Season Extensions??

[nessc]

I thought I would start a thread on season extensions as they have been top of the agenda on a lot of rivers throughout Scotland over the last five years or so.

Where I work on the River Ness, the river as a whole has had a marked movement in the run. In years gone by you could set your watch with the run arriving around the middle of July and peaking in the middle of August, when the run would die out and by the middle of October it was an event to catch a fresh fish.

Nowadays the run has shifted a full month, with the most productive period being the end of August into the middle of September, with fresh fish being caught right up to the 15th of October in good numbers.

2009 was the first of a three year experimental extension carried out on the River Ness, where by the beats would be fished and records; including fin clippings; photo’s and length measurements were taken to determine if the quantity of fish caught, were in a condition that would grant a permanent extension to the season.

Through the three week period this year, all of the beats that put in the hours came out with similar conclusions. On Nesscastle we caught around 30 fish, with over 60% being fresh or sea liced, which was a great result and showed that fresh fish were running in good numbers right up to the 7th of November.

On a personal note I would love to see an extension to our river, but would most definitely need to see the results of the next two years before anything was set in stone.

I know the Tay, Spey, Dee and other rivers have carried out similar samples, and would like to hear any thoughts on the issue?

Some fish caught in Late October/early November on Nesscastle.

A Beauty caught in November


And another



An octobe grilse

[keirstream]

Not familiar with the Ness. I fished it once many years ago on an invite to Nessside I think.
Remember looking at the far bank and deciding I needed new glasses.
On a river like the Ness it is a no brainer. Every beat on the river will benefit from tide fresh fish whenever they run and if the cycle changes, you have to follow. You have my support on the extension plans, provided of course, it does not extend to the upper catchment above the loch, that is an area where you will meet opposition and rightly so.
There are boundaries on every river beyond which true autumn fish do not run. These fish need protected and further exploitation in the name of income, or otherwise , is just not on.

I assume most Ness autumn fish spawn in the main stem of the river, with all loch feeders holding spring and summer fish only?
Dont know where your beat is but good luck in the future as our problem seemed to be tempting these later running fish although it would appear you have done not bad.