Monday, June 30, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Toodle Puddle.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Toodle Puddle.
Verses 4 and 5.


Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Quality Salmon Flies.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Quality Salmon Flies.
The new Salar "Raider" Fly.

Click on the picture to enlarge it and see the detail of the tying.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Ladies Casting Evening at Benchil, Stanley, Perthshire, Scotland.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Ladies Casting Evening at Benchil, Stanley, Perthshire, Scotland.
Look out guys these ladies are about to hit the river Tay in the next few weeks.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Ladies Casting Evening at Benchil, Stanley, Perthshire, Scotland.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Ladies Casting Evening at Benchil, Stanley, Perthshire, Scotland.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Toodle Puddle.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Toodle Puddle.
Parts 3 and 4.
Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Toodle Puddle.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Toodle Puddle.
This was the speech or Ode Alistair Sheach wrote and recited at Geordies party.
I am trying to get the full version posted. This is page 1 and 2 of 8. You may have to click on the different bits to enlarge it. Please write your comments as this was a masterpiece.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Quality Salmon Flies.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Quality Salmon Flies.
The new Salar "Hutchie" Shrimp Fly.

Click on the picture to enlarge it and see the detail of the tying.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Geordie Stewart's 50 year celebration party.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Geordie Stewart's 50 year celebration party.

The album has increased in size.
Thank you all for coming and making it such a great night.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Scottish Ghillie George Stewarts 50 years on the Tay.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Scottish Ghillie George Stewarts 50 years on the Tay.

These are some of the pictures from Geordies book that was presented to him by our owners Andrew and Charlotte Gifford. Hopefully i can get some more extracts from the book to share with you.

The Miller party who owned Stanley prior the the Giffords fishing at Waulkmill, Scone, Perthshire, Scotland.

David Sheddon from Yorkshire with Geordie one opening day from the Pitlochrie pool in the distant past! When do we get snow on an opening day now?

Salmon Fishing Scotland George Stewart Mr Toodle Puddle.

Salmon Fishing Scotland George Stewart Mr Toodle Puddle.

This was the end of the recital Alistair Sheach gave on Friday night as an appreciation to the great man. The full version will be posted this week and is definitely worth a read. Thanks Alistair it was tremendous and made everyones night.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Geordie Stewarts 50 year party.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Geordie Stewarts 50 year party.

What a night and it was a total surprise to Geordie.
Thank you all for coming and making it such a great night to remember.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Scottish Tay Ghillies 50 years on the river.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Scottish Tay Ghillies 50 years on the river.

To-night (20/06/2008) is the celebration party for Geordie Stewart's 50 years ghilling on the river Tay.
Watch the blog for more!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Quality Salmon Flies.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Quality Salmon Flies.
The new Salar Cascader.

Click on the picture to enlarge it and see the detail of the tying.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland The Atlantic Salmon.

Salmon Fishing Scotland The Atlantic Salmon.

The Atlantic salmon is a world traveller. It is an anadromous fish - one that spawns in fresh water but spends much of its life at sea.

External Features

* The Atlantic salmon has a scientific description going back to the 1700s, but even now, much remains unknown about its life history.

* The Atlantic salmon's historic range encompassed the North Atlantic Ocean and its freshwater tributaries from Ungava Bay to Lake Ontario and southward to Connecticut in North America, and from Russia's White Sea to Portugal on the European coast.

* Many of these runs are now reduced or extinct, especially in the southern portions of the species' range. However Atlantic salmon can still be found in the rivers of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, Iceland Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, France, Spain, Canada and the United States. Click for map

* In some parts of Europe, small populations are returning to areas impacted by massive polution, including rivers in Germany (Rhine and Elbe), some rivers in Poland and even the Czech Republic, and rivers in the Baltic Republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Atlantic Salmon Life Cycle

* An Atlantic salmon undergoes many changes during its life. Pea-sized orange eggs are deposited in riverbeds in autumn. Early the following spring, thousands of tiny Atlantic salmon alevin emerge. These alevin are about two cm. long, and subsist off the attached yolk sac, hiding from predators in the gravel of the streambed. When the yolk sac is nearly gone the young fish wriggle up into the water, and are called fry until they are about five to eight cm. long.

