Biggest salmon caught in the UK this year landed
The biggest salmon caught in the UK this year has been landed from the River Tweed in Scotland – this 50lb specimen banked by Shamus Jennings.
The huge fish, that measured 50ins in length with a 33ins girth, was caught by the experienced fly fishing expert from an area known as Glenmayne Pool on a Boleside Shrimp tied by head boatman Nigel Fell.
After hooking the fish a nerve-wracking 35 minute fight followed, and Shamus said: “When we got it to the boat we were shocked at the size of its head. It took us four attempts to get it in the net.”
His historic catch puts him in a strong position of landing the coveted Savills Malloch Trophy which is awarded to the angler who catches and releases the biggest rod caught salmon of the year.
Calder salmon shocker
This super 21lb 8oz salmon took a liking to the freelined prawn of Joe Huck from the tiny River Calder in Cumbria.
The 29-year-old lives virtually on the banks of the 20 yard wide river and fishes it regularly, but this is the biggest salmon he has ever landed. It was beaten after a 25 minute scrap in which it jumped several times but Joe only had a few quick pictures taken before returning it swiftly to the river.
“It needed to go back as the fish are getting ready to spawn and it was far too long gone. The Calder is a spate river but the water is low and clear at the moment and I actually saw this fish take the bait, they hit it really hard and the line just tightens. I catch them all using large hooks, 8lb line and 10lb mainline with a 9ft spinning rod because it’s such a small river,” said Joe.
Severn salmon at 22lb
David Lister found himself with a fight on his hands when he latched into this 22lb salmon on the River Severn.
It led him a merry dance for 25 minutes and surged off on four 60-70 yard runs, before he eventually got the better of it using 10lb line. The 40-year-old from Newtown, Wales, fished a 10gr Mepps Fly and Sea spinner, cast to a deep channel on the far side of the river. Incredibly it’s not the biggest salmon he has had from the Severn – he banked a 34lb fish last year but kept it quiet!
“You never quite know what you’ll hook down here and the cast before this I had a 5lb chub. When I hooked this fish I had to jump into the river because there was a tree 50 yards down the bank which the line could have got tangled in. It kept deep and I couldn’t see what I was dealing with but then it jumped and I saw how big it was,” he said.
River Wye on form for big salmon
THE River Wye has produced one of the best catches of salmon in recent memory with four huge specimens over the 30lb mark being netted along with numerous fish over 25lb.
The biggest of the bunch weighed 33lb and was banked by Mike Pritchard while fishing with experienced ghillie Lyndon Cobley on the Ingestone beat near Ross-on-Wye.
Lyndon’s son Joe, who’s also a ghillie, was fishing on the same day at Wyesham, Monmouth, and helped his client Barry Odger, from Essex (pictured) bank a 30lb specimen.
The catches are the result of over a decade of projects by the Wye and Usk Foundation to restore salmon runs on the waterway.
“Ten years ago just three fish were caught in March and April and the season’s lowest ever total of 357 included very few large fish,” said the foundation’s director, Stephen Marsh-Smith.
“Now, over 1,300 fish are being caught in a season and these latest catches prove that the river is returning to its former glory.”
