It was interesting to read reports on social media about an unusual salmon caught in the lower River Spey last week. The fish was caught by Raymond Duncan, a member of Speymouth Angling Association and neighbour of ex Spey ghillie Jock Royan, who posted the pictures. Appropriately enough the fish took a Kinermony Killer fly. Jock has kindly given permission for the photos to be used here.
An unusual catch on the Spey, a pacific salmon species, thought to be a Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha). The fish weighed 2.5lb, typical of this small species of salmon. The distinctive spots on the tail aid identification. This looks to be a female as the males develop a distinctive hump on the back at spawning time. It is spawning season now for pink salmon and judging by the colouration it looks to be quite mature.
The distinctive spotty tail
It also had an impressive mouth full of teeth compared to our native atlantic salmon.
Recently the Environment Agency reported three similar fish had been caught in the Northumberland area in early August. Pink salmon do turn up occasionally in UK waters but there seems to be something of a minor influx at present. The Spey Fishery Board recommends that if any angler does catch one of these fish it should be killed and retained for examination. The Speymouth fish was retained and has been frozen pending examination. It will be interesting to read the age from the scales and do a full autopsy to see what information we can gleen.
Whilst it is unlikely that they are present in sufficient numbers to establish a breeding population in the UK they have apparently colonised some Norwegian rivers after being introduced in Northern Russia. Yet another potential invasive to keep an eye out for!
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