1981 was not a great year for sea trout landings. Rods which account for a large proportion of the total catch took fish of lower mean weight than in 1980 and various estimates suggest that fewer sea trout were caught in 1981. Numbers of "specimen" sea trout however were high and they are expected to remain so in 1982 after which it is thought they will decline. The draft net catch was also down on 1980; estimates of the drift net catch are inconclusive. In 1981 climatic factors favourable to trout production continued to improve from 1919 but indicators of growth still fell Short of those prevailing in the mid 1970s. The migration of juvenile trout to sea was good but the run seemed to consist largely of slow growing individuals whose development was arrested in 1979. A recovery of sorts would appear to be underway in the stocks and this is the explanation for the low mean weight of individuals caught in 1981. However the extended occupation of nursery areas by parr between 1919 and 1981 may well have inhibited the development of prospective migrants in 1982 and 1983.