Rare fish

[no-one in particular]

Still plenty of sand smelt in Poole Harbour; the mackerel feed on them, as do the bass. Cucumber smelt have an adipose fin being related to the whitefish whereas sand smelt have two dorsal fins.

.

Nice to hear, probably the sea has been rough this summer and I have not noticed them, we used to put little strips of them on float for mackerel and gars.

 

[steve2]

Make me wonder if in years to come people will be saying what were Dace. These have all but disappeared from the streams I use to fish along with Loach and Bullheads even the small chub now seem to be going the same way.

 

[mikench]

Quite probably Steve! I cannot recall when I last saw sticklebacks!

 

[john step]

Years ago I fished out a dying fish of about one pound out of the tidal Thames with my landing net. From pictures I deduced it was a shad.
I contacted The Thames Conservatory and they wanted the body to ascertain if it was a twaite or allis shad.
Numb nut that I was, I hadn't kept it. They said it may have been a lost soul from one of the French Atlantic estuaries.

 

[laguna]

I read that the sturgeon was common over 200 years ago in large UK rivers including the Severn, Avon, Ouse, some Scottish rivers and the Thames, with remnants of sturgeon found in the medieval remains of Westminster Abbey.

I think they came up our rivers to spawn, and then returned to sea.

I also recollect reading about Sturgeon being sold at Billingsgate Wharf in London back in times gone by and that they reached weights of around 250 to 300lbs in uk rivers.

When I get time I will search my book cases to try to find the books where I read this info from.

Keith

NB: I just found this info on the web about sturgeon in our rivers in the past which contains a map showing the locations on the Severn and Wye where they have been recorded in the past.

Sturgeon Acipenser sturio Page 2

It interesting to read that The Common or Baltic sturgeon, (Acipenser sturio) which inhabited the major UK river systems and coastal regions (as well as all other major European river systems) reached a length of 4.6 metres and a weight of 600 kg.

It makes even the largest Wels Catfish look like a tadpole LOL.

Keith

Thanks very much Keith, most enlightening! :w
Ps. that's one bloody big tadpole mate

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Make me wonder if in years to come people will be saying what were Dace. These have all but disappeared from the streams I use to fish along with Loach and Bullheads even the small chub now seem to be going the same way.

There are quite a few stretches on the Hampshire Avon where Dace are still very much in evidence; the Downton club stretch has a lot, as does the top end of the Hale syndicate downstream of the weir.

The Stour has a good dead of dace too, so I'm told too.

Whereabouts do you fish?

 

[Chevin]

What about the huge Sturgeon that used to swim in some of our rivers?

I think I read that the last one was caught in the 1930s

Keith

Yeah, I even saw some photo's of a sturgeon in 1964 though of course it had been caught some years earlier. It was caught in Hemmingford Grey weir pool on the Grt Ouse by a member of the Dines family and if my memory serves me correctly, it weighed 186lbs.

 

[Keith M]

that's one bloody big tadpole mate

Yes that's the old angler in me exagerating a little too much Lol.

But if (as the article on the link says) the Sturgeon reached a maximum of around 600kg (that's just a little over 1322lbs) and in another area of the article there were figures for sturgeon caught at sea of up to 700kg (around 1543lbs) it certainly dwarfs most of the Wells that I've seen in pictures Lol.

Keith

 

[steve2]

Whereabouts do you fish?

Essex, where there hasn't been any river fishing worth talking about in years due to over abstraction. In my younger days it wasn't unusual to catch big bags of dace now I can't remember the last time I even caught one.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Whereabouts do you fish?

Essex, where there hasn't been any river fishing worth talking about in years due to over abstraction. In my younger days it wasn't unusual to catch big bags of dace now I can't remember the last time I even caught one.

Ah, yes, not the best-served of Counties for river fishing I would have to agree.

I love to catch dace by trotting and would happily drive a fair distance to find them.
Thankfully I have good dace and roach fishing very close to home.

