Preserving our Brown Trout Numbers
It was noted at our last Annual General Meeting that the number of brown trout caught in Loughinisland Lake has reduced in recent years. The reasons for this are not entirely clear but may be because they are more ‘bottom dwelling’, do not rise as freely as their cousin the rainbow trout or it may simply be due to the strain from which they were derived. The issue of whether to impose a ban on killing brown trout was raised at the aforementioned meeting and while it could not be brought forward as a specific motion on the night, the Directors present agreed to discuss it at their first Board meeting of the 2016 season.
The Directors present at that first meeting felt that it would be unfair to impose a blanket ban on the killing of brown trout without our membership having the final say. We did however propose that we ask our members to practice a voluntary return of all brown trout caught for the 2016 season as a means of compromise. 75% of those brown trout caught and recorded in the catch returns for the 2015 season were returned unharmed in Loughinisland Lake; in essence we are practicing this already.
We will continue to stock brown trout for this coming season as planned and monitor this through our catch returns. We plan to make the monthly catch return available on our website for the 2016 season monthly to our members on our website for your information.
