Hi all ,

after seeing the pics of the 5lb grayling it got me wondering what are the lifespans of trout and grayling in the UK .

so what would be the approx lifespans of :-

1. a wild river brown trout
2. a wild loch/lake brown trout
3. a stocked river brown trout (stocked at fingerling and say a 10" one)
4. a stocked stillwater brown trout (stocked at say 10")
5. a stocked stillwater rainbow
6. a wild river rainbow
7. a wild river grayling

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CHEERS SID
FTM

"if my answers frighten you , don't ask scary questions".........Jules Winnfield

Sid,

I can tell you that river grayling hereabouts seldom live beyond 3 years.....but they grow fast

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The sun pushed dark spokes of melt and sparkle
Across the fields of hoar. And the river steamed -
Flint-olive.


http://northcountryangler.blogspot.com

A wild loch trout in scotland can live up to 20 years if it turns ferox its greatly reduced , so ive been informed maby some of our more knowledgable people on the forum could say either way. As for stalked stillwater rainbow if they do 5 years there very lucky indeed.

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[SIZE="4"]BRITISH BY BIRTH , SCOTTISH BY THE GRACE OF GOD..[/SIZE]

[QUOTE=STEVIE J;286571]A wild loch trout in scotland can live up to 20 years...... QUOTE]

...and still weigh less than half a pound!!

Alex

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You're a long time dead
Life is for living

I believe Chalk Stream grayling are a bit like certain rock stars - "live fast and die young".

About 6 years is top whack. I sent some scales from a 2lb 4oz Itchen grayling to the Grayling Research Trust at their request a few years ago, it transpired to be just over 4 years old and was slightly larger than they'd have expected a 4 year old fish to be.

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"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

If memory serves, Frank Sawyer in his book "Keeper of the Stream" said that river browns in the Avon live to around 7-8 years. He says that those that live to old age eventually lose their sight which then quickly leads to their death. The man spent most of his waking hours standing in the river observing everything that was going on so his view on this would have some credibility I think.

In Ron Greer’s Book Ferox Trout And Arctic Charr there are some graphs showing ferox growth rates. One got to 17 years old and several others to 13-15 years so they don’t all peg out early once they start gobbling charr. On the other hand there is also a graph of a L. Awe ferox that got to 23lb at 6 years old, a growth rate that a salmon would be happy with!

I too always thought that faster growing fish generally live shorter lives and visa versa, there is a record of a 12.5lb sea trout of 18.5 years old which seems to fit with this idea.

It would be interesting to know if anyone has read scales from barren upland waters and if so which river/loch/lake/llyn can boast the oldest 6” trout?


Andy

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I have a lovely photograph from the 1970's of my pal John Neville holding up a 19 1/2 lber from Loch Awe. The scale reading showed it to be in its sixth year! Imagine the multitude it had to eat in that time to get that weight. It was a perfectly proportioned fish in every way, just enormous in every way too.

Warren used to know a fish in the Lathkill that was named Charlie Brown and it was at least 13 years old when he showed it to me. It lived at least another three years after that and it may still be alive but just not seen...

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

Superb size for a 6 year old trout , one of the lucky ones . There has been a new fishing alliance set up in scotland recently and there first objective is to remove the rainbow farms from the loch and its tributries so god willing in the next few years it will be a brown trout fishery again and we will see more of these magnificent fish again . P.S Theres no doubt the first forty pounder will come from loch awe , as for when time will tell

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[SIZE="4"]BRITISH BY BIRTH , SCOTTISH BY THE GRACE OF GOD..[/SIZE]

I remember reading an account of a trout that lived in a well and was said to be 12 years old. Also read, a long time ago, that a trout had been kept in laboratory conditions and lived to the age of twenty. An account of larvae in captivity mentioned a Mayfly nymph that spent four years going through its many instars. Two years would be more likely, but who knows?
Cheers, TC