 

[Mark Wintle]

There are still sticklebacks in the Bourne which is the stream that gives Bournemouth its name. I suspect that there are sticklebacks in many ditches and brooks but just a matter of finding them. In the Stour they tend to be in the ditches.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

A friend of mine took his grand daughter to a local pond close to Mitcham and said they netted a lot of Sticklebacks.

I wonder if they are really more prolific than we believe as we just don't specifically fish for them anymore?

I mean, how many times do you ever see a "dad and lad" out with a net and a jam jar these days?

 

[mikench]

I will have to look a little closer! I loved sticklebacks as a kid!

 

[Keith M]

Make me wonder if in years to come people will be saying what were Dace. These have all but disappeared from the streams I use to fish along with Loach and Bullheads even the small chub now seem to be going the same way.

There are quite a few dace in the upper reaches of the Lea and some large ones too. Chub are also found in numbers there as well (and just about every other moving water venue I've fished)..

The last time I used a kiddies net on the upper Lea (under the bridge next to Stanborough lake in Wellwyn Garden City) with the kids (a couple of years ago) we caught a few millers thumbs and a couple of stone loach and loads of minnows.

I've seen loads of 3 spined sticklebacks in a local drainage stream but I have never yet seen one of the 10 spined variety, has anyone else on here seen any of the 10 spined sticklebacks?

Keith

 

[greenie62]

... I loved sticklebacks as a kid!

We have some in a local river - in the weir pool - I found them by accident when trotting a worm for trout and chub! Float went under - nothing there! Happened 3 times - on the last occasion retrieved to find a stickleback sucking the end of the worm - dropped-off as it was swung-in!
Since there was a point at stake - on the local RodRace - I dropped to a pre-tied 28 on 10oz hooklength and the smallest snake I could find and tried again.

I couldn't HOOK one - they just sucked the ends of the worm and hung on without taking the hook down!
I checked the competition rules - it just said that the entries had to be caught by 'fair angling' - since I reckon that the fishing was performed in a fair manner the fact that they weren't hooked was OK!

The culmination of the efforts was rewarded by a double 'hook-up' - in that I swung into the net (taking no chances!) - a worm with a stickleback on either end!

I've still not managed to catch a Bitterling from one of the local pools which are known to contain them - apparently you need to whittle down a pinkie or squat to about half its size!

 

[skov]

Dace appear to be pretty common on my local stretch of the Great Ouse.
You need good reflexes to catch them though!

 

[swizzle]

What about the bitterne or was it the bitterling? Do we/didn't we once have a fish in our waters that went by that name? If memory serves me correctly, they looked like a little skimmer bream.

 

[mikench]

Yes we do still have a bitterling. Had never heard of it until I read the book mentioned in the initial post. They are ,according to the book,about 3.5 inches long with a blue green stripe from the middle of each flank to the base of the tail fin. Eggs are laid via a long tube inside a mussel for protection. They are to be found in only a few lakes in NW England. Quite a pretty fish!

We also have guppies in some canals near warm water effluents!

 

[lutra]

Vendace are still clinging on in the UK, just.

They are known to have been native to four waters in the uk. Castle and Mill loch's in Scotland and Bassenthwaite and Derwent Water in the Lake District. Sadly they are now gone from the two Scottish loch's. Were thought to have gone from Bassenthwaite, but I think one or some turned up in a 2014 survey. So not gone from there quite yet and are in serious decline in Derwent water.

The only good news for them is as a bit of a safe guard for the UK fish, some stock was taken from Derwent water a few years back and split between a number of Scottish Lochs and they seem to have got a foot hold in a couple of them.

 

[Keith M]

We also have guppies in some canals near warm water effluents!

I caught a guppie from the Grand Union canal near Kings Langley on the Ovaltine stretch quite a few years ago near a warm effluent outlet coming from the Ovaltine factory which was once there. (I'm not sure that it is still there).

Keith