Ferox recapture

[fergie68]

Here's a ferox I had In March this year . I seen it was tagged and it was a friend of mine in the 85 group doing the tagging so as he was fishing just south of me I gave him a call. It was one of his tagged fish it weighed 12lb.4oz when I caught it.

The fish was caught in June last year by -Aya weighing 7lb-15oz and tagged by Alan Kettle-White ( Argyll Fisheries Trust) as part of an ongoing catch and release study.
Incredible increase in body weight - over 50% increases in 9 months
Catch and Release works for these magnificent beasts - if the fish are handled properly

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[pete webster]

Very nice mate, it's always good when it's confirmed you're doing it the right way, that's how I look at a recapture.

[fergie68]

A recapture on a massive loch like the one I caught this on is quite amazing when you think just how much room there is. There has been a few recaptures which from a ferox trout perspective indicates a small population of these fish I have a bit more info on this fish Pete I will post it later.

[Mark_Houghton]

What Pete said ^^^^

Well done mate

[RAB-HENDO]

Very nice Alan

[andrew_nagel]

Great to hear. They are such fantastic looking fish, and you never know what colouring or markings will turn up from fish to fish.

[Dave Horton]

That's awesome well done!

(I'm gonna have a bash at that one day face)

[fergie68]

You should go for it Dave.
We catch plenty pike too . Just to keep it interesting.

[pete webster]

A recapture on a massive loch like the one I caught this on is quite amazing when you think just how much room there is. There has been a few recaptures which from a ferox trout perspective indicates a small population of these fish I have a bit more info on this fish Pete I will post it later.

I look forward to reading that mate.

[fergie68]

Unfortunately in September this year just before the end of the season this total fuckwit who has zero respect for the fish he has spent so many years chasing caught the same fish.
The handling is pathetic to say the least .
He claims the fish is now 14lbs although I dread to think how he weighed it.
What a shame this fish is hurtling towards the magical 20 pound mark then gets treated like this.

I wonder if it will be caught again or if it just went to the bottom and died.

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[fergie68]

A recapture on a massive loch like the one I caught this on is quite amazing when you think just how much room there is. There has been a few recaptures which from a ferox trout perspective indicates a small population of these fish I have a bit more info on this fish Pete I will post it later.

I look forward to reading that mate.

Not good news unfortunately Pete.

[pete webster]

A recapture on a massive loch like the one I caught this on is quite amazing when you think just how much room there is. There has been a few recaptures which from a ferox trout perspective indicates a small population of these fish I have a bit more info on this fish Pete I will post it later.

I look forward to reading that mate.

Oh dear


Not good news unfortunately Pete.

[andrew_nagel]

Fergie... do you use wire or braid as your downrigger cable?

[fergie68]

Braid Andrew I hated the noise wire made .

[andrew_nagel]

Braid Andrew I hated the noise wire made .

Drives you mad!

[fergie68]

I still caught with the Wire I think it annoyed me more than the fish.

[Happy Hayes]

An amazing fish
Fingers crossed on its health
Regards
Tom

[Fentiger01]

Phenomenal fish, photo's and the story.

[fergie68]

Hopefully it will appear again near the 20lb mark.

[Steve Le maitre]

A repeat capture is wonderful but at the same time must put things into proportion as to the rarity of those beasts.
How many Ferox have you caught from this Loch in the last few years ?
The odds say you should have caught 100’s and 100’s to have contacted the same fish again.
Any idea how many would roam in say 5000 acres ?
Truly are hen’s teeth.

[fergie68]

Hi Steve . I've only had 3 ferox from Awe . But I only fish it once a year most seasons or sometimes twice. So I'm actually ahead of the game on there as I know guys who have fished it for years without a fish .
There doesn't seem to be a huge population in the loch . The current tagging program will shed some light on it. My friend who fishes it almost all season tagged 12 fish this year from 1.8 lbs to 12 lbs so possibly some of these smaller trout are younger ferox time will tell.
The ferox above seems to be rather territorial which I've not experienced before.

[BillCollins]

Fergie, in general, how well do big trout respond/recover from being caught and handled ? As a by product of pike fishing, we catch them around here at certain times of year on various pike tactics, lures, trolled baits, static deadbaits etc. Mostly in the early months after spawning, say January through to March for me which is when I finish piking. Without anything to back it up, I assume that they're quite delicate, even more so than pike (??) and so try to really minimize the handling and time out of the water, usually leaving them in the net in the water until everything is ready for a really speedy return. I don't know much about them and even whether they're Ferox or not.? so I'd just describe them as big brown trout if asked. The varations in colour and spot patterns even within the same lough or area always amazes me, some are almost as silver as fresh salmon, all the way through to others which look like a bar of chocolate, they're very individual. We mostly get them to low doubles, but bigger ones to upper doubles do get caught from time to time (not by me..) and there might be the possibility of a 20. Some years ago, I watched a huge trout thrashing a shoal of roach just 30yds from the boat on the river, it left the water completely a couple of times and the roach were also in the air like a shoal of sprats. To this day I would say that fish was 20lbs.