* The Atlantic salmon later acquire vertical markings on their flank, identifying them as in the parr stage. Parr have dark backs, with 9 to 11 bars, called parr marks, along their sides - which act as camouflage. Parr remain in the river for two to 6 years, depending on temperatures and food supply.

* At a length of 12 to 24 cm., parr undergo a springtime transformation into smolt. Parr marks are replaced by a silvery coat for better camouflage at sea. Their internal systems adapt for saltwater life, and the fish leave their streams, travelling to ocean feeding grounds. Salmon from both sides of the Atlantic rendezvous in the waters off southwestern Greenland. Others travel to lesser-known oceanic or coastal feeding areas. They grow rapidly on a diet of small crustaceans and fish. They also must elude predators including larger fish and marine mammals.

* After one or more years at sea, following a hereditary route and timetable, Atlantic salmon return to their home rivers in an extraordinary journey that may span more than 4,000 km. of open ocean. If they return after one winter at sea, they are called grilse.

* Entering the river between April and November, they navigate upstream, leaping obstructions up to 3m. high to spawn in shallow tributaries in late fall.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Salmon Eggs in the Classroom.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Salmon Eggs in the Classroom.
Salmon Eggs in the Classroom.

Stanley Primary School concluded their popular Salmon Eggs in the Classroom project by re-visiting the Shochie burn at Luncarty this week some 3 months after planting 100 salmon fry there back in March.

The purpose of the river visit was to establish if the fry survived and how much they had grown. Dr David Summers from the Tay Salmon District Fishery Board came along to help by electro fishing the burn as the Pupils watched. Several fry, (probably the fish the pupils released) salmon parr and eels were caught.
Ian Montgomery and Mandy Cook from the Perth and Kinross Council also helped.

Dr David Summers and Ian Montgomery electro fishing the Shochie Burn with the Stanley Primary pupils.

Pupils released the small fish into the river to mature having reared their own salmon in the classroom.

A tank was installed in the primary school, along with cooling equipment and about 100 fish eggs.

The pupils were then given a talk about salmon lifecycles and how to care for the eggs and hatched fish.

The pupils then cared for the embryos and salmon fry for two or three weeks before releasing the tiny survivors into the Shochie at Luncarty which flows into the Tay.

The children will also be learning about the environment in which the fish live and the challenges that face them as they mature migrate to the marine environment and return to the freshwater environment to spawn.

Denise Reed, Scottish Natural Heritage's manager for the project, said: "The Salmon in the Classroom project gives children such a personal experience of river ecology and the salmon life cycle that we hope the messages they learn will stay with them.

"We hope that these activities will help to encourage in the children a fascination and respect for their local burns and rivers, as well as the fish populations that can be found within them.

"The project helps children understand the part that Atlantic salmon play in Scotland both in terms of their environmental importance and their economic importance."

This was an extremely popular school project at Stanley.

Finally the fish are released back to the river.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Catch and Release.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Catch and Release.
Research carried out both in North America and Europe shows that wild Atlantic salmon angled, and then PROPERLY released will recover successfully in a short time and go on to spawn successfully.
The most critical factor is the expertise anglers develop in releasing Atlantic salmon. Wild salmon angled are exerting themselves to an exhausted state in the same way a marathon runner might.

