Huge 47lb salmon from River Tweed

This is the picture of one of the biggest salmon ever landed on rod and line – estimated to weigh close to 50lb.

The colossal fish, which is by far the heaviest reported this season, was landed by Edinburgh’s Jim Reid while fishing a stretch of the River Tweed.

Measuring 50 inches in length and with a girth of 25 inches, it took the venue regular 40 minutes to land as local ghillie Ian Farr expertly manoeuvred their 11ft boat through a fast-flowing area on the Bemersyde beat of the famous waterway. It easily set a new personal best for Jim, whose previous biggest salmon stood at 26lb.

“We had only been fishing for about 10 minutes when I got the take, and before I knew it the brute had stripped 100 yards of line off my reel!” said Jim, who used a homemade gold-bodied Willie Gunn tube fly.

“It became apparent that we were attached to something special as we were forced to follow it in the boat as it tore off down river. We both gasped out load when its huge tail came crashing out of the water. It was absolutely incredible and there’s no way I would have landed it without the help and guidance of Ian. He also held the fish up so we could get a really good picture of it because I was so tired I just couldn’t lift it properly,” he added.

Ian has been a ghille on the Bemersyde Estate for 25 years and Jim’s fish is easily the biggest salmon he’s landed in that time.

“I was honoured to be part of the capture,” said Ian. “I had the dimensions of the fish analysed by a biologist on the Tweed and he confirmed that it could have weighed anything up to 46lb which is very special for the river indeed.”