Have you caught a Pacific pink salmon in England?

The inland and coastal waters of England are home to a host of different fish species, but we can now add another name to that list, the Pacific pink salmon. Up until recently, catching a Pacific pink salmon was as rare as netting a red herring. However in 2017 unprecedented numbers of this species were reported within inshore coastal waters and rivers in Scotland and England. In Scotland, pink salmon were found to have spawned successfully producing viable eggs that hatched into fry (juvenile fish). Seven pink salmon were subsequently recorded by anglers in or close to English rivers. Four of which were seen in the North East of England including the River Wear, River Tyne and the River Coquet with other specimens recorded as far west as the Hampshire Avon in Dorset.  Pacific pink salmon were originally introduced to a number of Russian rivers in the 1960s and have slowly spread westwards colonising additional rivers in northern Norway. Owing to the two year life cycle of this species, 2019 will be the first year that we can expect to see these fish return in numbers. Click here to read more