Salmon caught in Trago’s car park

AN amateur angler has caught a wild salmon by hand – in Trago Mills’ car park.

Chris Bird, an electrician for the retailer, had heard the River Fowey had broken its bank near the massive store, near Liskeard, where he worked, and went down to be “nosey” with his girlfriend Ellie Robertson, expecting to see the car park under water.

But he was even more surprised to see something flapping around in the water when he and Ellie arrived.

“I’d been keeping an eye on the flood levels all day,” Chris said.

“I saw something in my headlights, and I was pretty surprised to say the least to see a salmon in the east car park.

“When I approached it, the fish tried to swim back but couldn’t get through the fence which it had somehow squeezed through.”

Chris, who is chairman of the ECC Ports Sea Angling Club, has had plenty of experience fishing in Cornwall’s seas and rivers.

But he admitted catching a salmon, by hand, in knee-deep river water outside his workplace was a first.

After lifting the fish out of the water, and posing for the obvious photo op, Chris released it back into the river.