Tweed Trout & Grayling Initiative Newsletter

No. 14 – Spring 2016 Teviot

2016 Electro -fishing Schedule

In August 2016 the Tweed Foundation/Tweed Trout &

Grayling Initiative will be carrying out juvenile trout and Salmon electro-fishing surveys on the Teviot system (including all major tributaries and burns). If you wish to come out with us to see what the juvenile fish numbers are like in different parts of the Teviot system, please contact Kenny Galt at: [email protected] The Foundation will be electro-fishing most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. There are videos on the Foundation’s A 28cm Brown trout from the River Teviot at . Caught, YouTube page (described overleaf) which show released and recorded in a catch log book. electro-fishing in action, for those who don’t know how it works. One added point of interest for 2016, given the 2015 River Teviot Brown Trout Catch severe floods over the winter of 2015/2016, is that Summary the electro-fishing results should pick up if there has Seven anglers submitted 37 catch returns for the Teviot been any significant juvenile loss due to redd wash- during 2015 covering 102 hours of fishing effort, and the out. Whilst relatively rare, this can occur as a result of Tweed Trout & Grayling Initiative thanks those anglers who excessive gravel movements during extreme high submitted returns. The average catch rates of both oversize floods. Thankfully, previous extreme flood events on (25cm and over) and undersize trout were fractionally above the Teviot over the last 25 years have had limited average (based on ten years’ worth of catch records) during impacts on juvenile production, but this year’s survey 2015. As a result, 2015 was as close to being an “average” will show if this continues to be the case. season as has been recorded, despite some difficult conditions and low flows during the season. The reason for the oversize catch being fractionally above average was as a result of well above average catches of 35-40cm Brown trout. Whilst these trout usually make up only a modest percentage of the total catch their average catch rate in 2015 was over double their average. An increase in catches of trout of this size ties in with the same catch trend seen across the whole of the main stem of the Tweed and is as a result of unusually high survival of 2013’s trout parr over the winter of 2013/2014. Due to their higher than normal survival they provided above average catches during 2014 (by which time they had grown to 25-35cm) and this continued into 2015 (by which time they were 35cm+).

The Phaup Burn in the Teviot headwaters is just one of the numerous trout spawning burns that will be surveyed during August 2016

Tweed Foundation Website

The Tweed Foundation has a new website. It’s bigger, better and easier to use. Visit:-

www.tweedfoundation.org.uk A 37cm Brown trout, catches of trout of this size on the Teviot were double the average

THE TWEED FOUNDATION Drygrange Steading Melrose TD6 9DJ www.tweedfoundation.org.uk Copyright The Tweed Foundation 2016; not to be reproduced without permission E&OE

The Tweed Foundation YouTube Channel

The TTGI would like to remind anglers to continue to check the Tweed Foundation YouTube channel as several new videos are put up during the course of each year. To find it either click on the “Tweed TV” icon on the front page of the Tweed Foundation website or search for “Tweed Foundation” on YouTube. The channel includes film of fishing; clips of presentations given by the Foundation; educational and promotional clips and other activities associated with the fishery.

A still from a video on the Tweed Foundation YouTube channel showing Brown trout fishing on the River Ettrick – it is hoped a similar video can be produced for the River Teviot

Brown Trout Scale Collection Appeal

For the last two years we have put out an appeal to Teviot anglers to collect scale samples from the Brown trout they catch. . This line of study forms part of our ongoing project to better understand the variability in Brown trout production in different parts of the Tweed system and how it relates to and influences angling catches. These samples will be used to give age and growth rate information but will also provide a tissue sample which can be sent away for genetic sex determination (an important part of understanding the complicated relationship between Brown trout and Sea-trout). The only other reliable way of determining sex during the trout season is to kill the fish which we don’t encourage in the numbers required. The progress on the Teviot has been steady and we would like to thank those anglers who have contributed over the last two seasons. A total of 15 scale samples have been collected, however we require at least the same again before we can consider having the samples genetically sex tested. As such, we are again appealing for anglers to collect scale samples from the Brown trout they catch. If you would like to help please contact Kenny Galt at: [email protected] , or via the Tweed Foundation’s website, and you will be provided with scale sample packets and instructions. A video showing how to collect a small sample of scales without harming a fish can be found on the Tweed Foundation YouTube page (described below).

A still from a video on the Tweed Foundation YouTube channel showing how to take scale samples from live Brown trout – the Tweed Trout and Grayling Initiative requires volunteers to collect scales as part of its work to understand Brown trout production within the Tweed system

Copyright The Tweed Foundation 2016; not to be reproduced without permission E&OE 2