Silver Bream and Barbel

I had been searching for a venue where I could catch Ide or Golden Orfe and stillwater Barbel when I came across a venue with both. The only problem was that it would be about 2 hours on the train and not a very regular service. At least it was quite close to the station, so I didn't have to do too much of a hike.

So I set up with my usually two rod setup. A ledger with corn or halibut pellets and a wagler setup. First cast... landed the first of my target species albeit about a tenth of the expected size. It was a 2oz fully formed little Barbel [#140] Barbel - Barbus barbus #140

I then proceeded to catch a whole lot of F1's on both rods, then a nice little Crucian. F1 Carp - Cyprinus carpio x Carassius F1 Carp - Cyprinus carpio x Carassius F1 Carp - Cyprinus carpio x Carassius F1 Carp - Cyprinus carpio x Carassius F1 Carp - Cyprinus carpio x Carassius F1 Carp - Cyprinus carpio x Carassius F1 Carp - Cyprinus carpio x Carassius Crucian Carp - Carassius carassius

Then several fish which I though were just Roach/Bream hybrids which really big eyes but in fact where a species I had never caught before, the Silver bream[#141]. The best way to identify these is the large eyes and the red coloured fins. To be sure, you will need to count scales and fins which are always hard to do without photos. Silver Bream - Blicca bjoerkna #141 Silver Bream - Blicca bjoerkna Silver Bream - Blicca bjoerkna

Into the day, I continued catch a few more species, perch, roach, bronze bream and a really nice sized gudgeon, but didnt get any Ide or Orfe. European Perch - Perca fluviatilis Roach - Rutilus rutilus Bream - Abramis brama Gudgeon - Gobio gobio

Catching up on Coarse fish

With about three quarters of the year now over, I wasn’t content with having only caught two species of freshwater fish for the year, so I decided to go to a venue to increase my count in a big way. My pick was Sussex fishery where I had caught 10 different species at last year and with a possibility of Golden Orfe and Catfish as well it was worth a trip and I knew it would probably be my last change for these this year.

The trip to the fishery is quite long for someone who relies only on public transport but is well worth it. After a lengthy train and bus ride and about 20 minutes hike through a nice little nature reserve, I went straight to the non-carp lake and starting fishing a float and sent a ledger to an island. The species starting flowing in, with Roach, Perch, Gudgeon, hybrids and Rudd coming onto the bank quite regularly.



European Perch - Perca fluviatilis



Gudgeon - Gobio gobio



Rudd - Scardinius erythrophthalmus



Roach - Rutilus rutilus



Roach Bream Hybrid - Abramis brama x Rutilus rutilus

I had some cracking good roach and by lunchtime I had also added a nice Crucian Carp to the tally. All species so far had fallen to waggler floated maggots. The ledger wasn’t a lost cause though, pulling in a nice Bream and a Tench in the mid afternoon on hair rigged halibut pellets.



Crucian Carp - Carassius carassius



Bream - Abramis brama



Tench - Tinca tinca


Later in the afternoon, I had given up hope for an Orfe so I moved on to one of the carp lakes hoping to get a catfish. I fished with sardine flavoured catfood as well as maggots using both rods. First cast landed a nice looking skimmer bream, followed by a few perch, gudgeon and more skimmers. It went quiet for a little while and then the float just disappeared and I held on to dear life as a large underwater creature took my catfood on the end of my waggler rig with only 4lb of mainline. I was really hoping it was a catfish that took my catfood but after a 10 minutes of run after run, I had a nice 9lb 4oz Common Carp on the landing mat. The same thing followed for another 3 carp, a mirror, a leather and another common all around 6-8lb on the waggler as well.



Bream - Abramis brama



Gudgeon - Gobio gobio



Common Carp - Cyprinus carpio



Mirror Carp - Cyprinus carpio



Leather Carp - Cyprinus carpio



Common Carp - Cyprinus carpio

After the 4 carp I felt I had caught enough of carp and so was happy hike back uphill to the bus stop. I had caught over 50lb of fish of 8 species, which so happens to be the total number of freshwater fish caught so far this year.