Sir Ian Botham helps launch salmon fishing season

CRICKETING legend Sir Ian Botham has joined anglers to celebrate the opening of the salmon fishing season.

All set for the start of the salmon fishing season. Picture: Colin Hattersley

He performed a toasting ceremony to mark the opening of the season on the River Teith.

Sir Ian was piped to the river at Callander by The Tulliallan Pipe Band, accompanied by Stirling’s Provost Mike Robbins and local anglers.

A scheme aimed at reducing illegal fishing and other river-associated crime was launched as part of the celebrations.

Ian Botham. Picture: Colin Hattersley

Riverwatch encourages members of the public to report any suspicious activity to the authorities.

Meanwhile motor sport engineer and former Formula One team principal Ross Brawn cast the first fly to open the season on the River Dee at Potarch, Aberdeenshire.

Mark Bilsby, river director of the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board and the River Dee Trust, said: “The opening of a new salmon angling season is always a time for optimism.

“Our efforts towards the restoration of north-east Scotland’s most iconic river continue and we are backing a scheme that will open up access for salmon and sea trout to 80 miles of tributaries this year.”