Recent trends in the rod catches of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., from four sites on the River Spey

Abstract

. Rod catches at four sites on the River Spey were analysed over the period 1970–1991. The year-by-year trends and seasonal patterns of rod catches varied according to site location. During the 1970s and 1980s the spring salmon catch from the Spey as a whole declined, mirroring a decline in catch at the lower sites in the river early in the year. Catches at the study sites did not always follow trends in the fishery as a whole, however, illustrating that the catch at any given site is not a simple function of the total number of available fish in the river. In the first 2 years of the 1990s the decline in early season catches continued, accompanied by a more general drop in catches throughout the angling season at three out of four sites.