After reading the latest post by PC in HDYGO where he thought the carp and tench might be spawning and the silvers were difficult, I wondered if all those chemical attractants being released by spawning carp inhibits other species.
I have noticed that when the carp are at it, other species seem quiet. Maybe just the commotion puts them off?
I have noticed it on lakes and also the Grand Union Canal. There are times where you would think the silvers have vanished.
Anyone else noticed this?
It's not so much the chemical attractants, it's far more simple in that it's just the eggs themselves. They are so tasty and nutritious (as all eggs in wildlife are) the fish gorge themselves on them.
My dad's pond is a sight when the fish are breeding, it's usually the rudd although the tench go for it too, when this happens every single fish is around the scene mopping up the eggs, the koi will go to great lengths to get the smallest eggs the other side of a pot plant or often IN a pot plant. Sometime fish will end up on the netting that aren't even breeding. I read an adult tench can knock out over 1 million eggs and they need to for some to survive, Imagine this times by 50 each time a species gets jiggy. Companies make egg like baits but the difference is you can't feed tens of millions of them into a swim.
On the canal last week I saw he same thing in the wild with the bream, my photos on the HYDGO thread didn't show the other species that were there, I saw shoals of roach - small ones getting right in on the action, couldn't see any perch but there was a jack pike of around 3lb amongst it all, It didn't look like it was after the roach and I would say it was after eggs too, the small roach weren't bothered by it. However they were bothered by me leaning over hence no photos of them but the breeding bream didn't care.
The second day there was even more roach visible and they will be picking at them eggs for days to come until all the ones within reach have gone, this no doubt is why breeding fish either lay them in gravel or in dense weed. This breeding spot was the only bit of foliage in the canal, plant roots coming out from the bank. It's another reason against the removal of weed from lakes and rivers
Having said all that I've found ponds and lakes, unlike rivers can just switch off at any time, but always put that down to being a river angler