not giant sea trout!

Hi all

It appears that recent reports in Mayo of several "massive" sea trout being taken off the beaches in Clew Bay, especially west of Newport, are wide of the mark.

*coughs* ahem.. this seems related to an accident between a marine vessel and a salmon farm that has apparently led to a mass escape. To date, none of the fish appear to have come up any of the rivers... and since it happened in January (?) it seems that they have spread out and made good their escape! What's really interesting about this is that there has been no coverage in the media about it at all. Still, might make a session on a local beach that bit more interesting?

Tight lines

right so this has nothing to do with the 3000 escapees in February from the Clare Island farm....

Wow that's very interesting to hear. I got word on fb of massive trout being caught in mayo over 15 lbs. Even got pics by pm. They must of been farmed trout then so?

right so this has nothing to do with the 3000 escapees in February from the Clare Island farm....

Fair dues to you, C.

I had not found any word of it, but that sounds about right.
Apparently a boat breached a farm and off they all went.
The people catching them to date don't know the difference between a farmed salmon and a sea trout (!!) so if you hear of any massive sea trout showing up, with worn and busted fins, it's one of the 3000. Any chance we can have a look at that pic R?

Those yokes create havoc with the natural stock of fish, hopefully all 3000 of them will end up on FB... I would mind catching a few of them if anyone needs a hand...

Only for an annonymous tip off, we wouldnt have heard about this - it has consequently been confirmed by marine institue (i think) it was in the connacth tribune anyways

Here is the pic lads what yous reckon. 16lb 6oz

Can't upload it. It's on facebook the 16lb trout if someone can help

Last edited by rushnaldo on Wed Mar 30, 2016 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Had to crop it to fit but you see the fish

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Is it not a farmed salmon?

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That's what I was wondering when this thread went up. Split into two pics to get the full fish in. Too big for one pic

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was there a story with it?...

Not an expert, but I have read:

Salmon have a concave finned tail, sea trout have a straight finned tail. Difficult to tell there as the tail is not viewed straight on
Salmon have very few spots below the lateral line whereas sea trout should have spots all the way to their belly. This looks a bit more conclusive- there are only a couple of spots below the lateral line from what I can see

Gun to my head- I'd say its a a salmon!

Doesn't look like a farmed fish to me. Tail, fins, heads are all in good condition, not battered and stunted from tearing in a cage.

Doesn't look like a farmed fish to me. Tail, fins, heads are all in good condition, not battered and stunted from tearing in a cage.

Have to agree, you would expect to see damage to the fins in particular from abrasion from the cage and other fish ... looks like a clean fish!

here are some images of fin damage albeit in rainbow trout http://www.kleander.com/vatten/molnbyggen/regnbage_eng.html

Doesn't look like a farmed fish to me. Tail, fins, heads are all in good condition, not battered and stunted from tearing in a cage.

Have to agree, you would expect to see damage to the fins in particular from abrasion from the cage and other fish ... looks like a clean fish!

here are some images of fin damage albeit in rainbow trout http://www.kleander.com/vatten/molnbyggen/regnbage_eng.html

What you're looking at there is a standard farmed trout probably from a pond or raceway.

The salmon in the pic is from an organic standard farm with net cages instead of concrete walls, they are kept at a much lower stocking density and don't suffer anything like the damage you see from on land farms.

I've caught a number of double figure sea trout in the past few years, that's not one.

More pics from the ballina men of the 16lb fish

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I have spoken to prominent anti Salmon cage man Billy Smith here in Galway (Galway Bay against Salmon Cages). He said the lower part of the tail fin is rounded not pointed. The rest of the tail has been frayed and split. The upper jaw is shortened and disfigured, probably due zinc put in the feed to combat catarachs. Another sign not seen in this example is the humped back. He is convinced this is an escaped farmed salmon. When was it caught - please post any details you may have (or pm). Also inform/report to IFI of any suspected catches of these fish.

definatly a 4-5 kg farmed salmon. deep body and rounded fins are a sure sign. looks in good condition, so not long free. also farmed escapees dont put up as vigerous a fight as their wild cousins and certainly nothing compared to a sea-trout.

16lb 6oz fits the size of the escapees from clare island - all supposed to be around 8 kilos - however it seems this was caught before that escape of 3000 - so its a lone ranger