sam vimes
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This will go down well with some folks.
https://www.anglingtimes.co.uk/news...-in-uk-rivers-is-this-good-or-bad-for-angling
https://www.anglingtimes.co.uk/news...-in-uk-rivers-is-this-good-or-bad-for-angling
Catfish
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markcw
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Lymm AC have cats in the majority of waters, The largest being around 70lb.
They have bred in a number of the pools,
Lymm Dam had some in around 30 years ago, The Catfish Conservation Society had something to do with them going in as far as I am aware.
They have bred in a number of the pools,
Lymm Dam had some in around 30 years ago, The Catfish Conservation Society had something to do with them going in as far as I am aware.
no-one in particular
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I cannot see them being stopped if that's the way it will go, they will eat the red signals apparently so that might be a good thing but will they impact on barbel, the article doesn't say and although I do not know I think they might or other species as well. If it is the case I know I would rather have barbel personally. Overall I think we go too far with all these non native species introductions, the whole lot of them; the long term effect is what is needed to be looked at, unfortunately I find this is rarely the case.
A good friend who lives and works in France, Matt, is an expert on fishing for big catfish and typically uses Barbel and Carp as live baits.
Matt is a chef who has lived and worked in France for many years.
Looking at that photo how many Barbel and carp do you think it might consume in a day?
Personally I see catfish as a disaster in a river . . . . .
Matt is a chef who has lived and worked in France for many years.
Looking at that photo how many Barbel and carp do you think it might consume in a day?
Personally I see catfish as a disaster in a river . . . . .
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markcw
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There is a water just outside Chester,
He put catfish in with some carp in one of his pools,hoping for a specimetype water,
The catfish have eroded underneath parts of the bank around the pool. He cannot transfer them because of a category 2 disease,
Going back to Lymm AC ,someone either a member or a member of the public decided to p an albino catfish in one the pools, it is around 3lbs, more than likely grown to large for a garden pond,
Again this is a category 2 water, so cannot be transferred, some of the carp anglers are targeting it, and if caught it's going up the bank for the wildlife to feast on.
He put catfish in with some carp in one of his pools,hoping for a specimetype water,
The catfish have eroded underneath parts of the bank around the pool. He cannot transfer them because of a category 2 disease,
Going back to Lymm AC ,someone either a member or a member of the public decided to p an albino catfish in one the pools, it is around 3lbs, more than likely grown to large for a garden pond,
Again this is a category 2 water, so cannot be transferred, some of the carp anglers are targeting it, and if caught it's going up the bank for the wildlife to feast on.
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So many anglers constantly moan about otters and cormorants, insisting on them being culled because they eat fish. They video an otter catching a duck, waterhen or similar and make out the otter is a bad creature?
Those same d::ck heads want wels catfish introducing into their waters.
As far as i'm aware it's an offence to release wels into our waters and you can be prosecuted for doing so. As far as i'm aware unless you catch a wels in a licenced/approved water your supposed to retain it or kill it.
So I don't understand why the angling press seem happy for people to catch the horrible things and openly encourage idiots to keep releasing them illegally.
Those same d::ck heads want wels catfish introducing into their waters.
As far as i'm aware it's an offence to release wels into our waters and you can be prosecuted for doing so. As far as i'm aware unless you catch a wels in a licenced/approved water your supposed to retain it or kill it.
So I don't understand why the angling press seem happy for people to catch the horrible things and openly encourage idiots to keep releasing them illegally.
markcw
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Same with zander, catch and dont return,
No one mentions gooseanders, the kill and eat fish, people are more concerned with cormorants.
No one mentions gooseanders, the kill and eat fish, people are more concerned with cormorants.
no-one in particular
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I am assuming he cooks them, which reminds me that I used to enjoy what are called Basa fillets from the supermarket, cheap and tasty dusted with herbs etc. Then someone told me on here that were actually catfish from Vietnam and had high levels of mercury and other contaminants in them and I have never eaten them since. Not that that means our "native" catfish will be contaminated to the same or any degree but will they become a targeted food-fish especially by the immigrant population and I am not being political or provocative just that I can see it happening, we don't eat coarse fish as a rule but other nationalities do, it is quite common.
No Mark, he doesn't cook them . . . . like the rest of us he fishes for the sport.
steve2
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Always puzzled me why clubs won't stock predators and in some case remove them and then stock the biggest predator of the lot, catfish.
My club made the mistake of stocking them to control carp, the carp are still there, the tench have all gone. Nobody told the catfish not to eat the tench.
Catfish are just a big mouth and with a stomach to match.
My club made the mistake of stocking them to control carp, the carp are still there, the tench have all gone. Nobody told the catfish not to eat the tench.
Catfish are just a big mouth and with a stomach to match.
flightliner
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Back in 89 or 90 I was fishing the lower tidal Trent for Barbel when I heard a guy above me call to his mate that he had caught a strange looking Barbel, curious I went up and asked him if I could look at his capture.
Withdrawing it I could see that it was a channel catfish.
He let me take a foto of it and I asked if he wouldn't mind if I sent it to the Angling times which he was OK with.
It duly appeared a fortnight later along with another one that was taken by a Welsh angler (in Wales or England I don't recall).
I then sent my foto after ATs returned it to the captur.
Not a Wels tho and to this day I've not seen a channel cat since.
