Barbel fishing on the River Ribble - discuss

[108831]

I must voice my concern on self catfish on rivers,a stretch of the Ouse I fish occasionally has them to 33lbs reported,with kittens caught at times,the river is stuffed full of roach,dace,chublets,excel I can't see them do anything but thrive,I've heard of the Trent and Thames cats,I can't see anything other than a slow match across the countries waterways....

 

[Philip]

If cormorants and otters, plus the other natural predators here in the uk ate what people say they do then there would have been sod all fish left yonks ago.
The fact is the amount and the ssize of fish they eat is grossly exagerrated.
How many people have had hold of a cormorant?
I've had lots of them in my hands, dead from lead poisoning and some still alive with broken wings etc in my hands, they are far smaller when you get your hands on them than they look flying about.
The fish you see being eaten in pictures are only relevant to the size of the birds. A small fish may look massive in the pictures but in reality it's only small.
As i've said before, how can anglers moan about a bird doing what is has been designed to do over millions of years and yet condone the introduction of invasive species that are a genuine threat to the countrys flora and fauna.....wels catfish for starters!

Its a bit bizzare Ian that on one hand you appear against "invasive" species like the Wels that have been here for at least 130 years but at the same time seem perfectly happy with what is quite obviously a sea bird moving to freshwater.

 

[tigger]

Its a bit bizzare Ian that on one hand you appear against "invasive" species like the Wels that have been here for at least 130 years but at the same time seem perfectly happy with what is quite obviously a sea bird moving to freshwater.

Not at all, from being a small child fishing with my dad and brother I always noticed cormorants, and just as many as there are today.
Cormorant numbers like any predator rise and fall depending on how much food is available. Predators are the first to suffer if their prey has any decline.
At the end of the day cormorants fly here on their own steam unlike Wel's catfish which are brought here in containers of water in vehicles by **** head anglers who have no concerns for the ramifications of their actions....so long as they can fish for catfish they're happy.

 

[Philip]

Its a difficult one but i dont agree with your opinion that Comorant numbers inland have not increased. At least where I am. The difficulty is not having something I can refer back to specifically so its always going to be an opinion but I think there are more now than say 20 years ago.

And the reason I think there are more is a direct result of mans actions in the sea. The birds being pushed inland by over fishing.

 

[tigger]

Its a difficult one but i dont agree with your opinion that Comorant numbers inland have not increased. At least where I am. The difficulty is not having something I can refer back to specifically so its always going to be an opinion but I think there are more now than say 20 years ago.

And the reason I think there are more is a direct result of mans actions in the sea. The birds being pushed inland by over fishing.

As I said, i've always seen them from being a little kid, some years there are more than other years, obviously theyir numbers co inside with available food.
If as you say there are more moving inland then obviously there must be plenty food for them, so no shortage of fish?
I have no malice towards corm's or any other creature that eats fish just because I like to go fishing.....good luck to em!

 

[bullet]

I startled a Cormorant a while back on a small river, it decided to lighten the load in order to take off and coughed up a Chub of around a couple of pounds.

 

[tigger]

I startled a Cormorant a while back on a small river, it decided to lighten the load in order to take off and coughed up a Chub of around a couple of pounds.

Oh, ok mg:.

 

[dave m]

Cormorant easily taking a chunky carp of about 3lb, so a chub woud be no problem.

[video]https://m.facebook.com/story/graphql_permalink/?graphql_id=UzpfSTEwMDAwNjMwODAxMjkyMjpWSzozMTMwMD g0MDYyMDEwNDg%3D[/video]

 

[tigger]

Cormorant easily taking a chunky carp of about 3lb, so a chub woud be no problem.

[video]https://m.facebook.com/story/graphql_permalink/?graphql_id=UzpfSTEwMDAwNjMwODAxMjkyMjpWSzozMTMwMD g0MDYyMDEwNDg%3D[/video]

Total bulshine!

 

[dave m]

Total bulshine!

Whatever sweetheart.
A well known angler and lake manager has had his young stock decimated by cormorants. The fish of 3lb and below were eaten, and many bigger fish were slashed and ripped so badly they later died from their wounds.

 

[tigger]

Whatever sweetheart.
A well known angler and lake manager has had his young stock decimated by cormorants. The fish of 3lb and below were eaten, and many bigger fish were slashed and ripped so badly they later died from their wounds.

