When did you last catch a minnow

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

The last one I caught was on the Rotherham, I was fishing a swim, just running a float down a gentle flow and it was a minnow a cast

I was hoping to target roach on maggot, I wish I'd have had a bigger hooks, I only had 18s , I could have used a minnow to try for a perch

 

[itsfishingnotcatching]

One a cast on the Wye in the summer

 

[barbelboi]

Plenty of them down here - good chub bait...........

 

[chefster]

15 years ago-when i last fished a river!!!

 

[daji]

20 years ago when i was about 12 years old. A little stream that widened and pooled under a bridge was a great holding area for them. I fashioned a whip from a small branch with a small twig as a float. Good times

i think i had the idea in my head that i would try to fish with as little technology as possible and used cotton for line and worm for bait. Couldn't get past the hook though

 

[geoffmaynard]

Minnows are common - it's sticklebacks which have virtually vanished. They used to be in every stillwater when I was a kid but these days they are very rare indeed

 

[symonh2000]

I did catch one whilst fishing for Dace on the windrush in the summer.

They seem to be quite thin on the ground now as the river used to be stuffed full of them.

 

[carpo_marx]

Friday.
The two small local rivers I fish the Arrow and Alne usually produce the odd minnow although some days on the Arrow there's a few too many and its worth moving to a new swim as its usually an indication that theres no chub about.
I dont think its a coincidence either that on both rivers a kingfisher can be seen quite regularly.
What i am puzzled about is that on the alne i haven't caught a gudgeon for three years. The stretch I fish now is higher up than the stretch that i used to fish a few years ago, where you could virtually guarantee, if you used maggots, that eight out of the first ten fish would be gudgeon before they suddenly stopped feeding and you wouldnt see one for the rest of the day.
So why I cannot catch one for love or money in various swims of different pace I dont know, maybe the local heron has had his fair quota but i would still expect the odd one.

 

[john step]

Over 20 yrs ago on the flowing pound of the Grand Union just below the Oveltine factory. It was a club match and the fishing was HARD. I fished a short whip with pinkies and weighed in over 4lb of the little life savers! The club fished 7 or 8 hour matches but even so my arms were flaying to catch that many. Never again though! I wonder if they are still as abundant there now.

 

[Mr Cholmondeley-Corker (PaSC)]

Every summer on the Ribble

 

[barisaxman]

Had loads on the Teme during the summer and a fair few of the Warks Avon, too!

 

[frothy]

About 4hrs ago on the throop along with god knows how many others this afternoon:wh

 

[dorsetandchub]

Last month on the Royalty Fishery, absolutely plagued with them. Had loads foul hooked on hair rigged casters.....even caught them fairly on a small grain of corn mg:

 

[terry m]

I had a few back in the summer on the Avon but IMHO they are less common than they once were.

 

[binka]

Went out of my way last year to actually target one and failed!

I think they're one of those fish that just turn up when you don't want 'em to... lovely little things though.

 

[David Dalton]

Caught quite a few in September, on the Royalty at Christchurch, to use as perch livebaits. Many years ago, **** Walker wrote an article on minnows. The last sentence went something like this: "If you can find an area with no minnows, there may be reason for it. If you drop a minnow livebait into the area, the reason may grab it".

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Every summer on the Hampshire Avon at Britford.

You can be plagued with them unless you opt for bigger hooks and baits, think along the lines of Chub baits and leave the maggots at home.

 

[sam vimes]

It's been a year or two. However, that's only because I wouldn't dream of fishing a single maggot in the summer months on any of my local rivers. You'd be plagued with them.

 

[Keith M]

There are minnows in the upper narrow stretches of the Lea but the gudgeon usually smother the bait as soon as it hits the bottom; especially on the shallower Crystal clear sections.

 

[edsurf]

had a couple on the Avon yesterday, and that's all.