Salmon Fishing - River Carron in Wester Ross
O. S. Map 25
Yet another west coast spate river which has
suffered a decline in its runs of migratory fish in recent years.
The decline in sea trout stocks during the nineties was particularly dramatic.
Fishing is on the River Carron and the main lochs in the system,
Loch Sgamhain and Loch Duighaill.
Salmon still enter the river from June onwards,
given rain. The river has some excellent pools which are easily fished.
Some sea trout are still taken from the lochs, once noted sea trout
fisheries but are now a shadow of what they once were. Sea trout may
also be
caught in the brackish tidal waters of the Carron estuary.
In the past few years, there has been a concerted
effort to improve the stocks of salmon and sea trout in the river Carron
through the stocking of hatchery reared fish. The stocking efforts
appear to have been successful. Salmon catches on the river have risen
from almost zero in the late nineties to 141 in 2004 and 166 in 2005. A
policy of 100 per cent catch and release operates on the river. Best of
all, the riparian owners have made a large part of the Carron available
to visitors on a cheap day ticket basis, a potential and very important
benefit to the local community.
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