Well see if you call me sweetheart when I see you on the bank.

 

[bullet]

The chinese know what to do with them...

YouTube

 

[tigger]

Lol, if people are exaggerating the size of the fish a cormorat takes so much for their guesstimetes of their catches!

There are lots of species of cormorant and they vary in size, the Chinese often use the Carbo which is called the great cormorant for obvious reasons .

 

[Philip]

Ian you appear to be doubting anyone that disagrees with you.

Obviously its up to you if you want to believe it or not but I have watched a Cormorant catch and eat an Eel that must have been about 2lbs…it took it probably a good 20mins or more to finally swallow it and struggled to take off after but it most certainly did eat it as I sat there watching it do it.

So either I came across some sort of Mutant cormorant, a one off freak of nature or they can eat 2lb fish.

 

[tigger]

Ian you appear to be doubting anyone that disagrees with you.

Obviously its up to you if you want to believe it or not but I have watched a Cormorant catch and eat an Eel that must have been about 2lbs…it took it probably a good 20mins or more to finally swallow it and struggled to take off after but it most certainly did eat it as I sat there watching it do it.

So either I came across some sort of Mutant cormorant, a one off freak of nature or they can eat 2lb fish.

Did you weigh the eel?

Obvoously they can eat some fish easier than others and an eel is a good shape to go down a small hole. A bream or even a roach are a different thing altogether.
I watched a corm struggling with a roach once and it couldn't get the roach down it's neck. Eventually it left the roach. I went and picked the roach up which was still very much alive and kicking. The roach wasn't a pound in weight in my estimations. The roach swam away when I put it back and it wasn't badly damaged.
At the end of the day WTF does it matter how large a fish a corm can swallow ? They eat fish because they've evolved over millions of years to do so .
Philip, I couldn't give a toss what you think, your always on a wind up anynow, and recently more than usual!

Your making me think you are another Alias of rabbit/Neil Smart/ mainstream??

 

[Philip]

In which case it sounds like you know best Ian so I'll leave you to it.

 

[mainstream]

Did you weigh the eel?

Obvoously they can eat some fish easier than others and an eel is a good shape to go down a small hole. A bream or even a roach are a different thing altogether.
I watched a corm struggling with a roach once and it couldn't get the roach down it's neck. Eventually it left the roach. I went and picked the roach up which was still very much alive and kicking. The roach wasn't a pound in weight in my estimations. The roach swam away when I put it back and it wasn't badly damaged.
At the end of the day WTF does it matter how large a fish a corm can swallow ? They eat fish because they've evolved over millions of years to do so .
Philip, I couldn't give a toss what you think, your always on a wind up anynow, and recently more than usual!

Your making me think you are another Alias of rabbit/Neil Smart/ mainstream??

how many more times do you need telling ,,, please don't involve me in these little spats ,

unlike the film,


I am not smarticas

 

[fred hall]

Well I really seem to have started something here don't I? Please everyone stop bickering with one another and save your energy for our MUAACF Environment Agency. The Angling Trust to be fair have tried on the cormorant issue, and issue it still is after at least a quarter of a century, but have got absolutely nowhere despite all their serious sounding literature.

 

[dave m]

Tigger is certainly overflowing with testosterone...

 

[Keith M]

I know that most of the fish they eat are small like this

Google Image Result for http://storage.ottawasun.com/v1/blogs-prod-photos/d/5/b/d/e/d5bdef0a5ed16cfd2473b488e3bd7849.jpg?stmp=1299169297

But the following cormorants are certainly eating or trying to eat decent sized fish Ian.

Google Image Result for http://www.richbyoung.com/images/dcco-trout.jpg

Google Image Result for https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2017/07/cormorant.jpg

Google Image Result for https://barbel.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fsuffolk%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2F2008%2F07%2F25%2Fterry_cavner_cormorant_460x_460x300.jpg&hash=325c15ca34ad3edac4d96a1cea906573

Google Image Result for http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8_3kOTaEQBA/UWMQzjSxutI/AAAAAAAABMI/_1Ty0GrXFkk/s1600/CORMORANT+++PIKE.jpg

And I certainly wouldn’t trust them anywhere near the inland waters that I fish.

Keith