did anyone see the 9lb 6oz leven brownie in the sun today?
wow what a fish! it was taken on floating line and a deer hair snail pattern
i am very jealous, well done to the man who caught it

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stevie

Biggest Leven Brownie in a 100 years, the guy was entitled to chap it on the head as its within the rules, just does not sit easy with me. I am not a catch and release zealot and will chap the odd wild fish, but I would prefer to see fish of this size photographed and returned.
It looked like it was in its breeding colours and would not have tasted that good anyway. Take a couple of 1-1/2 2lbers from Leven for the table by all means.

http://www.totalflyfisher.com/News/article_328/

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"Don’t argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience".Greg King

Nice fish but as you say Jedi what a shame it wasn't released unharmed.After all the publicity that fish will end up in the dustbin.

BK

Have you ever been in that position with a fish of that size , Whos to say the fish was healthy enough to go back, it could of been bleeding or exhausted after the fight etc . Ive been lucky enough to catch two 10+ wild browns and managed to put one back but i had to dispatch the other because its gills were ripped and bleeding badly . And as you say its in the rules and up to him , The way the big loch has been recovering the last few years im sure there will be a good head of large breeding fish .

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Imagination is more important than knowledge.

There is talk of it being stuffed & cased to be mounted next to the [current] record fish, so not all wasted

Looks like a big male so nothing lost really. Any male can cover a female. The eggs from a big female have a better chance of survival and that is why they should be nurtured. Any old cOck will do.

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It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)

That's more of a waste than eating it. I'm sorry but get the point of taxidermy one bit. I've nothing against taking fish, birds, animals for the pot, but I just don't get it. I understand people wanting to have a memento of a special fish, etc, but why stick it in a case? Enjoy the memory of the catch, and indeed the meal after (but in this case I think not so much, as the fish looks to have his shag pants on), but don't stick it in a case looking glass eyed for eternity!

Carl

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If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels freeing you from the earth.

fingers in the gills gives me the creeps even on dead fish, given its age that might be the genetic end of the post rainbow fish.

I fish for trout/sea trout and to be honest, most times it's for the pot so I'm not a C&R angler.
However, I would have serous doubts about killing such a fine specimen, in fact as long as it was healthy enough to be returned to the water then I would simply release it, to hopefully live out the rest of it's days.

It's obviously taken considerable time to grow to that size so why take such a fine fish just because you can?

As far as I'm concerned, perhaps a quick picture of me holding it before and during release would be more than ample with hopefully little or no harm done to the fish!

Tony

I have a full report on this fish by the Captor, Michael Mackenzie.

Fishtec Blog - Loch Leven Brown Trout

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