Recently in the news it has been reported that as a conservation measure, any angler witnessed catching and releasing a spring salmon in the Ness system will receive a side of smoked salmon in return.

This has been prompted by a marked decline in spring fish stocks, so as part of its efforts to reverse this, the Ness District Fishery Board is issuing a detailed Catch and Release policy for the system.

To ensure those who return A fresh run “springer” prize fish from Loch Ness and its rivers do not go away empty handed, the board has introduced the reward scheme to emphasize the importance of releasing as many spring salmon as possible.

To claim their reward anglers should fill in one of the forms, available from either the licence issuer or beat representative.

Further, to encourage and promote catch and release the board has introduced a draw incorporating the spring fishing on all rivers within the system.

Names of angler and witness should be submitted to the licence issuer, gillie or angling club president who will keep them until the end of the spring fishing (16th June). The winners will be announced at the beginning of July 2008.

The prizes are: 1 – A Daiwa fly rod; 2 – £50 voucher for Graham’s tackle shop; 3 – two bottles of malt whisky and various other prizes. A shield will awarded to the angler releasing the biggest spring fish.

There have been no details reported of what the prize would be should a lucky angler manage to hook Nessie, but I’m sure that the rewards would be huge!*

* Please note – this Blogger would like to stress that if Nessie is caught, she should, of course, be released.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Blether, The Loch Ness Monster. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.