A happy angler

The river Ythan is a famous sea trout river. Today I was lucky enough to be there just as an angler landed a fine fish.

Sea trout and brown trout are the same species (Salmo trutta). A combination of genetics and environmental factors (principally a lack of food), causes some individual  trout to go out to sea to feed before returning to spawn. This is called an ‘anadromous’ lifestyle.

Young trout of 1 to 3 years old and 5 to7 inches long will go through some physiological changes which include the ability to cope with salt water and changing to a silver colour. These small silver trout called smolts will shoal together to migrate to sea, usually around late March / April and usually at night.

Going to sea gives the trout access to a much richer source of food, so when they return to the river to spawn, months or years later,  they are nearly always substantially bigger than the resident brown trout.