Big sewin caught Sunday 6th July 2008!

18lb 2 oz - a fish of a life time?

This is what Rodney Byles has to say about the capture of this fish!

Andy

I have been reading bits and pieces about the 18lb sewin on the forum and decide to add my two pennerth and sent the following comment. You may wish to use it somehow on your blog.Murray’s fish is indeed a fish of a lifetime and suspect if he ever catches a similar one he will probably return it or donate to the hatchery. The various comments on the forum about its egg quality and their survival interested me and thought that I would add some food for thought. I have always believed the larger the fish the greater the number and better quality of eggs. But I have no scientific basis for that opinion.However, I am reliably informed that a hen sewin will produce an average of 600 eggs/pound of fish weight so the larger fish will produce far more than the smaller fish. In Murray’s case that fish probably had nearly 11,000 eggs. Also it has probably returned to the river three of four times before reaching that incredible size so it had probably developed survival skills that could have been passed onto its offspring. It could be said that alevins from these big multi-wintered fish could have greater survival rates than those from smaller and younger less experienced fish. Who knows!I can only pass on information I have about one big Towy sewin caught last season at Bethlehem weighing 15lb 4ozs. This hen fish was donated to the hatchery and produced over 9,000 eggs. The alevins or fry are now 2 inches long and will be put into the Towy sometime in October. If the fish has been persuaded to feed in captivity there is a possibility she could be stripped again this year prior to being released in the estuary later in the year.I was fortunate a few seasons back to catch a 14lb hen sewin at Llangadog and had I known then what I know now I would have taken a photo and either returned it or tethered it for donation to the hatchery as brood stock. So those of you anglers who are successful in catching a big hen sewin and wish to donate it to the hatchery, make sure you have a tether with you and most important of all keep handling to an absolute minimum as fish can be easily damaged and will have far less chance of survival. If you put the tether through the mouth and out through gills and secure to a tree or whatever in slack or quiet water the fish will just rest until collected for the hatchery, or so I’m told.Will be interesting to see response if any!!

What's your view on this?

Kingfisher