Clean SeaTrout or salmon..?

[Eoghan]

People: My mate Steve

Duration: 2 hours

Tide:

Weather: Ireland - all seasons

Bait: Kilty type lure

Rigs: na

Results: 1 x 2Ib ish trout or other




Report:

Mate of mine just txt me the attached pic. Taken at the mouth of an estuary somewhere in Middle Earth. I think its a trout but not convinced. Its very clean.

Answers on a postcard pls....

[Tanglerat]

Nice use of a single hook there.

I'd call it a trout on probabilities, going by size. Always a tricky one when working off photos.

[bassmania787]

pretty sure its a sea trout, but the tail of the sea trout should be square not forked like a salmon's. and in the picture it looks forked so i couldnt give u a conclusive answer.

[patk]

Be interesting to see a better picture of the tail it does look a little forked??

[cathalger]

Definitely sea trout Eoghan and a beauty at that. You can just about see the black edge to the otherwise pale tail, you can see the black edge in the collapsed centre of the tail, most of the tail is out of shot. Study the tails of sea trout you catch and you'll find very few where you cant see a stark black edge to a paler tail. Tail only appears forked as its collapsed. If the lip wasnt being pulled down as it is by the spinner the eye would be well within the rear extremity of the upper lip, therefore trout. Just a lightly spotted trout, some of them have no spots at all on the gill plate like this one. Stunning fish in great condition, looking forward to seeing one in the flesh myself!

[cathalger]

What size was it Eoghan? Unless thats a huge spinner it looks 1 1/4lb to 1 1/2lb? If that is a big spinner sorry for under-estimate.

edit, sorry Ive just seen it was a 2lber, pics can be deceiving, its a grand fat fish, make a good table fish...

[Eoghan]

The lure is about the size of a Kilty. Was an estimate of the weight. Fish went back immediately. Fought like a demon apparently.

[saving private brian]

trout ,trout ,trout

[johnrooney]

nice trout

[roryodonnell]

Lovely fish. Well done Steve. Did I bump in you this evening, Steve?

[Steve]

Nah, different Steve Rory! Did you stay long? Went elsewhere nearby and had a cracker (54 cm, about 3.5lbs, maybe more as he was a fat little begger!).

[roryodonnell]

Nah, different Steve Rory! Did you stay long? Went elsewhere nearby and had a cracker (54 cm, about 3.5lbs, maybe more as he was a fat little begger!).

Nice one, well played!

[Eoghan]

Nah, different Steve Rory! Did you stay long? Went elsewhere nearby and had a cracker (54 cm, about 3.5lbs, maybe more as he was a fat little begger!).

Nice one. What kind of lure steve..? Ye can Pm if ye like.
Im mainly curious as in September last year they would not touch anything over an inch long and at the moment it seems to be larger lures doing the trick. It could all be just coincidence but would be good to know.

[Steve]

I'm sure you could guess!! . I've already nailed my colors to the mast on this one on the forum so no problem saying it's the 15g 6.9cm stripper. Find it's just the right size unless you need something capable of punching through the wind.

sea trout 13052013.JPG

The last couple of weeks have been difficult bar the odd day of settled weather - in particular the main place I fish where water clarity has tended to be very poor. There have either been easterlies blowing up the estuaries or westerlies blowing down them and the water has been quite muddy. Might be the answer to your question on lure size Eoghan - the bigger lures are simply easier for the fish to locate although I do find fish tend to get more finnicky as the summer goes on. Having said that the water was clear last night despite the westerly gale blowing down the beach so didn't feel the need to change from this lure.

That fish has actually saved me a few quid - I've an awful tendency to go looking at expensive lures after a few blanks in the hope they might put me onto a few fish. In reality it's just a question of fishing the right tides, at the right times in the right weather. If I do that I don't need 20 quid lures - a €3 stripper will do the business just fine.

[roryodonnell]

Touche Steve! Cracking fish, obviously they're feeding hard at the moment

[Eoghan]

Thats a belter steve, propper little pig..! I forgot you are a Stripper fan, I have a few myself but I think they are the larger ones. Must pick up a few 15g. I like the lure and the action. As for the size of lure, I have no doubt that was the case in Brandon. I was using a very small heavy lure and the lads were on kiltys and tobys etc, clarity was a factor so I wasnt doing myself any favours.

[agardiner22]

beautiful sea trout there

[MR RMG83]

I would say its a little grilse going by the shape of the tail and the fact that the spots dont go below the lateral line. Check out http://www.atlanticsalmontrust.org/know ... gnitio...‎

[Eoghan]

Im far from an expert but the shape of the tail was throwing me too. Arent sea trout supposed to have straigh tails and this one looks a bit forked. So hard to tell. Look at the tail on the second trout....I think they are different. Its also longer and less stocky than the 2nd pic.

[Viper]

Thats a sea trout. The jaw reaching behind the eye is the giveaway for me. The tail isn't extended so would look concave regardless of whether it was a salmon or not. Finally you wouldn't be able to tail that fish out of the water which is a giveaway for it being a sea trout.