River Ayr

Scottish Government’s Review of Wild Fisheries

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Following Alex Salmond’s commitment to review Wild Fisheries announced at the opening of the  Tay Salmon fishing season in January this year, the Scottish Government today issued a press release detailing the scope and remit of the review and those that have been appointed to deliver it. Here’s a link to the press release issued […]

Non Native Species in the River Ayr

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We have received several reports recently of rainbow trout being caught on the River Ayr and Doon and I have received photos from reliable sources of these fish caught on both rivers. Whilst this situation is not good, these fish should be thinned out quickly by the numerous anglers that are out on both systems. […]

Catrine Dam

Catrine Dam

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After years in the development and planning, work to stabilise Catrine Dam and improve the fish pass is now under way. I met with SEPA, CCT and the contractors this morning to discuss concerns I highlighted last week over the altered flow down the fish pass. We also discussed the overall project and timescale of […]

Fish Eye View at Catrine

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To enable us to compare performance before and after the modifications at Catrine Dam, I filmed a Salmon’s eye view of the issues around the fish pass and Anderson’s. The video illustrates the turbulence and entrained air that make passage difficult. Anderson’s will be deepened below the fall soon and this should allow migrating species […]

Ayr Broodstock

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I had arranged to help sort out the broodstock at the Ayr hatchery today and sort out the pairings for the few fish we had collected. In all we stripped 5 hens today and covered them with 3 cocks. While this doesn’t seem many, we chose fish very carefully from areas where we expect the […]