The fish needs oxygen in order to recover. Keep the fish in the water so it can continue to breathe and recover with the oxygen-bearing water flowing over the gills.
Dr. Bruce Tufts of Queens University, Kingston says it this way:
"...The practices of individual anglers are important in determining the magnitude of the post-angling disturbance. Minimizing air exposure of fish is very important. Under conditions where the likelihood of delayed mortality is increased (eg. elevated temperatures), additional stresses such as air exposure may be critical in determining the fate of angled salmon." - Dr. Bruce Tufts
In Other Words: For the angler, this means that if the angler learns proper Live Release skills and keeps the wild Atlantic salmon in the water, almost every released fish will survive.
25 Years of Studies on Live Release
Over the past 25 years research has been conducted on many rivers on both sides of the Atlantic showing that Atlantic salmon survive after release when properly handled by anglers.
* In Iceland a three year study in the late 1970s saw 42 angled salmon tagged and released. Fifteen per cent were angled a second time. One hundred per cent survival of caught and released salmon was observed.
* Between 1982 and 1984, a study on North Pole Brook, a tributary of the Little Southwest Miramichi in New Brunswick, found in the latter two years no mortality among the caught and released salmon. In the first year a 3 per cent mortality was related to fish being hooked in eyes or gills only.
* The Ponoi: As part of a multi-year program of research and management in northwestern Russia on the Ponoi River, ASF's Dr.Fred Whoriskey carried out research in which 62 angled fish were penned for 24 hours, and only a single fish died. They were then released with radio transmitters and most were followed until the end of the fishing season. Two of the fish were caught a second time, and were successfully released.
* It is worthwhile noting that only a single mortality occurred even with the increased stresses of having a transmitter inserted into their bodies.

During the 1990s Dr. Bruce Tufts of Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, along with several associates, undertook a number of research projects.
The many studies showed low or zero mortality in most conditions, when the wild Atlantic salmon were carefully handled and kept in the water. It was very evident, however, that when water temperatures were above 20 C/ 68 F it was vitally important to keep the Atlantic salmon in the water, and to reduce stresses on the fish to the absolute minimum.
Many of the research projects involved wild salmon being equipped with visual or radio tags. In one study 15 angled grilse (1 Sea-winter salmon) on the Upsalquitch River of New Brunswick were visually tagged with Carlin tags. They were released back into the river, and 100% survival in the clear waters of the river was observed. Ten fish were equipped with radio tags, and nine were found several days after being angled on the same river.
Dr. Bruce Tufts' work also included muscle analysis of caught & released wild Atlantic salmon. In late fall he discovered that after angling, muscle pH and lactate levels, signs of the exertions of the wild salmon, returned to normal within 2 to 4 hours - more rapidly than that observed in other species such as wild rainbow trout.

One research project involved the assessment of differences in the egg survival between angled and non-angled wild salmon. This involved the added stress of containment and transport of these Atlantic salmon to a hatchery. Among 20 Atlantic salmon caught and transported to the hatchery for study, there was ZERO mortality.
Even more interestingly, ninety-eight per cent of the angled fish eggs survived, vs. 97 per cent of eggs from non-angled salmon. Thus Live Release did not impact the spawning success of the fish.
Dr. Tufts concludes the following from the experiment on autumn fish, "Our results indicate that the likelihood of delayed mortality is minimal and there are probably no significant consequences on gamete viability following angling and release of Atlantic salmon in the late fall."
Kelts, Atlantic salmon that have already spawned, were studied by Dr. Tufts group in the Margaree River of Nova Scotia for two successive spring seasons. Mortality was ZERO out of 26 in one season, and 1 out of 83 in the other season, the single mortality being due to hooking the gills. That translates into a Live release mortality of less than ONE per cent for the study.
Air Exposure: For wild Atlantic salmon, even brief air exposure of 1 minute after the exertion of being angled increased the changes seen in their physiology. But if air exposure of the gills is kept to a minimum, the Atlantic salmon survived, Tufts notes.
In summer, the research has shown that anglers need to be especially sensitive to the needs of the wild salmon, not angling the fish to exhaustion, nor taking it out of the water for more than a few seconds. But even in summer conditions, properly handled Atlantic salmon will recover.

Overall, Dr. Bruce Tufts concludes:
"Our results indicate that most Atlantic salmon do survive being caught and released. Regardless of the conditions, the majority of the salmon that were exhaustively exercised or angled in each of our studies survived. These findings are probably not surprising since this species is already highly adapted to cope with periods of exhaustive exercise during its arduous spawning migrations."
In Scotland, the Dee has had a large Live Release program for five years. Researcher John Webb, Research Biologist of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, radio tagged salmon, which were subsequently recovered. There was 100 per cent survival more than two months after the tagging.

Conclusion:
If an angler learns proper techniques of Live Release, and keeps the Atlantic salmon in the water, the fish will almost always survive.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland June 2008.

