SPOT THE DIFFERENCE.

Byline: By SILVER WILKIE

IT'S a very rare year when I don't get a Fish of the Week photograph showing a smiling angler holding a thinnish-looking salmon which he thinks is his first fresh-run one of the season.

The only problem is he has not caught a genuine springer, but a kelt. By law, kelts which are spawned, must be returned alive to the water.

A springer, which enters the river in the early months of the year, is a silvery, full-bodied, muscular beauty as much as nine or 10 months away from the breeding cycle, and therefore hasn't yet developed any noticeable roe or milt.

So how does the inexperienced angler tell the difference between a kelt and a springer?

The major sign is the general appearance of the fish. A kelt is strangely long and thin and doesn't have the girth a clean fish has. So if it's lean and lank it's a kelt.

The egg-laying tube protruding from the fish's vent is another sign.

Also examine the fish's fins. If they are ragged, that's another sign it's a kelt. Maggots in the gills are another giveaway.

And don't think because the fish is exceptionally silvery that it must be fresh-run and straight in from the sea. Kelts, especially those which have begun to regain condition, can be very silvery.

Another salmon which you must by law return is the baggot, an unspawned hen fish. They are mostly darkish in colour rather than brand spanking new.

But sometimes very late running salmon as bright as a new pin and still bearing long-tailed sea lice, can be mistaken for a springer. These are still baggots. To tell, gently feel the fish's belly. If it's flabby and obviously full of roe, then return it to the river.

Male salmon which have bred are called kippers, and they must be returned, too. They will usually still be in their autumn breeding colours and still bearing a kype, the long, upturned hook on the lower jaw which they use for either scaring off rivals, or digging out spawning beds.

To add confusion is yet another salmon called a rawner.

This is a very late running autumn cock fish and, although it might bear sea lice or be bright silver, it also must be returned.

The giveaway sign will be a large kype which only grows when a male salmon is ready to breed.

Sometimes, however, very large salmon which have spent three or four winters at sea, grow smallish kypes and the considered opinion is that these are genuine springers.

As any ghillie or experienced angler will tell you, if there's an element of doubt in your mind, put the fish back.