Thanks for the reply Mat, I wanted to hold fire on saying where it was caught in order to get an unbiased view of peoples opinions based on the photo, but as you have asked....
I caught it from my local River Crane in Twickenham, Middlesex a couple of months ago. Sadly the river was destroyed by a Thames Water sewage dump at the weekend which killed all fish. When I spotted it I couldn't believe what I was seeing as I normally catch Chub and Barbel from this River.
I spotted it at the bottom of the drop side of a small weir in a 3ft deep pool which is just a few meters wide. The river drys out beyond this point to a trickle due to low levels so hence it was stuck as it couldn't go further downstream (2 miles downstream it flows into the tidal Thames at Isleworth) as there was no water and it couldn't go back up the weir as there's no pass.
I had come to the conclusion it was a Rainbow that had escaped from Syon Park fishery (a trout lake in Middlesex) as the tiny Duke of Northumberland River connects from this lake into the River Crane a few miles downstream of where I caught it, although there are metal grates to stop fish escaping from the fishery (as you'd expect) but the Duke also had a weir and is barely an inch deep in parts due to low levels so it would be amazing if it got out let alone got that far up the river.
But this would explain the "stockie" looking ragged fins.
My good friend has fly fished for many years and he is convinced it's a Trout and a Rainbow at that, on the basis that:
The maxilla extends past the eye (a Salmon does not)
There are many spots below the lateral line (a salmon does not have many spots below that lateral line)
The tail is not definitely concave (whereas a Salmon is)
The wrist is not particularly thin (a Salmon has a much thinner wrist)
It does not have a pointy head (a Salmon does)
The pink/purple lateral stripe indicates it's a Rainbow
HOWEVER, my other friend who is a very experienced fisherman says 100% it's not a Rainbow and that it's Salmon or possibly a Sea Trout, he says:
He's a male, as you can see his kype forming.
The fins, even his pecs have worn down a lot, maybe because he has been stuck in that hole for a long time and his fins have worn down or he's come from a farm.
If it was a trout, the tail would be absolutely covered in spots and the colouration is all wrong.
The fins are difficult to tell from because they are worn, but the tail is slightly concave so it is a salmon as Big sea trout will be straight or convex.
The jaw line from what i can see is also level with the rear of the eye and doesnt extend past it so would tally with a salmon
He thinks it could have got there up the Thames from the sea, either an escaped farm fish that has escaped from a cage at sea and decided to swim up the thames (the worn down fins would tally with this)
The second scenario is that it is a wild fish that has got stuck in a small pool for some time and worn down his fins that way. Considering the end of the salmon stocking program and the fact that they never bred in the Thames during this time, would make the first scenario more likely, especailly as he is still a bit silvery and not that thin from not feeding, so would have been in the river for between 1 and 3 months at a guess.
He thinks it's either a Salmon or a sea trout (probably a kelt) thats been in for quite a while. They would both run up these small streams to try and spawn.
Hence I don't know who is right? Interesting to see there a differing opinons already!
Quote:
Originally Posted by matoakwell
I'm assuming it was caught in a river hence the salmon/sea trout query? It's not a rainbow but knowing where it was caught would help 
Mat |
---------- Post added at 10:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:29 AM ----------
by the way it was alive, I caught it on an Ondex spinner (forgive me!) after about 10 casts and a bit of coaxing it went for it.
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