Fish of the Season Winner 2009

The Outer Hebrides Fisheries Trust "Catch & Release" freshwater fish of the season competition is now into its fifth year and has proved to be a highly successful and popular event for both visiting and local anglers. Each season has produced many magnificent entries and 2009 was no exception.

The following are the winning monthly entries from which the judges had to choose the overall "Fish of the Season" winner:

April winner - Ben Macaulay with several brown trout in the 10oz - 1lb range from Loch an Eilean Liath, Lewis

May winner - Bob Adams with a 5½lb brown trout from Loch West Ollay, South Uist

June winner - Stuart Busby with a 6lb brown trout from a Uist machair loch

August winner - Matt Stewart's 5¾lb sea trout from Loch Fada, South Uist

September winner - Adrian Medley's 8lb sea trout from Loch Fada, South Uist

October winner - Campbell Samson's 8½lb sea trout from Loch Fada, South Uist

All the above monthly winners were worthy of winning the 2009 "Fish of the Season" trophy which made choosing the overall winner very difficult due to the high standard of fish entered. However, as I'm sure you'll all agree, this competition is aimed at encouraging a new generation of anglers to return fish, which is why several of the judges decided that 6 year old Ben Macaulay's April entry was the overall winner.

Ben, who lives in Laxdale on the Isle of Lewis, has been guided by his father Murdo's sensible attitude to catch and release, learning from an early age about why he needn't kill every fish that he catches (if only more anglers would show the same restraint!). This was confirmed during Ben's first angling trip of the 2009 season to loch an Eilean Liath on Friday 10th April, when he and his dad landed seven well conditioned brown trout in the 10oz - 1lb class during a four hour session. All seven fish were caught on a small silver Mepps spinner and all were returned, bar three, which were bleeding heavily and would not have survived.

Ben, who has become extremely proficient with the spinning rod, hopes to progress to fly fishing during 2010. Hopefully, his "Fish of the Season" gift vouchers will help him toward purchasing a fly fishing outfit.

People who are interested in taking up the sport of freshwater angling for trout, sea trout and salmon, as well as experienced anglers, would do well to learn from Ben's sensible attitude to angling.

The award was presented by Fisheries Trust Biologist, David Kelly, who said: 'It's very encouraging to see such a young winner of this competition. Catch & Release is a great way to promote sustainable angling practices to both local and visiting anglers.'

Well done Ben for winning the "Catch & Release" fish of the season trophy for 2009 along with £450.00 worth of tackle vouchers. By winning the April monthly trophy and "Fish of the Season", Ben amassed a grand total of £525.00 worth of tackle vouchers.
Well done Ben on the capture and return of several beautiful brown trout.