Guestbook

willie,not thta i care but i was of the spoon list 3 weeks back 2 salmon in one day small fish but clean both released,some will ask any witnesses yes myself i do not kill fish just to show someone the it clears the spoon i find this rediculus tight lines talk soon.

ciarn with greatest respect i know the size limit of trout is 9" thats the size of trout  i was talking about i also practice catch and release my self all anglers should have a sense of responsablity towards their quarry, the moyola boasts good stocks of brown trout as a lot of anglers know. this year more anglers are fishing competitions i dont have the statistics on previous years bag weights but it might be something to compare with to see if more or less trout are being caught something for the agm?ps cairn are u of the spoon list yet lol tight lines.

i would like to thank every one envolved in the open day it was great fun .          I enjoyed learning to fly fish and tie flies with steven and stanley and can`t wait to try them .thanks for the help catchin the trout jack.

hi Budder rule me out of the list for wooden spoon as i got a lovely 6lb Salmon on Wed 17th and i have Joey as a witness, Tight lines.

john,did u get in touch with anyone with regards the coaching thing we talked about at the river for the school kids?

willie,regards to ur comment about taking a harvest of smaller trout rather than big trout you must remember it is a breach of fishiery law to take any trout below 9inch,and with taking back end salmon in october some of these fish have paired up to spawn so if u kill a hen or cock fish u run the risk of that fish not finding another mate then we get what we call "gravid fish that have failed to spawn and make there way back out of the river this is why fish are more vital to us all later in the season catch and release must be our number one priority late season tight lines.

Patsy i have always had the opinion that saying its more ok to kill a silver fish than a coloured one is stupid, they are all in the river for the same reason and taking either one out of the river does the exact same damage. The only reason people argue about taking clean fish is because they are better on the table, which is a bad outlook on salmon fishing. And about the size of the trout, few people want to see small trout killed and a 9" trout is not big, however i think killing a big trout is worse for the river as these are the boys with the best genes and if they spawn with another good fish then you will have more big trout.
I completely agree with all squidge says, salmon should never be killed for that reason. And i dont see why any should be when you can put him back without doing any damage to the river but having your fun and sport at the same time, go home and get a bag of chips for a £1 or £2 just as handy. Might sound stupid but only my opinion.

patsy,i agree with raising the size limit in trout to 11inch and all other fish be released and cut the bag limit down as well.here is a fact to u all dollaghan spend up to 2 years in river before heading to the lough so in competitions trout and young dollaghan are being killed so we are decreasing stocks in both species,as regards salmon my opinion is this there should be a bag limit of one salmon all year and come october all fish returned salmon.willie regarding what u say about increasing the size of trout it is not about this the whole point of this is to have a healthy stock of fish in the system to go out and have the sport in fishing for them a small fish is as important as bigger fish example being that parr can spawn with adult salmon if hen numbers are low,also to many of us are using other rivers as examples againist our own it is about time we talked about our own river and stop commenting about bigger trout in this river and that all rivers vary in caracter and food sources are plentyful in some and not in others i look forward to the a.g.m i think we have a nice little debate going tight lines to u all and remember catch and release is the only way of giving our river a chance of improving stock.A wee thought as well we go fishing for salmon trout whatever we hook the fish we get excited play the fish we get it in then we are relaxed we had our sport hooking and playing the fish so why kill it the enjoyment is in the hooking and playing of fish not killing them.Trust me when i say if u put fish back u will feel great watching a fish swim of after u have picked the correct fly and out witted it,not slapping it on the head and showing it to ur mates saying "look what i caught" what i would say to that would be "LOOK WHAT U COULD HAVE RELEASD.

i totally agree what patsey is saying regarding hen salmon early season but trout r different ive seen it on other rivers increase the size limit and u decrease the size of your trout , they r territtorial so fighting for the same food a small harvest of smaller trout {within reason} in my opinion is acceptable we should realeasing the larger trout. im open for suggestions

i agree with cieran why anyone wants 2 kill a trout at 9inches long is beyond me?as 4 the salmon i know anglers in this club who not only kill fish 4 themselves but also kill salmon 2 order which i think is a disgrace?2 many boys sit and talk about preserving salmon then there of 2 the river and slaughter everything they get?im all 4 catch and release in october?

Ciaran,  with regards to your recent comments : I think this is a very relevant subject which should be debated out to lead to some form of restraint on numbers of fish bagged.Most anglers at the competitions attend for the fun/ banter , bags of trout for the pan are generally not the objective. Many of these anglers in my experience do practice catch and release especially during non competition outings. So I  believe that if there is a better alternative practical method of judging competitions this would be welcomed.

The concept of a competition score card is a good thought but may not work in practice on a river. Imagine wading carefully into a pool in a late summers evening and hearing for the "upteenth" time a shout from another angler to wade out of the pool so as to witness his/her fish. This would make fishing and wading very frustrating. Many anglers like a reasonable amount of space and peace when fishing and would be frustrated by regular interruptions and attendance to/by another angler.

Maybe another option is to increase the mimimum size limit for competitions making it significantly more of a challege to catch fish for weighing in. Say the limit is increased to 11 inches, then genuine anglers at competitions could still have an enjoyable days fishing catching and releasing 9-10 inch trout with the prospect of landing 11 inch "keepers". These larger fish are being wieghed in at the moment but the advantage would be that a considerable number of smaller fish in the 9-10 inch range would be returned to the river. I use 11 inches as an example but the actual size limit would need to be carefully established and set just high enough to make it more of a challege to bag fish for weighing in but not too high as to discourgage anglers. Prehaps some exceptions for juniors.

As always anglers must be encouraged to return fish but I see no difference in the quantity of eggs in an early season hen as opposed to a late season "coloured" hen . Both the same? Control over the quantities of fish killed should apply all season. Like most anglers I agree that "coloured" fish must be protected and returned. However I strongly believe that the angler who kills a substantial number of fish during early/mid/peak season causes much much more damage in the long run than an angler who bags one or two late season fish . This is why I think control and restraint must be exercised throughout the season.

RULE me out of the spoon race. I got a 4.5lb salmon at Mulnavoo stretch today - red flying C.
However the fish had extreme cuts on its underbelly - probably caused by its multiple attempts to scale the weir in Castledawson.

saturday is mainly for the kids, but we would be grateful for any help.
sunday however is an open competition and all profits will go to the downs syndrome association

Great idea ciaran, im completely behind you on that. the idea with scorecards is brilliant and something that should be done year round.
By the way, sorry i couldnt get to the meeting on monday.
Alot of diesel was either dumped or spilled into a wee river running through draperstown and apparently it was very thick, it enters the river below derrynoid and im sure it did no good for the river. I seen a dead trout at forgetown today, dont know if its related but its possible.

can you come just to fish on saturday or do you have to be learning to fish