At last water levels in the River Ayr have dropped. We deployed the smolt trap yesterday and this morning we had the best catch to date with 37 salmon and trout of various sizes.

 

The salmon smolts are becoming a bit more obvious although the majority are what we would call pre-smolts.Salmon smolt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got a few nice sea trout smolts today.

Sea trout smolt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The number of small parr, mostly salmon with a few trout, we are catching in the trap is surprising. There must be a significant  downstream movement of these fish underway at the moment. We haven’t checked the scales but they look as if they will be one year olds.

small salmon parr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The forecast looks settled for the weekend so hopefully we will be able to operate the trap each day from now on.

 

BS