Last week I was visiting my in-laws in Blairgowrie and as the water was very decent I decided to have a day on the association water of the Ericht. I was alarmed to see in my day prior to fishing that the vast majority of the fish running were diseased(ulcerated) most of them moderately to severely. Nevertheless I fished on the Wednesday (started below the bridge and fished 1 km downstream). In that distance I counted 17 dead fish (mostly summer salmon of 8-10lbs range) and that was without even looking hard. Does anyone know why so many of the fish were diseased? Has this been caused by the run being caught in low water in April for instance? Took some photos if necessary but appeared very similar to the udn of the 80's.

regards
Scott

At the risk of asking an idiot question, you're sure these fish weren't kelts? If they were fresh then it's worrying to say the least. I had heard that UDN can come and go quickly, but another outbreak would be shocking..

---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 PM ----------

Interesting.

Fish Fungus Saprolegnia

No mate definitely not kelts but excellent summer fish which was the worrying thing. I did see some clean fish jumping as I worked my way down but the number of diseased fish was alarming.

---------- Post added at 06:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:37 AM ----------

Thanks for that-fish had identical symptoms to the FFS and looks as though the Ericht has suffered in recent past-cheers.

Must be down to water conditions we also have an outbreak on the North Esk

A friend of mine on the Findhorn in late May was shocked to see large numbers of ulcerated dead and dying fish.

UDN was a disease of the cold water of spring and seemed to clear up in the summer. Given this spring's record temps and low flows of April and May it seems unlikely to be the 'conventional' disease.. or was it just that in the early 70's the peak runs were spring fish?

Any other rivers affected?

This is just what our salmon need now

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I was on the Ericht last week, Monday through Thursday, and also saw several damaged fish and a few dead ones. I spoke with our ghillie and was told that the river was full with fish below the weir by the town bridge. This apparently stresses them as they were all apparently holding in a very large pool waiting for the water to rise so that they could then proceed to Lower and then Upper Craighall beats. On Wednesday I counted 28 salmon jumping through Barrys Pool on the Lower Craighall between 1500 and 1730. Oh yes and I caught a 6 pound grilse as well!

Very depressing - dead and dying fish in numbers


although there are lots of clean, fresh fish also (few of which were in a taking mood!)


rather worryingly this fish from the Tay (Glendelvine water) also had some evidence of disease


Thought by owners/ghillies to be a function of fish shoaled up in river below - "3000 fish below weir at Blairgowrie in May". Owner on Ericht was calm about thought of losing 1500 fish out of a run of 15000!!!!

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That is sad to see.
I also fish the Ericht and i have seen large numbers of dead fish dead but it is usualy due to low oxygen levels or so i thought because it usualy happens in high summer.

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Its happening on just about every spate type river in Scotland. Caused by Stress due to low water we had last month and in some cases still do, the stacking back from weirs and falls et al, in low water creates stress to the fish.

Also when they are in very close proximity to each other they tend to get unsettled, fight, move around the pool resulting in scrapes and bangs to their body. This allows the fungus to set in and spread.

Even handling them (C&R) has an detrimental effect on them, and you will see more Ghillies using cotton gloves to reduce the slime being removed when they handle the fish, especially around the tail area.

terrible sight to see those great fish like that.