A trip to a new, not so secret (judging by the litter) location, The River Rother South Yorkshire, a stretch just upstream of Beighton weir.  Unfortunately more pints were consumed on friday night than the forecast suggested and i did not get up as early as i planed, nevertheless i was still out on the bank by 8.30.



The first fish caught was a nice chub weighing a tad over  3 lb (left) caught in the slack water coming off the back of a sharp bend.  This would probably have been the focus of this blog if i had not later caught my first sea trout later in the day.


A few hours after the chub, on return to the same swim the rod tip went over again, this time more violently than before, and i hooked into what felt like a good fish.  It took me a few minutes to land it, in the water i could see that it was a good trout and when it hit the net i saw that it was a sea trout, or a very light brown trout.  The fish lacked red spots and was very silver in colour leading me to believe that it was a sea trout, rather than a very pale brown trout. Either way its a good looking fish and first for me! The fish was returned swiftly and unharmed.


Sea Trout are the same species as the brown trout (Salmo trutta).  It's thought that a combination of environmental factors (such as food shortage) and genetics is responsible for the migrations of some young brown trout to the open ocean in march and early April.  The trout undergo several morphological and physiological changes that prime the trout to be able to survive in salt water.  The trout also take on a silver colour which is probably an adaptation to increase survival rates in their new environment.

Sea trout return to the river in which they originated during summer and early Autumn to spawn.  Interestingly, unlike most salmon the sea trout will return back to the sea after it has spawned.

If this is a sea trout it looks like the fish passes installed by the environment agency have begun to work.