Salmon Fishing Scotland June 2008.
Low water on the Tay at Stanley, Perthshire, Scotland.

the water height is 0 feet on the Ballathie gauge which is pretty low although in recent years I have seen it down to -6 inches.
Notice the ledges appearing at this height. The picture is of the Horsey pool on the Pitlochrie beat at Stanley on the lower Tay. The Stanley beats of the river Tay are dominated by the red sand stone rock formation and remain the same year in year out despite the massive floods we have in the winter. The ledge at Horsey goes out half way over the river thus making the Scone bank the best side to fish from. The Stanley bank only fishes at 5 foot and above.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Quality Salmon Flies.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Quality Salmon Flies.

This is my current range of top quality hand tied Salmon flies which can now be purchased in the Salmon fly shop.
These are flies with the X factor and have all been designed by myself over the last few years.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay Salmon Conservation Dinner 2008.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay Salmon Conservation Dinner 2008.
It was the third Tay Salmon Conservation Dinner last night at the Ballathie House Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland.(12/06/2008)

The conservation award and Ballathie Trophy was awarded to John Apthorp for his vast contributions to the river Tay over the last few years which the river is greatly indebted. Unfortunately John could not come to the dinner but John Wood received the award on his behalf form Penny Scott.

There was a good turnout to the event from all interests in the the river Tay. This included Owners, Anglers, Ghillies and Bailiffs.

This is the Tay Board Chairman John Milligan introducing the guest speaker Magnus Linklater. Magnus made an informative and amusing speech which was well received by the guests.
John Milligan made reference the the help John Apthorp had given to the Tay over the years and that he was a worthy recipient of the Ballathie Trophy.
He also singled out the Tay Ghillies and the Bailiffs for the sterling work for the river. The Ghillies for initiating and helping enforce the Catch and release policy introduced this season which now seems to be widely accepted and the Bailiffs for their tireless work with projects on the system.
John also heaped praise on Dr David Summers for his tireless work on the Tay System and that we were lucky to have a man of his calibre on the river.

Doctor David Summers also gave a presentation on the various aims and objectives on the vast Tay system plus a resumy on the projects that have been completed. This included the Errochty water tree thinning project, the Lochay smolt tracking, the currant Garry situation, the Western Catchment projects, the Hatchery, the EU Life/SNH projects, Stronuich damand the Keithick Weir to name a few.
This was a successful and enjoyable night for the Tay and it is certainly a date for your diary next year.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Quality Salmon Flies.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Quality Salmon Flies.

This is my current range of top quality hand tied Salmon flies which can now be purchased in the Salmon fly shop.
These are flies with the X factor and have all been designed by myself over the last few years.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Salmon Fishing Scotland Salmon in the Classroom.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Salmon in the Classroom.

Fishy project for school pupils
Salmon fry (from SNH and Galloway Fisheries Trust)
Pupils will release the small fish into the river to mature
Pupils at eight schools across Tayside will be rearing their own salmon in the classroom.

A tank will be installed in each of the primaries, along with cooling equipment and about 100 fish eggs.

The pupils will then be given a talk about salmon lifecycles and how to care for the eggs and hatched fish.

The pupils will care for the embryos and salmon fry for two or three weeks before releasing the tiny survivors into a river.

The primaries taking part in the project are Auchtergaven; Carmyllie; Moorfield; Seaview; Killin; Stanley; Kinloch Rannoch; and the Royal School of Dunkeld.

'Personal experience'

The tanks installed in the schools will have a special air line allowing water to flow around the system, carrying oxygen to the developing embryos just as it would in a river.

The children will also be learning about the environment in which the fish live and the challenges that face them as they mature, migrate to the marine environment and return to the freshwater environment to spawn.

Denise Reed, Scottish Natural Heritage's manager for the project, said: "The Salmon in the Classroom project gives children such a personal experience of river ecology and the salmon life cycle that we hope the messages they learn will stay with them.

"We hope that these activities will help to encourage in the children a fascination and respect for their local burns and rivers, as well as the fish populations that can be found within them.

"The project helps children understand the part that Atlantic salmon play in Scotland both in terms of their environmental importance and their economic importance."

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