESTERDAY marked exactly 100 years since the largest salmon was caught on a rod and line in a British river. If you want to be precise it was actually landed at 8.20pm.
And despite fly fishing being largely the preserve of men at that time, the huge migrating fish was hooked and successfully reeled in by a woman – a 32-year-old nurse by the name of Georgina Ballantine.
Unfortunately the fish was not caught in Westcountry waters, despite salmon luring anglers to rivers across Devon and Cornwall down the decades, but instead on the famous River Tay in Scotland.
Fishing with her father, Miss Ballantine had already caught three impressive salmon that day in 1922, weighing 25lbs, 17lbs and 11lbs – pretty huge by any standards.
They can hardly have expected much better, nor to find themselves engaged in a tussle with an even larger specimen that would fight until well after the sun had gone down as it took line off the reel and tested the strength and skill of Miss Ballantine. Eventually hauled onto the boat after a two hour battle, the record-breaker weighed a staggering 64lbs and was 54 inches in length. It is worth laying out a tape measure just to get an idea of how long it was.
The fish was served to patients and staff at Perth Royal Infirmary – and would have undoubtedly fed a great many – but not before a plaster cast was made of it, which enabled mounted replicas to go on display, one of which is exhibited at Perth Museum.
Miss Ballantine became famous for her outstanding feat and lived near the Tay, where she was regularly visited by awe-struck anglers. She died in 1970.
Her record is unlikely to ever be broken, given the fact that stocks of salmon are sadly depleted and less likely to live to a good age and grow to such a size. Still, for all those river anglers out there, there’s always the hope another record-breaker might just be lurking beneath the water, hidden within the shadows, ready to take a passing fly...