The Fish

Catfish or Wels (Silurus glanis)
The sheatfish is protected and it is only found only in a few waters in Sweden. One of those is the river Em. The sheatfish is the largest fresh water fish in Sweden. It can be over two metres and weigh over 100 kilos. It is a very stationary fish and usually lives in the same cavity through all its life. Evert Rundblad caught the largest sheatfish in the Mill Pool at Em in 1981. The weight was 60.1 kilos. To-day this record is still valid.

Sea trout (Salmo trutta)
From June to October the sea trout leaves the sea for the river in order to spawn. After the spawning the sea trout remains in the river during the winter and in the spring it escapes into the sea. The roe is hatched in the turn of the month April-May. The fry remains in the river for one or two years, before they migrate to the sea in order to grow. The sea trout returns after one to three years in order to spawn and thus the circle is closed. The mean weight for sea trout at Em is approximately 5 kilos, although they can reach weights over 15 kilos.

Salmon (Salmo salar)
The salmon appear earlier than the sea trout, i.e. from May to the beginning of August. After the spawning most of the males and also some females die. This explains why only female salmon are caught during the spring fishing. It can be very big and reach weights over 30 kilos. The everage weight is approximately 10 kilos.