Can anyone help with identification of this fish? What fish?.
I caught it on the pleasure lake at Lingmere in Wirral, having sat there in the rain all day catching small roach (as a beginner it still represents endless entertainment to me). It was getting dark so I threw my remaining half-pint of maggots/casters into the lake. Out of curiosity, I replaced the double maggot on my hook with a triple maggot for one last cast. I dropped my float into the water to stop the wind blowing it about and set about putting my landing net away (I?d had it for two weeks and still not caught anything big enough to use it with). When I turned round the float had disappeared, the tip of the rod was bending. I assumed I had snagged the line but when I picked the rod up I realised there was something a bit bigger than a small roach on the other end. It eventually tired and I bought it to the bank, held the rod in one hand whilst I unpacked the landing net with the other. I ended up landing the thing without the net handle. Fortunately, everyone else had gone home so there was no one rolling around laughing on the bank. I was stunned at how small it was, just over a foot long. It had felt as though it was glued to the bottom, I was expecting Moby ****. My first instinct was I had caught a small catfish. When I checked various web sites at home, they said catfish are scale-less with obvious barbells. So what is it? For scale, the boot in the picture is my wife?s size five (she turned up just too late to help with the landing net).
Also I have been following Dave Cooper?s advise about feeding little and often, to good effect with roach. Does feeding larger quantities (much larger in this case) attract larger fish?
I caught it on the pleasure lake at Lingmere in Wirral, having sat there in the rain all day catching small roach (as a beginner it still represents endless entertainment to me). It was getting dark so I threw my remaining half-pint of maggots/casters into the lake. Out of curiosity, I replaced the double maggot on my hook with a triple maggot for one last cast. I dropped my float into the water to stop the wind blowing it about and set about putting my landing net away (I?d had it for two weeks and still not caught anything big enough to use it with). When I turned round the float had disappeared, the tip of the rod was bending. I assumed I had snagged the line but when I picked the rod up I realised there was something a bit bigger than a small roach on the other end. It eventually tired and I bought it to the bank, held the rod in one hand whilst I unpacked the landing net with the other. I ended up landing the thing without the net handle. Fortunately, everyone else had gone home so there was no one rolling around laughing on the bank. I was stunned at how small it was, just over a foot long. It had felt as though it was glued to the bottom, I was expecting Moby ****. My first instinct was I had caught a small catfish. When I checked various web sites at home, they said catfish are scale-less with obvious barbells. So what is it? For scale, the boot in the picture is my wife?s size five (she turned up just too late to help with the landing net).
Also I have been following Dave Cooper?s advise about feeding little and often, to good effect with roach. Does feeding larger quantities (much larger in this case) attract larger fish?