Something Fishy from Simon Rhodes from Lobsterpot Fishmongers, Wood Street Food Hall

AS summer approaches it is becoming the season for wild sea trout.

These are brown trout which have migrated to the sea at an early age and return to the rivers to spawn.

Going to sea gives them access to a much richer source of food, so sea trout will nearly always be substantially bigger than the resident brown trout of the same river. Specimens of 10kg have been caught in the rivers of Wales and Scotland. The River Ouse in Sussex is known to produce the largest averaged size of sea trout of any river in England and Wales.

Sea trout can enter the river at any time from April onwards, but most will arrive in the summer and early autumn (June - October) and wait in deep pools or in areas of the river with good overhead tree cover until it is time to spawn.

They are hard to see during the day and will tend to move at night. Often the only clue that sea trout are in the river is a large 'splosh' as they jump in the dark.

In the same way that we have seen a dramatic decline in salmon, sea trout stocks are also at risk of over-exploitation. Unlike the salmon, sea trout are rarely caught by high-seas fishermen, but are particularly prone to capture as they feed along coastal margins and estuaries.

Strict laws exist to protect the salmon and sea trout in our coastal waters. These laws license a small number of fishermen to undertake netting, with strict conditions which are reviewed periodically to reflect conservation needs.

The tags are brightly coloured with a different colour for each of the next three years. The tags used are constructed from plastic. The end is threaded through the gill of the sea trout, out through the mouth and then clicked into the barrel lock. Each tag has a serial number which identifies to whom it was issued. It is fitted as soon as the fish is killed and remains in place until the fish is being prepared for the table. It can only be removed by cutting it, making it tamper proof.

By insisting that any sea trout you buy is part of the tagging scheme, you will be guaranteeing that your fish is local, legally caught and genuinely wild.

This means that you experience the superior quality and taste of our local sea trout, minimise on food miles, support local fishermen and help deter poaching by making their fish unsaleable.