Whats your favorite fish ?

[peterjg]

Flightliner: well said.

Terry m: quote "roach are fine when they are inside the pike"!!! That's outrageous, how can anyone dare say such a thing, it's treason, ungodly, unthinkable, unEnglish, ununderstandable, unanswerable, un ..... I can't think of anymore words that start with un ..... Let the pike eat bream, cormorants, signal crayfish, otters, mink, canoeists, horse riders, boaters, ramblers, cyclists, politicians, golfers ...... er sorry, I got a bit carried away then.

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Tench, crucians, barbel.... in no particular order. And that's pretty much down to access, they're the fish I'm least likely to catch it seems given my local waters. I would love to find a nice quiet pond within a 30min drive where I could find crucians and tench together but with the exception of Milton pools (which for me is just a bit too commercial) I'm not sure where to look. As for barbel - there's a couple in the thames but I just don't have the capacity for the headbanging blanks that seem to be part and parcel of putting a thames barbel on the bank.... so make a twice (at least!) yearly pilgrimage to the Wye to give me a reasonable chance of at least seeing one.

 

[associatedmatt]

There a lake near me that has tench and a few crucians but I wouldn't say it's got a good stock . Or not fishing well last year I have 8 blanks from 12 trips .

There are a few carp anglers there I blame them as seen them spodding with boilies and it's a local park lake .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[paulas]

tench for me, least liked carp

 

[mikench]

Whilst I love the variety and for me the next fish on is always my favourite no one has mentioned a fish which is an infuriating tease, finnicky, shy yet bold and one of the hardest fighters around - The Mullet. A session for Mullet in clear shallow water is the best way to kill 8 hours that doesn't involve a french maid and flying goggles!

Or as I often call them Oooh Mullet yessss! arrrrgh! flippin hell!

I agree. I have seen mullet below me in perhaps 5 to 8 feet of water, dropped a hook with some tasty morsel attached and observed complete and utter indifference. Tweeking said bait , moving it , lowering it makes no difference whatsoever ! It is enough to put you off fishing

 

[theartist]

I agree. I have seen mullet below me in perhaps 5 to 8 feet of water, dropped a hook with some tasty morsel attached and observed complete and utter indifference. Tweeking said bait , moving it , lowering it makes no difference whatsoever ! It is enough to put you off fishing

It has the opposite effect on me after all if they went round carefree hoovering up bread oblivious to our presence we'd call them Carp

 

[rayner]

At present I'm avoiding carp, well trying to. I have a liking for roach.
Truthfully my favourite fish is what I'm catching.
The thing I have no time for is blanking. I solely fish to catch fish, I get no enjoyment in just being there. OK we see the odd bird and the like but really I couldn't care less, if I'm fishing all I want is fish. The more of any species the merrier for me.

 

[edsurf]

Grayling for me , trotting a winter river or stream on a cold frosty morning , does not get any better.

 

[Neil Maidment]

Another vote for grayling!

Not too many opportunities around the country and typically limited to a few months each year, but the most beautiful of fish.

I may also be biased since my relocation to Dorset and the close proximity of some of the best grayling fishing currently available

 

[dorsetandchub]

The three spined stickleback, the Miller's thumb and the gudgeon. All are small but feisty and will defend their territories.

Gudgeon will also feed on the coldest of days. If they could grow to the size of barbel, I believe they would also have a cult following and, finally, if Chris Yates insists on a competition to catch them at Redmire, they have to have something about them.

Perhaps it's because they remind me of long ago days in a better world

 

[thames mudlarker]

It has to be the roach. Decent roach are absolute swines to consistently catch, everything has to be right - bait, light value, tackle, method, water conditions and water temperature and of course location. Big roach are just so fussy and jittery, big carp are great but are so much easier than a big roach. Roach are a true shoal fish so scare one and you scare them all.

What could be nicer than finding a nice quiet spot and then laying-on for roach over a bank of reeds with a lump of flake on the hook?

Absolutely Pete, couldn't agree more :thumbs:

 

[ken more]

Iv'e not read the whole thread and i would be surprised if nobody has mentioned Rudd, followed closely by Grayling or Roach. Beautiful fish in my opinion. Saying this, the markings on Pike are quite nice too. Could be here all daymg:

 

[dorsetandchub]

The trouble with this question, as I see it, and it is the most delightful of troubles to have, is that I largely agree with every single answer (esp the cod and chips, mushy peas one), and pretty much exactly for the reasons outlined.