[fergie68]

Hi Bill I don't think they are particularly fragile but like most fish certainly require decent handling .
What you described seems perfect for them.

In the boat we put them straight into the tank unhook them in the net then remove the net let them rest weigh then a few photos I used to take scale samples for reading but I'm not doing that just now.
One problem we can have is getting them fairly deep on the rigger then them surfacing very quickly. These fish take a wee bit longer to recover. I will just hold them in the loch for as long as it takes.
I think one of the biggest danger to them is guys using that pike type grip on their gills I myself killed a corrib 8 pounder using that hold years ago so I never ever use it now.
Ferox fishing has never been more popular so handling does become a problem . Lots of anglers coming from a pike background are already familiar with fish care But are more likely to use that hold .
And then you get guys from a trout/ flyfishing back ground who think it's ok to have the fish thrashing about in the bottom of the boat no unhooking mat etc.
Aya from the 85 group done a YouTube video on the subject. Some will watch it and learn some will ignore it because they know better.
Plenty instant experts in the ferox world these days.

[BillCollins]

I tend not to hold them like pike anyway, it's not the easiest as they have a much shorter jaw. The depth/gassing thing is'nt a huge problem either as most that take bottom baits do so from 10-20ft and we also get a few on the drifter float fished shallow, just 4-5ft over much deeper water i.e 40-50ft.
They can turn up anywhere. This one was caught by a visiting English lad I met (hope he does'nt mind..). It took a float legered half mackie at the first bend, just a few hundred yards down from a slipway on the river, a spot I've often motored past at up to 30mph on my way to ''greener pastures'', miles further downstream... ...... .
14lbs+

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[Mark_Houghton]

I tend not to hold them like pike anyway, it's not the easiest as they have a much shorter jaw. The depth/gassing thing is'nt a huge problem either as most that take bottom baits do so from 10-20ft and we also get a few on the drifter float fished shallow, just 4-5ft over much deeper water i.e 40-50ft.
They can turn up anywhere. This one was caught by a visiting English lad I met (hope he does'nt mind..). It took a float legered half mackie at the first bend, just a few hundred yards down from a slipway on the river, a spot I've often motored past at up to 30mph on my way to ''greener pastures'', miles further downstream... ...... .
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What a superb looking fish

[Fentiger01]

I tend not to hold them like pike anyway, it's not the easiest as they have a much shorter jaw. The depth/gassing thing is'nt a huge problem either as most that take bottom baits do so from 10-20ft and we also get a few on the drifter float fished shallow, just 4-5ft over much deeper water i.e 40-50ft.
They can turn up anywhere. This one was caught by a visiting English lad I met (hope he does'nt mind..). It took a float legered half mackie at the first bend, just a few hundred yards down from a slipway on the river, a spot I've often motored past at up to 30mph on my way to ''greener pastures'', miles further downstream... ...... .
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What a superb looking fish

[BillCollins]

It certainly is Mark, big trout are real lookers.

[Mark_Houghton]

It certainly is Mark, big trout are real lookers.

Yes, always impressive looking fish. Good pic that too, looks every ounce of that weight

[fergie68]

That is a absolutely amazing looking fish. In top condition obviously no shortage of prey fish in that system. Do you think the ferox are there all year round Bill or do they drop back into the lochs after spawning time.?

[BillCollins]

That is a absolutely amazing looking fish. In top condition obviously no shortage of prey fish in that system. Do you think the ferox are there all year round Bill or do they drop back into the lochs after spawning time.?

This is on the Upper Shannon, Fergie, which is vast when including the tributaries and their lakes and stuffed with coarse fish, roach and hybrids in particular. These bigger trout don't seem to show much until after spawning which is presumably around mid December or so, they then start to get caught, February always seems a good month for them. I usually finish up piking about mid or late March but I know that other lads still catch the trout up into May. I'm not sure about their movements as during the times when they're more catchable, they can turn up anywhere, in the loughs or in the river itself. A lot of these loughs are probably relatively shallow compared with many of the Scottish lochs, some of them around here have huge areas of less than 20ft and maybe only 10-14ft, with the deeper areas going 30-50ft. The river and tributaries also vary quite a lot and there can be 40ft in places, with other stretches only 10-15ft but overall the system is a bit of an egg box.