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Sea trout Connemara

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  • 19-05-2009 8:53am
    #1
    Sfinn
    Registered Users Posts: 146 ✭✭


    Some nice runs of sea trout beginning to appear. Had a few from the sea pools the other night.:D


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    #2
    Zzippy
    Registered Users Posts: 14,166 ✭✭✭✭Zzippy


    Sfinn wrote: »
    Some nice runs of sea trout beginning to appear. Had a few from the sea pools the other night.:D

    Which river? Good to see some early fish moving in, any size to them?


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    #3
    Paulie907
    Closed Accounts Posts: 43 ✭Paulie907


    Sfinn wrote: »
    Some nice runs of sea trout beginning to appear. Had a few from the sea pools the other night.:D

    have you every caught any sea trout during the day or can they only be caught at night?


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    #4
    Sfinn
    Registered Users Posts: 146 ✭✭Sfinn


    Zzippy wrote: »
    Which river? Good to see some early fish moving in, any size to them?

    Fish appearing on Costello & Fermoyle, along with other systems like Ballinahinch etc.;)


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    #5
    Sfinn
    Registered Users Posts: 146 ✭✭Sfinn


    Paulie907 wrote: »
    have you every caught any sea trout during the day or can they only be caught at night?

    Most of my sea trout fishing is during the day, have tried during the night but not as successful.


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    #6
    gary29428
    Registered Users Posts: 464 ✭✭gary29428


    Can somebody explain why the seatrout in these systems are so small, have fished C&F a few times and they are stuffed full of trout in the 1/2 to 1lb mark but bigger then that is rare.


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    #7
    Zzippy
    Registered Users Posts: 14,166 ✭✭✭✭Zzippy


    They used to have much bigger fish, but since the arrival of salmon farming - and the infestation of sea lice it brought - sea trout stocks collapsed. The longer a fish stays at sea the bigger it grows, but the bigger the chance of infestation with sea lice, so fish have been returning earlier to get rid of sea lice in freshwater. That means they don't have a chance to grow as big.


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    #8
    gary29428
    Registered Users Posts: 464 ✭✭gary29428


    Shame, walked the river one evening and at the bottom of the seapool the place was stuffed with small seatrout, literally 1000's.


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    #9
    Zzippy
    Registered Users Posts: 14,166 ✭✭✭✭Zzippy


    gary29428 wrote: »
    Shame, walked the river one evening and at the bottom of the seapool the place was stuffed with small seatrout, literally 1000's.

    Sea trout post-smolts often come back into the river prematurely in large numbers following infestation with sea lice, the lice drop off after a couple of days in freshwater. Unfortunately, many of these fish succumb to the parasites and die, or become re-infested as soon as they return to sea again. I've caught small sea trout with up to 100 lice on them, fins eroded and open sores on their heads and backs from lice. Such a sorry sight, and something the government refuses to do anything about.


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    #10
    jwshooter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,612 ✭✭✭jwshooter


    there is a few starting to turn up on the slaney and tributaries.

    best fighting and best eating fish of them all i have not eat one for two years now


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    #11
    gary29428
    Registered Users Posts: 464 ✭✭gary29428


    I watched an animated video about atlantic salmon in Canada and the probs with fish farms and sea-lice. They were saying it only takes 1 lice to attach to a juvenile salmon to potentially kill it. The numbers under treat they are talking about is mind bending. They have cages with upwards of 50,000 fish in them and the juveniles have to swim past them to reach open water. Can't see the Irish politicians doing anything here.


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    #12
    Sfinn
    Registered Users Posts: 146 ✭✭Sfinn


    Right,

    Historically, the sea trout fisheries with the exception of a few were largely finnock systems. With the vast majority arriving in late June or July. This is still the norm 1/2 lbs to 3/4 lbs. However with the sea trout collapse in the late 80s early 90s all the larger fish were lost for one reason or another. This larger bracket would be in the excess of 1lbs. None of the fisheries held many fish in excess of 4lbs, not like Currane etc, etc. I've checked the various logs of all the lodges and the main size was around the 1lb to 2lb size.

    However those with knowledge are aware that the larger fish run during a specific window.;) And locally its frowned upon as their number are small. Its only during the spawning season that you can appreciate the size and the sight has always pleasantly surprised. I have seen fish up to 6-8lbs on the spawning beds, though few in number.

    You must also remember that the number of anglers fishing for sea trout has greatly reduced as have the number of angling days. The main focus is on salmon and that includes fisheries like inagh, screeb, ballinahinch, delphi.

    Remember that Gowla, Inverbeg and Invermore have been closed for a long time. With fish numbers vastly decrease and the size of these fisheries a few thousand fish spread over this, its like fishing in a hay stack.

    I could keep writing but enough said for now.


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