Smaller species?

[peter crabtree]

I'm now setting my sights to catch the smallest species like minnows and sticklebacks..
My main objective is to catch the smallest bullhead possible from the lower Thames, the problem I have is which tackle to use?

Pole or rod ?

 

[tigger]

Neither...a cockey net will fit the bill perfectly Peter :w.

 

[peter crabtree]

Cockey net? I think that's what the east London boys use innit?

 

[thecrow]

I'm now setting my sights to catch the smallest species like minnows and sticklebacks..
My main objective is to catch the smallest bullhead possible from the lower Thames, the problem I have is which tackle to use?

Pole or rod ?

Best of luck Simon, I have a feeling that catching the smallest will be just as if not more difficult than catching the largest, didn't Matt Hayes and Mick Brown use a cane as a rod with a matchstick for a float when they were attempting to catch small species?

 

[Philip]

A Pole fits better with the overall nature of the task I recon.

Rod & reel does not seem right.

 

[thames mudlarker]

Mmm......The bullhead in the lower Thames, well they are obviously there but I wouldn't say in abundance and it's a big river good luck though mate and certainly worth the challenge, I'd seriously do some research for the bullhead on small rivers aswell as I feel you may find the overall fishing just a little easier for em,
Incidentally have you had any bullhead from the lower Thames previously

Personally I'd use a whip with flick tip or a small net

Don't exactly know how you'll fair with the 3 spined stickle back though as I'd say these are becoming rather rare over the years,

I can well remember catching these meself as a kid on light tackle in me local park pond but sadly I've not seen these now for some 33 years

Might be well worth adding the gudgeon to yer list aswell, loverly pretty little fish these

Stone loach are now rare but can be found in small chalk streams and best targeted at night and with a net and head lamp as these are very much nocturnal, incidentally you'll probably find bullhead in these type of streams aswell

 

[theartist]

I'd be more inclined to try your bit of the Colne or Chess Simon for Bullheads as they love those little streamy bits. I remember a few years back a couple of (rather easy on the eye) scientific girls with nets turning stones on the Gade and they had both Bullheads and Stone Loach in their bucket.

...and no they weren't impressed by the size of my tackle

 

[wyncroft]

Apparently it can become addictive, and is a whole sub-section of fishing in Japan, known as Tenago, after their name for bitterling....

Decent sources of information in English are few and far between, as is often the case when researching Japanese subjects I have found...

more here

and here

 

[chub_on_the_block]

Need a big pit reel with fighting drag. Id go with 12oz line straight through to method feeder and hair rigged worm. Twin rod set up using Delkims on sensitive settings.

 

[S-Kippy]

I'm not sure Brother Simon is that committed to the pursuit of a specimen bullhead....though I can think of few people more likely to succeed.

The Colne is [or was] rotten with them years ago...but not of specimen size. The Thames produced the odd good un for me when in flood and nothing else was feeding. Leger a maggot and leave it in for an hour. The leaf on the end when you retrieve is often Captain Bully.

Best I ever saw was a brute of a thing off a rising Kennet which Phil had....thing was the size of a small toad !

 

[rubio]

River Crane Isleworth, after Mogden Lane works has pumped out it's stinkiest.
You never heard that from me right!

 

[thames mudlarker]

River Crane Isleworth, after Mogden Lane works has pumped out it's stinkiest.
You never heard that from me right!

Mmm......well that don't sound at all good

And yet the Thames tide tunnel has supposed to have eradicated this

I know Isleworth rather well as this used to be one of me main trotting areas on the tidal Thames at the back of the Ait near the London apprentice

 

[theartist]

Mmm......well that don't sound at all good

And yet the Thames tide tunnel has supposed to have eradicated this

I was there when the day after the last big Mogden kill, even the flounders couldn't take it and there was a high tide of them dead on the pavement, along with chub, carp and everything else on the mud banks at low tide. Like idiots me and dad still gave it a go and managed a dace and a small chub between us - true survivors as the river smelt of poo!

Re the Thames tunnel I think they are still building it so the benefits will take a while to come to fruition

 

[peter crabtree]

A couple of years ago my club held a match at Kingston on the section below Canbury gardens. It was late in the season, bombing through and very windy. 23 odd members fished it and bar one all blanked...
At the final whistle an angler reeled in his feeder from the margin and a bullhead had impaled itself on his hook. He walked away with all the pools money, about £180...

 

[S-Kippy]

A couple of years ago my club held a match at Kingston on the section below Canbury gardens. It was late in the season, bombing through and very windy. 23 odd members fished it and bar one all blanked...
At the final whistle an angler reeled in his feeder from the margin and a bullhead had impaled itself on his hook. He walked away with all the pools money, about £180...

Perfect bullhead conditions. That's the only time I ever seem to catch them.

 

[sam vimes]

Plenty of bullheads and minnows in my local becks and rivers. It's very rare to catch the former, but the latter can be a PITA when fishing maggot, caster and worm.

I'm quite partial to a spot of bit bashing or fishing for anything with fins. It's the perfect antidote modern specialist tactics. I've spent a fair bit of the last few years fishing for dace on the rivers and gudgeon on a couple of local stillwaters.

Bigger is generally better for me, but I'm not averse to catching small fish, provided there are plenty of them.

 

[laguna]

Tell me where in Yorkshire I might catch a stone loach thanks.
(Bucket list)

 

[shane99]

1st time I went night fishing my mate reckoned I caught a record breaking gudgeon lol, seriously

 

[binka]

Plenty of bullheads in the Trent at the moment.

I've even crabbed a few and usually after dropping my rig in around my feet whilst going to do something else, they seem to like areas of rocks as opposed to gravel and I've learned to look around the area of my feet when they're in the water and stirring a bit of muck up, the bullheads seem to love that and can often be spotted by their movement when things start to settle.

I think they must have one of the best of nature's camouflages and it's only the movement which gives them away.

Chopped herring kebab rig for me, minimum of 2.75lb tc rod mg:

 

[dorsetandchub]

Chopped herring kebab? That's a "sounded like a good idea after a dozen pints" type of thing surely......