My salmon season is now at an end. Generally it was pretty good with 17 fish over the last few weeks. Out of the 17 fish ranging from 3lbs to 15lbs I only had one cock fish. The rest were of course all hens. All were returned but I think this could be a problem come spawning time. Others on the river report similar things with at best one in eight being a cock fish. My usual ratio is 50-50.

Why do you think there are so many hen fish Ten to one?

BK

the rivers i have fished this year have been pretty mixed i would say i have had more cocks than hens this year but i suppose it is diffrent rivers its a strange one

I really do not know. Could be down to killing cocks and returning hens or just a fluke season

i no alot of people that think it is ok to kill cocks but not hens but what they dont understand is that both are needed for succesful spawning so that could possibly be the answer

The idea there is that cock fish will attempt to spawn with many hens, that's part of the salmon's survival package. Precocious parr will also successfully fertilise ova. So theoretically, killing a cock fish may have no impact on spawning but when you kill a hen that's the opportunity for thousands of ova gone.

True GFL true. I had a quick look through my records over the last 20 years or so and although hardly scientific they do show a drop in numbers of cocks caught. On the upside of things I appear to be catching more fish......so perhaps the balance is working

I caught more cock fish this year,but saw plenty of hens.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Anyone remember the environmental warnings we were issued years back about Oestrogens in the water cycle? Could there be some truth in it?

Wouldn't that just make all the cock fish wish they were hens?