Viking Lars | Saturday, 24 November 2018
Since some of our readers here regularly fishes Skjern River in Denmark, I thought I’d use this space to bring attention to some new rules for fishing in the system.
Some of the “recommendations” from previous years have now become rules and new rules regarding hook sizes and catch limits have been put into place.
This year we had the extreme summer that resulted in the closing of the river for 2 weeks. That situation was without precedence, and survival rate of catch and release salmon and sea trout in hot water was the reason. Research shows salmon/sea trout have low survival rates in water above 18 degrees C, because of low oxygen content. It’s now been resolved that the river simply closes for fishing should the temperature rise to 18 degrees C or above.
For 2019 you are allowed to catch 2 salmon/day, and then you must stop, whether they been C&R’ed or not, and there’s a year maximum of 15 salmon. This has been prompted by catches this year of up to 80 salmon for one person.
Regarding hooks you’re now allowed to use single hooks with a hook gape of maximum 10mm. Double hooks with a maximum hook gape of 7mm, and the same restriction goes for trebles. All hooks must be barbless.
I personally support these new rules - they are all put in place for the benefit of the salmon and sea trout, and they are close to rules in other parts of the world, where salmon management has proven succesful. The hook-gape-measurement in mm is much more useful that a hooksize. One brand’s #8 can be bigger than another brand’s #6.
There’s been plenty of complaints on Facebook, and there always will be when people meet restrictions, but these I think point to the future. And hey - it’s not that hard to go through your hooks choices with a calliper once before the season begins.
Have a great weekend
Lars