Fishing for the truth about angling in Scotland
NOT ALL fishing books are about the mechanics of it all. Sure we all need to have insights into the seemingly infinite permutations of rod, line, hooks, bait, wind and wave which make the gentle art of angling so absorbing. Unquestionably I would have been less of an angler without the wisdom gleaned from Sawyer…
Continue ReadingSOMETIMES IT is necessary to do things back to front and start with the end of a story. This one finishes in the early autumn frosts of northern Canada, amongst the stunted pines and endless impenetrable wilderness of the sub-Arctic tundra with the howl of the timber wolf providing a haunting sound track to the…
Continue ReadingHIGHER LEVELS of catch-and-release by sea trout anglers will be called for in Scotland next year following the publication today of Government figures for 2008 rod catches which show the species is still in decline. By contrast, rod catches of salmon at 85,859 were up 5.7% against the 2003-2007 five year average and the number…
Continue ReadingCASTING FOR RECOVERY, the UK charity which provides free weekend angling retreats for women recuperating from breast cancer, hosted its first event in Scotland yesterday. It was an all-round success, both for the particpants and for those who helped to make it happen. The venue was Forbes of Kingennie, the Angus country resort just outside…
Continue ReadingThe end of an era for me.
Continue ReadingA FURIOUS row has broken out between the head of Scotland’s salmon farming industry and the administrators of wild salmon fishing over a denial that salmon production is to blame for declining stocks in the nation’s rivers. A claim that salmon numbers were already in decline in Scottish waters before the advent of farm cages…
Continue ReadingAN AYRSHIRE farm which allowed 50,000 litres of slurry to escape into the River Irvine and one of its most prolific tributaries, has paid more than £7100 in damages to a Darvel Angling Club for killing thousands of fish and wiping out its juvenile stocks. Adult salmon and juvenile fry, sea and brown trout were…
Continue ReadingA PETITION calling for the urgent relocation of salmon farms away from the estuaries of major salmon rivers in Scotland has raised more than 9000 signatures in less than two weeks. The campaign to halt the spread of sea lice infestations which are harming wild fish stocks, has been launched by the Salmon and Trout…
Continue ReadingONE OF Scotland’s best-known ghillies has died. Colin Leslie, who for more than 50 years was responsible for the Cargill beat of the Tay, was reknowned as “Scotland’s Salmon King”. During his lengthy service, his angling guests included American millionaire Nelson D. Rockefeller, New Zealand’s King of the Maoris, the Japanese ambassador, and Field Marshall…
Continue ReadingIT WAS something of a catch for Scottish sea angling campaigners. The lads from the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN) persuaded environment and rural affairs minister Richard Lochhead to join them yesterday for a spot of fishing in Luce Bay to mark the launch of the Government’s special report into the economics of sea…
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