I'm fairly sure that, in my case, there is no favourite fish and neither should there be, I love and respect them all. Even when plagued by bootlace eels on the Frome, I can remember thinking that "one day, my tiny friend, you're going have to swim half way round the world to the Sargasso, I wish you all the luck you'll need."

I would add though that I do occasionally opt for haddock or plaice as a change of bait in my own personal case.

Not sure if too many people know but bait is a Geordie word for the packed lunch eaten at work. Lives and learns, don't ya??

 

[ken more]

I also like a bit of fish and chips but, my favourite, bar none, is "Arbroath Smokey", that is Haddock to die for, and i think there was even an EU attempt to stop then for some kind of health reasons

 

[thames mudlarker]

Whilst I love the variety and for me the next fish on is always my favourite no one has mentioned a fish which is an infuriating tease, finnicky, shy yet bold and one of the hardest fighters around - The Mullet. A session for Mullet in clear shallow water is the best way to kill 8 hours that doesn't involve a french maid and flying goggles!

Or as I often call them Oooh Mullet yessss! arrrrgh! flippin hell!

Oh.....I thought we where all talking about coarse fish

Well in that case I'll also add the Bass

Done 20 odd years Bassing here on the Thames estuary which is on me door step :thumbs:

The Bass can be caught virtually anywhere around the British Isles but becomes a bit scarce further up north,
One doesn't necessarily have to fish the open coast for em because they can be caught many miles inland in tidal rivers,

One doesn't have to have powerful beach rods for this species because most of the time they are virtually right under yer feet

I'm a specialist who fishes on a light tackle approach IE I tend to use quality 10 ft spinning rods but for bait fishing, I'd use a baitrunner size reel loaded with 10 lb mono and use very simple free running rigs with about 2-3 oz inline carp leads, the hooks would be 4/0 - 5/0 penneld with big whole squid baits.

The actual style of fishing is to fish over low water for just 2-3 hrs as this is often the main time one is likely to get a take on the Thames, more critically the first hour of the flood tide,

The other important factor is that all of me Bass fishing is holding the rod and touch ledgering, this is why I fish over low water and comfortably stand at the waters edge holding the rod and feeling for bites,

Some of the biggest of bass actually give the smallest of taps,

I love fishing the light tackle approach as I find it more sporting and because I'm constantly holding the rod is why I use a spinning rod rather than a cumbersome beach rod

Last year and this year I'm now very much getting into the Bass lure scene aswell but the Thames here is useless for this type of fishing because it's just far to coloured and means I've now gotta travel a little further along the coast.

Speak soon

 

[Ray Roberts]

Grayling for me , trotting a winter river or stream on a cold frosty morning , does not get any better.

 

[thames mudlarker]

Roach are fine when they are inside the pike!

Completely outrageous

To use roach as dead or live bait is one thing but to deliberately broadcast about the mentioned comment and the wording is definitely not appropriate hno:

 

[slaphead]

My favourite is the one I've just caught and returned safely, whatever it was.

 

[thames mudlarker]

Grayling for me , trotting a winter river or stream on a cold frosty morning , does not get any better.

Definitely mate, I very much agree, a real superb fighting fish on light tackle,

Sadly there's just not any decent rivers here in Kent that sustains them, well there's a few on the upper Medway but hardly worth talking about,

For me I've gotta go at least 130 odd miles to the upper Kennet

---------- Post added at 19:27 ---------- Previous post was at 19:25 ----------

Another vote for grayling!

Not too many opportunities around the country and typically limited to a few months each year, but the most beautiful of fish.

I may also be biased since my relocation to Dorset and the close proximity of some of the best grayling fishing currently available

The Frome :thumbs:

 

[nottskev]

I liked reading these posts. Made me think it's hard to separate out a favourite fish -the methods and the places play a big part. I like all sorts, but two of my favourites are largely off the menu around here these days - small barbel and chub in the 1 - 3lb range. If you want to fish in the dark and don't mind a lot of waiting, single massive specimens of each can be caught. But I don't. I preferred it when there were shoals of these fish in the rivers. You can fish with reasonably light gear, catch them on the float, enjoy the fight, get them out, then get back in and catch another. I get funny looks when someone tells me that so and so had a 6lb chub and I reply I'd be more interested to know where if he'd caught 3 2lb'ers.