Electrician catches huge salmon with bare hands in Trago Mills' car park
An electrician had quite the catch after snagging a huge salmon by hand in Trago Mills' car park.
The amateur angler decided to check out the flooded Trago Mill's car park near Dobwalls where he works after hearing the River Fowey had broken its bank.
Chris Bird and his girlfriend Ellie Robertson arrived to find something flapping around in the water.
Chris said: “I’d been keeping an eye on the flood levels all day.
“I saw something in my headlights, and I was pretty surprised to say the least to see a salmon in the east car park.
“When I approached it, the fish tried to swim back but couldn’t get through the fence which it had somehow squeezed through.”
Chris, who is chairman of the ECC Ports Sea Angling Club, has had plenty of experience fishing in Cornwall’s seas and rivers.
But unsurprisingly catching a salmon, by hand, in knee-deep river water outside his workplace was a first.
After lifting the fish out of the water, and posing for the obvious photo op, Chris released it back into the river where he hopes it will make its way to its breeding grounds upstream.
He added that he is certain it was a salmon, having seen plenty during his days out fishing.
“Ordinarily I fish in seawater, and we’ve come across them a lot," he said.
"It’s their breeding season right now so the salmon are going upstream. They spend most of their lives out in the Atlantic.
“Then they battle to come back against fishing nets and seals. And car parks."
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