November 5th 1997

Many small fish

The autumn still seems to hold strong. Lots of reports are coming in, and there seems to be at least the normal abundance of sea trout - if not more.
The spin fishers seem to be loosing luck compared to fly fishers - either on a fly rod or on a bubble float.
The fish seem to be fairly small, though. Many reports mentions dozens of smaller fish in the 30-35 centimeters range. These will probably be very good fish in the spring, if they survive the winter.

Rainbows and Steelhead

There are many, many sea farms containing thousands of steelhead in the Danish seas. Unfortunately these occasionally 'leak' or downright turn over and release dozens of thousands of large hatchery fish.
These will roam the coasts and not really know what to do. They are typical for their kind: tails and fins are worn and bitten, the fish are heavily medicated. The authorities often warn against eating them.

But they stir up a lot of action on the coasts - both from rod fishers and net fishers. The first category go berserk on the easy-to-catch fish and the latter set their nets illegally, close to the shore.
Some fishers prefer the steelhead over the wild or hatchery sea trout (brown trout), but when the fish are released accidentally like it's been the case several times lately, I have my doubts about the benefits for the fishers or the environment.

Give us back the wild trout.