Pitlochry Angling Club - Conservation Policy.
Pitlochry Angling Club strongly supports the policy of “catch and release" as a method to help conserve and improve fisheries. We therefore urge anglers fishing Club waters to show restraint and minimise the number of fish that are retained.
All coloured salmon and any estimated at 15lb or over in addition to any identifiable females should be safely returned alive to the water.
Playing, Landing, Unhooking and Releasing Fish
- Barbless hooks or de-barbed hooks (hooks that have had the barbs completely removed) must be used for salmon fishing during times of the season when salmon cannot be retained according to law/s.
- Remember that salmon, trout and grayling are sensitive to playing, handling and temporary removal from the water and need to be treated with great care, especially during warm weather.
- Play fish without undue delay whether they are intended for retention or release.
- Use a knotless landing net, keep the fish in the water and quickly restrain them.
- Never hold a fish by the tail only. Always support its body weight from behind the pectoral fins.
- Keep them in the water as much as you can. Turning a fish upside down often causes it to lie more quietly.
- Fish to be returned should be unhooked firmly, but carefully, to limit tearing of mouth and gill tissues.
- Use a suitable priest to despatch the fish efficiently and quickly if retained before removing the hook.
- If you must measure and/or photograph a specimen fish before it is released, do so quickly to minimise stress. Keep it in the net where possible and cover its eyes with the wet mesh while you prepare to take measurements and photographs, as this will help keep it subdued.
- Release after holding gently facing into the flow to let it recover.
- Please report incidents of poor practice to the Club.
Although handling of fish to be released should be kept to a minimum, it may be possible to get a rough measurement of length to the fork of the tail. This may in turn be useful in estimating the weight of released fish. The estimates are more reliable if the girth immediately in front of the dorsal fin is also known. Ally Gowans's excellent website http://www.letsflyfish.com provides a ready reckoner for estimating the weight of salmon from length (or length and girth) information.
Printable version of Pitlochry Angling Club Conservation information.
