Bag a big sea trout, win a big prize!

Sea trout anglers on the east and south coast of Ireland, the west coasts of Scotland, England and Wales and on the Isle of Man have an excellent chance to win one of the many valuable prizes on offer in a free prize draw by collecting scale samples from any sea trout they catch in 2011.

The Celtic Sea Trout Project (CSTP) is incentivising anglers to take samples of scales from any sea trout they catch over the season in specific “priority” rivers.

The priority rivers are:

Ireland - Shimna, Castletown, Dee/Glyde, Boyne, Dargle, Slaney, Colligan, Bandon Argideen, Currane

Scotland and the Isle of Man:  Luce, Nith, Annan, Esk (Border), Neb, Sulby

England: Esk (Border), Ehen, Lune, Ribble

Wales: Dee, Conwy, Clwyd, Dwyfor, Glaslyn, Dyfi, Teifi, Tywi, Tawe

The prizes are:

•A £500 tackle voucher prize to the angler submitting the most scale samples from any CSTP priority river in 2011.

•Three £350 tackle voucher prizes to each of the three 3 anglers who return the most scales from priority systems in 2011 within each of other three regions: Ireland (inc NI), Scotland and IoM, Wales, or NW England

•Ten £100 tackle vouchers to be awarded to 10 anglers to be drawn at random from the remaining scale samples submitted. (this includes samples submitted in 2010 and those from non‐priority rivers within the project area)

The project is geared towards finding answers to a number of questions about the enigmatic species, such as  - where do they go at sea and how are their stocks structured and interlinked; what is their marine ecology (feeding, growth, survival and life history variation); and what environmental and other pressures are they exposed to?

The winners will be chosen based on the scale samples submitted before 31st March 2012. The prize draw will take place on the 1st of April 2012. Winners will be contacted directly.