Zander in Bristol's Feeder Canal....

[Jeremy]

Last Saturday and again this morning I caught teeny Zander on the worm hookbait I had put out for Bream.

I had written it off as my imagination the first time as I wasn't wearing my glasses and it appeared to have stuffed itself on the sweetcorn and trout pellets from the feeder ..

This week I had a closer look and I can't think I was mistaken - it was a prickly little customer... golden speckles, erect dorsal ...

So ... can I look forward to catching grownup Zander later - in the lowest non-tidal stretch of the Avon ?

And do baby Zander really take sweetcorn ?

.

 

[stikflote]

IT wasnt a daddy ruff bye any chance was it,because colour sounds about right ??

 

[Jeremy]

I thought Ruffe had floppy dorsals.

I can see now I'll have to go back later and search for them deliberately - and take a photo

I confess that all I saw was a proud perch-like front dorsal and forgot to look for the second, grayling-like one.

(I've only seen them on telly before).

 

[Steve Spiller]

I would have thought it was a ruffe Jeremy, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone has slipped some Zeds into our Avon?

Put your pics up mate, we've got some experts on here who could confirm your findings.

 

[Jeremy]

You know you could be right ...

.. if so it might have been a UK record

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

THIS is a Daddy Ruffe




THIS is a zander

 

[Steve Spiller]

Jeremy have a look at Eds pics mate, what do you reckon? It could be seriously important!

Up until now we have no Zeds in the Avon.

 

[Jeremy]

I'm guessing it was a ruffe then - definitely more perch-shaped than pointy ... a pity there's no photo anywhere of a baby zander..
It's just that the ruffe Mick Browne caught on the telly was a bit floppy - these were fat, frisky and spiky.

I can see myself going back and fishing for them now .... and get a photo this time.

Is the water that side of the weir at all saline ?

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

I have caught both baby zander and ruffe in my life and I do think it is possible to confuse them. However Jeremy you pointed out that your fish had spots, which is typical of ruffe.

Ruffe also have a very sharp edge to the gill covers which sticks out, making the whole fish feel very spiky indeed.

And ruffe will eat almost anything that is edible. Zander tend to be pure predators.

I would like to think that the fish you caught are ruffe. In my opinion there are too many zander in this country. Mind you if they are zander and they do grow bigger, you can always eat them. There is no finer eating freshwater fish in the world.

 

[Jeremy]

I wish I'd put a question mark in my first post now !

If the rain eases off a bit, I'll pop back with a decent handful of worms.
I may grab some Tesco Value prawns on the way ...

 

[stikflote]

how much are the tesco prawns, i ask because the nearest tesco to me is about four mile away, ive been useing asda prawns price 99p tesco prawns might be a harder on hook so could be worth trying

 

[Jeremy]

Tesco's were 1.50 for a very small punnet of non-frozen ones. They didn't have any "Value" frozen just now.

Do fish in general prefer cooked or fresh, shelled or unshelled ?

I've decided to go for worms instead on this occaision as they worked before and are free

 

[Steve Spiller]

Ron, you wouldn't want to eat anything out of the feeder canal, believe me!

 

[stikflote]

The prawns i buy from asda are shelled and frozen, i just take a few with me with me leave the rest in freezer till next time, ive already won one match on them

 

[Jeremy]

Well I fished for 6 or 7 hours .. had my worms nicked, but not a single fish on the hook.

The chap next to me caught one and swore it was a baby perch - but having once caught a baby perch the size of the tiny mepps spinner it grabbed, I know they have stripes from a much smaller size....

.. I know I really should have had the confidence to ask to photograph it ....

--------------------

I'm not sure I want to fish there again - the same bloke was holding the fish in a cloth to unhook them and also suggested that another angler kill the eel she'd just caught ...
He was much too scary to remonstrate with...

 

[David Marrs]

Hi Jeremy,

Generally mate a fingerling Zander will have a much slimmer profile than a Ruffe, although somewhat similar in looks, a Ruffe will generally be much more 'stocky' than a Zed of the same size. The first Zed I ever caught was about 3 inches long and took red maggot, it was so slim it seemed almost transparent.

Kind regards,
Davos

 

[Claudia Crowther]

Hi Jeremy,

I think I've become a ruffe expert (not by choice) always seem to catch them on our local canal....bait thieves!!!

I'd do the clicky thing to show you a pic of one of the ruffe I caught not sure how to do it though....just look it up in the gallery, under all albums it's on the third page(albums name is ruffe)....oh and the red lips on the ruffe are maggots...I did not put lipstick on the fish to make it look prettier...like some of the guys suggested lol

 

[Jeremy]

I guess it's down to that fish trick of changing colour. Mine were quite similar to yours in colour, Claudia, but had quite an "attitude" with erect dorsals and other spikey bits.

I will be fishing further towards the docks next time - but I'm guessing I'm almost as likely to catch them there.

Maybe it's the Bristolian effect

 

[Mike Humphries]

I also caught what I thought were baby Zander on the Macclesfield canal recently. I'm still not entirely sure what they were having looked at the pictres.

From what I recall they looked like Gudgeon with spiny Perch like dorsals. I'm fairly sure they also had faint Perch like stripes.

 

[David Marrs]

I have to say Mike, until I had a good look at it, upon first impression, 'gudgeon' was my first thought, upon swinging in my first Zed of about half an ounce! Don't recall it being stripey though, almost silver at that size. Going back a bit though, 1993!

Its not all bad though! I have to say, I caught the Zander bug in 93 and through chasing them avidly for years (and in some ridiculous conditions!) on end, I've enjoyed some fantastic sessions and made some very good friends! They are in actual fact a very worthwhile catch and a most handsome quarry.