Of the Wels I spoke to a guy 3yrs ago who showed me a pik of a Wels he had taken from the Trent that season, at 50 plus lbs it was as long as his van was wide, Bob Roberts tells of a long long struggle with an unseen fish that took a Barbel he was playing - also in the Trent along with my friend who played a fish in Cromwell weir some dozen years ago, he played that for almost an hour with no effect on the fish before it snagged him up and causing his line to part, he said afterwards he had never felt such power in a fish.
Then there was an incident I had last year with a fish I can only assume was a big cat on the tidal again where I played something that was unmovable at first (definate bite on meat) to the point where I thought I must have imagined the bite and after pulling and heaving convinced myself I had snagged on a rock and was actually pulling for a break when I felt a bump that began to move.
I played the fish(with a witness standing by) for nearly an hour when I saw my lead appear not once but twice (5ft hook length) before I suffered a hook pull.
So so close!
It was heavy, ponderous thro out the struggle and it went wherever it wanted to, I put it down to a cat, simple as!
They are there for sure, lots of other stories out there of guys like me having encounters like I've described for them not to be I reckon.
O ne will turn up soon that's big, very big, and my bet is it'll come from the tidal section.
Withdrawing it I could see that it was a channel catfish.
He let me take a foto of it and I asked if he wouldn't mind if I sent it to the Angling times which he was OK with.
It duly appeared a fortnight later along with another one that was taken by a Welsh angler (in Wales or England I don't recall).
I then sent my foto after ATs returned it to the captur.
Not a Wels tho and to this day I've not seen a channel cat since.
Of the Wels I spoke to a guy 3yrs ago who showed me a pik of a Wels he had taken from the Trent that season, at 50 plus lbs it was as long as his van was wide, Bob Roberts tells of a long long struggle with an unseen fish that took a Barbel he was playing - also in the Trent along with my friend who played a fish in Cromwell weir some dozen years ago, he played that for almost an hour with no effect on the fish before it snagged him up and causing his line to part, he said afterwards he had never felt such power in a fish.
Then there was an incident I had last year with a fish I can only assume was a big cat on the tidal again where I played something that was unmovable at first (definate bite on meat) to the point where I thought I must have imagined the bite and after pulling and heaving convinced myself I had snagged on a rock and was actually pulling for a break when I felt a bump that began to move.
I played the fish(with a witness standing by) for nearly an hour when I saw my lead appear not once but twice (5ft hook length) before I suffered a hook pull.
So so close!
It was heavy, ponderous thro out the struggle and it went wherever it wanted to, I put it down to a cat, simple as!
They are there for sure, lots of other stories out there of guys like me having encounters like I've described for them not to be I reckon.
O ne will turn up soon that's big, very big, and my bet is it'll come from the tidal section.
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Gooseanders/saw billed ducks, like cormorants, herons, kingfishers and otters are native creatures and have been here since they evolved.
All the nonsense of how corm's were never seen inland until the last few years is just that "nonsense". I clearly remember seeing them on the local rivers and still waters when I was a young kid. I would often see them on a local small lake with their wings outstretched allowing them to dry.
One of the local to myself club waters had some wels illegally introuduced a few years ago. The club then went and got a licence to keep them in the water. The EA gave the licence with no arguments, even though though there is a outlet that runs directly into the river systems!
To give a licence to keep illlegally stocked wels like that is imo giving the idiots a green light to go and stock other waters with them and then apply for a licence....EA, not fit for purpose!
I know who the idiot is who put the cats in the pool, and he was very vocal that there shouldn't be any pike in the water because they would damage fish stocks....beggers belief!
markcw
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Cat Fishing
I can only speak for my area but there weren't anywhere near the numbers of cormorants in the Trent valley until the river became miraculously "cleaner" in the 1990s. There were a few around but nothing like the numbers subsequently.
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mikench
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I hope that cat( I can't bring myself to call it a kitten) wasn't put back. I must confess that that type of cat is one ugly fish and very far removed from my Corydoras. An elongated slug is an apt description and I have no desire to see one let alone catch one.
mikench
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rich66
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In my mind they are just another ecological disaster in the making. They’ll just scoff anything and everything they come across. And need treating the same way as signal crayfish.
Aknib
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I'm completely against it but let's face it, they've been swimming in the Trent for a fair old while.
I've had experience of one myself and within the last year seen first hand pictures of a 45lb fish taken on the border to one of the waters I fish (and close to where I had my brief but memorable skirmish with a big one) and I've no doubt they've been breeding in there for a long time.
We're not that different climate wise from the large rivers of northern France and look at the size they grow to there.
My bigger concern would be some kind of change that has triggered an increase in spawning and survival rates of Catfish, and how that will impact on other species. Before they get to Barbel chomping size they've worked their way through an awful lot of Gudgeon, Dace and Roach etc.
I've had experience of one myself and within the last year seen first hand pictures of a 45lb fish taken on the border to one of the waters I fish (and close to where I had my brief but memorable skirmish with a big one) and I've no doubt they've been breeding in there for a long time.
We're not that different climate wise from the large rivers of northern France and look at the size they grow to there.
My bigger concern would be some kind of change that has triggered an increase in spawning and survival rates of Catfish, and how that will impact on other species. Before they get to Barbel chomping size they've worked their way through an awful lot of Gudgeon, Dace and Roach etc.