2013 Magazine - Royal Caledonian Ball

Alongside whisky, tartan and a some
fiendishly complicated Highland
dances, Scottish salmon fishing has
an iconic reputation that occupies the minds
of serious fishermen from all over the
world. As with many stories about our
natural world, there is a lingering
perception that things aren’t quite as good as
they used to be and that a day on the river
might not quite compare with the stories
you have read in your grandfather’s fishing
diary. But is this perception a reality or are
we all victims of a bottle-half-empty
mentality that might be clouding our
judgement?
For a start we know a great deal more about
the Atlantic salmon in Scotland than we did
50 years ago. We now have a good idea
where the salmon travels to at sea. We have a
much better feel for how many of them
Scotland’s Atlantic Salmon
A Natural Resource To Be Proud Of
36
return and are starting to understand at least
some of the hidden secrets of this most
mercurial of fish, not least that each
catchment in Scotland - indeed each
tributary - seems to be occupied by fairly
discrete salmon “clans” that are genetically
quite distinct from each other. This
knowledge helps Scotland’s salmon